The Ha`awina of the Day

Today was in all areas, a success.  This week we had a Hawaiian theme to work with for the students and not only was it fun for us, the teachers, but for the students as well.  Ha`awina, means lesson, and a big part of today I feel was realizing how much changing themes week by week really grab the interest of the children.  I worked with the Pre-K children today, and I found that using this theme really got some of the children talkative interested.  I read them a book that I actually picked up while in Hawaii that used the Hawaii state fish, Humuhumunukunukuapuaa', or Humu, to tell a adventurous tale about a fish that wished away his colors.  The bright pictures of the sea life really caught their eyes and got them interested which really helped when we got to our game in the gym.  Although there were only three students from the Pre-K that were at the gym portion, they were very engaged and loved how we incorporated our obstacle course into an adventure to save the exotic animals.  I believe if there were more students we would of had a much better and clear result, but from what I have experienced today, it is very important to vary your theme and keep children interested and active in each of the different topics you choose.  Keep them guessing and always surprise them with new ideas and games!
Assessments and Responses

How Should PE be Taught?

Coming into the great debate, there was no doubt that that my group was going to make a strong impression on the board of educators.  The great debate was based on three different types of focuses in the classroom.  These focuses were teaching, lifelong sports, skill fundamentals, and stick sports.  After hearing all the great arguments and points each group presented, it was clear in my mind, how physical education should be taught.  I was supporting the lifelong sports group; I believe it is important to get involved with a sport or activity you can carry out through your older years, something that can help you maintain that healthy lifestyle and ultimately allow you to live longer and happier.  To get to that point however, you do need a small bit of skill fundamentals.  However, that is not and should not be the primary focus for students throughout their years in high school and then some.  Teaching the skill fundamentals can only allow a student to grow so far in the physical education world, and I feel they may get bored with repeating the same basic movements over and over.  You should start off students with these skills and teach them through elementary school and maybe into middle school.  After a certain point in their physical development, they know how to hop, skip, jump, shuffle, etc. and that no longer becomes a primary focus.  I feel at that point is when they may find an interest in a lifelong sport like skiing, running, swimming, or tennis.  Again, in all of these lifelong sports, there are fundamentals that are taught within them in order to carry out the sport.  Coordination, and basic locomotor movements are essential in performing almost any activity, it is just a matter of how to chop up when a physical educator should introduce these aspects in a school setting.  

As a future physical educator myself, I plan on using the fundamentals in the lower grades of schools and introducing how to go about these basic skill fundamentals, but I at the same time, will introduce some lifelong and team sports that incorporate these skills to reinforce the movements and muscle memory.  Once the students enter a middle school setting, I would then stop with having a primary focus on these fundamentals and really get into how to stay fit and apply those skills throughout a lifetime.  Without the use of both skill fundamentals, and lifelong sports, I feel as though you can not operate a beneficial and consistently exciting environment for your students to learn and grow, which is essential in order for them to retain what they learn.  

Hall Of Modification

There are so many traditional games that are seen to be on the infamous "Wall of Shame".  It is clear as to how some of those games do not teach what parents want to be seen taught in their physical education classes.  As a future physical educator I considerate it my job to take these games that most children love so much and transform them.  I feel as though you never want to strip students of the games they love in phys-ed class, but rather modify them in such a way where they still have a maximal amount of fun as well as get something a little more out of the game play.  There are so many different modifications for all these games in circulation, and can easily be found if you cannot think of a modification yourself.   The possibilities for transforming a traditional game to a new, creative, and exciting game are endless; and when I am one day controlling a physical education program, I plan on creating some unique and personalized games myself.  

Hall Of Shame

Inspire Others to be Healthy!

So many people today do not have the motivation or commitment to living a healthier lifestyle.  Thanks to HealthIT.gov, hopefully more and more people get that motivation to change some bad habits and pick up new, healthier ones.  I already keep a relatively good diet with plenty of exercise and physical activity, so my goal is to improve or at the very least maintain my level of activity and performance so I can continue living the life I want. Hopefully this video, and other videos similar, will give people that extra push to get out, get active, and make a positive impact on their life.  Too few people today are out of shape, unhealthy, and have low self esteem, and my goal as a physical educator is to minimize that number of people best I can. 

Living a Healthy Lifestyle (www.healthIT.gov)

Does Practice Make Perfect?

Last weeks practice lab really aided in my knowledge of how to run a classroom/gymnasium.  You must be able to control all the students to give direction and make the games sound interesting and fun.  If you hold their attention, they will enjoy and comprehend the game itself, and the goals at hand.  I also found that coming up with a dance routine with music in 20 minutes is much harder than anticipated...

Through this exercise I feel as though it helped me to think on my toes with the pressure on.  When you only have  a select amount of time to figure out a game in the gym, or a lesson in the classroom, or in this case, a dance in class, it can be nerve wrecking and frustrating but you need to learn how to deal with that kind of immediate stress.  This exercise definitely allowed me to understand the importance of being ready for anything, especially in an unforeseeable classroom setting.

A week after the rehearsal of games and brainstorming, our skills were put to the test in St. Mary's after school program.  This was the first lab that we had actually planned a series of games and had a good amount of structure.  As prepared as we were, and as confident as we were after practicing how we would go about explaining, demonstrating and performing our games, the group of children we had shot our ideas down.  All these 5th and 6th grade students wanted to do was play basketball.  We eventually came to a small consensus which still did not work out overly well.  We were able to get a large number of students to play the game, Great Wall, but after about five or so minutes of that, they became bored and longed for something better.  Due to the stubbornness of the students to try new games, we ended up playing basketball.  We played for a while and then slowly modified the game to make it a little different, until we were able to transition into playing team handball which was a relatively positive turnout.  Ultimately, no matter how many times you may practice what you want to do, or run through it in your head, you need to have some sort of back up plan and be able to think on your toes in order to make a program or lesson flow smoothly.  Practice helps, but experience is really what makes a lesson perfect.
Lab 2 and Assessment