Merry Christmas and Farewell St. Mary's

Reflection:

Christmas Lab at St. Mary's (lab 6)        

   

Today was a lot of fun but also sad at the same time. I had fun playing games with the children all semester long and teaching them games and also learning myself how to grow and become a better physical educator in the future. It was sad because this was our last lab for the semester and i had so much fun playing with he kids. I felt that i grew a lot this semester in lab, i learned how to project my voice in the gymnasium, as well as learning the students names and even learning how to minimize my directions to make it short and simple so the children could have more time playing the games instead of listening to me speak the entire time. I feel more confident now than i did when i started the lab at St. Mary's and i am excited to move on and begin my next level of teaching in field experience that will allow me to be one step further in maintaining my goal of becoming a proficient physical educaton. This lab helped me also to become more confident in the games i was teaching as well as interacting with the children of all ages. There were some trials and tribulations in the labs also, everything was not all peachy, there were some snags that went along with the lab. However i feel that you cannot truly grow without these bumps in the road once in a while, as the Rocky quote goes " I know your going to have to go through hell.....but in the end.....i know youll be the one standing."

Just a Small Time Zygote!! Motor Development Video Project

St. Mary's "Turkey Day" Lab 5

Reflection:

Gobble Gobble! 

Today's lab i thought went a whole lot better than i was expecting. I honestly was so nervous to teach in front of the children in the gymnasium, thoughts that they were going to be out of control, or teaching the gymnasium group was going to be too overwhelming, were circling around in my head all day. Even though i have taught groups in the gymnasium in the past such as my elementary and secondary games class, it had felt as if it was my first time teaching a class. I was however surprised to find out that my game went smooth for the most part, the children liked the game and were much willing to participate, also to my surprise. I learned however a few things from this teaching experience in the gym, one was that i have to be a little bit louder when i speak to the children in the gym, i still haven't hit that peak yet, another thing i learned from this is that i should get more familiar with the kids names instead of just pointing to them, i should be able to call out their names if i want their attention. One more thing that i took from this experience was that i should utilize the chance to bring or provide visual aids as much as i can. I noticed that the use of visual aids had perked the kids up and grabbed a hold of their attention and increased their curiosity in the games that provided visual aids. All in all i had fun, and the experience went a lot smoother than i thought it was going to turn out. Like always i have fun participating with the children in different activities and games, and this week in lab was no different.   

St. Mary's Collage

 

Petey's Physical Education Phenomenon!!!

Happy Halloween St. Mary's (Halloween lab 4)!!!!!

Reflection:

"Happy Halloween St. Mary's"

Today was a great time at St. Mary's, i was able to observe my peers teaching and watching the children participate in a variety of games. I found that many of the students felt that they could have used more variations in their games that they were teaching, all in all most people thought that their game went well and that the children understood their directions. Some teaching techniques that i observed was that many students used loud and clear voices when they presented their games, and Bree even mentioned that she had used a whistle and it really drew the children at St. Mary's attention. The use of the wistle really made the students more attentive and willing to participate. I was able to teach a Halloween song to the students and they really had a lot of fun with that as well as close the lab today with a "Happy Halloween St. Mary's" cheer. I was able to play with the children in the gymnasium, i was giving rides on the scooters, and all of the children thought that was great, i have to say, my arms are pretty tired though pulling them around. All in all lab today went really well and like always, i as well as the children had a blast with today's lab. I felt that all of our students who taught games and presented an activity did very well and had a lot of fun.

St. Mary's Halloween Lab (lab 4)

Interviews: This week at St. Mary's i had the pleasure of observing my fellow lab classmates when they were teaching their games to the children and was able to observe the delighted reactions from the children.

How do you think your game went?

Bree: "I thought it went well, they listened and had fun, everyone was enthused and it was a good way to release the built up energy."
Ian: " I thought it went well, happy with how the children participated."

What could you do to improve your game?

Bree: "more variations, instead of just putting more and more balls into the game i could mix it up with different variations."
Ian: " I could be louder, and i could have waited longer for the children to be settled down and quiet before playing instead of just jumping into the game."

What teaching techniques did you use in your game?

Bree: " The whistle worked really well, it got all the children to be quiet and settled before playing the game."
Ian: " Tried to be loud, i lowered to their level by getting down on one knee and speaking to them in their terms."

St. Mary's SUPERHEROES!!!!!!! (lab 3)

 

Reflection:

We are all Superheroes to somebody!!!!

Week three at St. Mary's was a huge sucess. I have to be honest, i felt a little wierd dressing up, lets just say it was out of my comfort zone walking down the street with my makeshift superman cape on. However once i entered the school, i felt like i was on cloud nine, all the children were so excited and thrilled that we were all dressed up. Many of the students were calling me all sorts of superhero names and loved my shiny red cape. I was able to talk and interact with the students through my use of costume, they were much more participant and excited to play my games being that i was dressed up and got down to their level by doing so. I was able to talk to some of the older students who were in the cafeteria group about their involvement in Pop Warner football, once i was talking about football, they could relate and i was able to talk to 4 or 5 students and get them to warm up to the activities that we were playing. I thought the games that we taught in our group went over very well and all the children had fun. They were much better understanding directions than the younger children which made the games flow more smoothly. I was able to fully explain the directions and play my game with the students, everyone participated and had fun while getting exercise in the process. Things that i found out that i could improve on however were my communication skills, by projecting my voice more loudly and clearly for the students. I also could maybee make my directions more short and to the point rather than trying to hard to explain them. I found out that the more i went on with directions the more aggitated and rambunctious they became. I eventually settled them down to finish what i had to say and play the game. For next time i have to be more precise. All in all i had a blast, like always, hanging out playing games with the children at St. Mary's and i feel that the children had just as much fun and the dressing up in costumes definitely set the mood for the afternoon.

The Great Debate!!!!!

I really enjoyed our project for the great debate. I was in the Physical Education Lifetime Fitness group, who were debating against the sticks in sports group and the non- sticks in sports group. We all had our videos, skits and power points to prove our points and make our oppinions more believable to the other groups. I really enjoyed the skit that i performed with Ian White as two joggers who were describing how lifetime fitness is so important for children in schools especially the younger children, to know how important lifetime fitness is for your overall health. Lifetime fitness involves staying active outside of the classroom and most importantly for the rest of your lifetime. I believe that sticks in sports for young children has both its advantages as well as disadvantages, however i feel that it is even more important to stress on activities that allow you to participate no matter how old you become. For example football, which is not a lifetime sport, most people participate in through college and then quit the sport because eventually it takes a toll on your body, and people who become older with age cannot play the sport anymore. However for lifetime fitness activities, like running and weights, people can participate no matter how old they become, these sports have no limits or physical barriers that prevent someone from participating in if they become older. Overall i really enjoyed voicing my oppinion for the belief that lifetime sports should be emphacized for children of an earlier age so they will be proficient in those activities throuought their lifetime.

Day 1 included our groups argument that we  believed that lifetime sports should be emphasiced with young children who are in school so that they can become proficient at these lifetime skills when they are out of school and on their own, they can perform these sports and activities on their own throuought their life.

Day 2 included the rebuttles, we each gave our final stand on how our group as well as the other groups felt about the arguments that we all had made, this was one final statement to get our point across and to pursuede members of the board that lifetime sports is very important to teach in a ciriculum.

Day 3 included the decision from the school board. I thought that our group had a strong chance of winning the debate and really felt that our group was going to win the debate, however the school board sided with all three of the groups and felt that all three groups had positive things to offer the cirriculum.   

St. Mary's Day 2 was a Great Learning Experience

Reflection:
St Mary's week 2 was a great learning experience.

Today at St. Mary's was a lot of fun with pirate theme week. We had some of our classmates dress up and use props for games that they were teaching to the children. I played with the pre- k group on the playground, then we went into the classroom and had snack. After snack we went into the gym and we played and taught our games to the pre-k group. They had a blast and really enjoyed playing. One learning experience that i would definitely take away from week 2 is that you cannot take anything for granted. You simply cannot assume that a young child has learned simple fine or gross motor skills, you really have to get basic when you explain how to move in your games and really give clear cut directions on how to play various games especially with the younger groups of children. All in all for this week, i had alot of fun and i really feel that the children really had a blast playing games with us, they were all cooperative and everyone was willing to participate in our activities and games. I really saw a lot of enthusiasm from the students as well as our classmates in all the activities and the games.

First day at St. Mary's!!!!!!

Reflection:

St. mary's was a blast.

I really didnt know what to expect on my first step forward towards my teaching career. I was pretty nervous to tell the truth. Probably my biggest fear was that the children would react negatively towards me and not want to play with me. I was hoping that the children would be willing to participate and want to be active and run around and play...and to my pleasant surprise, the kids loved that we visited and played games with them. All of the kids that i had the oppurtunity to play games with had a blast and really enjoyed the activities. I also had a lot of fun and had a smile on my face non stop. During the first couple of weeks at SUNY Cortland, i really was questioning weather or not i was in the right profession. It was not untill that night that i knew for sure that this is where i belong. I had an awesome time and got a pretty good workout as well running around with the kids.

Posted by peteype at 6:35 PM

Fundamental skills related to Health

Fundamental kills have alot to do with overall personal health. Walking, running, jumping are basic skills that help people participate in sports or games which help people get into shape. Running is a great fundamental skill and can be the single most important factor in getting yourself into shape. Even if you are unable to run, walking is a great way to get into shape. These skills can also be applied to sports such as baseball, basketball, football ect. You need these skills to participate in sports. Children who play sports tend to be healthy and in shape, and form better health habbits than children who arent in sports. All sports no matter what you participate in have somthing to do with movement, and when you exercise, you tend to eat healthier and form good health habbits that lead to better overall health.

Hall of Shame Games!!!!

I love to play games like dodgeball and tag just having fun, however i feel that these two games can be negative for physical education classes. I feel that tag is a great game to get you running around and active, but tag is a hall of shame game because in a traditional game of tag, once you are tagged, you are out of the game, so for the slow children or the less fit children, they are of course going to be tagged first and out of the game so they are the ones that are just sitting around the whole class. Tag can have negative aspects on self esteem for these children, dodgeball can have the same effects, once you are pegged, you are out of the game. Dodgeball can also be dangerous if someone were to get hit in the face. There can be some alternatives to these games though that would make them acceptable. For the game of tag, you could have the children that are tagged to run in place untill a non- tagged person slapps your hand, or somthing putting you back in the game, or have them do jumping jacks untill they are put back in the game. For dodgeball, you could have softer balls to play with, or make a rule that you have to aim below the shoulders, or else the person throwing the ball is out.

Are sticks in athletics a good thing or a bad thing?

I feel that young children who participate in sports with sticks such as hockey, lacrosse, even baseball or softball games can be dangerous with young children in elementary and even middle school. I know that young children have low attention spans and dont think about their actions very carefully before doing somthing, so in that sense i feel that there is a much higher risk for injuries and problems in the elementary and middle school level with the use of sticks. High school on the other hand i feel have more responsibility and think more clearly about their actions and have a better understanding on how to play different types of sports, they would also know how to properly use the equiptment for a sport in most cases as well. I would feel alot safer and more comfortable in a high school classroom with sports that include sticks than i would in an elementary class with sticks.Older children are more responsible for their actions  than younger children as well.



This is just one example of why children playing with long handled implements can be extremely dangerous!!!!!

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first official day as a red dragon

Wow.....i dont even know where to begin.....my first class at suny cortland was approaching and i wont lie...i was pretty nervous. There are so many more students at cortland and the campus is much larger than HVCC, where i transfered here from. I got to class and professor Yang walked in. I was really nervous about the class already...motor development.....just the name of the class sounds like it was going to be a major challenge. Professor Yang seems like a really cool guy....he made me feel better about the class when it was done. He showed us around the park center.....where most of my classes will be....being a physical education major so i was happy about that. He in particular showed us where we were many of his classes are going to be held. When it was all said and done....i feel much better about the class and i cannot wait to interact with different people in motor development.