I don't have much experience with teaching classes comprised of that many students but as for my opinion i feel that you have the right idea going. Please don't compromise the integrity of our class by allowing untrained people to operate under your name who can serious jeopardize your creditability. The delegation of the class helpers is a great idea. This will give you a chance to rotate/try many different activities that focus upon health at these different stations. You will be able to gather feedback on which activities are most liked, easiest to apply/teach, and also the kids that abilities of the children. The use of other adult supervisors will give another source of feedback to consider as well. I myself never really liked P.E. in school because all we did was learn to play games i could already play and we had so many kids that where unskilled at them that it made it no fun. a fitness focus gives the teacher an opportunity to involve all the children and rotate in or out of activities regularly. I think your on the right track to make sure to clearly explain the duties of your helpers so there is no confusion on what your aims are for the class. Be calm i think it will all workout for ya.
While PLC's (Professional Learning Communities) have become the new buzz word within many school districts across America, it has become a buzz kill for my P.E. program! Welcome to my HELL!
I've been operating a P.E. release programs for the last three years at different school sites.
On any given day, I will see three grade levels (four if you include the Kindergarten students). I have four stations that are operated by myself and three P.E. assistants. I see each grade level for 80 minutes in which they rotate from station to station every 20 minutes. It's not ideal but I've made it work and my principal loves it! Why? Because while I'm trying to deal with 100 students (with the help of 3 assistants) for 80 minutes, he's meeting with their teachers and discussing SMART goals and our API scores! It's an administrator's dream come true!
It's a lot of work! More work than you know because not only are you responsible for yourself (and your students) but you now have to make sure that your assistants know what their doing. Planning and training is key!
This year due to the budget crisis, I will only have two assistants instead of three! (Just found out last week!) So I'm more than willing to collaborate with you on this project.
My first suggestion would be to include periodic Personal Best Day (similar to Fitnessgram Testing) within your curriculum for the upper grade students. I implemented it this past year in order to help prep my 5th grade students for the Fitnessgram as well as establishing a foundation for developing some personal fitness goals with all my upper grade students. I saw a significant increase in scores when it came time to the Fitnessgram for grades fourth through sixth. Yes I tested everyone! This allowed me to follow their progress and assist the students who needed help in specific areas of fitness.
My heart goes out to you! It sounds like a very difficult situation. I have been fortunate enough to have a principal that really values our PE Program and has allowed me to do my thing for the past 2 years. He has done so much for me that I really want to make this work. Luckily, I will still be meeting with classes individually so the teaching of sports skills/games can be done at that time. This station time will be more focused on cardio, muscular strength/endurance, flexibility and healthy choices. Not all 5 components of fitness needs to be hit every week, but we certainly don't want an hour of cardio either....so a balance. We can even through some cooperative games in there to work on the ever declining social skills of children these days! So happy to work with you. I think we can both benefit.
Why does it say that the revisions can't be saved because the document was created by another user?? I type type type then save it only to lose the work I just added. Why does this haapen sometimes and not others
I think it has to do with the fact that we were both making revisions at the same time.
Another question, why can't I view the full document unless I'm doing a revision? How do I know that what I did was saved? And should I be clicking on the Draft or Complete button?
Rosette,
Can we put this puppy to bed and publish it? Even though it is technically 4 weeks long,each week is basically 60-90 minutes in length. So I guess that is like 12 half hour lessons, right? What do you think?
I didn't change my lessons into outline form because it just didn't seem worth the time. In my lessons I write the formation needed for each activity, the order of the activities, the equipment needed and the name of the activity. It is on index cards that I keep in my pocket so I don't forget to do something I've planned.
I didn't change my lessons into outline form because it just didn't seem worth the time. In my lessons I write the formation needed for each activity, the order of the activities, the equipment needed and the name of the activity. It is on index cards that I keep in my pocket so I don't forget to do something I've planned.
It seems that the reason this wasn't showing up earlier was due to some coding carryover, probably from a copy and paste directly from Word. I cleaned up some code by removing some styles, so now it should be showing. This means that some formatting may have been lost in the process. If you want to add back some style (e.g. bold, italics), do it directly from the text editor. Or, if this process really fouled up something in the document you all have been working on, we can always revert back to a previous one from the revision log.
I have to say that this weekly activity unit plan is where
more in depth that what i expected it to be. Even while writing mine I had to
add so much extra info it surprised me. I have a new respect for teachers of
any subject. I think the set up of what your planning is great the best part
are the games in week 1 that help children learn each others names. That will
really help increase students sense of individuality within the group. I think
i could follow this in depth plan and run a class of it with no problem. Great
job.
Thank you, James. I'm happy with what Rosette and I have come up with. It will at least get us started this year. We can reevaluate the plan after a few weeks of implementation and make any necessary changes. Thanks for the feedback.
If I were to use this unit plan, I would be unclear on how many classes this involves based on the information. It appears you are teaching 1 class per week. When you list each by "week" it makes it unclear since many teachers will have 2 or more PE classes per week (or at least they should). Customizing this to your situation is good, but it will be more helpful for others to use if you are clear about the number of classes involved. Perhaps something as simple as saying Class 1, Class 2, etc. would work.
Also, I recommend stronger emphasis on the instructional cues. This is the explanation of what you are going to teach the students verbally, and should include information about how to perform the skills correctly. These aren't present in each lesson. Your information like the "thumbs down" for catching is what I am talking about, but these aren't identified clearly as cues. What you do have indicated as "cues" lacks some of this "how" information.
Realize there are several meanings to the word "cues" which we had a discussion about last term at http://www.unicommons.com/node/5461 In this case, I am referring to instructional cues.
Thank you for the feedback. I'm sorry it has taken a while to get back to this. School resumed last week and I've been a little distracted.
I will work on those changes and resubmit.
Video taping a lesson: I would like to consider the option of having another PE professional evaluate my lesson and I will do the same for her. I would LOVE to see myself teaching on video so I can learn from it (I'm my worst critic) and I DO plan on doing that this year. My concern is the time involved in getting the video to you in its proper format by the deadline. I have 3 other classes I'm taking as well as my own teaching and I'm concerned about doing it all without a nervous breakdown. Is an evaluation done by a credentialed PE teacher given the same weight as a video?
I am sad to say that our schools (in order to cut back on the salaries) let most of the PE and music teachers go this past summer and the kids really miss the activities. I am taking notice of how many more "act ill" and come to my nurses office or how many are more prone to victimization and are utilizing "other outlets"., especially some of our more or should I say "less tolerant" personalities. PE was a great stress reliever for a lot of the kiddos who ncould not find the words to vent. So many parents and kids are disappointed as they need to go elsewhere to look for physical activities and trainings. Very sad. The high sachool managed to find a way to keep their sports going, especially since many of the Seniors were counting on physical fitness scholarships, but the teachers of the elementary schools are having their own PE time with their kids and I must say, like myself, they don't seem to "fit the bill". I really see a loss for these kiddos. Your plan, byt the way , was great to me. I love seeing what it is that goes behind the scenes in a PE background.
Comments
I don't have much experience with teaching classes comprised of that many students but as for my opinion i feel that you have the right idea going. Please don't compromise the integrity of our class by allowing untrained people to operate under your name who can serious jeopardize your creditability. The delegation of the class helpers is a great idea. This will give you a chance to rotate/try many different activities that focus upon health at these different stations. You will be able to gather feedback on which activities are most liked, easiest to apply/teach, and also the kids that abilities of the children. The use of other adult supervisors will give another source of feedback to consider as well. I myself never really liked P.E. in school because all we did was learn to play games i could already play and we had so many kids that where unskilled at them that it made it no fun. a fitness focus gives the teacher an opportunity to involve all the children and rotate in or out of activities regularly. I think your on the right track to make sure to clearly explain the duties of your helpers so there is no confusion on what your aims are for the class. Be calm i think it will all workout for ya.
While PLC's (Professional Learning Communities) have become the new buzz word within many school districts across America, it has become a buzz kill for my P.E. program! Welcome to my HELL!
I've been operating a P.E. release programs for the last three years at different school sites.
On any given day, I will see three grade levels (four if you include the Kindergarten students). I have four stations that are operated by myself and three P.E. assistants. I see each grade level for 80 minutes in which they rotate from station to station every 20 minutes. It's not ideal but I've made it work and my principal loves it! Why? Because while I'm trying to deal with 100 students (with the help of 3 assistants) for 80 minutes, he's meeting with their teachers and discussing SMART goals and our API scores! It's an administrator's dream come true!
It's a lot of work! More work than you know because not only are you responsible for yourself (and your students) but you now have to make sure that your assistants know what their doing. Planning and training is key!
This year due to the budget crisis, I will only have two assistants instead of three! (Just found out last week!) So I'm more than willing to collaborate with you on this project.
My first suggestion would be to include periodic Personal Best Day (similar to Fitnessgram Testing) within your curriculum for the upper grade students. I implemented it this past year in order to help prep my 5th grade students for the Fitnessgram as well as establishing a foundation for developing some personal fitness goals with all my upper grade students. I saw a significant increase in scores when it came time to the Fitnessgram for grades fourth through sixth. Yes I tested everyone! This allowed me to follow their progress and assist the students who needed help in specific areas of fitness.
My heart goes out to you! It sounds like a very difficult situation. I have been fortunate enough to have a principal that really values our PE Program and has allowed me to do my thing for the past 2 years. He has done so much for me that I really want to make this work. Luckily, I will still be meeting with classes individually so the teaching of sports skills/games can be done at that time. This station time will be more focused on cardio, muscular strength/endurance, flexibility and healthy choices. Not all 5 components of fitness needs to be hit every week, but we certainly don't want an hour of cardio either....so a balance. We can even through some cooperative games in there to work on the ever declining social skills of children these days! So happy to work with you. I think we can both benefit.
Why does it say that the revisions can't be saved because the document was created by another user?? I type type type then save it only to lose the work I just added. Why does this haapen sometimes and not others
I think it has to do with the fact that we were both making revisions at the same time.
Another question, why can't I view the full document unless I'm doing a revision? How do I know that what I did was saved? And should I be clicking on the Draft or Complete button?
Rosette,
Can we put this puppy to bed and publish it? Even though it is technically 4 weeks long,each week is basically 60-90 minutes in length. So I guess that is like 12 half hour lessons, right? What do you think?
I didn't change my lessons into outline form because it just didn't seem worth the time. In my lessons I write the formation needed for each activity, the order of the activities, the equipment needed and the name of the activity. It is on index cards that I keep in my pocket so I don't forget to do something I've planned.
I didn't change my lessons into outline form because it just didn't seem worth the time. In my lessons I write the formation needed for each activity, the order of the activities, the equipment needed and the name of the activity. It is on index cards that I keep in my pocket so I don't forget to do something I've planned.
It seems that the reason this wasn't showing up earlier was due to some coding carryover, probably from a copy and paste directly from Word. I cleaned up some code by removing some styles, so now it should be showing. This means that some formatting may have been lost in the process. If you want to add back some style (e.g. bold, italics), do it directly from the text editor. Or, if this process really fouled up something in the document you all have been working on, we can always revert back to a previous one from the revision log.
I have to say that this weekly activity unit plan is where
more in depth that what i expected it to be. Even while writing mine I had to
add so much extra info it surprised me. I have a new respect for teachers of
any subject. I think the set up of what your planning is great the best part
are the games in week 1 that help children learn each others names. That will
really help increase students sense of individuality within the group. I think
i could follow this in depth plan and run a class of it with no problem. Great
job.
Thank you, James. I'm happy with what Rosette and I have come up with. It will at least get us started this year. We can reevaluate the plan after a few weeks of implementation and make any necessary changes. Thanks for the feedback.
If I were to use this unit plan, I would be unclear on how many classes this involves based on the information. It appears you are teaching 1 class per week. When you list each by "week" it makes it unclear since many teachers will have 2 or more PE classes per week (or at least they should). Customizing this to your situation is good, but it will be more helpful for others to use if you are clear about the number of classes involved. Perhaps something as simple as saying Class 1, Class 2, etc. would work.
Also, I recommend stronger emphasis on the instructional cues. This is the explanation of what you are going to teach the students verbally, and should include information about how to perform the skills correctly. These aren't present in each lesson. Your information like the "thumbs down" for catching is what I am talking about, but these aren't identified clearly as cues. What you do have indicated as "cues" lacks some of this "how" information.
Realize there are several meanings to the word "cues" which we had a discussion about last term at http://www.unicommons.com/node/5461 In this case, I am referring to instructional cues.
Thank you for the feedback. I'm sorry it has taken a while to get back to this. School resumed last week and I've been a little distracted.
I will work on those changes and resubmit.
Video taping a lesson: I would like to consider the option of having another PE professional evaluate my lesson and I will do the same for her. I would LOVE to see myself teaching on video so I can learn from it (I'm my worst critic) and I DO plan on doing that this year. My concern is the time involved in getting the video to you in its proper format by the deadline. I have 3 other classes I'm taking as well as my own teaching and I'm concerned about doing it all without a nervous breakdown. Is an evaluation done by a credentialed PE teacher given the same weight as a video?
I am sad to say that our schools (in order to cut back on the salaries) let most of the PE and music teachers go this past summer and the kids really miss the activities. I am taking notice of how many more "act ill" and come to my nurses office or how many are more prone to victimization and are utilizing "other outlets"., especially some of our more or should I say "less tolerant" personalities. PE was a great stress reliever for a lot of the kiddos who ncould not find the words to vent. So many parents and kids are disappointed as they need to go elsewhere to look for physical activities and trainings. Very sad. The high sachool managed to find a way to keep their sports going, especially since many of the Seniors were counting on physical fitness scholarships, but the teachers of the elementary schools are having their own PE time with their kids and I must say, like myself, they don't seem to "fit the bill". I really see a loss for these kiddos. Your plan, byt the way , was great to me. I love seeing what it is that goes behind the scenes in a PE background.