Tyler Bates

9-24-14
Tiger Pride
DT: Systematic Observation
This weeks lesson in Tiger Pride focused on cooperative learning and teamwork.
Students are to be able to perform tasks with one another and work as a team to complete each
tasks. These tasks involve different movement patterns and motor skills as well as cognitive
skills when communicating to teammates on how to accomplish each task. I teach 3
rd
grade and
the number of students in my class is 30. The skills that were previously learned were
cooperative learning, movement patterns (jog, run, walk, skip, and gallop) and team building
exercises. This lesson plan is supposed to be on the grass or blacktop area (preferred). The
majority of the equipment that was to be used was hula hoops, scarves, and cones to mark off
areas for boundaries.
The student learning outcomes for this lesson plan starting with psychomotor are having
the students chase, flee, and dodge while in activity. For the Cognitive aspect in their outcomes
the students should be able to identify the skills necessary to cooperate with one another, and
recall the key words while in cooperation (work together, teamwork, talk to one another, and
listen). The affective objective is to have the students become more positive while working
together, and to encourage one another in each activity while giving a smile high fiving and
cheering their teammates on. For the health related outcome, students heart rate should increase
while in activity, and students will be activating their cardiovascular system while in activity.
However, I did not meet these most of these objectives. The only objective that was truly met
was increasing the heart rate when performing the dynamic warm up. After looking at my
evaluation data, I noticed that most of the time I was dealing with off task behavior so it was
very difficult for me to get them into the activities. While looking at the SOFIT, the students that
were observed were only in activity for about 2 minutes and 20 seconds which is out of a 30
minute lesson. Many of the questions that were being asked by me in the lesson were related to
behavioral issues which were reflected in my lesson as to why these objectives were not met. If I
were to change anything about my teaching episode, it would have to be addressing the behavior
of my class as a whole instead of individually. It took too much time out of my lesson to address
issues that should be non-existent in my lesson and when behavior expectations are already
established, the lesson should flow more easily and more opportunities for activity will be
present.
I did not successfully address all of the 4 criteria of the learning experience. None of the
activities beside the warm up and the first part of the hula hoop activity were completed. I need
to work on demonstrations before having the students perform the skill as well as addressing the
expectations of each task to ensure all aspects of the learning experience are met. I would also
like to be more prepared to ensure that the students know that I am in control of the lesson and
have them cooperate with me like I am actually their teacher in Tiger Pride. I would actually
change the hula hoop activity to something different such as shark and minnows because the
students do not like to hold hands and did not wish to cooperate with one another. Sharks and
minnows is still a team based lesson and the students would love to tag one another while still
meeting all of my objectives. My students were only in activity for 2 minutes and 30 seconds
and the remainder of the time was mostly in management.
To improve this ratio I would like to get them into the instant activity within the first
minute the lesson starts. That way the students will be focused more on the lesson instead of
having a lot of time to mess around in the beginning of the class, and allow for smooth
transitions into the other activities. I would also like my demonstrations before the activities to
be quick and involve students so that they will remain focused and also have a sense that they
can also complete each task. The students did not have the opportunity to practice at a high
level or improve their skill developments because of the behavioral issues that were being
addressed. To improve the practice opportunities and the skill development I would like to make
sure that the activities are appropriate for my students, this may include little to know equipment
until they learn how to respect me and the equipment while following directions.
I stayed in front of the class for most of the lesson due to sitting the students down and
addressing their behavior. I did move around when trying to get the students into the hula hoop
activity and when giving them feedback in the warm up but not to the extent that I should have in
the teaching space. There were no COTS but my instructions were reinforced and I was giving
positive specific feedback to those who were performing the tasks correctly. I tried to give
instructions as quickly as I could and after management, I got them into the warm up very
quickly but failed to do so the entire lesson after that when doing the hula hoop activity. I gave
instructions when most of the students were in front of me but it was difficult to get all the
students in front of me and paying attention. I provided feedback when I could, most of which I
tried to be very specific with the feedback I had given which was to encourage the students when
they were performing the task correctly. I also provided feedback to the students who did not
pay attention in order to correct their performance.
When demonstrating the tasks I had a majority of the students attention and they
were able to hear and see what I wanted them to do. I had volunteers come up to the
front of the class to help with the demonstration and to show them how to do the hula
hoop activity, but I forgot to show them at first before they had gotten into their groups so
I had to try again. Some of the students were able to reproduce the skill but most of them
did not follow my directions so they could not reproduce the skill. I would like to
remember to always grab the students attention then give the demonstrations while using
students in them. I managed the disruptive students individually but I realized if they do
not disrupt the class I can ignore them and when there are multiple behavior issues I need
to address the whole class on how to behave. Also, I did not manage the equipment well
enough and the students started to grab all of it before the lesson had started. I showed
enthusiasm toward the beginning of the lesson but as the bad behavior progressed my
enthusiasm had gone down drastically. Three teaching strategies I thought I did well in
the lesson this week were keeping calm during the lesson, readdressing the my
expectations and making the students wait before getting back into activity, and giving
specific feedback/positive reinforcement. I would like to work on are increasing time in
activity while decreasing management time, reinforce positive behavior, and being
authoritative as well as being confident in my lesson plan.
Some strategies I could use to improve my weaknesses in my pedagogical skill set
are things such as maintaining a balance of enthusiasm and authority in my lesson to
ensure students know who is in charge but also want to participate in a fun and
meaningful learning atmosphere. I would also like to work on my demonstrations and
make sure that they run smoothly and have all the students pay attention to my
instructions. Improvements for this come through better preparation and confidence in
my lesson plans. Going into next week, we decided to progress into chasing, fleeing, and
dodging lessons. The SLOs for this next week are to perform the skills chasing fleeing
and dodging, to become cognizant (more aware) of what movements to make when
fleeing or chasing and to perform these tasks with positive and encouraging attitudes with
one another. In order to achieve this I will provide ample amounts of examples while
trying to get them into activity as soon as possible, and use positive reinforcements to
make sure the students are doing the skills correctly and reciprocate the positive
enthusiasm.