Entry 7

School Placement: Carlisle School

Cooperating Teacher: Mancino Craighead

Grade(s)/Subject(s) of Placement: 6-12 (Sports Medicine, AP Statistics, PE (6-12))

Date: 9/3/14

Summary of Today’s Activities:

Sports Medicine - (2nd and 4th, long periods)

Today was my first day meeting with my sports medicine classes since last Friday (since we were out of school on Monday), so it was time for a review of what we have covered thus far.  I start class by handing back their projects that I graded over the weekend and talk about my expectations going forward so I wouldn't see the same mistake again. After I finish my business dealing with homework/projects, I move into our lesson of the day which happens to be a review. We are now officially done with Chapter 1 so I wanted to use a review session before I give them a quiz. (I like to combine 2 chapters for a test so I'm not wasting so many days testing and losing instructional days). Because I hate lecturing for an entire 1.5 hours, I want to make the review fun, so I made a Sports Medicine Chapter 1 Jeopardy game. To ensure that the students would pay attention, I threw out some extra credit points on the quiz for the winning team and made it a sliding scale of points so even the last place team would earn 1 point for participating. This was a very successful lesson for both class periods; I'll try to plan for all reviews to be a game since most of my students are also athletes and tends to be naturally competitive. 

AP Statistics -(6th, long period)

I promised my class no homework over the weekend since we made our goal of where we needed to be in the chapter before we convened for the long weekend. So the first hour was devoted completely to finishing the Case Closed assignment that was given to them on Friday. After they all finished in their collaborative groups, we went over the answers as a class. It was actually to my surprise of well they are responding to answers; it was even more surprising to hear their thought process behind the questions. Statistically terminology is usually tricky, but my students are picking it up like a second language and it is making my heart happy. After we finish the review, I assign 4 homework problems that will help them study for their quiz on Friday. 

Middle PE - (7th )

Wednesdays are used as the alternating days for the 2 different middle school PE classes. Today I see the same group I saw yesterday, so we waste no time on getting started. The students go through their daily exercise routine and then I add on more exercises to appease to the physical fitness unit. After about 40 minutes, I let them play a game called "End-line Soccer" which is a whole group activity that is broken down into smaller groups with the same rules of soccer. The students stay active the whole hour class, so everyone wins. 

Reflection about Today’s Activities:

Making learning fun and effective is a daunting task, but not an impossible one. I believe the more technology I use in class, the more the students are actually engaged. But my fear - is it meaningful learning? I suppose I'll let the assessments do the talking! 

Technology is not a strong suit for me, it is actually like stepping out of my comfort zone because of how fast it changes in just a short amount of time. I only feel comfortable when I have practice with it, and because of the ever changing formats and new resources popping up daily - it is almost impossible for me to stay relevant and up-to-date. This is prompting me to sign up for a workshop next summer, especially on Carlisle's tab!