Entry 51

School Placement: Carlisle School

Cooperating Teacher: Mancino Craighead

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

Date: 11/12/14

Summary of Today’s Activities:

We are on an altered schedule today due to the visiting accreditation teams.
Sports Medicine (2nd & 4th) Due to the altered schedule - we aren't meeting at our normal times but we are still meeting; shortened class periods at different times. Today's lesson still focused on strength training exercises but the topics include: isokinetic exercises, circuit training, and various forms of stretching and warming up. At the beginning of class I gave each pod a dry erase marker and had different column headers on the board. Throughout the class period I asked a question and had 1 member from each group come write an answer on the board. After each question, the students passed the marker to his/her left until everyone had a chance to participate. I scattered this form of formative assessment during the lesson - the students were also taking notes from the power point and watched a few short videos to reinforce the new content.
AP Statistics (5th): First thing as soon as the students walked in - they were given a short, 10 minute quiz on correlation and scatterplots. After I collected the quizzes, I checked and reviewed the homework that was assigned from Monday. However, the topic - Least Squared Regression Line that I quickly introduced on Monday needed a little more time to really sink in today. By thoroughly reviewing the homework and performing a few more problems - I think our skills are starting to improve! The lesson intended for today - regression and regression plots didn't pose too many problems, so I assigned 2 homework problems and a reading guide section.
No 7th period PE today for me - even through there was still class. I was actually double-booked for this time period. Mr. Craighead took over for both of our classes so I could be with my 4th period Sports Medicine class. 

Reflections of Today's Activities:

I have found success in more student involvement activities and retention in the material in my sports medicine class. Sometimes, the hardest thing for me is to realize that I'm not teaching college level kids and they need more visual references and activities as opposed to lectures. Just because I'm super excited about the content in my class doesn't necessarily mean that my students are too - so I need to involve them in their learning process as opposed to me just delivering the material. Today, the incorporation of letting them write on the board was a huge hit and I was pleasantly surprised about how much they are learning in my class. Teaching toolbox: Poll Everywhere and Dry Erase Markers!!