Entry 58

School Placement: Carlisle School

Cooperating Teacher: Mancino Craighead

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

Date: 11/21/14

Summary of Today’s Activities:

Today is Grandparents day, which means an early dismissal = woohoo!!

We met with our normal Friday classes but for a shorter period today. Most of my students did not show up to school and I only had 2 grandparents actually attend my classes. (Grandparents are more involved with the younger children, so the lower and middle school are really active on this day, as opposed to the upper school which usually wastes a half day of instruction). However, I showed a short E:60 film in my Sports Medicine class and had my students relate it to the material we have been covering (strength training and conditioning). In AP Stats, I worked a FRAPPY with the students and gave them student responses for them to score. Seriously, that is all I accomplished today in the classroom; although, I posted assignments for all of my classes to be completed over break on edline (so that made up for my lost instructional time ;) ). 

Reflections of Today's Activities

Very grateful for a half day and a little time to get caught up on some work! This is my last post until Dec 1st! 

Entry 57

School Placement: Carlisle School

Cooperating Teacher: Mancino Craighead

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

Date: 11/20/14

Summary of Today’s Activities:

Normal planning period.
PE (5th, long) - Well I knew it was too good to be true - the senior schedule to lead today leaves right before class and doesn't even check out. Once the school got in contact with his dad, the dad gave an excuse that he left because he had "blisters on his toes". See below my reflection in regards to this matter. I quickly had to step in and makes plans for my class, yay. The warm-up consisted of our new-revised routine - with timed exercises. After exercises, we began our basketball lesson with lay-up lines. And since I wasn't prepared to introduce anything new, I just went with whatever they already knew well. The other drills that the class participated in was 3v2 and 2v1 and then they finished up with a 4v4v4 activity (winner travels down the court to the other team of 4 in attempt to score more points).
Middle School Study Hall - drives me nuts every Tuesday and Thursday; feels like punishment.
Middle PE (7th) Monday/Thursday class. Special day - last class before Thanksgiving so I waived the normal 20 minute warm-up routine. I allowed them to just "be active" for 10 minutes to be sufficient as a warm-up. Then I introduced a new dodgeball game called "ghost ball". Ghostball is a normal game of dodgeball with a set number of balls (start off with 1 or 2 and increase by 1 ball per every game played). However, the team is allowed to select a "ghost" to go to the other teams side but only allowed to travel on the outside perimeter of the court. Each team is allowed to use their ghost by throwing them a ball so the ghost can throw a ball at the other team - so balls will be thrown at you from all angles of the court. Once you get hit, you become a ghost on the other side of the court, so you are still technically in the game. The game is played until 1 side has all became ghosts. We played 3 rounds of this before I let them have 10 minutes of free play before we left for the day!

Reflections of Today's Activities

It has become an epidemic of parents sticking up for their children by supplying them with excuses once they violate school rules. It is almost more important for the child to seem "golden" for the parents, rather than teaching them that breaking the rules has consequences. It is troubling that parents value appearances over being responsible - but what can a school do about what? I'm so tired of hearing excuses rather than being held accountable for actions. What is the appropriate action a teacher should take in this situation? 

Planning the same lesson plan for Sports Medicine doesn't always mean that each class will react the same to it. My 2nd period class is comprised mostly of freshman who are too scared to get in trouble so they tend to follow all directions given. My 4th period is a mixture of all types of students within the grades with various athletic abilities - but certainly a variety of personalities. My 4th period did not respond as well to the lesson as my 2nd period today. Instead of following directions and performing the workouts, I got a few students trying to dip out and then smarted off to me - I WAS NOT HAVING IT!! I had to stop during the warm-up and put the desks back together so they could do written work instead. It was to my understanding that they couldn't handle the "hands on" experience, but they still needed to know the material - so they were given a paper to write about the science behind progressive-resistive training. Hopefully, this will change a few behaviors in class - a few can ruin the entire experience for everyone. I'm not sure how politically correct this method is, but I tend to take my coaching habits to the classroom to make all students learn accountability and how to act in a group of people. Go to the main content

Entry 56

School Placement: Carlisle School

Cooperating Teacher: Mancino Craighead

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

Date: 11/19/14

Summary of Today’s Activities:

Sports Medicine (2nd & 4th, long) - Another special lesson planned for today - Circuit Training. When the students came to class, I allowed them to go change into workout clothes. After they returned, I projected an Insanity Workout Video on the board - and we proceeded with the 10 minute warm-up. The video was an hour long all together, but since I had other work they needed to start I shortened our workout time to 30 minutes. When we finished up our workout, I held a class discussion about how this video related to cardiorespiratory conditioning and what defined circuit training. I was pleased to hear the very scientific answers as they related it to their physical condition while performing the exercises. The last part of class - assigned to different assignments so they could start work on it today and finish it up friday for grandparents day.
AP Statistics (6th, long) - As the students walked in - I handed them their "warm-up" to work on for about 15 minutes: FRAPPY #3. It was essentially a previous free response question used on an AP exam. While they were working on the FRAPPY - I used that time to check homework and meet with students individually who have been absent lately to catch them up. The next part of class, I allowed the students to meet with a partner to collaborate on their homework assignment from the night before (chapter review). Once they discussed their answers with each other, I projected the problem on the board and gave the solution sets. I also went over the FRAPPY answer before I did the chapter review-forgot to mention that before. I believe we are all ready for the summative assessment on Ch. 3 now!
No 7th PE today - Wednesdays tend to be my double-booked days. Another teacher covered my PE class while I met with my upper school Advisory group. Today was Grim Reaper day that CHILL sponsors to bring awareness to texting and driving. Within my advisory group, I held a discussion about the dangers and really tried to stress that it doesn't make it any safer just because you see your parents do it either - and backed myself up with research :)

Reflections of Today's Activities

Planning the same lesson plan for Sports Medicine doesn't always mean that each class will react the same to it. My 2nd period class is comprised mostly of freshman who are too scared to get in trouble so they tend to follow all directions given. My 4th period is a mixture of all types of students within the grades with various athletic abilities - but certainly a variety of personalities. My 4th period did not respond as well to the lesson as my 2nd period today. Instead of following directions and performing the workouts, I got a few students trying to dip out and then smarted off to me - I WAS NOT HAVING IT!! I had to stop during the warm-up and put the desks back together so they could do written work instead. It was to my understanding that they couldn't handle the "hands on" experience, but they still needed to know the material - so they were given a paper to write about the science behind progressive-resistive training. Hopefully, this will change a few behaviors in class - a few can ruin the entire experience for everyone. I'm not sure how politically correct this method is, but I tend to take my coaching habits to the classroom to make all students learn accountability and how to act in a group of people. 

Entry 55

School Placement: Carlisle School

Cooperating Teacher: Mancino Craighead

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

Date: 11/18/14

Summary of Today’s Activities:

Normal planning period.
Tuesday (5th, long period) - Before class started, I met with the student who had prepared to teach class today. He went over his lesson plan with me, but I wasn't too worried about him since he is my senior that always has it together. He planned a different variation to the normal warm-up but it was still effective and everyone still followed his lead. After warm-ups he directed the group to different teams to compete in different drills he designed specifically for this class. The class was well managed and the lesson supplied great variation for all different skill levels. Overall, I was very happy with the results - but I do know results can vary greatly depending on the "teacher" of the class.
Middle Division Study Hall.
Middle PE (7th) - Grandparents day is on Friday so most of the middle school students were pulled from PE to work on a special presentation in preparation for the grandparents. The few students that we did have helped us set up the gym for the upcoming basketball game. When everything was set up we took them through a few basketball drills and let them play a game of knock-out before we left.

Reflections of Today's Activities

The PE student lead lesson plan was very successful today - almost too good to be true. I'm hoping by having the responsible seniors be the first guinea pigs that they rest of the class will follow in line. However, one lurking variable that has lead to the success thus far- the responsible seniors have also been the captains on our Varsity basketball team (our realllllllly good basketball team). They have the experience to lead and set up appropriate drills due to their 12+ years in the sport - so I'm interested to see how the people who have less experience plan for the class. 

Entry 54

School Placement: Carlisle School

Cooperating Teacher: Mancino Craighead

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

Date: 11/17/14

Summary of Today’s Activities:

Normal Monday Schedule (Meet with every class for 45 min)
Sports Medicine (2nd & 4th, short) - The warm-up incorporated the use of our key words from the chapter and relating it to yoga (the lesson from Friday). Before we started with the lesson, I wanted the kids to gear in and lose all other outside distractions - so we started with a 1 minute "stay active" activity. Once time was up, I called on a few kids to talk about what they were feeling physically within their body (in plain terminology). This lead into our lesson of the day - Cardiorespiratory Conditioning, more specifically the benefits and physiological response in the body. The students took notes from a prepared Powerpoint and I also linked a few videos to help with reinforcement. My main goal was to show the students how creative you can be creating an exercise routine - gear it towards your interests and think outside of the box. I concluded class by preparing them for Wednesday's class - Circuit training!
PE (5th, short) - I decided that I was going to run all Monday's classes so I could still manage the class and keep them on track with the purpose of the unit. I'm trying to use my Monday as a source of modeling for the students who are trying to prepare their lesson. I started with the warm-up routine and immediately split them up by skill level in basketball for their first activity. Since today's lesson in basketball is focused on shooting - I had the group(s) participate in a few shooting competitions. We ended up doing this the whole class period, but with a small variation between each competition.
AP Statistics (6th, short) - I collected the homework I assigned over the weekend and began with a chapter review. Chapter 3 (Examining Relationships) was split up into 3 sections - so with 1 bivariate data collection, I was able to review the entire chapter using the different concepts we learned. We reviewed calculator functions along with interpretations of those numbers - it took us the entire short period to do the review. At the end of class, I assigned a homework problem for reinforcement of Chapter 3 before the summative assessment sneaks up on us and bites us in the rears!
Middle PE (7th) - Monday/Thursday class. Dress Out/Daily Exercises. The numbers were really down in this particular class for some reason - but over lunch one my upper school students from PE (a 9th grader) asked if he could practice leading the class with my middle school class. I admired the proactive approach, so I agreed to it but under strict guidelines concerning the safety of my middle school students. He ran a basketball lesson that he verbally communicated with me before the start of class. Overall, things ran smoothly and he demonstrated great class management (the part he was nervous about). However, 1 kid did get involved with an accident that required an e-mail to the parent (see discussion below).

Reflections of Today's Activities

It never seems to fail, every time I'm double-booked and have responsibilities outside of the gym or allow a student to practice "teaching" a class - a student gets injured! The smallest 6th grade boy received a pass from the biggest 7th grade girls which actually took him to the ground from the momentum of the pass. When he got up from the accident, he seemed visibly shaken but nothing alarming right away. As a few minutes passed, he was in a full on asthma attack. I took him to the secretary's office to calm him down with a few deep breathing activities. He stayed there the rest of the class period, but at the end of the day I had to speak with the middle division director about the incident. The next step was to e-mail the mom about what happened - which I did right after school. My 9th grade student was devastated about the event and was actually trying to take all responsibility (my same 9th grade student who was being really disrespectful at the beginning of the year). I had forgot about the incident until Tuesday morning when I checked my e-mail gaining reassurance from the mother that everything was fine and she appreciated the communication. The next thing that happened blew my mind - that same 9th grader came to my office first thing this morning to tell me he checked on the 6th grader this morning because he was concerned about his well-being.  This 9th grade student has had a complete change of character in the past 2 months that almost brought a tear to my eye. His concern for that student was evidence to me that kids really can learn and be responsible citizens even though I don't always see it on the day-to-day stuff! 

Entry 53

School Placement: Carlisle School

Cooperating Teacher: Mancino Craighead

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

Date: 11/14/14

Summary of Today’s Activities:

Sports Medicine (2nd & 4th. long periods) - Today was a special day for my sports medicine class - we finally got to put all of our days of note taking aside and do something with our learned knowledge! Because of the importance of stretching and warming up your body, I made my class do Yoga for the whole class period. I wanted them to associate the information on paper with what is actually happening in their bodies so they can have a better understanding. In order for my class to partake in this lesson plan, I had to turn my classroom into a yoga studio by stacking chairs and clearing the floor. The yoga video that we performed - P90X Yoga. I believe this was a beneficial lesson for everyone involved, at the end I made the students make the connection of isometric vs dynamic exercises and the physiological response to a "warm-up". Mission Accomplished!
AP Statistics (5th, long) - It seriously took me the entire class period to go over 3 problems (2 Homework, 1 classwork). However, it was necessary because I taught all calculator functions today for all of chapter 3 (Examining Relationships). The functions included: scatterplots, least square regression line, and residual plots. We also reviewed the interpretations for scatterplots, y hat = a + bx, correlation, residuals, and r-squared. At the end of class I gave them a worksheet that included all of the previously mentioned material.
Lunch Duty - Blah
Middle PE (7th) - Tuesday/Friday class: Dress Out/ Daily Exercises . Today has been such a good day and the rest of the day follows suit :) Mr. Craighead set up the game pindodge and we split up and played with the kids as well. "Cheating" was down since we played with them and the overall morale was up! Overall, very good day :)

Reflections of Today's Activities:

I had a very good day professionally - breaking up the content with hands on practice in sports medicine really helped the information to sink in. I also enjoyed the quite and calmness of the room - everyone left energized but relaxed at the same. Great day and looking forward to a great weekend - club volleyball tryouts Saturday and going to a Panthers game in Charlotte on Sunday! 

Entry 52

School Placement: Carlisle School

Cooperating Teacher: Mancino Craighead

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

Date: 11/13/14

Summary of Today’s Activities:

Finally back to a normal schedule and planning period!
PE (5th, long) - 2nd attempt of student led class - A different senior was assigned the basketball lesson today which focused on ball handling. Instead of running the routine exercises- he performed his own; but they were not up to my standards so I'm going to have to make some adjustments there in the future. He also tried to use the same activities as the previous day with very little variation - but this is partly on me because he was just told about the "lesson plans" that need to be submitted for approval. Even though I wasn't totally satisfied with his efforts, the class still responded well which means there is hope for this new platform!
Middle Division Study Hall - I spent the entire time tutoring a student from my AP Stats class that has had quite a few absences.
Middle PE (7th) - Monday/Thursday class. Dress Out/Daily Exercises. I haven't had this particular class since Monday and they certainly cleaned up their act today as well! I had absolutely no issues during exercises or the activity today. They performed all exercises to standard and with correct technique - my heart was so happy today! Activity - indoor soccer. I split up the group into 3 teams and allowed them to play 5 minutes each, not depending on the score. Everyone was happy, happy, happy today!

Reflections of Today's Activities:

I do see a lot of potential in the student-led PE classes, but it's going to need some more attention on my end. This weekend I'm going to develop a rubric for how they will be assessed and make a list of certain guidelines/expectations that I will be looking for. The first lesson was fantastic, but the second was not so great - but it helped me to see the flaws and where I should do some tweaking. I will be teaching the class on Monday and will hand out the rubric and make assignments for the lessons the following class periods.