| Author |
Message |
John Powell (Jbp7200)
Junior Member
Username: Jbp7200
Post Number: 2
Registered: 9-2007
| | Posted on Monday, October 01, 2007 - 8:00 am: |       |
Is it wrong to have two captains pick teams in a middle school physical education class? Normally, a teacher may assign the teams, but what is wrong with letting the students choose who they compete with and against?
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Lisa Getgen (Lmg4779)
Junior Member
Username: Lmg4779
Post Number: 2
Registered: 9-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 8:46 am: | |
There are two problems with having captains pick their own teams in middle school. The first problem is that each captain is going to want their team to win so they will pick the most athletic people in the class first. That leaves behind the not so athletic kids in the class and honestly, who wants to be the last kid picked? This also highlights that these particular students left are not atheletic and that almost always leads to picking. Also, their may be fighting over who gets the less athletic person making those students feel that much less about themselves.
The second problem is that the captains are going to want to pick their friends first. This problem is just like the other one. The kids left are the more unliked students in the class and probably more anti-social. These leads to bickering of who gets who between the captains. This also highlights that these kids are unliked by their classmates.
It's just an easier solution for the teachers to pick the teams themselves. It also gives a chance for the teams to be equal and balanced. Pretty much it's less of a headache for the teacher and also the students won't have to have their self-esteem brought down if they are not the first ones picked. |
Ryan Helfrich (Rth6433)
Junior Member
Username: Rth6433
Post Number: 3
Registered: 9-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2007 - 1:00 pm: | |
I agree with the message above. I think that picking captains to choose their teams causes children to basically put down other classmates. It lowers people self confidence/esteem, and it also slows down getting to the activity at hand. |
Darnell Stanford (Dms8100)
Junior Member
Username: Dms8100
Post Number: 3
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2007 - 1:12 pm: | |
I believe that the teacher should always pick the teams for their P.E. classes. When students pick they pick their friends and other athletes first. This leaves the not so athletic kids feeling neglected. The teacher however should pick teams in a variety of different ways to keep the teams new and fresh. |
Jennifer Lynn Bender (Ckybendz25)
Junior Member
Username: Ckybendz25
Post Number: 4
Registered: 9-2007
| | Posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 - 8:37 pm: | |
I feel that students picking teams is wrong because they always pick their friends first, and so on and so forth, then the last one not picked feels down about themselves. Have the teacher pick the teams makes it easier on the student's emotions, and makes each team even. |
Christine Henry (Clh3530)
New member
Username: Clh3530
Post Number: 1
Registered: 9-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 6:05 am: | |
I feel that by letting the students pick their own teams it singles out the same non-athletic or unpopular student every time. This could result in the student being teased and made fun of in most cases. At least from what I have experienced. |
scott nalbach (Scottnalbach)
New member
Username: Scottnalbach
Post Number: 1
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 1:51 pm: | |
So the question is, how should kids organize themselves into teams? If our goal is ultimately to have kids play games and be active without our help, how should they have fair teams when they play by themselves? I know with basketball you can shoot for teams, but that takes too long in a PE setting. |
Paula Summit (Summit5)
Moderator
Username: Summit5
Post Number: 155
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 6:32 pm: | |
Let the kids buddy up so they are with a chosen friend and then the teacher can decide how to put the groups of two into teams...using a deck of cards for red or black (but you have to have the cards set up for the right number of kids) or something similar for luck of the draw. This way, they are with at least one of their friends, but the number of participants are broken into teams. There are many creative ways to make teams. birthdays, shoe size, hair length, eye color, the list goes on...I often changed the method of picking teams. I had some 3 x 5 cards with 4 colors with a variety of stickers. They go the card and I chose the sticker or color. Sometimes I would say to get into groups of (what ever number) and gave them a minute to accompish that. Anyone left over went to lost and found (that would be me) and I would randomly place them with a group, period, end of sentence. If they didn't like the group I placed them with, I would say, "then pick your own group next time, you had a choice and you made me make it for you" I could get away with saying that because the kids knew me very well and it would be said in a light hearted manner. |
Leslie Ellis (Lesliee35)
New member
Username: Lesliee35
Post Number: 1
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 07, 2007 - 5:37 pm: | |
Here is something that I have done and it seems to work for me. I would pick captains who are generally picked last otherwise. Not only do they feel important but they do not have to worry about being picked last. Although, most of the time I do the picking of the teams beacause it is less stressful to me AND the students. |
Jackie Pielin (Jap0144)
Junior Member
Username: Jap0144
Post Number: 3
Registered: 3-2008
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 10:45 am: | |
I think the main reason why you shouldn't let middle school students pick teams is because of the popularity factor and bullying issues. An idea for picking teams as a teacher could be by their outfit color or first letter of their name etc. |
Amy Wroblewski (Awroblew)
Junior Member
Username: Awroblew
Post Number: 2
Registered: 4-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, May 01, 2008 - 7:22 am: | |
Since choosing captains and having them pick teams in physical education tends to be more of a “popularity contest,” there are much better ways to separate the class into teams. One quick and easy way is to have the students count off. The number, to which the students count, depends on how many teams you want for your lesson. After all students have a number, combine all the ones together, all the twos together, and so on. Another way is to have the students quickly choose a partner. After they have their partner, have the entire class line up with the partners facing each other. The students on the right side will be one team, and the students on the left side will be the other team. Also, some educators choose to create teams or groups themselves to attain fair teams. Another idea would to discretely have four students create the teams for the entire class. They could come in after school to keep this process as covert as possible. At the designated time, these students would separate the students in their class into the most even, fair teams as possible to foster competitive play and success. After the teams were created, the four “captains” would randomly select what team they would be a member of. |
Megan Vasquez (Megan8115)
New member
Username: Megan8115
Post Number: 1
Registered: 3-2009
| | Posted on Thursday, March 26, 2009 - 12:06 pm: | |
Picking teams should not take a lot of time. Although I believe that the teacher being in control of deciding who will be partners does save a lot of time. I do believe that choosing partners promotes decisions making in children. Give them a chance to choose a partner that they think they can work well with. Obviously if some of the students are abusing their privileges of being with a partner of their choice you can give them a warning, and then if they are still disrupting the class then can you make the final decision on who they should work with. Another good idea is to give the children a choice but put restrictions on whom they should choose. For example, get with a partner you have never worked with before, or the person who sits next to you in class. The days of captain picking should be over. Yes, making captains makes students feel like leaders. However, captains are going to do what they need to do to make a successful team. We should not let the students whose motor skills are not fully developed to be neglected. It is our job as physical education teachers to build high self-esteem and confidence in all our students. |
Nicole Colao (Ncc9133)
Junior Member
Username: Ncc9133
Post Number: 4
Registered: 2-2009
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 07, 2009 - 10:09 am: | |
I remember in high school and middle school, my teacher would pick two captains and let them pick the teams, and I did not like it. The two captains would be the best athletes in the class. From that, the captains would pick their friends and better athletes. That made the students feel uncomfortable and discouraged in PE class because their classmates don't want them on their team. Also, there could be un even amount of girls and boys on a team where it should be equal. The teacher should definitely pick the teams make it fair for all the students. |
Jim Roche (Jroche23)
New member
Username: Jroche23
Post Number: 1
Registered: 1-2011
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 26, 2011 - 10:13 am: | |
I agree with most people's statments about picking teams. What I have done in the past with some sucess is choosing captains (which I rotate every time) and having them select 1 student to be on their team. Then I number off or pass out grouping sticks that have colors on them so the other students aren't left out. 80% of the time I make the teams but the kids enjoy choosing for themselves once in a while. |
