| Author |
Message |
becky pope (Bpope)
Junior Member
Username: Bpope
Post Number: 2
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, August 04, 2005 - 8:48 pm: |       |
Hello all,
I am new to this site and posted a previous message along these lines, but never got a response from anyone (or else didn't post correctly). I will teach several classes of P.E. next year at a small, public charter school. We have a small cafeteria, a basketball court that has sleeves set into the asphalt so the court can also be used for volleyball, and a huge asphalt parking lot. We have very little equipment (several basketballs and volleyballs---not much else). I will be ordering equipment soon (on a fairly limited budget), and am wondering if anyone has ideas for the best use of my budget, considering the facilities I'll be using. I also am trying to figure out the best use of our class time: everyone meets on Mondays for 30 minutes (minimum days every Monday for collaboration), and then one class will meet daily for 55 minutes the rest of the week, and the other class will meet in a block schedule for 110 minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Regardless of our space, equipment, and budget limitations, I am VERY excited about teaching P.E. (not my first year of teaching, but my first year of P.E.---just got my credential last summer), and hope to truly help my students find enjoyment in being active (and hopefully find value in eating better). Any ideas anyone can give me to maximize my time with students would be GREATLY appreciated. (And, by the way, if anyone has experience with Project Adventure, I would love to hear about how I might use that, as well.)
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Joe Herzog (Bigfish344)
Junior Member
Username: Bigfish344
Post Number: 4
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Friday, August 05, 2005 - 9:02 pm: | |
Becky: I won't describe PA activities; there are plenty of books available and others more knowledgable than I. I will say this however, the key to PA is the set up of the activity and the debrief. PA consists of many problem solving/group co-operative activities. Describe in simple terms, the problem to be solved and give he kids as few a number of parameters as possible, so that they will have to use their imagination and develop a group dynamic to solve the problem. We used the Spider Web (among other activities) where kids had to pass each other through a web of stretch cords, in different sizes and shapes, at differing heights. All they were told was that 1. The safety of each student was paramount, 2. That they had passers and catchers and 3.That if anyone on the team touched a web at any time, the group had to start over. Sometimes I gave them a time limit, but as often as not, I asked them how long they thought it would take to get all 8 +/-, through the web.
At the end of the time, the group would sit down and take a couple of minutes to debrief and analyze if and why they were successful or not. Discussions were, most often, quite animated, and I did require all group members to make a comment of some sort. My kids enjoyed all aspects of PA and I was able to invent some new activities and also let the kids invent or alter activities. They were greast creators and lots of imagination was evident. What ever activities you do, with PA as opposed to some other co-op games, defining the problem to be solved and then letting the kids decide how and why it worked (or didn't)was great for developing group cohesiveness. Joe Herzog |
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