Let Them Play - An Update

My last post was some time ago. I went through a phase of consistent blogging and tweeting and updating Facebook pages (Primary PE, Physed Ideas), but it wasn't sustainable. I am not a writer - I am a teacher, a busy one.

But aren't we all?

 I had to pull back from the 'posting' and get back to my number one priority which is teaching, which of course involves planning and delivering a PE program, and keeping up with the side role of sports coordinator which usually falls to the PE teacher.

In this time I have made some adjustments to my teaching. I last posted about the 'PE Journal' which was an exercise book each student in years 4-6 had to write in each lesson. Reflections, questions, diagrams and suggestions were scribed in the last 5 - 10 minutes of a lesson. While the benefits of developing the journaling habit are well documented, something seemed off to me.

These kids are sitting down.

Think like a child for a moment - they just wanna play!

I could tell from their faces and body language that their one PE session for the week had been diminished by an exercise that was becoming less effective by the week. After a while they lost the interest in writing their thoughts. While some students were fast writers, some were unfocussed, disinterested and wishing they were doing something else - like playing! After all, asking kids to sit on a basketball court, next to a bag of balls and asking them to write? This amounts to torture!

So I eased up on the writing, and instead have returned to the art of discussion time to get the insights, reflections, questions and feedback I wanted to generate. My lessons still have clear learning intentions that are communicated to the students, but I am being sure to maximise 'doing' time to keep them moving and learning.

I am in the process of developing some end of unit questionnaires which will be filled in by students in class time (with the cooperation of my supportive staff - I am lucky to have them!). These will serve to capture the thoughts and insights of those who slip through the discussion cracks.


What have you found when it comes to sit down tasks with your PE classes? What have you found to be sustainable and effective? Share your thoughts below and let's grow as teachers.

The PE Journal

Why didn't I do this years ago?

Over the years I have devised quizzes, questionnaires, and refection sheets for my students in an attempt to capture evidence of learning, but also to find out more of what is in their heads. We all know that some students are willing to answer questions during discussion time, while others avoid raising their hand. Is it because they don't know the answer, or are they just shy? It's hard to say.

Quizzes and tests are a risk because some students may interpret the question in a way that is different to why you asked it. Sometimes a student's literacy skills prevent them from answering accurately, or their writing is so poor it is difficult to understand what they have written.

The idea of interviewing all my students to uncover their knowledge and thoughts is of course out of the question as it would take far too long.

So I have come up with what I hope is a solution - the PE Journal. 



It works like this:

• It is simply an exercise book. One for each student in years 4-6. 
• I keep these books in a box in my store room and I bring them to PE class.
• I have a pencil case of pens that I bring with me for students to use.
• Students may be asked to write at the start, middle or end of a lesson.
• Writing time is minimal - 2-3 minutes so it does not encroach on activity time too much.
• Sometimes I ask students to write answers to specific questions, other times it may be an opinion.
• Sometimes students self asses themselves or their peers. Other times they reflect on their learning.
• Students can write in sentences, bullet points, construct a table, draw diagrams - it is their choice.
• I have a journal for every class too, which I use just like the students - to model journaling.

Rather than prescribe what topics I will have my students write about at the start of a unit, I leave it up to the moment in a lesson when something relevant occurs to inspire the writing topic. That way it is real and relevant. This journal is checked by me throughout the term and is extremely useful in capturing my students' thoughts, ideas, opinions, reflections and assessments in a journal format which allows personal expression in a private context.

I believe that expressing one's self on paper is cathartic and so the habit of journaling itself is a good one to establish. 

This journal will go home at the end of each semester so that parents can also get the insight I get with the PE Journal.

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I would love to hear about other ways of capturing the learning, ideas and opinions of students that you or other teachers may use. Please add a comment below.

Phys Ed Vision Statement

For this post I simply want to share the vision statement I created to guide PE at my school - Queen of Apostles.

After seeing the TED talk by Simon Sinek and reading his book 'Start With Why', I got thinking about questions like:

Why Phys Ed?
Why do we have Phys Ed at my school?
Why should it remain as part of the curriculum?
Why should anyone think that Phys Ed is important?
Why should anyone believe that I am doing any good for my students?

I couldn't answer any of these easily without writing a long list of the things I do as part of the PE program. This list would be what Simon Sinek calls the 'what' of Phys Ed. But as he explains in his book, the organisations, companies, businesses, leaders and yes - schools, that have people believing, understanding and following what they do all start with 'why'. If you want people to believe in your purpose, as Simon explains, don't tell them 'what' you do, start with 'why' you do it.

So I put pen to paper and wrote down what I thought were the important elements that best explain 'why' I do what I do and 'why' my students, parents, and wider community should be a part of it.

So this is what I came up with:

Queen of Apostles Physical Education

Vision Statement: Why?

Enriching the lives of our students

by developing mind, body, spirit and community

through play.

Learn to do clever things with your mind, fun things with your body and good things with your heart with friends, family, in the community or on your own.

Mission Statement: How?

With sport and physical activity as its context, and by

celebrating individual differences, our mission is to

provide a variety of experiences through which its members

develop mental skills,

physical skills,

social skills and a

sense of community in a

safe and

stimulating environment.

What?:

PE lessons, Sport sessions, Morning fitness, Faction Carnivals, Clinics and other events, Interschool carnivals and Camp.

Core values:

Students will be given the opportunity to

1. inquire about, reflect upon and analyse aspects of their learning.
2. Iearn, practice and further develop physical skills that can then be applied to physical activities and sport.
3. develop and demonstrate empathy, understanding, patience, fairness, kindness and inclusivity.
4. Participate in and contribute towards whole school and community physical activity events.

 And with this I can now point to the big writing on the wall and say "This is why we have PE in our school. This is why it is important and should remain a focus for us. This is why you should join me and be a part of something that is valuable and worth working towards. The wording may take some tweaking in the months to come, but for now it gives me a direction. Everything I do will serve this vision.

See more at www.qoape.com


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Do you have a mission statement?
Have you thought about why you are in your current job?
Does your organisation have it's members believing what it strives for?

I would love to hear your 'Whys'. Please comment below.

Little Effort, Huge Results

So I've got to tell you about our net games unit. For the first 5 weeks of term 1 our year 3-6 classes focused on volleyball, badminton and tennis. All these sports share similar concepts, strategies and skills.

Our badminton equipment is pretty good. I have collected it over the years and have enough stuff to fill out the undercover area with courts. Our volleyball nets and balls are adequate for what we need. We play throw/catch style modified volleyball games.

But for tennis, I was still using those waffle-style plastic bats. Have you ever used those? They are terrible. Rafal Nadal couldn't return a ball with one of those bats! Not only was it difficult for my students to play competently, but this equipment was not inspiring them to want to play.

So I had to do something. I had neglected tennis for many years. We used to have a tennis coach come in and take lessons for those who paid for it. So I took this as an excuse for pushing it to one side. But now that I have decided to teach a 'net games' unit, tennis is back on my radar, and I have discovered that equipment is a big factor.



I decided to purchase some decent racquets. They are not expensive, but short handled string racquets enable students much better control when they contact tennis balls.

Speaking of tennis balls, low compression tennis balls are my new favourite piece of sports gear. They move slower and bounce lower and are therefore much easier to control.

Along the way I discovered some teaching tips that were a bit help in correcting bad grip and technique, particularly with backhand strokes. These pictures show visuals I used to help students understand that the back of the racquet face is used for backhand strokes. The orange tape was helpful for students and their peers to self-correct and peer teach, as it makes it easy to see if students are keeping one edge on top for both forehands and backhands.

         

        

With this new armoury my students experienced great success in not only developing competency, but their interest as a result went through the roof. Students started bringing tennis racquets to school to play at recess and lunch. The courts were full at these breaks. It was great to see, and the lesson for me was to not dismiss the importance of having the right gear. For what was a little effort in ordering some new equipment, the results were huge.

The Evolution of 'Before-School-Fitness'

So here's what evolved at my school last year;

Leading up to my school cross country carnival, I organised 'lap-running' before school where students, teachers and parents were welcome to come along and walk/jog/run laps of our oval and basketball courts. At the completion of each lap students would get their 'lap card' checked by a yr 6 Faction Captain. Every lap earned a point towards our 'Bonus Points' shield at the cross country carnival. Students also received certificates at assemblies when they reached milestones of 50, 75 and 100 laps.

It is a good system that is easy to organise and gets kids exercising and into the spirit if inter-faction competition.

I wanted this lap running to continue throughout the year, and it was maintained.....for a while. 

You see, when students arrive early to school, they are allowed to play on the oval and climbing equipment, under the supervision of the before-school duty teacher. They can even get balls out of the equipment basket and play. And whilst I would continue to do laps with some students, over time the majority stopped running and began playing with others on the oval.

I was a disappointed.

The large number of lap runners had diminished.

Was the motivation lost?

Did I not push it hard enough?

Bit then I had one of those moments - "This is actually ok".

I spend a great deal of time in my role as PE teacher helping students explore a variety of physical activities in the hope that they discover what their interests are. I openly encourage my students to try new things and pursue the activities that they find most engaging for them.

If running laps does not float their boat - then so be it. 

If I cracked the whip and forced kids into running laps, or made running the only option before school - then the number of students exercising would fall dramatically. They wouldn't come down to the oval at all.

But rather, on any given day, when you arrive at Queen of Apostles School, you will see a large number of students who are active before the day begins. They are exercising, socialising, laughing, experimenting, exploring, climbing, kicking, chasing and yes....... some are still doing laps too.

Win-win!

To see what else happens in PE at Queen of Apostles School go to www.qoape.com. 

"It's Buzz Time"!

Hey teachers, what do you do straight after your basketball/soccer/netball game each week? Get in your car and drive home? No. Not straight away - you talk.

You get together with your team and reflect on what just happened. The good plays, the mistakes, the funny bits, what worked and what didn't. You share your perspective of the game, and learn from each other. 

I give my students the same opportunity. After a game or activity concludes, or even if it is just a break in play, I say to my students "It's Buzz Time".

They know what this means.

They turn to the person next to them or huddle with their team mates and talk about what just happened, and I stand back and let them go for it.

The resultant sound is like a hive of bees buzzing away.

'Buzz Time' enables:

• A chance for students to express themselves and be heard.
• A chance to listen to others and learn the art of taking turns to speak.
• Learning from others' mistakes and triumphs.
• Enjoyment through re-living the funny moments in a game. 

Following 'Buzz Time' I invite the students to tell the class what was discussed. The teachable material that comes from 'Buzz Time' is endless. It is a technique that I use regularly with all year levels at my school.

And it's not just for P.E. classes. Try it in all your other lessons. Sometimes students will steer a discussion in a direction you had never thought of, and this is when your students can become the teacher!

I Just Got Schooled!

Do you remember when your mum used to ask you at dinner time - "So dear, what did you learn at school today?"

Well....

I had my yr 6 students in their 'Net Games' unit rotating through 3 activities - badminton, volleyball and tennis. I had just minutes before (in the lesson brief) told them that if they want to create their own versions of each of the sports then they may (eg. throw and catch volleyball). I have been pushing the point repeatedly to all my classes that it is ok to change the rules and playing conditions to suit their abilities and preferences in regard to competitiveness level (eg. scoring points vs friendly rallies).

If it is 'fun and fair' - that beats 'sticking to the real rules'.

As I was walking toward the tennis group I noticed 4 pairs of students all standing on one tennis crt (we have three courts) and seemingly getting in each other's way.

And then I did it....I stuck my nose in!

"Hey kids - spread out! And move closer to your partner, and use the other court lines available".

They went quiet, and began to move, until one student spoke up - "But Mr. B we've invented a new game".

And I realised that I had fallen back into an old habit - fencing in my students to conform to the 'norm' of what tennis should be. If the kids weren't watching I would have punched myself in the face!

"Oh...Ok...What is it"?

They explained that they were playing 4 v 4 - defending their baseline with 4 balls active at any one time. The number of bounces didn't matter, they just had to defend their side of the court and hit the tennis balls back to try and get them past the other team. They were using tennis strokes, communicating to team mates, spreading out, defending space and aiming for space in their opponents court - everything that happens in real tennis!

Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! 

This is exactly what I want from these kids - to be creative with rules, inclusive with class mates and to find ways of making a game suit them, rather than persisting with a set of rules and conditions that doesn't suit them.

So I encouraged them to continue, and in the lesson debrief I pointed out their triumph to the rest of the class. I also highlighted the mistake I made as the teacher.

I have no problems with pointing out my faults and vulnerabilities to my students. They must see that it is ok to make mistakes. This is how we learn - and I certainly learnt a valuable lesson that day.