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.

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.