Teach PE Like a Rockstar: Ultimate Pool Frisbee

Monday, May 7, 2012

Ultimate Pool Frisbee - Mike Morelli

The day had come where I was doing my final teaching experience in 255. As I sat watching my buddy Devon teach, waiting to go next, I didn't feel nervous one bit. I think that comes down to how well my Professor prepared me throughout the semester. I have learned an incredible amount of information from Professor Yang; he is way beyond the game and his techniques are revolutionary for Physical Education. For Lab D, I decided to teach my class defense in Ultimate "Pool" Frisbee. I felt it was a risky choice due to how common Ultimate Frisbee is getting, but I felt since it was in the pool and I added a few new adaptions to it that it would be a hit. It turned out better than I thought!

{Instant Activity with the "Swinxs"}

I started my lesson with a relay race to get the class going. My Professor told us we had to integrate technology into our lesson so I took up his suggestion of using this device called the "Swinxs." It's an interactive device that has many games on it. I chose the game Swinxs Dash. It allowed two separate teams to go and than whichever team finished back first, it told them their time. All the students were definitely feeling good after the relay race. Next up, I went over classroom rules and safety than jumped into the main focus of the lesson. I was focusing on defending with the noodle for Ultimate Pool Frisbee. I had the students work as pairs so they could get used to slapping the frisbee down to the water. After that I had them work in groups of 4 (2 v 2) so they could get a taste of gameplay. After seeing excellent results, the final 6-7 minutes of the lesson were devoted to gameplay. After watching the students smile and laugh and have activity falling just short of 50% of the lesson, I am happy with how my lesson went.

After watching and analyzing my video countless times, I can confidently say this was my best performance thus far. I feel I have grown incredibly since Lab A up until this point now. Comparing my video from Lab A to Lab D you can see a lot of growth. I feel that I am a lot more confident in my teaching abilities where as in Lab A I was nervous and seemed unorganized. Throughout the labs I am able to gain and retain students attention and have them jumping into activities quickly. I noticed in Lab D students started to goof off and I addressed it quickly and kept them on target.

Things I still want to work on though is more activity. Physical Education should be about physical activity and I want to have as much of that as possible. I noticed in my video I can cut a lot of the talking out; but I have done better with that throughout the labs and it is also something that gets better with time. I have incorporated technology better into my lessons too. Wether it be music, the swinxs, or videos, Lab C and D saw me put technology to use. Thanks to Professor Yang, I have seen myself go through a complete transformation in my teaching abilities. I am more confident, organized, prepared, and knowledgable due to what I have learned in EDU 255! Below are some links where you can watch my lesson and check out some of the analyzing I did for my lesson. I also made a video that shows my growth as a teacher candidate and my ability to make an impact and improve student learning. Enjoy!