The First lab is over, what do I do next?

Hey rockers, how was the first lab? Don't tell me about it; write it in your blog so we can see how you felt for your first official lab. I liked how everyone showed up and was dressed in a Cortland polo, along with appropriate khaki pants or shorts. It is good that you all know how to dress properly. This is important because you never know who might be watching, it could be a future athletic director who you may want to work with someday. Another observation I noticed was everyone was engaging with the children towards the end of the lab. No one was standing around, which is great. Every time that I got a chance to look, I did not see a child by himself. This is good.

A few things to remember for next time. I would like to say good job to the group that came with bandanas. This is good that you got into the theme, and dressed up. If anyone noticed, they were the one's getting the most attention at the end of it. It's important that you all dress up. The next theme is superheroes. This is a great theme that everyone can dress up to. Take a look at last semester's 201 class, and see the costumes some of them came in. It was a great lab, and all the St Mary's students were even more engaged. Another thing I noticed is the energy and enthusiasm. There wasn't a lot of it. When you are explaining the game, it is important that you have a great amount of energy with it. If you are explaining it without a lot of enthusiasm, the children will not want to play the game. It is your job as future Physical Educators to explain the game in a way that will make the children want to play. The students there will feed off your energy, and if you look boring, they will just walk away to play something else.

For those who are not satisfied with how the lab went, it's alright. This was the first lab, and it is still a learning process. This is why the lab reflections are important. Once you write down what you did or didn't do, you know to make changes for next time. Just remember when you are planning your games to try and pick age-appropriate games. If you have the cafeteria group, don't pick out games that are only suitable for the Pre-K. The same thing goes for the Pre-K group; you shouldn't pick games that are going to be to complicated for the Pre-K. Make sure for those in the Monday group, that you have your games in by Friday at 5 pm. Wednesday's group, it is Sunday at 5 pm. The next theme is superheroes so try to incoporate superheroes into your game. There are suggestions for games on the game planner, that are straight out of your textbook. Also, remember to bring the assessment sheet to lab next time. This way all the key skills that we are looking for are right in front of you. This can be found on the game planner as well. Keep working hard, and you will do just fine. Remember to take advantage of the lab assistant's, there are here to help, so do not be afraid to ask one of them. Keep on rocking!