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| Diagram of T-Drill I drew on paint. Click to see larger image. |
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
10 hours of Outside Practical Experience
I actually have 2 different places where I did my outside practical experience. The first was at my previous school Herkimer County Community College. There I helped my previous softball team with their practice by running drills, explaining strategies and ways to handle situations in a game, etc. I mainly worked with the outfielders during defensive work. One of the drills I had them do was what we call at SUNY Cortland the T drill. In this drill one outfielder goes at a time, and you as the administrator of the drill, have to throw softballs at the particular spot for them to run and catch. The first route they must run is straight back. On this route the administrator should throw a lob type of ball for them to catch just over their head. Then they continue running to the left where you will throw them a sharp line drive type of ball that leads them where they have to stretch to catch it. Then they need to stop as quickly as possible ond run in the opposite direction (to your right) and and run a ways where you will throw them a high but far pop fly that they need to catch up to to catch. After that they run directly towards you where you wait for them to get near and toss a short ball that they need to slide to catch.
In this drill have the rest of the oufielders stand in a line some to the right and some to the left of you. After the outfielder who is going catches one ball they should roll it in to the line of outfielders and continue running through the drill. If the outfielder who is going doesnt catch the ball they should leave the ball behind and continue on through the next route. This drill is meant to tire the athletes. It is for cardiovascular endurance, stamina, and skill enhancement.
I also did my practical work during our all day softball clinic here at SUNY Cortland. The softball team puts this on every year as a fundraiser. We had a jawdropping 220 girls come to this year's clinic. Many travel teams bring all their players to the clinic to work through it together. During the defensive portion of the clinic my fellow outfielders and I ran some outfield drills with every group. During the hitting session I was individually assigned to teach and administer the tennis ball change-up drill. This drill is to be done with partners. One partner is hitting and the other is the tosser. The tosser must stand on a chair, holding a tennis ball with their arm straight out. They will then drop the ball in a spot about a foot in front of the toes of the hitter's front foot. The hitter will then wait for the ball to bounce and then try to hit the ball when it comes back up. This teaches the players to wait for the ball before initiating the swing. It helps them in the situation of a change-up being pitched to them. The hitting session was like a marathon. There were 22 groups with about 8-10 girls per group. So it got pretty repetitive explaining the drill 22 times. Haha. At the end of the day though, it was worth it because they all had a great time and learned a little more about softball.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
D-Day! Day 32
Today was my Lab D day!
I'll be honest I was so nervous. I knew I had to make this lesson awesome because there's a lot riding on it. Number one is that this Lab is weighted the most grading wise. Number two I didn't do the best I could have on the previous labs so I needed to do well on this one to make up for it. Number three this is one of my Professor's favorite lessons so I didn't want to let him down. And lastly the guy who invented the gaming system came to our lessons so I didn't want to let hime down! Stressful! But I did fine and he seemed impressed so all is well.
My instant activity was a spring egg hunt. It was about a week and a half after Easter so I knew it was too late to call it an Easter egg hunt. I hid the plastic colorful eggs throughout the classroom. Inside the eggs were the answers to the questions on the diabetes worksheet I had passed out. Here's one of my mistakes. I didn't realize how long it was going to take them to finish the worksheet. Haha, I guess I made the eggs too hard to find. Next thing I knew it was already 5 minutes into my lesson. And here's another mistake, I should have played music while they were looking and doing the worksheet because as you can see from my video the first 5ish minutes are just dead air and it was very boring. I then went over the worksheet and talked about what our focus was for the lesson which was Diabetes. I drew a picture of a little boy who was "my nephew Evan" and has type 1 diabetes. I had described how today was his 7th birthday and all he wanted for his birthday was to eat his birthday goodies which were cake, ice-cream, and candy. Throughout the lesson I also mentioned that he loved soda too. Even though these aren't exactly the healthiest choices they were permitted only for today because it was his birthday.
The game we were playing was Stepmania exergaming punching bags. Basically this is like DDR but instead of stepping on a dance pad you strike a big punching bag with the arrows on it. I described the activity in that all of my students were team insulin and that each and every one of them was an insulin molecule and that they needed to help out my nephew Evan by travelling in his blood stream and taking care of all the glucose molecules in his blood from eating all of his birthday goodies. I said that the arrows on the screen were the glucose molecules and that we had to neutralize them. I let them play a few songs with just one person at the punching bag at a time. For each song the people who weren't at the bags I had them at practice dance pads hitting it with a partner in a plank position.
After a few songs to warm up and get used to it a bit, I had them do an activity I like to call Insulin Shot. In this activity the difficulty level of the song will be bumped up to hard. One student will be at each punching bag to start out. Then 2 students will be assigned to assist the first student at each bag. These 2 will be waiting behind a line ready to come in and help when they hear the signal. One of these two will help by taking the left arrow and the other will have the right. Then the original will only be responsible for the top and bottom arrows. I will play the song for about 30 seconds. While the one student struggles to keep up with the arrows the other students are waiting patiently to help. Then when the time is right I scream INSULIN SHOT! that is the signal for the others to run in and help. The goal here is to make a come back and be able to complete the song with at least a 75%. Everybody seemed to really like this part of the lesson. It was my favorite part too. There was a moment in my lesson where Devon had hit the side arrows as I was setting up the song and he had changed the difficulty. I didn't notice that he did it until I watched the video. I had thought that the other bag was the one that had changed so there was a moment towards the end where I panicked a bit. My time coding form shows almost a minute of waiting time there which stinks because I think I would have had <5% waiting time if I hadn't made that mistake.
I'll be honest I was so nervous. I knew I had to make this lesson awesome because there's a lot riding on it. Number one is that this Lab is weighted the most grading wise. Number two I didn't do the best I could have on the previous labs so I needed to do well on this one to make up for it. Number three this is one of my Professor's favorite lessons so I didn't want to let him down. And lastly the guy who invented the gaming system came to our lessons so I didn't want to let hime down! Stressful! But I did fine and he seemed impressed so all is well.
My instant activity was a spring egg hunt. It was about a week and a half after Easter so I knew it was too late to call it an Easter egg hunt. I hid the plastic colorful eggs throughout the classroom. Inside the eggs were the answers to the questions on the diabetes worksheet I had passed out. Here's one of my mistakes. I didn't realize how long it was going to take them to finish the worksheet. Haha, I guess I made the eggs too hard to find. Next thing I knew it was already 5 minutes into my lesson. And here's another mistake, I should have played music while they were looking and doing the worksheet because as you can see from my video the first 5ish minutes are just dead air and it was very boring. I then went over the worksheet and talked about what our focus was for the lesson which was Diabetes. I drew a picture of a little boy who was "my nephew Evan" and has type 1 diabetes. I had described how today was his 7th birthday and all he wanted for his birthday was to eat his birthday goodies which were cake, ice-cream, and candy. Throughout the lesson I also mentioned that he loved soda too. Even though these aren't exactly the healthiest choices they were permitted only for today because it was his birthday.
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| I asked them to be in a plank position but they could modify it by doing a plank from the knees |
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| "INSULIN SHOT!" |
After a few songs to warm up and get used to it a bit, I had them do an activity I like to call Insulin Shot. In this activity the difficulty level of the song will be bumped up to hard. One student will be at each punching bag to start out. Then 2 students will be assigned to assist the first student at each bag. These 2 will be waiting behind a line ready to come in and help when they hear the signal. One of these two will help by taking the left arrow and the other will have the right. Then the original will only be responsible for the top and bottom arrows. I will play the song for about 30 seconds. While the one student struggles to keep up with the arrows the other students are waiting patiently to help. Then when the time is right I scream INSULIN SHOT! that is the signal for the others to run in and help. The goal here is to make a come back and be able to complete the song with at least a 75%. Everybody seemed to really like this part of the lesson. It was my favorite part too. There was a moment in my lesson where Devon had hit the side arrows as I was setting up the song and he had changed the difficulty. I didn't notice that he did it until I watched the video. I had thought that the other bag was the one that had changed so there was a moment towards the end where I panicked a bit. My time coding form shows almost a minute of waiting time there which stinks because I think I would have had <5% waiting time if I hadn't made that mistake.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Day 31
Today we went in the pool. Not my favorite. I'll be honest I really hope I don't get a job at a school that has a pool because I'm a terrible swimmer.
Anyway, Mike and Devon taught today and I thought they did a pretty good job. For Devon's lab he taught a water aerobics class. I thought his hook was hilarious. He told us how he went to a water aerobics class with his grandma! I thought that was a funny image to think about. But he kind of killed two birds with one stone because he also provided us with an imaginary place to go outside of class for more water aerobics opportunities.
Then Mike went. He did his class on ultimate pool frisbee. It was really interesting because he gave us noodles to use as arm extestions basically. We used them for defense by trying to whack the frisbee in the air and prevent a pass from our opponents. The only thing I would have liked more about that was if he gave us a larger area to work with. Because there were moments where we just got clustered up and were flinging our noodles around. That could have been a safety issue but all in all it wasn't really a big deal.
Anyway, Mike and Devon taught today and I thought they did a pretty good job. For Devon's lab he taught a water aerobics class. I thought his hook was hilarious. He told us how he went to a water aerobics class with his grandma! I thought that was a funny image to think about. But he kind of killed two birds with one stone because he also provided us with an imaginary place to go outside of class for more water aerobics opportunities.
Then Mike went. He did his class on ultimate pool frisbee. It was really interesting because he gave us noodles to use as arm extestions basically. We used them for defense by trying to whack the frisbee in the air and prevent a pass from our opponents. The only thing I would have liked more about that was if he gave us a larger area to work with. Because there were moments where we just got clustered up and were flinging our noodles around. That could have been a safety issue but all in all it wasn't really a big deal.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Day 30
Today was another Lab D day. Eric and Justin went today and they taught table tennis. I thought their progressions were really good. They had us using a bigger ball we used our hands instead of starting off with the ping pong ball and a paddle. The only thing about this was the balls they chose didn't bounce very well. I wish we could have used tennis balls instead because it would have seemed more realistic to the bounce of a ping pong ball.
For Justin's lesson Professor Yang had Trisha and I flirt with him very inappropriatly. It was so funny and I thought he did a pretty good job of dealing with it. Makes me glad I'm one of the last groups going so I can prepare for these types of things and they won't suprise me.
For Justin's lesson Professor Yang had Trisha and I flirt with him very inappropriatly. It was so funny and I thought he did a pretty good job of dealing with it. Makes me glad I'm one of the last groups going so I can prepare for these types of things and they won't suprise me.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Day 29
Today was just an in class day. We talked about things we needed to get done for Lab D and things we need to get done by the end of the course. Such as the culminating video of our progressions as teacher candidates throughout Lab A to Lab D.
We also talked about how we should react as teachers to students who are misbehaving. We discussed the different steps we could take like something minimally severe such as proximity all the way to the most severe which is sending the student to the principal's office. Proximity can be described as where the teacher is standing in the room. If I as a teacher notice that little Frankie is misbehaving and trying to show off to his friends, I might stand near him as I observe or speak to the class. One Frankie notices where I am he will most likely change his behavior.
We also talked about how we should react as teachers to students who are misbehaving. We discussed the different steps we could take like something minimally severe such as proximity all the way to the most severe which is sending the student to the principal's office. Proximity can be described as where the teacher is standing in the room. If I as a teacher notice that little Frankie is misbehaving and trying to show off to his friends, I might stand near him as I observe or speak to the class. One Frankie notices where I am he will most likely change his behavior.
Day 28
One of the issues Dan faced was that he had a blind student in his class. All of his cues and direction was visual based so he had quite an issue in his hands. But he got through it okay and we learned a valuable lesson to be prepared for anything.
Day 27
On day 27 Trish was our first Lab D candidate. She did a magnificent job! None of the TAs or Professor Yang had any bad things to say. She put in a lot of work to make a yoga video which she starred in.
She did a great job with handling some of the misbehaving students in class.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Day 26
Today we did a Scavenger Hunt ran by one of our TAs Steven Miner. He incorporated technology into it by making the clues QR codes. So we had to split up into teams and each team had at least one person with a smart phone. So we would scan the code, and it would give us a letter with a corresponding number and a clue to where the next QR code was. This was a fun and interesting way to incorporate technology into a problem solving, teamwork type activity.
We then went back to the classroom and discussed more on lab D. Trish is doing her Lab D next class! Good luck to her!
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| I don't know what this code is for. It is just an example of what a QR Code is. |
We then went back to the classroom and discussed more on lab D. Trish is doing her Lab D next class! Good luck to her!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Day 23-25
Last week was just more preparing for Lab D. We got a chance to go in the exergame lab Friday and we played with the iDance pads and the Punching Bags as well. I'm all about those punching bags. It is so fun. I'm definitely rolling with a boxing theme and I'm incorporating diabetes into my lesson. "Fighting Diabetes! Go team Insulin!" Corny but it works. I've got my lesson all planned out in my head now it's just a matter of getting it all down on paper. Time for organization.
It has been hard for me to concentrate on school lately because our softball season has really been rollong. We play 3 days a week now and it has been difficult managing my time. But I guess it is just like when I'm teaching I'm going to have to balance teaching and coaching too.
Cortland Softball did great this weekend. We demolished our opponents. We scored 44 runs in 2 days! That's sending a message!
It has been hard for me to concentrate on school lately because our softball season has really been rollong. We play 3 days a week now and it has been difficult managing my time. But I guess it is just like when I'm teaching I'm going to have to balance teaching and coaching too.
Cortland Softball did great this weekend. We demolished our opponents. We scored 44 runs in 2 days! That's sending a message!
Monday, March 26, 2012
Day 20-22
So I realize it has been a while since my last blog but really I just missed one week of blogging and that was last week. Because the week before that we didn't have class, and the week before that we were on spring break. Which was amazing by the way. We (the Cortland Softball team) travelled to Florida and played 8 games down there in beautiful 80 degree weather. I loved it. We went 6-2 which isn't bad but you know that we wanted to go 8-0. But we learned a lot as a team and grew a little closer living and always being together for a week.
Anywho, so about this past week of class, we really just talked more about our preparation for Lab D. This lab is like Billy Fucillo HUGE! It pretty much means everything. If I suck out in this lab I'm done for. But I have faith in myself. My class is going to be so much fun! I have exergaming. It's amazing what they have out there that combines fitness with electronic gaming. There's these punching bag things that look really cool and also there's a fighting game for the PS2 which has an attachment to it that involves you actually moving to play the game. So I immediately want to do some sort of boxing theme. I think it would be fun. I definitely need to go to the exergaming lab and test out these games. Half because I really need to practice it and be able to do it so I can teach it, and half because I just want to go play. There's so much to do to prepare for this! I'm a little nervous but I think it'll be okay.
Anywho, so about this past week of class, we really just talked more about our preparation for Lab D. This lab is like Billy Fucillo HUGE! It pretty much means everything. If I suck out in this lab I'm done for. But I have faith in myself. My class is going to be so much fun! I have exergaming. It's amazing what they have out there that combines fitness with electronic gaming. There's these punching bag things that look really cool and also there's a fighting game for the PS2 which has an attachment to it that involves you actually moving to play the game. So I immediately want to do some sort of boxing theme. I think it would be fun. I definitely need to go to the exergaming lab and test out these games. Half because I really need to practice it and be able to do it so I can teach it, and half because I just want to go play. There's so much to do to prepare for this! I'm a little nervous but I think it'll be okay.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Day 19
Today we played Shinti. I thought this group did did a really good job of stressing the international side of the games. We learned a few good things about the country of Scotland (which is where shinti originated) such as what the flag looks like, the national animal, instrument, and geography. They incorporated this info in physical learning which was great!
As far as the actual skills of the sport, let's just say the pro shinti league won't be calling me up any time soon! Haha
Day 18
Today we played Omnikin ball. This is one of my all time favorite games to play! It's so fun and different. It's exciting for everyone, when they walk in the gym and see a giant, bright, pink ball. It's like moths to a flame, everyone just wants to play with it!
I thought Dan did an amazing job again! His cues for the serve were unforgettable, "clap, and SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Day 17
Then it was my turn. My age group was 8th grade. I focused on shooting. I set up a bunch of hula hoops standing up along the wall to be pretend rebound frames. And I also had the two rebound frames set up as well. I tried to set it up so that the students had a chance for a lot of reps in a short period of time. I thought that went well but I should have made it somewhat of a competitive drill instead of just a reps drill. For 8th grade they probably got a little bored half way through the circle. After that I gathered the group and went over the rules for shooting. I tried to make it quick but I also wanted to make sure everyone knew what the rules were that way when Justin taught everyone would understand it and be able to play more. For Lab B when I did my script I noticed that I said "OK" a lot! and I didn't realize how annoying that was until I actually listened to it. So in this lesson I made a consious effort to not say "OK" as much. I worte my Lab C script and I did better but I still said it a lot! AGH! so annoying... Here's my Time Coding sheet as well. Still only one point :/
Then it was Justin's turn. He always does such a really good job. Everything he says flows so nicely. He always remembers a safety statement, a hook, and every other little thing that I always seem to forget to do at least one of! Haha, I'm a little jealous of how good he's been doing. Nonetheless props to Justin for sure!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Day 16
Today was the first day of Lab C. The first group did the game Hantis. It was really cool. I wish we could have had enough time to play full games. I though Mike, Eric, and Kyle all did a really good job. They set the bar for everyone else who's going. My group goes Friday. I'm a little nervous but I think we'll do just fine. We're teaching tchoukball. I'll talk more about it for my next blog. Here's my Lessson Plan, and my 40 progressions for tchoukball shooting.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Day 15
Today was half in the gym and half in the classroom. Cassie conducted a lesson today on rugby. It was a good lesson for the amount of time that she had to deal with. I didn't know that you could only pass backwards or laterally in rugby. After she was done we discussed some things that she did well and overall she did a really good job.After that we went down to the classroom to discuss due dates for Lab C and then we talked with our groups about things we want to do with our lesson. We've got some great ideas and we're going to meet up tomorrow as a group to help sort some things out and bounce ideas off of each other.
Friday, February 17, 2012
OFFICIAL "Let's Move" Flash Workout Instructional Video
I was watching this last night and I want to do this in a flash mob in the middle of campus so bad! or at least just in our class on the last day maybe. It'd be a great way to end the semester with a bang! You can't help but move when you hear this song!
Day 14
Today we discussed more about lab C in class. Our goup is teaching tchoukball. So we discussed who's going to be teaching whch age group. I am doing 8th grade. Then our group went to go se Penny to write a sign out card for our equipment next friday. Thank god our packets aren't due that day because I don't know if I'd be able to get it done in time! We also had some homework due today. Silly me I didn't add it to my blog. I did it the old fashioned way by printing it out. I should have known to just post it to my blog!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
the FLAAAAANG!
Here's a video of my Lab B performance. I taught the Fling, but on this day it was known as "The Flaanng!" We put a little southern accent on it because it is a lot like line dancing. I wish I had enough time to incorporate the line dancing music to make it more authentic but unfortunately that will have to be for a day in the future!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Day 13
Today we spent our time in the classroom clarifying some things and discussing more about the lesson plant template. We also talked about way that we can get our future students more cognitively involved during class such as the use of riddles and puzzles or even incorporating things that children have learned in their other classes like math and science.
We were also assigned our topic for Lab C. We were assigned tchoukball. This game is so fun! We played it in high school. It's a much different game. Here's a link to give you a glimpse of what it's like...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0VWFK8PGWQ&feature=related
We were also assigned our topic for Lab C. We were assigned tchoukball. This game is so fun! We played it in high school. It's a much different game. Here's a link to give you a glimpse of what it's like...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0VWFK8PGWQ&feature=related
Day 12
Today was the last day of teaching for Lab B. I thought everyone did really well. One thing that threw some people off is that Professor Yang had some of us misbehave while others were teaching to test their ability to handle situations like that. I was one of them and he asked Kim and I to tie each other up with the jump ropes. Mike was teaching at that time and he was standing close to us and didn't even notice. I'm not saying that I would do any better, thats just proof that as a teacher you constantly have to be aware of all of your students because they can very easily misbehave or sneak away even.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Day 11
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| This was a difficult skill so if you mess up just keep trying! |
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| She also had great visual aids! |
I really liked Kim's lesson too. I thought she did a great job for having such a challenging task. She really made a point to say that it was okay if we couldn't get the jump rope into the equation. What she wanted us to know at the end of the lesson was the footwork. She seemed very comfortable talking and if I was her student it would make me feel comfortable to be in her class. Kudos to her for a great lesson!
The final people go on Monday and I hope that they take a little bit from everyone else's lesson and make theirs the best! Good luck Monday teachers!
Keep Smiling :)
Keep Moving
~Emily Woudenberg
Day 10
Today was the first day of teaching for Lab B. We are focusing on jump roping skills. I love the fact that we're doing jump roping because it's something different. And it gives me a chance to work on my skills too.
Today went great for the first day. Devon started us off great. I thought his lesson was awesome and he also made a couple of simple mistakes that we all learned from. So a big thanks to him for being a team player and starting us off.
I think the best lesson of the day was definitely Justin's. He was so organized and his lesson flowed so nicely. He did some subtle things that were really great such as facing us away from his poster when asking us questions at the end. Another thing I liked that he did was in his rules he mentioned respect and elaborated by saying "respect each other as well as me and also respect the equipment." I loved that he said respect the equipment. I'm definitely going to remember that for when I go.
Friday is my day to teach so lets hope it goes well for me.
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| Devon starting us off with a great lesson |
Today went great for the first day. Devon started us off great. I thought his lesson was awesome and he also made a couple of simple mistakes that we all learned from. So a big thanks to him for being a team player and starting us off.
I think the best lesson of the day was definitely Justin's. He was so organized and his lesson flowed so nicely. He did some subtle things that were really great such as facing us away from his poster when asking us questions at the end. Another thing I liked that he did was in his rules he mentioned respect and elaborated by saying "respect each other as well as me and also respect the equipment." I loved that he said respect the equipment. I'm definitely going to remember that for when I go.
Friday is my day to teach so lets hope it goes well for me.
Keep Smiling :)
Keep Moving
~Emily Woudenberg
Monday, February 6, 2012
Day 9
We took today as another prep day for lab B. Tied some loose ends and next class hopefully we'll all be ready. We talked about our visual aids. We must make 2 posters, one with the class rules and one with the cues of our task. Visual aids are great because it helps the students to remember what to do without having to ask the teacher or their peers 100x. They can physically see it.
Also we talked about the lesson plan and made sure any questions we had about it were answered. Overall today was a pretty easy day
It's a beautiful day outside today! Go enjoy the sunshine!
Also we talked about the lesson plan and made sure any questions we had about it were answered. Overall today was a pretty easy day
It's a beautiful day outside today! Go enjoy the sunshine!
Keep Smiling :)
Keep Moving
~Emily Woudenberg
Friday, February 3, 2012
Day 8
Day 8:
Today we practiced our tasks. I thought mine was going to be easy but when I tried to do it myself I kept messing up! I was getting so frustrated. Thanks to a few helpers (Leslie, Stephanie & Danielle) I got it down. I also thought of a good hook for it. I'm going to use the kids song row row row your boat. Because the action is kind of like a rowing action. We'll see how it goes.
Then we played a little game called shotgun. Which was like a team teaching exercise. My partner and I did the "attention getter." So I used this opportunity to show off my newly learned skill of finger whistling. Aaaannndd when it came down to it I went to whistle and got nothing but air. Haha. Everyone had a good laugh I tried again and got it that time. Gotta love it.
Today we practiced our tasks. I thought mine was going to be easy but when I tried to do it myself I kept messing up! I was getting so frustrated. Thanks to a few helpers (Leslie, Stephanie & Danielle) I got it down. I also thought of a good hook for it. I'm going to use the kids song row row row your boat. Because the action is kind of like a rowing action. We'll see how it goes.
Then we played a little game called shotgun. Which was like a team teaching exercise. My partner and I did the "attention getter." So I used this opportunity to show off my newly learned skill of finger whistling. Aaaannndd when it came down to it I went to whistle and got nothing but air. Haha. Everyone had a good laugh I tried again and got it that time. Gotta love it.
Keep Smiling :)
Keep Moving
~Emily Woudenberg
Day 6
Day 6:
Today we worked with jump ropes. Another simple activity that turned into more than just jumping up and down. We worked on different ways to move and jump with the rope. We also were challenged to make a little routine with a group. Ours was pretty fun. It took us so many practice tries. But when it came down to it we got it down on the first try when we were in front of the camera. I felt so proud of our group. Jump roping is such a great way to work up a sweat. It's easy to make it fun and not boring.
Today we worked with jump ropes. Another simple activity that turned into more than just jumping up and down. We worked on different ways to move and jump with the rope. We also were challenged to make a little routine with a group. Ours was pretty fun. It took us so many practice tries. But when it came down to it we got it down on the first try when we were in front of the camera. I felt so proud of our group. Jump roping is such a great way to work up a sweat. It's easy to make it fun and not boring.
Keep Smiling :)
Keep Moving
~Emily Woudenberg
~Emily Woudenberg
Day 7
Day 7:
Today we did more jump roping. We had to develop another routine with a different group this time. Luckily for me I had DJ in my group. DJ is very talented and strong and can pretty much do any gymnast type maneuvers you ask him to do! I also had Devon in my group who mastered swinging the long rope with me. I don't want to spoil our awesome routine just yet. I'll wait to post it when the video is available. You will be amazed.... up until the part where I mess up on the easy part. Lol.
Then we went down in the classroom and talked about our tasks that we will be teaching for lab B. I have Task 4 which is an easy one. Side swing right, left, and jump. Not too bad.
Today we did more jump roping. We had to develop another routine with a different group this time. Luckily for me I had DJ in my group. DJ is very talented and strong and can pretty much do any gymnast type maneuvers you ask him to do! I also had Devon in my group who mastered swinging the long rope with me. I don't want to spoil our awesome routine just yet. I'll wait to post it when the video is available. You will be amazed.... up until the part where I mess up on the easy part. Lol.
Then we went down in the classroom and talked about our tasks that we will be teaching for lab B. I have Task 4 which is an easy one. Side swing right, left, and jump. Not too bad.
Keep Smiling :)
Keep Moving
~Emily Woudenberg
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Day 5
Day 5...
So today was not my best day. I learned a few things... like always having a collared shirt on me in case I forget to wear one for my teaching day. Haha. Yup I forgot to wear a collared shirt. Rookie mistake. I knew in the back of my mind that I had to but for some reason my brain forgot to send a signal that morning when I was getting dressed. Oh well, lesson learned.
After that I was all flustered about making my 4 min teaching better than the last time and in the end it ended up being worse. I made many mistakes. I forgot to make a safety statement. I also did something different as far as setting up the students. I taught dribbling a basketball. When I first did it I had everyone get a ball and get in a circle which I thought was original. But this time I tried a more horizontal approach. I had everyone get a partner and dribble back and forth which just didn't seem fun and it ended up not running smoothly. Before I started teaching I thought of a neat way to explain using only your finger tips when dribbling too. I thought I might explain it by saying, "pretend like you have a thumbtack sticking out of your palm. So if the basketball touches your palm the thumbtack will pop the ball." But I never stated that either.
Day 5 wasn't my finest. But professor Yang made me feel better about it when he said, if you were perfect at it then you wouldn't have to go to school for it. That's why this is a learning experience. And that's why we practice teaching so much in this class. I'm learning a lot through experience. For anyone who reads this no matter what, even if you forget your shirt...
So today was not my best day. I learned a few things... like always having a collared shirt on me in case I forget to wear one for my teaching day. Haha. Yup I forgot to wear a collared shirt. Rookie mistake. I knew in the back of my mind that I had to but for some reason my brain forgot to send a signal that morning when I was getting dressed. Oh well, lesson learned.
After that I was all flustered about making my 4 min teaching better than the last time and in the end it ended up being worse. I made many mistakes. I forgot to make a safety statement. I also did something different as far as setting up the students. I taught dribbling a basketball. When I first did it I had everyone get a ball and get in a circle which I thought was original. But this time I tried a more horizontal approach. I had everyone get a partner and dribble back and forth which just didn't seem fun and it ended up not running smoothly. Before I started teaching I thought of a neat way to explain using only your finger tips when dribbling too. I thought I might explain it by saying, "pretend like you have a thumbtack sticking out of your palm. So if the basketball touches your palm the thumbtack will pop the ball." But I never stated that either.
Day 5 wasn't my finest. But professor Yang made me feel better about it when he said, if you were perfect at it then you wouldn't have to go to school for it. That's why this is a learning experience. And that's why we practice teaching so much in this class. I'm learning a lot through experience. For anyone who reads this no matter what, even if you forget your shirt...
Keep Smiling :)
Keep Moving
~Emily Woudenberg
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Day 4
Day 4:
Today we worked focused on how to imporve our teaching. We talked about things that professor Yang does to make his lessons better. And how we can incorporate those things into our lesson plans to make ours better. For example incorporating a hook. A hook is something that is interesting and relates to some outside information.
For my lesson I plan to use the globetrotters as my hook. I'm teaching dribbling and the globetrotters are famous for their dribbling tricks and what not. We teach on friday. I am glad we know when we're teaching so I know to be prepared.
Today we worked focused on how to imporve our teaching. We talked about things that professor Yang does to make his lessons better. And how we can incorporate those things into our lesson plans to make ours better. For example incorporating a hook. A hook is something that is interesting and relates to some outside information.
For my lesson I plan to use the globetrotters as my hook. I'm teaching dribbling and the globetrotters are famous for their dribbling tricks and what not. We teach on friday. I am glad we know when we're teaching so I know to be prepared.
Keep Smiling :)
Keep moving
~Emily Woudenberg
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Day 3
Day 3:
Today started off very similar to day 2. We started off with the Frisbees again. It's an easy instant activity. Then we gathered and talked about the Chinese New Year. I think throwing in cool facts about other things besides the same old P.E. stuff is important. I think it helps us to develop into well rounded people. As an educator why should we narrow our focus to just our particular expertise? Why not expand and incorporate other themes into our lessons. With the example of the Chinese New Year professor Yang named one of his games "firecracker." Because the Chinese use fireworks to ward off evil spirits.
I'm learning a lot about the little things that make an okay lesson into an amazing lesson. As in everything else in life it's the little things which separate good from great. QUICK SOFTBALL TANGENT! The motto for the Cortland softball team this year is a quote from a Gatorade add: "Good is the enemy of great." If you are okay with being good you will never be great. In other words good should never be good enough!
Professor Yang really pays attention to the little things. You can tell he does a lot of planning before hand. There are many things that he does that I need to remember to do. For example he makes safety statements that are very clear so that everyone knows what he's talking about. Another thing is like what I said before incorporating other information like world events and some fun facts into the lesson.
I feel my biggest downfall as a teacher candidate right now is my lack of practice in a class setting. I have had plenty of practice speaking to groups and explaining things. I've had practice as a captain for softball in high school and in college. Also as an instructor for some softball camps. But it's just a matter of perfecting the minor details that make the lesson run smoothly. Such as the placement and spacing of students in a drill or activity, the timing of each activity, and perfecting my vocabulary to make sure everyone understands what I'm trying to say the first time. Those are things I'd like to master by the end of this course.
Today started off very similar to day 2. We started off with the Frisbees again. It's an easy instant activity. Then we gathered and talked about the Chinese New Year. I think throwing in cool facts about other things besides the same old P.E. stuff is important. I think it helps us to develop into well rounded people. As an educator why should we narrow our focus to just our particular expertise? Why not expand and incorporate other themes into our lessons. With the example of the Chinese New Year professor Yang named one of his games "firecracker." Because the Chinese use fireworks to ward off evil spirits.
I'm learning a lot about the little things that make an okay lesson into an amazing lesson. As in everything else in life it's the little things which separate good from great. QUICK SOFTBALL TANGENT! The motto for the Cortland softball team this year is a quote from a Gatorade add: "Good is the enemy of great." If you are okay with being good you will never be great. In other words good should never be good enough!
Professor Yang really pays attention to the little things. You can tell he does a lot of planning before hand. There are many things that he does that I need to remember to do. For example he makes safety statements that are very clear so that everyone knows what he's talking about. Another thing is like what I said before incorporating other information like world events and some fun facts into the lesson.
I feel my biggest downfall as a teacher candidate right now is my lack of practice in a class setting. I have had plenty of practice speaking to groups and explaining things. I've had practice as a captain for softball in high school and in college. Also as an instructor for some softball camps. But it's just a matter of perfecting the minor details that make the lesson run smoothly. Such as the placement and spacing of students in a drill or activity, the timing of each activity, and perfecting my vocabulary to make sure everyone understands what I'm trying to say the first time. Those are things I'd like to master by the end of this course.
Keep Smiling :)
Keep Moving
"Good is the enemy of great!"
~Emily Woudenberg
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Day 2
Day 2:
Today was definitely a fun day. Professor Yang reminded us that it doesn't take a load of fancy equipment and gadgets to make sure our students are having fun and being physical. We played with frisbees. Simple items. And we all had a ball. We played catch with a partner and experimented with different ways of throwing the frisbee. There's the Backhand, Forehand, Bounce, Through the Legs, etc...
Then we incorporated a goal. We split up into different sections of the gym and worked on throwing and catching the frisbee to our partner a certain number of times towards the designated goal lines marked by poly spots. We'd work our way from goal line to goal line and see how many times we could do that in a certain amount of time. Then the TA's came into the mix and played defense on us while we strived to accomplish the same goal. I tried to be tricky and juke out Sarah (the defense) but of course I tripped over her feet and fell straight to the floor without any grace whatsoever! HAHA! Hey all you can do is laugh right?
Then we continued class with a yoga session. Yoga is a great tool. It's a great way to calm everyone down as an endcap to class. I think I want to use it in my lessons in the future. Especially if I'm teaching elementary students. I remember when I was younger my classroom teacher had a hard time settling us down after PE because we were all worked up from the fun games we had played. So I think it might be useful and neat to teach the children some simple yoga poses.
We ended class with a little name game. Everyone got in a big circle. The point of the game was to have everyone go through and say their name, what they taught on day 1, and continue doing the same thing for each and every person who introduced themself in the circle beforehand. Let me just tell you that I was glad I went 4th out of about 30. Everyone did great though. I was really impressed. I think it was cool and a good reminder for us about how important it is to remember names. If you remember someone's name it makes the relationship you have with that person slightly more personal. It lets them know that they're important to you.
Today was definitely a fun day. Professor Yang reminded us that it doesn't take a load of fancy equipment and gadgets to make sure our students are having fun and being physical. We played with frisbees. Simple items. And we all had a ball. We played catch with a partner and experimented with different ways of throwing the frisbee. There's the Backhand, Forehand, Bounce, Through the Legs, etc...
Then we incorporated a goal. We split up into different sections of the gym and worked on throwing and catching the frisbee to our partner a certain number of times towards the designated goal lines marked by poly spots. We'd work our way from goal line to goal line and see how many times we could do that in a certain amount of time. Then the TA's came into the mix and played defense on us while we strived to accomplish the same goal. I tried to be tricky and juke out Sarah (the defense) but of course I tripped over her feet and fell straight to the floor without any grace whatsoever! HAHA! Hey all you can do is laugh right?
Then we continued class with a yoga session. Yoga is a great tool. It's a great way to calm everyone down as an endcap to class. I think I want to use it in my lessons in the future. Especially if I'm teaching elementary students. I remember when I was younger my classroom teacher had a hard time settling us down after PE because we were all worked up from the fun games we had played. So I think it might be useful and neat to teach the children some simple yoga poses.
We ended class with a little name game. Everyone got in a big circle. The point of the game was to have everyone go through and say their name, what they taught on day 1, and continue doing the same thing for each and every person who introduced themself in the circle beforehand. Let me just tell you that I was glad I went 4th out of about 30. Everyone did great though. I was really impressed. I think it was cool and a good reminder for us about how important it is to remember names. If you remember someone's name it makes the relationship you have with that person slightly more personal. It lets them know that they're important to you.
Keep Smiling :)
Keep Moving
~Emily Woudenberg
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Day 1
255 Day 1:
Day one of Profesor Yang's class was like splashing ice cold water on your face; shocking yet rereshing. We started off meeting in the gym rather than the classroom and jumped right into teaching. After all, the course is called "Effective Instruction." So why not start off by showing what we've got so far! How else are you going to build from it?
So we split into two groups and we each took turns teaching our peers in the group one skill for 4 minutes. As far as equipment we were offered to share a few volleyballs, soccer balls, footballs, and basketballs with the other group. Luckily for me my "W" last name gave me time to think because I was one of the last one's to go in my group, so I was able to observe my classmates and pick up some ideas along the way.
The teaching assistants for this class videotaped our teaching performance. I'm very interested in viewing mine and learning what my mistakes were and how to become a better teacher. Its a lot like when we videotape in softball. Its hard to just listen to someone's critique of your performance and be able to make proper adjustments. But when you can actually see what you're doing wrong it helps click, and it makes it more real I guess is what I'm trying to say.
Day one of Profesor Yang's class was like splashing ice cold water on your face; shocking yet rereshing. We started off meeting in the gym rather than the classroom and jumped right into teaching. After all, the course is called "Effective Instruction." So why not start off by showing what we've got so far! How else are you going to build from it?
So we split into two groups and we each took turns teaching our peers in the group one skill for 4 minutes. As far as equipment we were offered to share a few volleyballs, soccer balls, footballs, and basketballs with the other group. Luckily for me my "W" last name gave me time to think because I was one of the last one's to go in my group, so I was able to observe my classmates and pick up some ideas along the way.
The teaching assistants for this class videotaped our teaching performance. I'm very interested in viewing mine and learning what my mistakes were and how to become a better teacher. Its a lot like when we videotape in softball. Its hard to just listen to someone's critique of your performance and be able to make proper adjustments. But when you can actually see what you're doing wrong it helps click, and it makes it more real I guess is what I'm trying to say.
Keep smiling :)
Keep moving,
~Emily Woudenberg
First Post
So this is my first post...
I never thought I'd like the blogging scene, but now that I'm doing it its really not that bad. I like that you can customize your page and stuff, brings me back to the Myspace days.
Over winter break I helped my previous softball coach at Herkimer County Community College with the hitting clinic. I was impressed with his ability to remember so many young athlete's names. That's one thing I'm definitely going to have to figure out; my own personal tricks to remembering many names in a short period of time. I always love being able to help with clinics because it gives me the opportunity to get my feet wet in the teaching/coaching pool.
I never thought I'd like the blogging scene, but now that I'm doing it its really not that bad. I like that you can customize your page and stuff, brings me back to the Myspace days.
Over winter break I helped my previous softball coach at Herkimer County Community College with the hitting clinic. I was impressed with his ability to remember so many young athlete's names. That's one thing I'm definitely going to have to figure out; my own personal tricks to remembering many names in a short period of time. I always love being able to help with clinics because it gives me the opportunity to get my feet wet in the teaching/coaching pool.
Keep smiling :)
Keep moving
~ Emily Woudenberg
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