Over the last few days I did 10 observation hours
with Mr. Gainey. He was my assistant coach my last three years of high school
basketball and therefore we have built a strong relationship. Because of this
relationship I was comfortable asking him about different things he and his
co-teacher, Mr. Shelley did during their physical education classes. This was
my first experience observing in an elementary phys. Ed class because when we
went to the elementary school as a class I ended up being there during a seventh
grade class. I have been excited to see an elementary class because I feel that
is what I would want to teach the most. Through my experience I have
found this to be true.
While doing my observation I saw every grade level
from kindergarten to 5th grade. It was interesting to see the huge differences
between the age groups. Mr. Gainey started off by telling me how they try
to set up every class. The usually start with a warm up activity and then
they will either teach a new skill or review a skill they have previously
taught and then have to kids participate in a game that has them
practicing the skill they just learned. This is the second time I have seen
this format and it seems to work well with the students. Introducing or review
the skill and then letting the students’ practice it in a fun activity
seems like the best way to get students participate.
What I learned most out of these few days with Mr.
Gainey was how to properly address students of that age when a problem occurs.
In elementary school the students have issues that seem insignificant to us but
are a big deal to them. The students would often complain how their
"friend", as Mr. Gainey calls students who choose to partner
together, was not doing something or being nice to them. When this occurred Mr.
Gainey would have the students step out of the activity when there was an
appropriate time and have the student with the complaint explain to the other
student how they were feeling. The students would usually just shake it off and
want to get right back into the activity. When Mr. Gainey would talk with a
student one on one he would bend down so that he was on their level. Having a
teacher stand at 6'3 can be a little intimidating to a student but, I feel the
students feel much more comfortable talking to him when he is down on their
level.
Mr. Gainey and Mr. Shelley both did a great job of
keeping the students attention and having control over their classroom. They
used a trick that I have seen used many times but in a little different way.
They would clap to get the students attention but they wouldn't just do it when
got extremely noisy but yet every time they needed the students’ attention and
if the students didn't stop talking they would silently wait until the students
quieted down. Using the clap every time sent the message to the students that
it was something they should respond to all the time not just when they felt it
was important.
This experience was different than the ones I had
previously had in class because I was very comfortable asking Mr. Gainey any
question I had without hesitation. I also knew many of the kids from my summer
job at the Boys and Girls Club and that gave me an advantage because I knew how
they behaved how they were there and how they were behaving in the classroom.
With many of the kids they were completely different because of the structure
that was in the classroom. Observing Mr. Gainey has reconfirmed my thoughts on
wanting to work with elementary students over any other age group.
No comments:
Post a Comment