Balancing By Shawn Zehnacker And Steve Mahle

Portrait of school
The school in which my partner and I are spending our observation hours for EDU 355 is that of Immaculate Conception School and it is located at 320 Buffalo Street, Ithaca, New York. The school is located in downtown Ithaca and is actually the only Catholic school located in the Tompkins County area. The school itself is a private institution that is co-educational in its general education as well as Catholic education. The school was established in 1884 and continues to maintain a positive effect on children today. This school accepts people of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and applications to the school are accepted all year round. The school ranges from grades pre-k through 6th grade, and all of these students are required to take general classes as well as some religious type classes. There is on average 110 students enrolled in Immaculate Conception School per year and the student to teacher ratio is about 15:1. The curriculum of this school, as stated on their website, is that of handwriting, reading, math, language arts, social studies, computer technologies, science, art, religion, music, Spanish, as well as physical education. It is also quoted by the schools website that, The goal
of the Elementary program is to provide children with a strong grounding in basic academic skills, as well as a life-long love of learning. Our elementary school teachers have high expectations for all their students and work closely with parents to insure academic success. In regards to the staff of the school, it is not a hugely populated group of people. Upon looking at their staff list I realize that there are only about 19 teacher and teacher aid type people employed at Immaculate Conception school in Ithaca, and of these teachers there is only one male teacher aid. As the student population is concerned, there is a great deal of diversity amongst the students culturally and ethnically, but one could make the assumption that due to the fact it is a private school, there is a level of higher economic status than a public school. As they stated in their schools description, they do not discriminate against who can apply and not apply to this school, accepting people of all races and cultures, but they do have an application process that must be approved by the school in order for the student to attend. The students also must maintain a proper dress code while attending this school. It is even openly written that all students must be well groomed and appropriately dressed for school days, and that it is the parents responsibility to make sure that this is a standard that is upheld in their school. This school also offers after school and summer programs as well as their general yearly teaching expectations. Things such as an after school knitting and crocheting club is offered at Immaculate Conception school as well as a youth basketball program named Blue Knights Basketball. In addition to such after school programs, Immaculate Conception School also offers a summer program lasting for 6 weeks called the Summer Fun Program. The students swim, do crafts, play games and activities, and go on field trips at least once a week. Overall, Immaculate Conception School is a school that has consistently made attempts to adhere to a specific level of educational, religious, and moral goals and objectives. This school, though small, cares a great deal about its students and their development. The school is primarily staffed by women rather than men, and its student population is diverse but small in population. This school is one in which educating their students properly is their main priority. http://schools.dor.org/ic/elementary.cfm?subpage=587

Evaluation of Lesson 1
Lesson one we were not as prepared for as we would have hoped for. We spent a little time over the phone preparing the lesson together and divided the lesson among each other. If we were to meet in person and spend more time on the lesson then I feel like the lesson would have gone a lot smoother. We had a fun warm-up that incorporated balancing and the popular movie Toy Story were the kids got to act out their favorite characters while working on their balancing skills when the music stopped. I think that this warm up went really well and the kids really enjoyed it. We could have prepared better for our assessment station where we had the kids walk across a balance beam while challenging themselves to carry as many as they can. It was very hard to assess in such a short amount of time and without knowing the names of all of the students that made it hard also, so if we had the assessment with all of the names of the students already on it I think it could have made it easier for us to assess. For one of the other stations it was too easy for some of them and if we had spent more time looking at each station we could have had challenges for the students ready to be implemented. Overall I think the students really enjoyed the lesson but if we were to spend more time in preparations than the lesson would have gone a lot smoother. Steve and I work really well together throughout this lesson and we worked through some of our errors and made the lesson run really well.

Evaluation of lesson 2
In regards to the second lesson in which we taught as a team in Immaculate Conception School in Ithaca, I think it went very well. I feel that both Shawn and I had taken the criticisms received in our first teaching experience, and changed in a positive manner to the best of our ability. One problem Shawn and I faced while teaching our second lesson was that of behavior management. In the first class we taught pre kindergarten students and in our second class we taught a Kindergarten class. We had a larger problem with regard to behavior in the Pre-K class due to the fact that numbers were larger and the children were younger. Our first activity which involved a modified rock paper scissors game (The pre k students did not know how to play rock paper scissors) caused somewhat of a problem due to the fact that students who were not given the chance to play with the person in which they wanted to upon the command to find a buddy, they got upset and one student even started crying. Upon seeing this, Sean and I both found ways to enable ourselves to manage these behaviors and make sure everyone was able to find a buddy and not feel left out. The kindergarten students did not have a problem playing this game as they understood the rules to Rock, Paper, Scissors, as well as were mature enough to understand that they would not always be able to play with the buddy of their choice. Our lesson body went as planned with only a few minor miscues. I had made a mistake of explaining an activity to students with the equipment very close to them. This caused them to want to touch and grab it. I effectively stopped the students from doing so and had changed my strategy entirely with the kindergarten class by having them sit away from the equipment unable to become distracted by it. This station involved a balance beam and bean bags, where students were to cross the alligator pit with bean bags balanced on their bodies in hopes of not dropping them or falling into the pits themselves. The students loved the activity and this is where we performed our post assessments. The next stations were easily explained and performed by the students with only one miscue within the Pre K students. The first station was called Buddy Balance and was easily performed by both groups of students. The activity was that of a follow the leader type game in which the leader would stop and do balance poses of his or her choice whenever they felt necessary and the followers would have to mimic it. The leader and follower roles were then traded off every couple of balances. The second activity was a game called Funny Bones. This game was a card game in which different body parts were shown touching and balancing the card. An example of this would be nose to shoulder. The students would then have to keep the card balanced between one partners nose and one partners shoulder for a brief period of time. This only posed a problem within the Pre k students. The reason in which this caused a problem is the fact that some of the pre k students could not read. This caused them to become confused on which body parts to balance together. We fixed this in the kindergarten group by expressing that if someone could not read the card to please observe the

picture and that will help students understand and perform the task on each card. Upon fixing this in the next lesson, the students performed the tasks with no problems at all. Overall, our lesson went fairly smoothly with only a few minor mishaps that we managed at first and fixed within other groups being taught this lesson. I felt that Shawn and I had a very commanding lesson in which the kids enjoyed but also benefitted from greatly. I felt that though there were a few mishaps that occurred within the lesson, Shawn and I adapted and made the best of situations and fixed them when possible and necessary. Though we were not perfect, I felt that we both did a great job in teaching this lesson as well as learned a great deal about our teaching and management of a classroom that we can take with us for the rest of our teaching careers.

Evaluation of Assessment
In regards to our post assessments that Shawn and I performed in our second teaching experience, we found out a great deal about our students. The Psychomotor assessments that Shawn and I used for both our Pre k and Kindergarten classes was that of a checklist for balancing on a balance beam (see attached assessment check list example). This check list was used to assess students during the alligator pit activity that I have previously aforementioned in our evaluation of lesson two. The students were assessed based on a few criteria that Shawn and I felt were important in regards to balancing. The items of the check list were that of student having their eyes forward, student having their arms extended, student walking in a heel toe fashion, and the student having smooth transitions. Within the checklist, we then had three separate options for each criterion being that of the student doing it Always, Sometimes, or Never. For example, if the student performed the balance beam activity five times and had their arms extended each and every time, they would receive an always on the check list for arms extended. The way in which we assessed this was by having one of us stay at the alligator pit station while the other instructor watched over the other two remaining stations. The students at the alligator pit would then continuously go through this station over and over again and the evaluator would watch these students until full assessments for each one were accomplished. Upon accomplishment, students were then told to switch stations and new group of students would come in to become assessed. We had students names previously written on each of the assessment sheets which made our ability to transition from student to student much easier as well as making it easier for us to locate students and keep our assessments organized. The psychomotor assessments took a great deal of time, but in the end we learned a great deal about what our students capabilities were and how they improved balancing over a short period of time. In regards to the cognitive domain, we did not give out a written assessment sheet but rather quizzed the students verbally throughout the demonstrations, actual lesson, and in the lesson closed. We would have the students recite various important pieces of our activities and while they were participating in stations we would ask the students various questions to check their understanding. In regards to the affective domain, we did indeed have a written assessment that was very successful amongst the students in both kindergarten as well as Pre k. The assessment in which we had the students take for our affective domain was that of a smiley face assessment. We had each student write their name on their papers before explaining to them what to do in hopes of keeping them from being distracted while explaining the directions. We then explained that we wanted the students to circle one of three smiley faces, one being happy, one being neither happy nor sad, and one being sad. We told the students that if they felt they did a good job balancing and felt good about their balance to circle the happy face and so on and so fourth (see attached smiley assessment). We also explained to the students that it did not matter what anyone else in the class circled and that we wanted honesty in regards to how the students felt about their balance. This assessment was actually quite successful amongst the students. I originally thought that all the students would simply circle the smiley face due to the fact that they wanted us to think they did well, but in actuality the students were quite honest in their assessments. There was a wide range of smileys circled across the board and the students gave us a great deal of

information on how they truly felt about their own abilities in a physical education setting. I personally felt that this assessment was the most informational piece of assessment done throughout our time at Immaculate Conception School. I really understood a great deal more about each individual student and when I looked back upon our assessments, the smiley faces really did represent how the students performed in class. It was great to see that these assessments really do serve a purpose and can make a big difference in understanding your students as well as teaching them. Overall, the assessment process throughout our second lesson showed Shawn and I a great deal about our students as well as got us acclimated into the assessment process as a general whole. Looking back on this experience, it is clear to me that assessing students in a physical education setting is something that is extremely important and worthwhile for us as physical educators to continually do. I feel that we learned a great deal through the assessment process that we will carry with us as future educators.

Assessment Results

Psycomotor Assessment
16 14 Number of Students 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Student has Student has One foot steps eyes forward arms extended over, other foot steps behind Student has smooth transitions Always Sometimes Never

Affective Assesment Results

25

20 Number of Students

15

10

0 Smiley Face regular Face Frowny Face

Kindergarten

Performance outcomes
1. Discovers how to balance on different body parts, at different levels, becoming like a statue while making symmetrical and nonsymmetrical shapes. 2. Discovers how to balance on different objects, such as low gymnastics equipment and learns how to balance on boards. 3. Demonstrates sufficient muscular strength to be able to transfer weight while balancing. 4. Enjoys participating alone while exploring different balance tasks. 5. Exhibits both verbal and nonverbal indicators of enjoyment of balancing activity. 6. Identifies correctly various body parts when performing a balance skill.

Recommended activities
1. Balance on different bases of support on your mat. Your base of support is the body parts that are holding you in the balance. See how many body parts can be base of support. Hold each balance as you count to yourself 3 seconds. Now try different combinations of body parts as you create your balances. Lets list all the body parts youve used as bases of support for your balance. (List on board or flip chart as students give responses). 2. Try to travel on various pieces of equipment without losing your balance and falling off. To challenge yourself you can travel backward, travel with your arms above your head, or walk with a bean bag on your head. Equipment that can be traveled on are as follows low balance beams, jump ropes, low narrow benches and taped pathways arranged on the floor. 3. Create a gymnastics balance on a wide base of support. Create a wide body shape by extending free body parts outward from your trunk (free body parts are those youre not using as base of support). Create a narrow-shape gymnastics balance on your base of spine-long and thin like a piece of spaghetti. Keep all free body parts close to your trunk. Create a curled-shape gymnastics balance on your chosen base of support. Create a twisted-shape gymnastics balance. Use your two feet as your base of support and twist your body like a pretzel.

Affective Assessment

Below are tree pictures of smiley faces. CIRCLE ONE

Which smiley face best describes how you felt about your balancing today?

Psychomotor Assessment
Balance Check List for basic cues in balancing

Always

Sometimes

Never

Student has eyes forward

______

_________

______

Student has arms extended

______

_________

______

One foot steps over, other foot steps behind

______

_________

______

Student has smooth transitions

______

_________

______

Cognitive Assessment DIRECTIONS: On the picture below:

trace the STRAIGHT pathway with a red color, trace the CURVY pathway with a green color, and trace the ZIGZAG pathway with a blue color.

Grade 2
Performance outcomes
1. Discovers how to balance on different body parts, at different levels, becoming like a statue while making symmetrical and nonsymmetrical shapes. 2. Explains that appropriate practice improves performance. 3. Engages in moderate to vigorous activity on an intermittent basis. 4. Participates in a variety of games that increase balance and body and space awareness. 5. Uses all balancing equipment and space safely and properly. 6. Expresses personal feelings on progress made on learning new balancing skills and techniques.

Recommended Activities
1. Lets create a gymnastics dance that focuses on body shapes and balance. I will select one person to form a statue by holding a gymnastics balance with a wide base of support. Hold your wide balance as the others come and go. Each person in the group will slowly add to the statue by making a wide, narrow, curled, or twisted shape and touching the first statue with one body part. After everyone in the group has added to the statue by making a balance and touching the first person, begin to move slowly from the original wide-shape balance that was the first one created without disturbing others in the group. I will touch you as a signal for you to move from the main statue. Use a locomotor movement or a turning action to move from the group. 2. Here we will perform inverted balances. Balance with your head and two feet as your base of support. When performing an inverted balance involving the head, its important to distribute the body weight equally among all body parts serving as the base of support. Balance on your head and hands, with your knees resting on your elbows. When performing these inverted balances, concentrate on taking your weight equally on the following bases: Head and knees, head hands one foot, back of head shoulders arm.. Explore other inverted balances that you can safely hold for 3 seconds.

Affective Assessment
In the spaces provided below please answer the following questions: 1. What your favorite activity was from today?

2. Did you enjoy todays activities? Why?

3. Can you improve on your skills learned today? Why?

4. Overall, are you happy with your performance for the day? Why?

Psychomotor Assessment Balance Board Task Sheet

Draw a smile face beside those activities you can successfully complete. I am able to: Balance on the board standing on two feet Sit in a balance position on the board Change from a standing to a sitting position without losing balance Raise my hands high above my head while standing on the board Balance on the board standing on one foot Catch a ball tossed to me by a friend Toss a ball to a friend without losing my balance

New ideas by me:

Cognitive Assessment Balance Assessment:

In each one of the 4 spaces provided draw 4 different balances that we learned in class today.

Works Cited
Graham, George, Shirley Ann. Holt/Hale, and Melissa Parker. Children Moving: A Reflective Approach to Teaching Physical Education. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print. Moving into the Future: National Standards for Physical Education. Reston, VA: NASPE Publications, 2004. Print. "Primary Sponsor." The Health and Physical Education Web Site for Teachers/PE Central. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.