Final Thoughts...

Throughout this semester I have completed assignments that took me way out of my comfort zone. However, the challenge of completing these assignments has showed me that with a little hard work and a short time line I can get things done, and done well! I am very excited that this class presented some very useful information both in my professional and personal life. This is a rarity for the classes that I have taken at Montclair!

The biggest thing that I have learned this semester is the fact that the jobs that my students will have in the future do not exist yet. Not only do these jobs not exist yet, but all of the information needed for these jobs is not available yet. Keeping this in mind, when I have the opportunity to rewrite the physical education curriculum, whether in my current district or another one, I have to write it for 10 years down the road, not for now. Teaching my students how to take care of their bodies and their minds, as well as teaching them how to effectively work with groups will be the main focus of the physical education and health curriculum. I have learned that the most important thing is not just if the students can perform a particular task, but if they know the process of completing a particular task.

With the information that I have learned this semester I am hoping to become a physical education/health supervisor. My main focus will be to create a memorable experience for the students. The physical education environment is different from a traditional classroom environment where the students get to express themselves through a variety of movements and group and individual activities. Teaching children to become self-motivated, hard workers, and to learn how to set individual and group goals is something that I can do by creating the ideal physical education and health curriculum. I have many ideas that I would like to see become reality, however, I hope to share my ideas with my colleagues whether I am in an administrative position or not.

Orange Middle School

Due to the fact that Orange Middle School has failed to meet NCLB benchmarks six years in a row, Orange Middle School has taken many positive initiatives to make the school a positive environment for the students. Some of the great things OMS has done include creating learning teams, having weekly team meetings, having parties for students when they make it through a term, inviting students to speak at meetings, and have a high police and security presences in the schools and on the streets after school.

With the developmental growth that adolescents go through, the above activities will address many of their developmental needs. For instance, adolescents need to become socially useful and need to know "what's in it for them". By participating in weekly meetings, students will have a part in what is taking place in their teams and will find out what changes will affect them and what they will receive from these changes.

Two suggestions that I would give would be to create an after school intramural program and to get the students of OMS to volunteer at a local business. The after school intramural program will allow students to expend excess energy and will keep the amount of students off the streets after school. Physical activity has a positive correlation to higher academic scores, which could help the students perform better on the state tests. This program could be conducted in a few ways. One idea is that everyday after school there are a variety of activities going on including, but not limited to, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, indoor or outdoor soccer, fitness training, etc. The second idea is that every few weeks change that activity that is held. For example, for two weeks do basketball, another two weeks play volleyball, etc. and keep rotating the activities around.

The second suggestion, having students volunteer at a local business, will allow the students to apply their learning to real life experiences, which will show students that what they are learning in school has use! Volunteering at a local business will teach the students responsibility, they can be with non-parent adults, and hopefully when the students are of working age, they will be able to get paid jobs in the businesses they volunteer at.

It is important to show students, whether in districts with families with a low SES or a high SES, that what they are learning in school can be applied to other areas. It will make more sense to students to want to put the time into studying if they know "what's in it for them" whether now or a few years down the road.

Curriculum Mapping

Curriculum mapping is a tool that is used to build cohesive learning communities. For instance, in District Five the teachers were noticing that the change in student population required the curriculum to be changed to create high expectations for all students. In order for this to happen the same way throughout the entire district, District Five leaders felt that curriculum mapping was the way to go.

Curriculum mapping allows teachers from the same content area from different schools to plan out what information they will teach each month so by the end of the school year all 4th grade students will have learned the same information. Although there are state standards, if there are too many standards teachers begin to pick and choose what they want to teach. The problem with this is that every teacher does not pick the same standards to teach, so by the end of 4th grade, each class could have covered some of the same information and some different information. Curriculum mapping stops teachers from picking and choosing what they want to teach, and creates more of a uniformed curriculum.

I suppose we curriculum map in my district. My curriculum is so old that I don't think that it has been mapped in at least 15 years. However, this year during my PIP meeting with my principal I was discussing creating a new grading rubric for the phys. ed. department. After talking this process through my principal decided that my best option may be to curriculum map so I know what I really want the students to know. Once I have this information it will be easier for me to create a grading rubric. I have not begun the curriculum mapping process yet because of the homework I have been doing this semester. I will probably start this process in January when I have more time.

While District Five was curriculum mapping the teachers were noticing gaps in learning throughout the grade levels. For instance, at one of the professional development days when the teachers were in mixed-group and like-group they discovered that the high school teachers feel that reading is what will make a student extremely successful. It was also discovered that reading skills were not taught past the 3rd grade. By discovering this the district was able to plan the curriculum in such a way that reading skills were taught throughout all grades.

Curriculum mapping can bring out the strengths or weaknesses in the curriculum being taught. Is what the teachers are teaching aligned with the curriculum? These are questions that can be answered when curriculum mapping. When weaknesses appear it is an opportunity for the district and school to change the curriculum so it becomes a strength.

UBD Implementation

I had to write a unit plan in UBD format for my Curriculum Development class and then also write some lessons for that unit. When I used this particular lesson it worked out really well, and I happen to use the essential question all the time, especially the question about how working cooperatively with your team affects the team's success. My middle school students are very competitive and think that it is better if they play a game like soccer and never pass the ball or include only certain team members in their strategies. But when I ask this question I can see that they are truly thinking about how they are playing and how they can change the way they play. Nine times out of ten when they include everyone in the game, they become the winning team in the class tournament.

These two games that I picked for the shooting lesson really helped the students when they were tested on their skills. I do not normally like to test on skill, but as part of this unit I tried it out. The students found that the two games, around the world and horse, really made them focus on their shooting and they saw that by using different shooting techniques their shots had different outcomes. For instance, some of my students tried to shoot with two hands, which was forcing them to push the ball and not shoot it. This made their shot very inconsistent. But when I helped them with the correct shooting technique, they saw that even if their shot did not go in the basket, their shot was in line with the basket and they were much more successful in the long rung.

I would like to use UBD more often for my lessons, but due to the fact that I teach so many different age levels and different topics, I am overwhelmed by the process of it.

UBD Lesson Part 2

Lesson Plan: Day 2 Shooting

Established Goals:

Standard 2.5 – Motor Skill Development: All students will utilize safe, efficient, and effective movement to develop and maintain a healthy, active lifestyle

2.5.6 A – Movement Skills
2.5.6. B – Movement Concepts
2.5.6 C – Strategy
2.5.6 D – Sportsmanship, Rules and Safety
2.5.6 E – Sport Psychology

SWBAT shoot a basketball using proper technique at a proficiency level of 70%
SWBAT explain what a foul is and what happens if a foul is committed.

Essential Questions:

• How does working cooperatively affect your team’s success?
• What key strategies that were previously learned can be applied to this unit? How is this significant?

Understandings:

• Following through on your shot, keeping your feet spread apart, and taking the shot in one fluid motion are all key aspects of a successful shot
• Shooting is how you score points, and you need points to win, but being a good shooter is not the only thing that helps a team to win

Misunderstandings

· As long as the basketball goes into the basket, it does not matter the technique used

Students will know

· Students will learn the rules of around the world and horse, both shooting games to reinforce the proper shooting technique.

Assessment Evidence:

Visual Assessment

While students are playing around the world and horse in their groups I will walk around and observe their shot. I will make corrections or suggestions where needed.

Question and Answer

When the class is over I will ask the students to explain to me the proper shooting technique. Along with their description I will ask a student to demonstrate the proper shooting technique.

Students will be asked to explain the rules of both around the world and horse.

Learning Plan:

After warm-ups, a demonstration of how to shoot a basketball, and a demonstration of the game around the world, students will be broken up into six groups and each group will have their own basket. While they are at their baskets I will walk around and observe their shooting and how they work with their groups as far as encouraging each other and helping each other out. About half way through the class the students will be stopped, have a seat at their basket, and will watch a demonstration of horse. Students will continue to work in their groups while playing horse. Again I will walk around and observe their shooting technique and how they work in groups.

Around the world rules:

All students will start at the first hash mark, closest to the basket, and try to make the shot in. If they make the shot in they move to the next spot. If they miss the shot they go to the end of the line and wait for their turn. If, though, the students make the shot from the first mark but then miss the shot from the second mark they have two choices: 1. they can stay where they are until their turn comes again, or 2. they can chance it which means if they make the shot they move to the third mark, but if they miss the shot they have to go back to the first mark. The game continues like this until one person has moved from the right side of the basket to the left, and then back to the right side.

Horse rules:

One student will pick to shoot from anywhere on their court. If they make the shot in then the second person has to make the same exact shot. If the second person misses the shot they will receive the letter H, but if they make the shot then the third person has to also make the same exact shot. If the second person misses the shot then the third person can shoot from anywhere (if the person in front of you misses the shot you can shoot from anywhere, but if they make the shot you also have to make it to not get a letter). The first person to spell H-O-R-S-E looses.

Equipment:

2 basketballs per basket (12 in total)
Poly spots to mark the spots for around the world.

Follow-up/Homework:

None

Online Class Thoughts

At the beginning of the semester I was very happy to see that there were a few online classes. I have a very busy semester and will welcome any online class so I can get to bed early on Thursday nights. After the first online class I was pretty overwhelmed by all of the parts that had to be accomplished. Plus, it took me much longer to complete the assignments than the time suggestions. I decided that I would much rather be in class then at home spending many hours on work.

As the semester went on I enjoyed each online class. Granted it continued to take me a long time to complete assignments, but each lesson brought new challenges. Each lesson definitely had me doing things that were out of my comfort zone, but if it weren't for the online classes I would have not done this type of work. As I am writing this I am very frustrated that I can not figure out how to get my UBD lesson onto the blog!

After my experiences in this class I would take a class like this again, but I would not take a class that is completely online. I am the kind of person that learns better from being in the classroom, listening to and participating in discussions. I am glad that I had the opportunity to take a class like this and have enjoyed being in it.

UBD Lesson

Creating the ideas for this lesson was not difficult because I use this lesson at least twice a year during my basketball unit. It was different to think backwards, although it makes perfect sense to create lessons this way. There are times when I create a lesson and sometimes don't get the results I desired. When this happens I have to go back and figure out what I did wrong. Using UBD though, you think about your desired results and then you figure out how you want to achieve your them. When writing this lesson with UBD I feel like that I could give this to anyone and they can go teach for me. UBD made me think through more ideas, more than I may normally think about. I have recently signed up to work with the Curriculum Coordinator and other teachers i my district to work with UBD in lesson design and curriculum design. I think it is a great design and am excited to work with it more.

What was difficult was using the UBD format. It would take less time if I used all the categories that UBD did, but used my own format instead.