Colin Lauman
  • Home
  • Athletics
  • Physical Education
  • Health Education
  • Resources
  • Community
  • Personal Experiences
  • Contact
    • About

Everyone loves p.e.

Positive Relationships & Expectations

4/3/2017

0 Comments

 

Relationships

“Effective teaching is all about teacher-student relationships” (Wong, 2009, p.68)
Cultivating positive relationships and high expectations is an essential key to the success of students.  A teacher has the power to start these relationships off on a positive note.  From the first eye contact, smile, and friendly words, the teacher can create a comfortable and positive relationship with the student and parent. There can be positive relationships among teachers and students in addition to those between students themselves. Additionally, and equally as crucial are the relationships built between the teacher and the students’ families as well.

Strategies for Building Positive Relationships

Teacher to Student

First, the teacher needs to show that they care for the students.  Having the classroom set up, and fulfilling the first day organizational check list are two ways to show care for the students. When meeting the students for the first time, smiling, pronouncing their name correctly, and making eye contact set a good foundation for showing care. Awareness of body language is important for ensuring communication of a positive vibe since being unaware of body language may convey a negative message.  For example, a teacher may be in the habit of folding their arms when listening to others speak.  Whether the teacher realizes or not, she is communicating a closed message.  In The First Days of School (Wong, 2009), Wong recommends rehearsing various statements in the mirror.  This helps increase awareness of what the teacher looks like.  And of course, good manners are a must. Those simple statements like “please” and “thank you” show thoughtfulness and sincerity.

Student to Student

Clearly stated classroom guidelines that are rehearsed, followed and taught by example from the teacher can guide students to treat each other with dignity and respect.  More practice will be needed however, and simple role playing games can be useful for practicing this skill. Group projects (any size, from pairs to half of the class) and class projects can increase comfort levels among students. Ultimately, the teacher needs to be the continuous example of modeling dignity and respect.

Teacher to Family

Genuine care will show in the teacher’s smile as he or she listens and makes eye contact with the families. Communication should be as clear as possible.  Making sure the family knows the expectations will help them support their child in class. A timeline for regular communication scheduled with students’ families will keep the doors of communication open.  Depending on the subject area, the teacher may meet only some of the families, which is an important reason for specialists to communicate with the families on a regular basis.  If there happens to be any negative things to report, it’s helpful to present the information as positively as possible.

Positive Expectations

“You can accomplish anything with students if you set high expectations for behavior and performance by which you yourself abide.” (Wong, 2009, p.37)

Positive expectations is expecting all students to be able to learn. This is not to be confused with standards which are levels of achievement.  According to Wong (2009), teachers with high expectations of their students will help students achieve high standards. The teacher needs to start with themselves, the teacher, and his or her personal optimism.  If the teacher believes he or she will be successful in her profession, they will.  In other words, expecting success keeps one in tune and aware of opportunities to help achieve success. The practice of optimism and positive expectations on a personal level shows students the example of what having positive expectations looks like on a daily basis.  In addition to the teacher’s personal attitude of high expectations, the effective teacher makes these positive expectations clear on the first day of school, establishes a climate of positive expectations, and holds all students to those high expectations.
​
Attentiveness to consistent expectations is important in order to avoid damaging students based on making unfair inferences about students and their abilities. Expectation research done in the 1960s by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson, (Wong, 2009, p.40) showed that when teachers were told some of their students were “special”, they expected more from those students and therefore saw a significant gain in intellectual growth in those students. There was not a significant amount of growth among the students not in the “special” group.  These results suggest that a teacher will get what they expect from a student.
0 Comments

Classroom Procedures P.E.

3/3/2017

0 Comments

 
​Beginning Class

Obtaining a maximal focus from students must be initiated from the beginning of class. Wong states, “Your very first priority when the class starts is to get the students to work” (Wong, 2012). This can be accomplished by, clearly communicating and modeling expectations at the start of class. Some teachers might utilize exit tickets as one way of assessing a student’s work in an efficient way and cultivating thought for the upcoming class (What will you do at the beginning of the next class?). Establishing clear, concrete and accessible expectations is essential.

Ending Class

Teachers must treat the end of class equally to the beginning and end. Often time’s teachers will dismiss class without a conclusion, a reflection or lead into the next lesson. Checking for comprehension can range from “think pair shares” to “standardized tests.” A quick journal entree, an exit ticket, thumbs-up/thumbs-down; checking for understanding after a question, are all examples of quick meaningful approaches to conclude a lesson. 

Turning in Work 

Students are anxious to submit and then receive feedback from the teacher. Teachers must provide clarity on the expectations of submission. Where, when, why and how would be a good place to start when describing the submission of assignments to students. A clear understanding of where a student should submit the assignment, specific deadlines, how to turn in an assignment fully completed is also an important factor. These methods will help reduce miscommunication and anxiety for students. 

Using the Restroom

Students will definitely need to use the restroom at some point during the day. The rules/expectations for using the restroom should vary from grade to grade and the personal expectations of the teacher.

Asking for help During Work Time

Students should be comfortable to ask for help or clarification during the day.   The methods in which students can ask for help should vary per grade level. Teachers should have age appropriate expectations that are accessible. Methods can range from post-it-notes, a color/sign, or a “question box.”

Absences and Make Up Work 

Upon an unplanned excused absence students are allowed to make up work within a predetermined amount of time set by the teacher. The teacher using fair judgment should determine the amount of time provided for submission of the late work.

-If the student has an unplanned unexcused absence they must meet with the teacher to evaluate the expectations of the make up policy. The student should make up the assignment.

-For a planned excused/unexcused absence the students must collect assignments from the teacher prior to the absence and submit the assignments accordingly.
​
-Expectations regarding make-up work should be clearly posted and available for students to understand. Within my PE class I utilize the Google drive containing multiple options for make up assignments. Students know where to find a make up assignment and can even accomplish the make up work before missing a planned absence. 

Transitions
​

Transitioning between activates or class can create a void in teaching or learning time. If the students are prompted before class with an agenda for the day and transition directions they will reduce the amount of time a teacher spends directing the transition. Teachers should have an agenda clearly posted for the students to understand when start and finish times are. 

Attention Grabber 

Students are often distracted within personal conversations, group work, or personal thought. Teachers might utilize methods such as non-verbal noise (clap, whistle, chime, bell), simply raising a hand, one-clap/two clap “if you can here me clap once, if you can hear me clap twice,” or raising their voice to acquire their attention. In PE the most common method is to use the whistle. However, students should be able to be aware of their environment without a teacher having to use the whistle. Sometimes the silent raising of a hand is an equally effective method. 

Returning Equipment

Spending time picking up and placing equipment on the floor can be inefficient for a teacher. Within PE we may use students to help organize equipment. Throughout the school year different students can be equipment managers for the week. They must work with the teacher before and after class to be responsible for the equipment that is needed during a particular lesson.

Showering After Exercise

Showering after exercise is important for maintaining hygiene. Students are often uncomfortable with showering and teachers also might be uncomfortable with checking on students if they shower. To help accommodate comfort for students and teachers is to have proper facilities to ensure privacy (doors on showers). Teachers can also send different groups and different times to reduce the number of students in the locker room at one time.

Wong, Harry K.; Wong, Rosemary T. (2012-05-11). The First Days of School (Kindle Location 16). Harry K Wong. Kindle Edition.
0 Comments

Meeting a Variety of Ability Levels in P.E.

3/2/2017

0 Comments

 



How do you include less abled mentally and physically students into a normal fitness routine?

The amazing concept behind Physical Education classes is that they encompass both physical and mental health. When students are engaged in P.E. class they have feelings that will be enhanced due to the physical component, while they still have to be mentally focused to ensure social and physical safety. When evaluating less-abled students either physically or mentally teachers decide in accordance with an IEP will decide what level of P.E. will benefit them the most. For the purpose of this blog post I will base my content on students who are less-abled mentally or physically, but do not to be fully emerged into an Adaptive P.E. classes.

Inclusion of less-abled students into mainstream classrooms is very beneficial when done properly. The less-abled students will still have a chance to meet learning targets while able students will have opportunities to grow as leaders and still meet similar learning targets. As Julie N. Causton-Theoharis (2009) states that the golden rule in working with less-abled students is to, “support others as you would wish to be supported.” P.E. teachers can support less-abled students by treating them the same as abled students while still meeting standards required in a P.E. classrooms.

Attached is a lesson below where I altered the lesson to meet inclusion needs while still balancing the able students learning targets. My objective was to provide a learning environment where lesser-abled (psychomotor) student feel safe mentally and physically and have opportunities to meet learning targets while, more able (psychomotor) students are also challenged and expected to meet the same learning targets. Some of my strategies to make sure the class was able to obtain learning targets included:

-Activities to create a positive/safe learning environment (ice breakers)

-Student following personal SMART goals (to reduce judgment or comparison to others)

-The use of TRX training equipment to reduce the chance for injury

-Pairing fitness partners together appropriately

-Spending some time on self reflection

​

0 Comments

Physical Education Inquiry-

2/23/2017

0 Comments

 


​​
John Dewey once stated, “Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes. “ Dewey’s perspective falls in line with progressivism, which focuses on students that are heavily involved with their own learning. Working within a health and P.E. classroom my tendency has been to educate children with a holistic approach. I feel this approach enables students to become critical thinkers, independent learners, and learn skills that can be applied throughout life.

Recently I attended the Asia Pacific Physical Education Conference. This was in the midst of a Masters program at SPU and balancing being athletic director and teacher at ISM as well. I had a moment the other day to dig through some of the key take always from the conference. It was a little bit ironic that I stumbled upon the PhysEd Inquiry Cycle based upon Professor Kathy Short’s inquiry based model. The illustration of the cycle is posted can be found at:

http://www.iphys-ed.com/inquiry-in-pe/physed-inquiry-cycle

I say ironic because as being a student myself I was staring at Valuation within the inquiry cycle, “Students reflect on what is of value from learning for themselves, their community and for the world.” While I was digging through what I found valuable from the conference I fount the PhysEd Inquiry Cycle and was applying it to my teaching with hope that it will benefit my community. The inquiry cycle focuses on adapting to students needs and a thorough dose of analysis with many reflection opportunities.

0 Comments

Assessment (PE/Health)

1/20/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture


Assessment – The teacher uses multiple data elements (both formative and summative) to plan, inform and adjust instruction and evaluate student learning.

Assessment criteria and standards are clear-

Developing units and lessons that reflect criteria and standards can be accomplished by understanding, and “unwrapping” the standards and criteria (Ainsworth, 2011). Unwrapping the standards and criteria will create a road map for unit and lesson development, which in turn supports learning levels of students. Figure 3.1 from Rigorous Curriculum Design illustrates a flow of starting with standards and creating reliable assessment within all styles (informal, formal, summative, and state assessments).


Teacher has a well-developed strategy to using formative assessment and has designed particular approaches to be used.

“By using formative assessment results to diagnose student learning needs before and during each unit of study, teachers could differentiate their instruction to help students achieve measurable success by the end-of-unit post-assessment”(Ainsworth, 2011). Formative assessment is very useful in determining where a student stands within understanding the current content. As mentioned in the quote above, pre and post formative assessment are imperative to understand the consumption of content that is taking place.

Teacher plans to use assessment results to plan for future instruction for groups of students-

Reflecting on both formative and assessment provides teacher with insight related to student’s comprehension and prior knowledge of content. Upon receiving completed assessments from students teachers can adjust units and lessons to help students reach their maximum potential. For content that students’ missed teachers will then have to identify areas where lessons need to be adjusted.

Teacher’s feedback to students is timely and of consistently high quality-

Providing consistent, accurate, and timely feedback ensures students will complete the reflection phase of understanding content. As stated from Rigorous Curriculum Design, Ainsworth describes feedback as “immediate verbal or written feedback from the teacher that confirms a correct answer or clarifies an incorrect answer, a student can better reflect upon what he or she already knows and still needs to learn (Ainsworth 2011).

In the text The Art and Science of Teaching written by Marzano, the reflection includes questions such as: 1) What they were right about and wrong about? 2) How confident they are about what they have learned? 3) What they did well during the experience and what they could have done better? These questions not only provide feedback but a more in depth understanding of the assessment that was applied.

Marzano, Robert J. (2007-07-25). The Art and Science of Teaching: A Comprehensive Framework for Effective Instruction (Professional Development) (Kindle Locations 863-864). Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Kindle Edition.

Assessment Tree-
​

Ainsworth, Larry (2011-04-16). Rigorous Curriculum Design: How to Create Curricular Units of Study that Align Standards, Instruction, and Assessment (Kindle Location 528). Lead + Learn Press. Kindle Edition.

1 Comment

Curriculum Design (PE/Health)

11/17/2016

0 Comments

 

Assessing curriculum design-

Understanding curriculum immensely helps with the ability to adapt the curriculum to students needs. Assessing standards, creating assessments from the standards, developing a lesson, while considering students needs takes diligent effort but yields academic success. One of the most common weaknesses in curriculum is not using a variety of verbs in standards or learning targets. The greater the variety of verbs will help create a variety of assessments, which can be utilized in adapting to learning styles. Ainsworth (2010) mentions “unwrapping,” standards, which can help formation of lessons and assessments.

Meeting standards via lessons-

Standards were created as guidelines to challenge students at appropriate levels and to ensure students are meeting expectations. The purpose of lessons is to meet standards and benchmarks to ensure students are reaching their learning capabilities. If students cannot reach those standards teachers need to reassess lesson plans and the plan for individual student achievement. “Writing a detailed plan is also worth doing because it gives the educator clarity of thought about what to teach, how to teach it, and which students need a different approach to ensure their learning (Ainsworth, 2010).” Clarity in lessons will not only help a teacher conduct a smooth running class but it will help students understanding of lesson target learning outcomes.

Creating learning target to meet students needs-

Learning targets are imperative to help make the connection between academic language used in standards and benchmarks to the language students will understand. Educators need to make learning targets clear and available for the students to access any time. Learning targets being available visually, verbally, or both helps students understand goals and objectives of the lessons. Also learning targets are helpful for teacher adapting language to their audience.

Writing and implement lessons where students are actively engaged in the learning

Ainsworth (2010) suggest some key components for ensuring students are actively engaged in the classroom:

-Authentic (genuine, valid, real)

-Relevant to life situations and contexts • Interdisciplinary (as distinguished from “thematic”)

-Use embedded informational technologies

-Highly motivational, not routine

-Mentally stimulating, thought-provoking

-Incorporate the full spectrum of thinking-skill rigor, especially: reasoning, application, analysis, synthesis, creativity, self-assessment, and reflection

​-Include both collaborative and individual work

Utilizing these methods proves to be effective in engagement and academic achievement. Methods can be used both in assessment or classroom practice. To assist in producing metacognitive activities teachers in Physical Education classes can relate most information to student’s personal lives. Articles summaries, video analysis, and performance analysis, leadership activities can all lead to a higher sense of engagement.

Differentiating for my learners, and meeting learning targets-

To assist students in meeting daily learning targets teachers need to implement a variety of learning strategies.  Demonstrations and verbal/written explanations are the best way to reach all students with different learning styles. With informal and formal assessments altering to be fair for students obtaining the learning target.

Reflection and collaboration-

Modification of lessons is key in adapting to students needs. The most important time to modify a lesson is directly after teaching the lesson. Taking not on what worked and didn’t work will assist in evolving the lesson to be perfect in the future. Reaching out to colleagues is a great resource to prefect lessons as well. For example, chemistry teachers can assist in development of Physical Education lesson due to the overlap in curriculum. Collaboration can spark new ideas for assessments and teaching methods.

 
Reference:

Ainsworth, Larry (2011-04-16). Rigorous Curriculum Design: How to Create Curricular Units of Study that Align Standards, Instruction, and Assessment (Kindle Location 2531). Lead + Learn Press. Kindle Edition.

0 Comments

What do I Know About Adolescent/Child Development? 

11/10/2016

0 Comments

 


​What I know, learned, and am learning about adolescent/child development is that each individual child has unique differences in development. Of course, development issues could be predisposition due to learning disabilities, which have to be adapted to in a case-to-case situation. After birth adolescent/child development can be altered due to the environment in which they are raised. Also, children have multiple techniques for absorbing information more efficiently; Visual, auditory, or tactile would be some examples.

With the understanding of all the different facets each individual child has for learning, I base my teaching philosophy around providing variety. In the article Student-Centered Instruction: Integrating the Learning Sciences to Support Elementary and Middle School Learners, author Steven Turner (2011) describes the learning sciences. Specifically from his article that relates to my philosophy, is the framework of How People Learn (Turner, 2011, pg. 2). The way I present material, the way I assess knowledge obtained, the way I set the classroom tone, has to continuously evolve to meet the student’s needs. Our role as educators is not to take the easy route and always teach and assess the same way, but it is to evolve and reassess our own methods of teaching because each child in the room is changing continuously.

Turner S. (2011) Student-Centered Instruction: Integrating the Learning Sciences to Support Elementary and Middle School Learners. Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

0 Comments

Behavior Plan

11/9/2016

0 Comments

 
Behavior Expectations
  • Respect each other
  • Respect instruction/gym time
  • Respect the teacher
Safety is our number one concern. Students are expected to follow all school and physical education safety guidelines as stated in the student handbook and those posted on the gym walls. Unsafe behavior will not be tolerated and will result in immediate disciplinary action.

Unsafe and disruptive behavior will not be tolerated and will be handled in the following manner:

-First warning. The first warning will come in the form of a verbal warning on “the teachers time”. The instructor will speak to the student near the end of classroom time.
-Second warning. The second warning will be “on the students time” the student will come after school on their time to conference with the teacher and it will be decided between teacher and student, what additional steps need to be taken.
-Third warning. Parent involvement . A call home to discuss the issues.

Gym and locker-room procedures are clear and expectations will be enforced. However, each student and each situation is unique and the teacher reserves the right to treat each individually.

Fay and Funk(1995), patterns are important because they give structure and consistency. The best patterns, however, are those that allow for change. This combination of allowing for change while maintaining a stable pattern helps teachers develop classrooms that maintain consistency and still meet different needs.(pg.109)


Fay, J. and Funk, D (1995). Teaching with Love and Logic. Golden, CO. The Love and Logic Press Inc.
0 Comments

Characteristics of an Effective Educator-

10/20/2016

0 Comments

 


Great educators develop through personal experience while educating and learning from the social circle of higher level educators. When my mind reflects on effective educators, characteristics and qualities arise such as approachability, attentiveness, and insight.
We always hear a teacher in the classroom say, “No question is a bad question.” I feel students will not ask questions if they are not comfortable within the classroom or with the teacher. A student being comfortable with approaching the teacher leads to questions being answered and respect being earned in both directions.

Attentiveness supports the characteristic of approachability. Effective educators notice when a student is sick, uncomfortable, absentminded, clumsy, or can see the most important cue when, “the light bulb did not turn on.” Noticing when a student is struggling then making the move to fix the problem is imperative.

A clear understanding of what is actually being accomplished or not being accomplished is also very important. On-going assessment of skills is essential for the measuring student understanding. This is developed through review of the curriculum outcomes, lesson planning based upon those learning outcomes and presenting the information in an engaging manner. It is key that the teacher then reflects upon the level of student understanding. Personal reflection and professional observations can help a teacher maximize effectiveness.

The three characteristics above serve as an inclusive umbrella for the qualities of an effective educator. Students being socially and personally comfortable within a classroom will result in less hesitation to ask for help. The ability to recognize when students are uncomfortable or struggling with material leads to an educators ability to rethink their instruction and adjust accordingly. Finally, this ability to reflect on and improve lesson plans based upon feedback that has indicated the students’ level of understanding is key to mastering the skills that make a teacher effective.

0 Comments

Communication Spectrum-

10/5/2016

0 Comments

 


Joyce Epstein suggests that communities, schools and parents must overlap each other in a resourceful method to create positive student success. This can be supported by constants that Epstien identified as: 1) all families care about their children 2) educators strive to involve families 3) students want family involvement 4) good partnerships look different. Challenges that can present themselves within the three overlapping circles could include decreased partnerships over the long term, low income families are more commonly contacted for negative student observations, low income families and single parents are less involved in the student learning process, and cultural differences and impede communication.

From an educator prospective we must consider multiple forms of communication to keep the family, school, and community overlapping spheres in sync. Protocols can be in place at education institutions to ensure the communication chain is strong. To ensure parents receive the positive or negative message from teachers or administrators the following protocol is used at the International School of Myanmar:

-Have a conversation with a student that their parent will be receiving a phone call and email explaining the positive or negative situation (phone calls and emails begin and end with positive language).

-The teacher or administrator will make the phone call home with a follow up email. In culturally diverse environments (language difference) a translator may be utilized.

-If the issues are not resolved the teacher/administrator may suggest a face to face meeting.

-Learning updates can be sent home informing the parent of the students’ progress. This also can include a signature and comment line for parent acknowledgment.

-Parent teacher conferences

-Student led conferences. *Student led conferences are used at ISM due to the language barrier between teachers and parents. At this time students create a portfolio of quarterly work to present to their parents.

If the steps above are followed and consistent among educators communication outcomes will be successful.

Resources:

Promoting Effective Relationships with Parents, David Denton, Seattle Pacific University, 2014. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6Rn4t_HWhQ 12/2015.

Center on School, Family,and Community Partnerships, Joyce Epstein, John HopkinsUniversity,2010.Retrievedfromhttp://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/center.htm ,12/2015.

0 Comments
<<Previous
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Athletics
  • Physical Education
  • Health Education
  • Resources
  • Community
  • Personal Experiences
  • Contact
    • About