Week 7 Reflection

For week 7 of Tiger PRIDE (11/12/14) we only had the students for 1 class session instead of 2.
The content for that Wednesday was dance. My teaching partner and I decided to teach the thriller line
dance to pay homage to the great Michael Jackson. The lesson was designed for 22 of my 4th graders at
Cleveland Elementary and took place on the basketball court lined blacktop. The lesson required chalk
or poly spots to mark where students will stand and undying enthusiasm to get students engaged in the
lesson. Previously learned skills that would apply to this lesson are spatial awareness.
The student learning outcomes are as follows: Psychomotor- students will be able to perform
the cues of the skill for the thriller line dance. They will be able to demonstrate and recite the proper
movements for each 8 step count for the dance. Cognitive-students will be able to discuss the strategies
they implemented to remember the cues of the skill. Students will also be able to explain what rhythm is
and why it is important for an 8 step count. Affective-students will express positive attitudes throughout
the lesson and use spatial concepts in order to effectively accomplish the tasks. Students will exhibit
traits such as smiling, laughter, high-fives, engage in positive dialogue, and encourage their peers.
Health Related fitness- students will be able to recognize the physiological responses of the body to
exercise and engage in 50% MVPA. I believe that I successfully achieved the student learning outcomes
that I set forth for the lesson. Based on the data, my students endured 19 minutes and 40 seconds of
MVPA. This exceeds my goal for the semester and set a new benchmark for the rest of the year. If I were
to change anything about my teaching episodes, I would have tried to incorporate music so some part of
the lesson but I believe that it worked well without it.
In my lesson, I successfully addressed the criteria of a learning experience. I got my students into
19 minutes and 40 seconds of MVPA, more than any other session I taught before. I provided the
opportunity to maximize practice trials, and the chance at improving motor skill performance. My
students had 12 minutes of activity, 6.5 minutes of instruction, and 13 minutes of management. I
consider this a big win because instruction and activity go hand-in-hand for a lesson like dance and 13
minutes of management is low compared to most of my teaching episodes. I dont want to sound like
Im settling for 13 minutes of management because it can go lower but for a lesson that I did not feel
very confident in teaching, it went well. All of my students were given the opportunity to practice at a
high level although there were a couple that didnt actively participate until I called them out on it. I
continually encouraged students to participate and I think that it motivated them to see their peers have
fun and laugh in the lesson. The students definitely experienced a good mount of skill development
because everyone was new to the thriller dance. It was received very well and I made the 8 counts very
simple so that beginners could have a high success rate in performing them. To further improve the skill
development of my students, I could show a video of the entire dance so that students can get a general
idea of how the dance will look after it is all put together.
During the teaching episode, I deviated very little from the front of the class. I felt that it was
important that the students were able to see me demonstrate the skill before performing it. I later
moved around the students to provide guided instruction as well as perform the 8 counts with them.
Cues of the skill were constantly being verbally rehearsed as it was important for student learning. The
dance has many cues so it was vital that they were reinforced through repetition. Instructions werent as
quick as other lessons because students were all new to the dance. I had to repeat instruction many
times but that is perfectly normal for teaching a dance lesson. The lesson provided many opportunities

for feedback as I was able to watch students perform in front of me. I was able to give individual, small
group, and large group feedback while also pointing out excellent reenactments and performance of the
skill. The demonstrations that I provided started with myself as the main visual but after instruction was
given, I had a handful of students assist me in demonstrating the separate 8 counts to their peers.
Students were able to see and hear me because I was directly in front of the class and there was no
equipment to be dispersed or collected. Disruptive students were often ignored because I had the
attention of a majority of my class. By ignoring the disruptive students, they were more inclined to
correct their behavior because no one is giving them attention. My teaching definitely showed
enthusiasm because I was nervous in teaching the lesson and wanted to demonstrate competence in
the content area.
Three skills that I did well were demonstrations, repeating the cues of the skill for
understanding, and encouraging students to participate in an uncomfortable content area. I would like
to work on large group feedback, checking for understanding during my closure, and ending on a strong
note. To improve on my weaknesses, I will allow more time to check for understanding. Based on this
weeks achievements, anything is possible going into the future. I will start the last week of Tiger PRIDE
by covering some of my students favorite contents.