Danielle Dummel Planning Commentary October 26, 2012 Planning Commentary 1.

Content Focus and Standards As a Physical Educator, it is important to teach students about movements that will make them successful for life long fitness and health. The content focus for this segment included proper catching and throwing techniques for grades K-2. Teaching students these skills helps prepare students for the sports or activities that include these movements. The standard for this comes from the NASPE National standards. It is the first standard of 6 and states that students Demonstrate competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities.

2. Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching Academic Development: When planning the lesson for Throwing, it was important to evaluate where students were academically to understand what type of instruction would be necessary. I am specifically speaking about the Kindergarten class where there are various students with special needs. Many of the students have not had a lesson in throwing so it was the first time they had seen it. Not only was it important to think of the fact that it was the students first time, but also the fact that the students with special needs need more instruction. This information has been gathered during previous lessons in which some students required more feedback and direct instruction than others. It was also very important to understand that some students may have had some previous throwing practice outside of school, while others may have never had an opportunity.

All of these things together required much instructional planning that helped guide what the lesson would look like and how it could effective for each and every student.

b) Academic Language Development: All students in the Kindergarten class speak/write English, so it was easy to communicate the lesson. Some students, as noted above, struggle with processing the language in which they required more visual demonstrations. Again, these notes were taken during previous lessons by observation as well as by talking with the Kindergarten teacher. Students at this age require focus and attention to ensure they comprehend the directions, so everything must be broken down and taught in pieces for all students to follow along easily. This information comes from experience with young students. The biggest issue is slow processing, noted in the student who has a cognitive delay and another student who has autism. Taking this into account allowed the lessons to move more smoothly by providing in depth demonstrations multiple times. Knowing that some students struggled to process instructions quickly made planning a successful lesson much easier. In order to help students process the task, more visual demonstrations were planned and used.

c) Family/community/cultural assets: Each student has a story behind their everyday demeanor. There were multiple opportunities throughout the start of school that I had opportunities to get to know my students and where they come from. One of these was the opportunity to do a community walk in which I got to explore where my students come from. Using that opportunity to try to discover the home life of the students provided a chance to build relationships.

It is important to help students make the content connection with their real world and real life. The throwing lesson is important in the city of Chicago. Many students are intrigued by sports such as basketball and baseball so knowing these things helped make the lesson more relevant to their culture. Researching the community and culture were great sources of data to get students excited about throwing and catching. The kindergarteners were able to describe places they had seen throwing and catching because it is culturally relevant. Understanding that the students will learn more efficiently when the content is displayed in a more interesting way to them provides a great basis for planning all lessons.

d) Social and Emotional Development: Kindergarten is an important developmental age. Students come into the gym with all sorts of varying developmental levels of social and emotional behaviors. As a Physical Educator, teaching social/emotional development is an incredibly important part of the curriculum. Each lesson contains a majority of pieces about respect, safety, interaction with others, how to react to varying situations, etc. When planning the lesson, referring to past experiences with the students as well as notes from their teacher help to develop an effective lesson in reference to social skills. A few students have continuous struggles with appropriate behaviors, emotionally and socially. Noting this through observations provided a good tool on how to deal with the situations during the lesson. For example, one of the students is opposite defiant. He doesnt like to do anything simply because you tell him to. What has been working is giving the student an option. He really reacts to the choice words effectively. This is something we have been taking into account during our planning. Also it is important that we remind students during the

lesson that laughing when someone either does not catch the ball or does not make a great throw is inappropriate. We remind students to constantly display a championship attitude during the lesson (ex: saying good try, you will get it next time or giving a thumbs up, etc).

e) Learning Strategies: There are various instructional strategies that are effective for student learning, many of which I have mention above. One of the most important instructional strategies seems to be providing multiple demonstrations and at bats for students. The more opportunity for student practice, the more successful they are. The best way for us as Physical Educators to do this is with the I do, We do, You do, types of lessons. It really helps us see the transfer of knowledge and skill and provide one on one feedback where necessary. Once the students are in the I do portion of the lesson, we have the opportunity to observe which students are still struggling that might need more assistance. Also, when it comes to social and emotional development a great strategy has been giving students many opportunities to fix the behavior as well as using the choice language, in which you give the student the choice to do what is expected or suffer a consequence.

3. Supporting Student Learning As stated earlier, using all of the prior knowledge and observations of my students developmental level, skill level, and academic level helped alter the plans of the lesson so that each student would be successful. Adapting the lesson by providing plenty of time for demonstrations was one of the key aspects. It was also important to allow time for the I do

portion of the lesson so we could evaluate what students may need extra assistance to understand the skill. The plans for instruction are sequenced as such that the students have an opportunity to draw from previous lessons as well as an opportunity to draw from their own experiences before diving right into the skill. Reviewing the previous skills is a good chance to build off of what they already know to help guide them toward success. The I do, We do, You do lesson format also provides scaffolding for students to be successful. Students can make connections through skill practice by drawing back on the purposes of the skill. It would be essential to remind students continuously why the skill is important in their lives. They will deepen their understanding of living a healthy lifestyle through skill development. Developing the skills and movement patterns will help make them successful athletes and healthy individuals. Many students at this age already know how to throw and catch, but not properly. It would be important to address the misunderstandings and correct their current thinking to help them to be successful. Addressing the issues would be easily done by requiring students to complete the task as it is taught in the gym. Show students the proper form and also show them common ways that people throw incorrectly. This can help students visualize what they are doing and we can help them change it. An easy way to differentiate instruction is during the I do portion of the lesson. Students who are very successful can step farther back from their target, while students who are struggling may need to step closer. Students that may need more assistance can be given feedback during this portion of the lesson that will help them to feel successful and ultimately be successful. No student will be bored because each student can be challenged accordingly.

4. Supporting Student Understanding and Use of Academic Language The academic language for students during the lesson is addressed at the beginning of the lesson. The word of the week provides students with a new word to help them understand the lessons in the unit. Vocabulary and phrases are taught before the skill itself. It provides students with background and an understanding to the skill before they practice it themselves. As the teacher, it is important that my instructional language be age appropriate as well. When explaining tasks or activities to students, speaking clearly and using age appropriate vocabulary is extremely important to the success of the students and the lesson itself. Scripting out what to say in the lesson plan is a good strategy to ensure that I do not speak above their level. Students who need additional support or have various levels of language understanding benefit from the multiple visual demonstrations and using the word wall as a reference point to look back on the vocabulary word. Checking for understanding is an important part to making the lesson successful. Determining whether I didnt speak clearly or appropriately versus whether students arent ready for the next step is important.

5. Monitoring Student Learning Physical Education is a place for many informal observations and assessments. Using informal assessments to determine whether a students is successful or not is essential the each lesson. If a majority of the students are struggling, it may be too far ahead for them or it wasnt taught clearly. If just a few arent getting it then that is when individual feedback comes into play. Students who are using the correct form will be evident. Using the informal observations is effective in the P.E. setting.

Students can demonstrate their learning by reciting the cues to proper throwing techniques, even though they might be throwing with perfect form. It takes practice. Those students that may not be successful right away may struggle with the form, but understand it. Modifications can be made with distance or ball type to help accommodate students with different needs. These things will help make a student more successful and motivated

PART 2 Assessing Student Learning

Summary of Student Performance and Grading Rubric: Teacher Observation Checklist for the skill of Overhead Throw An X mark is placed in the box if the student is noted completing the cue. If the student does not complete the cue, the teacher puts nothing in the box. 3 checks indicate that the student was successful, while 2 checks indicate that the student is almost there but needs some work, and 0-1 checks indicate that the student was unsuccessful. Student learning standards in Physical Education vary from state to state, but we use the NASPE standards for Physical Education in Illinois. The criteria for successful overhand throw include the fundamentals of basic throwing techniques, and thus align perfectly.

STUDENT

Ready turns sideways to target

Aim points to target with non-dominant hand, pulls dominant hand behind head (1 point)

Throw steps with opposite foot, release; follows through (1 point)

Feedback for student

Total Points 3 Successful 2 Needs work 1/0 not successful

Student A

Student B

Student C (student with a cognitive delay)

You show an understanding and basic comprehension of skill, you just need more practice to master the skill! Great form, but remember to shift your weight as you throw too! Student stays sideways, and doesnt step to throw. No weight shift. Although you have the start of the throw down, you are not stepping, You stay in the aim position without any movement of the lower half of your body. Next time, you need to focus on how to step toward target and shift weight. (Show him again).

(Two focus students in yellow A & C)

What Students Appear to Understand:

After observing each student, I was able to gain a better understanding of which students were successful and which students needed more work. Students were verbally able to repeat the 3 cues for overhand throw (ready, aim, throw), so I knew that they understood what was expected of them while they threw the ball. I knew that they understood that there was 3 major steps to performing the overhand throw successfully. As they showed an understanding of the cues, they struggled to perform each cue physically. At such a young age, many of these skills are still developing, so the importance of mastering a skill at this age is not necessary. Understanding the skill and understanding the basic fundamentals is more important for the developmental level. Students are struggling during the latter phase of the throwing technique, while many of them are excelling during the beginning phases of throwing. To continue to challenge the students to perform the skill correctly, it would be important to focus on activities that force the students to use the stepping portion of a throw. For example, having students practice throwing at a target from a far distance requires more force, therefore the students would be encouraged to use the stepping to further their throw. Also, having game challenges where students can only get points for a throw if the step correctly could help further the practice.

Common Patterns
Physically, students seemed to grasp the cues of ready and aim. These two steps were completed with ease for almost every student. The struggles seemed to occur during the throw phase. Students seem to struggle with the stepping with opposition portion of the throw phase where they stepped with the wrong foot or did not step at all. It is important to

complete the skill using appropriate techniques to avoid injury and to increase the chances of accurate and successful throws. As noted, the 3 students that I chose for this assignment have similar struggle areas and similar strength areas. They showed strengths in the beginning phases of the throw, but showed weakness when it came to stepping to throw. Each student received an X in the box for the first 2 phases, but each student had no Xs in the third phase. Thus, I can gather that the students struggle in the final phase of throwing and are stronger during the first two phases of throwing.

Individual Strengths/Weaknesses
My focus students are student A and student C. Student A is normally a high performing student who comprehends material and is physically fit. He consistently shows good behavior and a desire to learn through being attentive and focused during lessons. He is a student who rarely, if ever, is seen struggling in P.E. His weaknesses may include misconceptions on skills. Student C is a child that has been diagnosed with a cognitive delay. Student C rarely speaks but seems to show understanding through physical movement. In the early stages, he took a good chunk of time to figure out directions or tasks, but now he seems to pick up on things a bit quicker. His strengths include perseverance and his eagerness to participate. His weaknesses include slow processing of directions and tasks.

Feedback to Guide Student Learning

***Evidence of my feedback can be seen on the observation checklist above (chart) students received their feedback on papers, but I no longer have those. Students also received oral feedback, but this was unable to be captured on video. ***

The feedback that I provided to student A and C reflected their individual needs and also met the learning targets of the skill. Student A showed success in the very fundamentals of the skill, which was the learning target. Noting this, it was very important to encourage student A to keep practicing in order to master the skill. It pushed his learning so that he doesnt just settle at the very basics of the skill. Giving the student a 3 on the assessment shows that he was successful, but the feedback I gave to him encouraged him that he still has a way to go in order to become as efficient as possible. Referring to student Cs feedback, he has a cognitive delay so I understand that it may take him a bit longer to grasp the skill in its entirety. Regardless, it is important to provide him with enough support and feedback to make him more successful. I provided him on the spot feedback, as well as explained the written feedback of the assessment to ensure that he understood what he needed to work on. I was able to show him what to focus on as well, which was beneficial for him. Ensuring that the students get feedback on the skill allows them to progress. If I just gave the assessment and students never had any feedback, it wouldnt be as likely to make a connection. Throwing is an important skill for various sports, activities, and in P.E. so it was important to provide the feedback to ensure further learning. There are many opportunities throughout the year to come back to the skill and the feedback. These opportunities will be great places for review, feedback on what I now know about the students, and a place for more and more practice.

Using Assessments to Inform Instruction

Based on my analysis of the data I collected, I know that a majority of my students had shown comprehension of the beginning phase of the throw. Based on this information, I will be able to plan for instruction of future lessons in which the focus is mainly on what it means to step with opposition, as well as what it means to shift your weight and follow through. Makin the third phase of the throw the focus of future lessons would provide students with extra support where they need it most. Individually, the next steps for student A and student C would be much different. Student A could be more of a leader and move on to more difficult throwing tasks, such as throwing to a small target, whereas the instruction for student C would be more of a focus on simple for tasks, such as practicing without a ball. Both students would benefit from further instruction, but focusing on different pieces of the throwing skill would be essential to making the lesson more effective and efficient for both students. The steps that need to be taken are determined by my analysis of the data that I collected. I know that each student has different needs, and providing students with different stations during P.E. would benefit each student individually. I know that a majority of the class struggles with the same skills, but those students who are further along still have opportunities for challenge instead of re-teaching. Analyzing data makes planning for future lessons so much easier. If I had only glanced at the fact that students had 2s or 3s, it wouldnt tell me much. By going back to look at what component of the skill each student struggled with is what helps to guide the proper instruction for upcoming lessons. As with any skill, it can usually be transferred across the board. Throwing is a skill that is seen in many places in the physical world. Encouraging students to continue to work on their

skills, not just for the assessment, makes it more meaningful. Students understand that the skill can be used in sports and it can also help them with the trait of perseverance through working through challenges. Students will feel more successful once they have had multiple opportunities and at bats, which will ultimately encourage them to continue to strive for mastery of skills.