Childhood growth and development

title on Prezi

Failings only failing if you take nothing from it

I significantly benefited from my last lab experience at St. Marys, and learned somethings you can only realize through experience. Teaching gym is much more difficult than I previously anticipated. My only teaching experience is through that of my gym back home. Their I help new students learn boxing, and the basics of grappling. Teaching their is much easier due to it being much more hands on, and it's teaching a designated skill instead of providing a positive and structured game/environment for students. Also I've never really worked with children before, which is a whole new experience. At the gym, people are paying to listen and learn, whereas at St. Marys the children aren't driven by the same factors. So here I actually have to try and get their attention. Actually in a way I even have to compete with the things going on around me for their attention. My soft spoken, passive nature doesn't grasp their attention well enough. When I tried explaining the rules of the game to the children they instantly started interrupting with questions, and statements like "This game stinks". Even though I'm sure they've never played it before, they still were testing me to see what they could get away with. Then during the game the children still seemed to not really listen to instructions fully. The game functioned well, yet could have gone much smoother. For example during the game it became obvious that the goalies shouldn't be able to throw the balls because then they could simple launch the ball from goal to goal. Realizing this myself and my group told the goalies the new rule would be that they must role the ball. Though instead of telling the child I asked him "could you please start rolling the ball instead of throwing it". I realized that to them, that leaves them the option of simply saying no. Next time Around I'm going to have to be more confident and assertive when I speak. Also I'm going to have to realize this isn't like instructing someone how to perry or roll with a jab, this requires much more preparation. Also I need to remember it's a completely different environment, and make the environment suit my lesson instead of hoping it suits my game.

An overview of developmental physical education

Three critical issues facing children in the U.S today are: Childhood obesity has been rising rapidly, In-school and community violence among youth have alarmed us all, and early puberty has important psychosocial ramifications. Two goals of the many of the concept of " Developmental physical education" are to enhance physical fitness and activity, and affective growth. Both these goals are solutions to the critical children are facing today. The first step in implementing these solutions is to understand factors that lead to the development of the whole child. Some of these factors are the biology of the individual, conditions of their learning environment, and the movement requirements of the task.
Next it is important to look into both individual and group "appropriateness". Individual appropriateness is the concept that every child develops uniquely in their growth. Where as group development is based on where children should be. For example say most babies walk around fourteen months, this doesn't necessarily mean at exactly fourteen months your child will be walking. Their individual development may take fifteen and a half years to walk. Therefor when curriculum is based on age rather than individual development its going to be very difficult, way to easy, and just right for the student depending on the individual in the class. Therefor it'd be important for basic skills of concepts like locomotion (running, walking, leaping, etc) and manipulation (ball rolling, throwing, bouncing, etc) to be assessed. Children have many skills that they should develop threw a balanced P.E program. They should develop some axial movements like twisting, swinging, turning, and stretching. Also the should be introduced to static and dynamic postures such as rolling, stopping, dodging, and upright balance.
Physical fitness is defined as being both Health-related and performance-related. This means to be physical fit one should have good muscular strength, both muscular and cardiovascular endurance, joint flexibility, and a healthy body composition. Also one should develop good balance, coordination, agility, speed, and power.

Second Lab at St. Mary's school

Motor Development Lab 2 at St. Mary's

P.E

P.E

To dodge ball, or not to dodge ball?That is the question.

It's apparent that games such as dodge ball are not in America's corner with it's continuous fight against obesity. These games find them selves in the Physical education hall of shame for a wide array of reasons. Ranging from their lack in the ability to actually accomplish much physical movement, to their obvious applications of danger and alienation. It is a big enough shame that most schools already unjustly rob children of a decent physical education already. Playing games that could allow half the class to not move more than a simple walk to the sidelines is an outrage. Not only to our tax dollars, but to America's health as well! It's also a waste of the schools funding. Anyone could instruct a game of dodge ball, Schools should hire teachers who actually physically better their students through education. The only way these games should exist in today's P.E classes is with modifications that promote a healthy body. Lets refer to this variation of dodge ball as " Alien invasion". Instead of using dodge balls this game will require soft flier Frisbee. They travel at a speed were they still can purpose concentration to catch, yet the eliminate the danger aspect of balls. I've personal been struck in the face with multiple soft flier Frisbee and have never even said ow. The game can incorporate fifteen or twenty Frisbee, so people are constantly catching, throwing, and getting hit with them. From there the old rules of dodge ball kind of apply. Two teams on each half of the gymnasium, throwing and catching objects. Though in " Alien invasion" no one ever gets out. If you catch a flying saucer you've helped save the planet, and must throw the saucer back into outer space. On the other side if you get hit with a flying saucer you must do ten push-ups, jumping jacks, or sit-ups, or squat thrust to get stronger so the aliens cannot take you aboard their spaceship. Also you can't do the same exercise twice in a row or you won't get strong enough to save the planet. After explaining to the children that aliens are invading the planet and it's up to them, and how they have to save the world, you now have a far more active variations of "dodge ball".

Attempting to break Inhibitions

The other day was the first time my peers and I got to not only interact with the children at the after school program, but also attempt to lead them in a game as well. It became appearant to me that it's a task in itself to sell the game and maintain their attention while doing so, let alone get a structured game going. It's the same for you and I when we're approached by a salesman with his " spectacular deal that'll only take a moment of your time". The majority of us aren't interested due to the salemans pitch. Dispite the fact that we may have been excited and interested, it must have been obvious we were holding back still. The pre-k students must have read this, and became less interested. We had them gather in a circle while we attempted to sell them the game, but it wasn't so easy. They often asked questions completely unrelated to anything at hand, and one child actually walked away. I feel as if this was a great first experience, that will help shape our future attempts into future successes! We just need to find our armors kinks, and keep going forward from there. Though I do feel being more silly, and open toward the children would be a great start. Also our instructor gave us grate pointers. He told us to try talking to them in the corner, so they aren't facing activities that can distract them. He also suggested speaking in ways that keep attention, which would also be a big help. I feel as If next time we'll be much more prepared to have a great class for the kids, I'm very excited!