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It's a week of PD for all teaching staff at Nanjing International School this week. The focus of the sessions has been differentiation in our teaching practice and identifying what our learning preferences are. Very much like our students, we all have our own learning styles and these preferences need to be carefully taken into consideration when we are planning our lessons. If you have the time, visit the link below and take the test. It's fast and easy. Give the test to some colleagues and see how they fair, compare results and learn about one another. It's good fun and a valuable source of information about yourself! Go ahead and try it......
http://www.learning-styles-online.com/inventory/questions.php
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Based on excellent feedback from Derek Pinchbeck, my PYP coordinator, and Joey Feith (founder of www.thePhysicalEducator.com), I have revised the model of inquiry that I had posted a few days ago. I think that with the feedback given, I have made the model a bit clearer to understand. If you look at the "model for inquiry in PE" blog entry I did last week compared to now, you will be able to notice the differences. Find below the revised version of this model. Thanks Derek and Joey for the feedback! I have recently been involved in ongoing dialogue about the concept of cooperation in PE. This conversation was initiated by Dr. Ashley Casey, a senior PE lecturer at University of Bedfordshire in the UK (he can be found at www.peprn.com). Is simply being on a team promoting cooperation? Obviously, there are many other factors that need to be considered when trying to teach the concept of cooperation in our PE lessons. Clayton Wilson, a physical education consultant from Bookham, UK posted, on Twitter, a great article about cooperation entitled 'The 5 Basic Elements of Cooperation' written by Kathy Green (http://cooperativelearning.nuvvo.com/lesson/216-5-basic-elements-of-cooperative-learning) that really delves into the idea of promoting cooperative skills in young people.
PE presents loads of opportunities to embed the skill of cooperation within the learning experiences we have our students engage in, both in small and larger groups. The Learner Profile and PYP Attitudes are an excellent place to start when creating an environment of genuine cooperation in our classes. (http://www.pyppewithandy.com/2/post/2012/01/the-pyp-attitudes-in-pe.html) Also critical is the idea of creating a risk tolerant environment which allows kids to feel that making mistakes is a part of the learning cycle. It is through these mistakes that we grow and learn (http://grow.mindsetworks.com/cms/how-to-create-a-risk-tolerant-culture). Is it possible to further break down cooperation in an attempt to identify essential components that can be taught and assessed in our PE classes? Developing authentic and enduring concepts such as this is an ongoing professional goal of mine, but is certainly no easy task! I would love to hear what you think. Please visit the PE teacher forum that I have set up on this website to contribute your valuable thoughts and ideas on the subject. Thanks! The true meaning of inquiry is often debated as many people have varying points of view in regards to what it looks like and how it is best applied in the classroom. I think we all agree when people say that it needs to be student initiated as this type of inquiry paves the way for genuine and authentic learning experiences regardless of subject area. Inquiry comes in many different forms and what works well for one person may not necessarily be best for the next person. Good inquiry is a skill that needs to be constantly refined by both students and teachers in an effort to improve learning. The model of inquiry that I created for PE has helped me to think about my own teaching practice on a deeper level. I see it more as a journey that allows students to move back and forth between learning phases as they consolidate their knowledge. PE is very much skills based, but I firmly believe that the enduring and lasting concepts play more of a pivotal role, in the long run, than the skills related to sport. However, I do not in anyway downplay the importance of kids being as active as possible in PE. My model for inquiry in PE consists of 5 distinct phases which flow throughout the unit. These phases are as follows: Phase 1: Introduction Phase 2: Initial Learning Experiences Phase 3: More Directed and Specific Learning Experiences Phase 4: Culmination Phase 5: StudentsTaking Action This model works well for me and has definitely helped me to create and design more engaging PE units for my students. I am happy to share this with you, but am in no way saying this model is best! We are all different in the way we learn and teach. I only offer this model for your consideration. Often times the Learner Profile overshadows the PYP attitudes. I believe that the PYP attitudes play as powerful a role in exposing students to valuable learning experiences both in and out of the classroom. As part of my own professional goals this year, I decided early on to create a richer PYP environment in my own teaching space. As the PYP attitudes are important in any subject area and in the daily lives of our students, I created a poster for each of the 12 attitudes which I hope is child friendly. Each poster has important concepts embedded within it, in an effort to serve as a useful teaching tool in my classes. As I teach PE, I can easily apply any of these posters to any unit that I am teaching. The posters will be used to initiate dialogue, prompt questions, and guide inquiry into the student's learning. Please view the slide show below of each poster. If you find that it is a useful resource, do not hesitate to contact me and I will gladly share the whole set of posters with you. Lesson Objectives A) To have students interpret a piece of music and determine the tempo of movements to go together with the music B) To work together on teams of 2 or 3 to combine 4 distinct elements into a sequenced pattern to perform to a short piece of music C) Record the sequence in their Sportfolio using illustrations and/or text Learning Experiences A) Warm up (different gross motor movements to music increasing in intensity) B) Play music piece from Cirque Du Soleil called "Propel" C) Have students brainstorm how the piece makes them feel and describe what might be happening if the music could tell a story (ideas generated by students; marching soldiers, discovering something new, a ship sailing in the night, going on a journey, happiness, sadness, joy, adventure) D) Introduce formative assessment task (to create a mini-routine infusing 4 distinctly different elements into the performance in a sequenced pattern that must be recorded on their Sportfolio) E) Introduce 4 elements to be used; juggling scarves, gymnastics ribbons, a ball, and a balance F) Have students begin to discuss what moves they might use and practice on their teams G) Play music and have them explore possible connected movements keeping in mind the required elements listed above H) Ask students what might make their routines better (some answers included; slow tempo down to match music, use more expression, better body control) I) Tell students that we will now practice the routines 5 times in a row to refine their performance J) Allow for last minute discussion K) Final performance Teacher Reflection Excellent lesson. Next time I might allow them to select one extra piece of equipment of their choice to use. To hear an audio clip of the Cirque Du Soleil song 'Propel' that I used to drive this inquiry click on play icon below the slideshow. Click play icon below to hear audio clip on 'Propel' song by Cirque Du Soleil. Over the next few weeks at NIS, there will be an integration between drama and PE with the grade 2 classes. As we are doing a unit in gymnastics/movement to music in PE at the moment, drama fits very well into the scheme of things. The elementary drama teacher, Sam Brown, and I have been collaborating whenever our schedules allow, in an effort to help the grade 2 students create their own performances based on the "Wind". Using music and elements from Cirque Du Soleil, Sam will lead the students through many discussions and brainstorming sessions aimed at helping to identify how the wind moves, how it feels, what it is like, and how/why it is so unpredictable. In PE, we will take the ideas that Sam and the students come up with and put into action how they can be pieced together into a routine that will be performed, in groups, to the Cirque Du Soleil song called, the "Wind". We have approximately 5 lessons to get the students ready to perform and will hand out a rubric to them in week two in order to look at specific assessment criteria that will be used to assess their routines. The students will use the rubric to peer assess, but also to self assess themselves as well. In the slide show below, you can view the ideas that the students generated through their discussions with Sam. As we have lots of ESL students, Sam had the wind translated into German and Korean. The rubric that Sam and I collaborated on has also been added to the slideshow. I will also attempt to add the audio clip of the Cirque Du Soleil song. Feel free to use this song and try this out with your own students. I will be documented this integration in its entirety on my blog over the next few weeks. It appears as though the audio clip above has uploaded properly. If you are visiting this blog entry and have difficulty play the "Wind" song, please let me know and I will send you the clip by email. Just click on play icon above to hear song. Lesson Objectives A) To have students interpret a piece of music and determine the tempo of movements to go together with the music B) To work together on teams of 2 or 3 to combine 4 distinct elements into a sequenced pattern to perform to the short piece of music C) Record the sequence in their Sportfolio using illustrations and/or text Learning Experiences A) Warm up (different gross motor movements to music increasing in intensity) B) Play music piece from Cirque Du Soleil called "Propel" C) Have students brainstorm how the piece makes them feel and describe what might be happening if the music could tell a story (ideas generated by students; marching soldiers, discovering something new, a ship sailing in the night, going on a journey, happiness, sadness, joy, adventure) D) Introduce formative assessment task (to create a mini-routine infusing 4 distinctly different elements into the performance in a sequenced pattern that must be recorded on their Sportfolio) E) Introduce 4 elements to be used; juggling scarves, gymnastics ribbons, a ball, and a balance F) Have students begin to discuss what moves they might use and practice on their teams G) Play music and have them explore possible connected movements keeping in mind the required elements listed above H) Ask students what might make their routines better (some answers included; slow tempo down to match music, use more expression, better body control) I) Tell students that we will now practice the routines 5 times in a row to refine their performance J) Allow for last minute discussion K) Final performance Teacher Reflection Excellent lesson. Next time I might allow them to select one extra piece of equipment of their choice to use. Note: Students worked on Sportfolio sheets throughout the 80-minute lesson not just at the end of class. Also, to hear audio clip of the Cirque Du Soleil song "Propel" that I used to drive this lesson, please click play icon below. If you are visiting my website and would like to be a part of an initiative to create a PYP PE version of the Learner Profile, please see the PE Forum page for details. I think that distance collaboration is a distinct possibility when working on projects such as this. If you would like to help out and contribute your valuable thoughts, you must sign up for the PE teacher forum first(it is free of course!). Hope to see you on the forum soon.....Andy Vasily
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AuthorKAUST Faculty, Pedagogical Coach. Presenter & Workshop Leader.IB Educator. #RunYourLife podcast host. Archives
September 2022
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