Let Them Teach!!

5/28/2015

Little teachers in action in target games unit

I had a great time today watching my grade 3 students teach grade 1 students different types of target games. I gave the grade 3 students extra PE time today to take on the role of teacher. I made it very clear to the grade 3 students that I was looking for three things:

You must show responsibility and take care of the grade 1 student.
You must clearly explain the rules, how to play, and the scoring system.
You must give them feedback about how they are doing.

I closely observed the grade 3 students as they taught and played the game with the grade 1 students who they had been paired with. They did a fantastic job for the most part and I was able to assess most of the grade 3 students in regards to how much they know about target games. We used the visual below as a starting point for the lesson in order to get them thinking about some big ideas related to the unit.

Once I set the grade 3 students off working with their grade 1 partners, I walked around listening and observing what was happening and tried hard not to intervene. Near the end of the class, I asked the grade 3s what the most difficult part of teaching for them was and what they enjoyed the most. These were some of the most common answers:

What was most difficult...
Some times the kids do not listen.
It's difficult to explain things in an easy way.
It's frustrating when they walk away when I am talking.
I tell them one thing but they do another.

What they enjoyed the most...
We liked being leaders.
We enjoyed playing the game with them.
We liked that they were able to learn from us.

This is what grade 1s had to say about the grade 3s.

Things they didn't like about their teacher...
They sometimes shouted at me.
They spoke too fast.
They got frustrated when I made mistakes.

Things that they liked about their teacher...
They were nice to me.
They helped me to improve.
They helped me get better.
They said things like, "Nice job" and "You are getting better!"

As I said above, I was able to walk around , observe, and take some notes on most of the grade 3s as they taught the games to the younger students. I commended both grade 1s and grade 3s for the great work that they showed today in this combined lesson. Definitely worth trying out with your own students if you can set something similar up. Thanks for reading.

6 Comments

Robin walker

5/29/2015 01:11:59 am

Inside-out teaching! A wonderful lesson for everyone involved, including me. I've always thought the best way of learning to be a great student is by teaching. Thank you for a thought provoking post Andy!

Michael Payne

5/29/2015 02:13:47 am

Great idea!!! What a great experience for both the third and first grade students.

Sophie

6/1/2015 02:13:35 am

This is a great teaching moment for both grades, especially when you break down the student feedback. I would like more information on how you set up this part of the unit. What preparation did you have the older grades do before the class met together. Did you go over the skill and remind them of the skill cues, rules etc. How many times will the two classes meet together and did you have the discussion together at the end or separately. I would love to follow this plan and try it with my students. Can we discuss this aspect or the lessons in more detail? thanks this is awesome, I am excited to implement this next year.

Mark Vatsis

6/1/2015 01:32:35 pm

This is great and something I will be doing more often with my classes.

I recently tried something similar for sports day with my K-2's. I put all my grade 4 students into teams of 4-5 and each team was responsible for organizing, structuring, and teaching a game to the K-2 homeroom classes. Each class cycled around to 5 different stations (2 hours) where the grade 4 teams lead the activity.

This was my first time trying something like this and it was really fascinating to see how much you can learn about your students (leadership qualities, problem-solving skills, etc). The debrief with the grade 4's was very educational, however, the next time I do this I will look at getting more feedback from the K-2's.

Here were some fun quotes of the day:
"Mr.V, teaching PE is so fun!"
"Teaching PE is very difficult!"
"Mr.V, I really respect your job" (My favorite)

Thanks again for your post Andy!

Ash Casey link

6/2/2015 04:14:55 am

In many respects this is such a risk and in others it is so empowering. This is something that happens regularly in the sports leaders awards that exist in the UK but this is often secondary school children going to work with primary school children and not two groups of primary school children working together. I'm not surprised that there were some positives and negatives because this is new. I often say that when exploring a new way of teaching it is not only the teacher who has to learn about something new. Kids also need to learn in new ways. If you change the 'rules' if learning then they need time to get used to the new rules as well. The more you do this and the more you feedback to the different groups of children the more, I'm sure, this will develop. As always great to see into your classrooms and see what is happening. Brilliant.

Antonio Calderon

6/2/2015 08:39:08 am

I know successful experiences doing the same Andy between grade 5 and 3 in "share sport education units". There two teachers at the same time having physed, and they both deliver sport ed (planned together). Student-coaches of grade 5 support the students-coaches of grade 3. They are using sport ed along three years and they are really "professional". Great communication skills! Quality stuff from you. As always. I'm big fan! :)

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Little teachers in action in target games unit

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