Resurgence in Lab C!!!

In my first attempt in Lab C, I'd say I pretty much bombed the entire lesson. I was responsible for the intro part of mine and Ricky Miano's lesson, but could not remember the rules to my instant activity! I eventually received the opportunity to redeem myself in teaching the second portion last Monday afternoon. I started off well, scaffold off of Ricky's intro and everything was running smoothly, at least for what I thought. During my lesson, I was tested by our highly insightful TA's(Teacher Assistant); as they organized a scenario in which students inconspicuously snuck out of the classroom, in hopes of catching my attention, testing my alertness I must have while teaching. I was able to deter one student from losing my sights as I made a conscious effort to keep watch of his doings, but eventually six students exited my classroom right under my nose. I admit, I could have paid more attention to the class roster number to have prevented such a large act of delinquency. For the most part I think my lesson was solid aside from the slight snooze, I was swift in teaching my students the desired skills of the activity and was energetic about it as well. I would say see for yourself, but unfortunately I was not recorded, just take my word for it until next time!

Ultimate Frisbee, Catch The Fever!!!

Our "Lab B" topic was Ultimate Frisbee. If you haven't played, my question to you is why the heck not done so already!? I must say it is one of the most fun games existing today. It can be played anywhere, a beach, backyard, or even a gymnasium like we did. I was teaching the 3vs3 defensive aspect of the game. Many people theorize, offense fills the seats, but defense wins championships and I couldn't agree more. I felt passionate about teaching the components of defensive stances and strategies. It showed as I stressed proper use of techniques of "good defense", in my transcript. Though I stressed importance of technique, I did not stress components of safety, nor did I give enough individual corrective feedback. Thankfully, I have two more shots at improving my teaching performance and try to hit all aspects of a successful lesson.  

B Ballin' in PE

We have recently been given a rubric that determines how much time in our lessons the students are actually engaging in activity. Time coding is a rubric broken off into four catergories, management, activity, instruction, and waiting. Obviously in a physical education class, the more activity students are able to engage in, then the more successful the class is. Just like any good professional athlete, we are encouraged to view videos of our performances to further analyze. After viewing my performance and grading it based on our assigned rubric, I scored a 2 of 5 in total score. I will use this result to keep on striving for improvement.

Stenographying PE!!!

This week's given assignment was a different technique used by our wise professor. Our stenographer type assignment plays a bit interesting in understanding more on how accurately and consciously we must speak while teaching. Our goal was trying to pin point which bad habits in our speech we can pick up to eventually figure out how can we correct them. Very insightful technique in my opinion because we are able to self-analyse our performance. For the most part I did a whole lot better than I thought, but judging from the words that I typed up, I could have spoken a whole lot more. In the script one will notice that I did not "check for understanding", which is something very important when teaching a new skill. Take a read for yourself, I am sure there will be things missing that I can improve on, if you see any, please leave me a comment in how I can improve. My Script

First Day of 255 and already having PE game planning!

First day of 255, we were all put to the infamous test!!! We all have had trouble presenting in front of an entire class, imagine how it must have felt being filmed teaching your peers. At first I can admit I was pretty confident, but sooner than I had expected I began feeling a bit jelly kneed as I was runner up to teach a skill from a given sport. From watching the video, I think I pulled it off for the most part, I had great posture I feel, and looked very into what I was trying to convey. But then, I saw one major flaw that may be my handicap, the way my voice projects. Professor Yang had previously mentioned how "great vocal projection" is "key" in gaining attention from your students. In the video, I was able to hear everyone else's voice but my own, I definitely have got some work to do before I can call myself "teacher ready".

Is Efrain the real Grinch who stole Christmas???

November 19, 2008 was the day of our last visit to St. Mary's Elementary School. It was a sad day for most, but that day was my day to ruin Christmas for all the little ones even though it was more than a month prior to that actual day. My lab partner Bart came up with this fantastic game called "Grinchies versus Elf's". The objective was for the Grinchies to steal as many toys and bring them back to the Grinche's(me) cave, while the Elf's tried to retrieve them back in order to help Santa deliver all the toys in time. My role as the Grinch, was oscar worthy in my opinion as I played a grumpy anti-christmas villan. It was by far the most fun I had in any of the labs, especially after being able to capture the imaginations of the children and had them play along. I guess that was what we had to learn all along, if we can capture the imagination then we can capture a child's interest to then instill lessons that need to be learned. Signing off Efrain Reyes, see you all next semester!!! Happy Holidays

They were not going to go without KICKIN' And BOUNCIN'

Interesting title I have there right? Well folks, do not be alarmed because no kids were injured during this lab day. We went over the basics of kicking a soccer ball and dribbling a basketball. I was really proud of this lab day because I constructed and led the drills that the children were following. It was a competitive day as we were assigned the 2nd to 5th graders. I set up a station that not only requires one to dribble as they go through the obstacle, but also there was a big kick finish in which I was the GOALIE! I talked so much trash urging the students to kick passed me, but from the end results I should have kept silent as more than half the shots were in for goals. Do not judge me, eveyone has their off day, so happens it was my turn.