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Category Archives: Physical education

Being a Maker in PE

Posted on by Posted in Learning, Pedagogy, Physical education, Technology .

There’s a lot of talk about the “maker movement” and “maker culture” at the present time. In a nutshell, it’s about using technology to learn as you create solutions to problems, or design blue sky projects. Think Arduino, Raspberry Pi, 3D printers, electronics and robotics. There doesn’t really seem to be a solid bridge between the maker movement and PE. Or is there?

The other day I mucked around with an idea as a semi joke. I cycle a lot, and this winter (where I live in Australia) has been warmer than I can remember for winter.  I joked to a friend that “Magpie season” might start earlier than usual.

Swoop – http://goo.gl/TmKSdy

Around August/September when magpies start to nest they become very territorial. As a cyclist, you know there are some stretches of road where you will be swooped. Some swoopers are half hearted – some can be persistent and quite aggressive.

I’ve seen a variety of “anti swooping” countermeasures over the years. Cable ties on the helmet is a strategy that has lasted longer than most. but I’ve never been able to bring myself to use them. (The laughing from motorists is too hard to bear)

The Echidna Principle – http://goo.gl/LNPRjz

So I semi jokingly created a device that might be a solution. I posted the video on Facebook and Twitter for the amusement of my friends.

But the more I thought about it, the more I thought about the possibilities of  linking PE with the idea of being a “maker”. It made sense. The “learning through doing” philosophy of the maker movement should happen every day in PE lessons – but we generally focus on “movement skills”, rather than  creating “things”. But why shouldn’t we make things? I reflected that my “Mystery Bag Challenge” was in fact a “maker” based exercise, before I realised what  being a “maker” meant.

And you know what would make it more powerful? It’s not the teacher’s responsibility for the design and creation process – it’s the students. We might provide the brief or perceived need – then let the kids loose on it. What an excellent assessment strategy!

Helmets to deter magpie swoops, innovative equipment designed to help us play newly created games, prototyping sports equipment, using 3D printers to create PE related tools like Jarrod Robinson and his 3D printed whistle – the list goes on.

I’d love to hear what “maker” activities you already do in class, or what the possibilities for maker spaces in PE could produce.

 

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Dodgeball – threat or opportunity?

Posted on by Posted in Games for Learning, Learning, Physical education .

I was skimming through my Scoopit feed on Physical Education  when I happened upon an article about Dodgeball. I didn’t Scoopit, but instead tweeted the link, but with an invitation for #pegeeks to comment.


My first thought after reading the article was that banning a game outright seemed to be pretty harsh. I thought the article relied on some knowledgeable PE elders viewing the game through a deficit lens for it’s stance. The effects and “hidden curriculum” of the game were seen as inequitable and unfair, reinforcing power inequities in the PE class. Fair enough, I thought, if you settled for the original version of the game. It was definitely a threat in that case.

I don’t know – maybe it’s the way I think but some threats have the potential to become opportunities.

I know we regularly play a game similar to Dodgeball – but different because we (and by we, I mean my students and I) de-constructed the game and reconstructed it into something that kids were happy to play in mixed gender classes.

We started with a game called “Binball”, and I guess it featured the same inequities as Dodgeball. The aim of the game was to either eliminate the other team by hitting them with the ball, or by hitting a target (usually a bin). We always used soft practice volleyballs in our game, so that wasn’t seen as worth changing.

If you fumbled a ball and it hit the ground, you were out too. Once you were out, you were out. We experienced what I guess the PE elders in the article saw – strong, agile kids winning the game, less able kids eliminated early. The kids didn’t like it, the staff didn’t like it. We didn’t ban it. We changed it.

Firstly, the kids wanted rules to change. They came up with the “strike zones” – where the ball, if it hit you, would get you out. They decided below the waist was out, above the waist but below the shoulder was not out, above the shoulder got the thrower thrown out of the game. They also didn’t like kids getting out early and being out for the duration. So they decided that if someone on your team could hit the basketball backboard at the other end of the court, then anyone that was out was returned to the game. “Fumbles” were still given out, unless someone on your team caught the fumble. They didn’t like people guarding the bins, so blocking in front of the bin was outlawed.

These rule changes made the games more even, produced much longer games with recycled players getting chances to return to the game, and produced exciting 1 v 1 finishes, often between students that were not regarded as “stars”. We saw the advent of tactics, students assuming specific roles at particular points of the game and they recognised the importance of team play and communication rather than individual prowess.

One of the strongest reasons we persisted with the game was that the students wanted to play it, but play it so everyone had a chance. This student led intent made it easy to reinvent the game. I’m happy we had the chance to re-imagine the game and allow the kids to reshape the threat into an opportunity.

We don’t play Binball all the time – usually it’s saved for wet weather when we only have indoor courts available. But the kids still ask for it.

As with so many things in our teaching careers, do you see opportunity where others see a threat? I’d like to think my students do too, now.

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Evolution

Posted on by Posted in Change, Learning, Physical education, teacherstuff .

 

Evolution - The Ride

creative commons licensed (BY) flickr photo by kevin dooley: http://flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/1856663523

I was reflecting the other day on why I hadn’t written a post for so long. Partly, I realised, because I haven’t had a lot of time to sit down and construct something. I also acknowledged something that had been a nagging thought in the back of my mind for some time about what I do on this site was and why I do it.

When I first started off, I was just sharing things I had tried in class. And that’s fine – I think that there has to be a space for practitioners to showcase their ideas, their success,their failures and the journeys they take. It was often based on a need to share the excitement of something that worked in my class, or to maybe share an idea that may give someone else a boost in their classroom. Or showing that something was possible and worth persevering with.

That sustained me up to my last post, but the nagging thought broke through recently when I was reflecting on my year. My work as a teacher and leader has evolved to beyond just the sphere of PE teaching – my job has many more facets to it now, and while I love my job as a PE teacher, I’m becoming more a thread woven through the whole school.

My thinking has change a lot. Seeing PEPRN and PEPLC has given me a much greater appreciation of the need for research to underpin my work – I’ve been guilty of sprouting platitudes that only carry aspirational weight, with little else to justify why they should be used than the “it works in my classroom” refrain. If I am to remain critical of others that do that, then I need to change my position to remain  honourable to the partners I have in learning, and to myself.

To be honest, I don’t think I do anything in PE that’s cutting edge – I see myself as adapting and deriving the knowledge and ideas that are already out there to fit my particular locals needs. Many other people like Ash Casey, Andy Vasily and Jarrod Robinson (to name a few) are the real innovators in the PE world and I love to lurk and read their latest exploits with a sense of admiration and a tinge of envy.

I have to also admit that the world of #pegeeks has changed a lot since I first started and this worries me. I see the many genuine contributors to the community being leeched and drowned out by personal brand builders that dilute the richness of what used to be there and this has made me want to withdraw more and more from it. It seems it’s become a one dimensional parody of what it used to be. Maybe I’m getting old and cranky, maybe I’m reading it wrong, but I know that I’m feeling the urge to change and expand my horizons.

So I can feel an evolution coming on

Evolution by ramy http://ramy.deviantart.com/art/Evolution-272359478

I’ve change the tag line at the top of my blog page to better represent what I think and do now. PE, my first blog love, won’t be my sole focus now – the way we as educators and learners do our job has a definite impact on shaping tomorrow. This doesn’t just happen in my PE classes – it happens in many contexts that I have some influence over. So that’s where I’ll be.

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Skills and Tactics – from paper to practice

Posted on by Posted in Inquiry, Learning, Physical education, Technology .

I’m working on a Year 10 PASS theory unit on Improving Performance. One of the topics we cover is using skills and tactics as a way to improve individual and team performance.
In planning the learning for this, I wanted to made the learning real and visible, not just theoretical and abstract. I came up with something that could be done in one lesson, maybe two.
1. I started with a quick introduction – a Google Presentation about what we were doing in the lesson

2. Then I showed a stimulus video on strategy and tactics in a Netball setting

2. We had a quick discussion about the difference between a tactic and a strategy

3. I then got the class to form groups of 5 (maximum), and using mini whiteboards, they devised a tactic for basketball, rugby league or football

Rugby League Play

Football Play

Basketball Play

 

The students transferred these group ideas to individual sheets for their portfolio

4. We then went out to the courts and the students rehearsed the tactic (it was raining, which stopped us using the fields for the football groups)

5. I started to film the group performing their tactic for their portfolios. (I’ll include some in a follow up post)

OK – I missed completing the whole thing in one lesson (i.e. filming every group) by about 20 minutes, and the groups could have done with more rehearsal time to perfect the movements, but we got close to going from paper to practice in 5 steps in about an hour.

The take away for me was the enthusiasm the students showed in being given the license to create their own scenario and solution. The elegant way that some groups went about devising their solution was inspiring.
So much better than reading about someone else’s plays, or copying down notes.
Never underestimate the ability of students to ask good questions and find great solutions.

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#pegeeks Mythbusters

Posted on by Posted in Inquiry, Learning, Physical education, Popular culture, Technology .

I’m teaching a unit on Improving Performance with my Year 10 students at the moment. They choose a sport they want to investigate (ideally the one they play at the moment) and come up with a personal improvement plan for themselves. The aspects of the investigation are up to them, but we talked through some options as part of the orientation lesson. One of the things we discussed was the effect of skill or technique modification and what sort of things might make your performance of a particular movement better.
There is a bit of a back story I need to recount at this point. Last year, when we had done a unit on golf, a lot of students wanted to try a “Happy Gilmore” drive off the tee. My risk management instincts kicked in and I wouldn’t allow it. My excuse (based on what I believed to be true) was that the notion it would add to their driving performance was a myth. This was somewhat grudgingly accepted as the truth because, hey, “he’s the teacher”.
Cut to this year and as I looked for some stimulus material for our Improving Performance unit, I discovered this great video from the Sport Science show on TV. Low and behold, it dealt with whether a “happy Gilmore” swing actually works. In the words of the Mythbusters TV show, myth busted!

Now this made me think. I was guilty of perpetuating a myth and the video debunked that in a really entertaining way. It also occurred to me that the idea of debunking myths would be a fantastic way for students to inquire about improving performance. They could devise ways to prove or disprove their chosen myth and then present their thinking as a reflection of their understanding and learning.

Here’s how I see it going. As a group we collectively come up with myths or stories that are out there to do with improving sporting performance. Ethical and non intrusive ones, of course! Students in teams could then devise ways of testing these myths, recording and presenting their results. In fact, the “Happy Gilmore” video would be a great template to use. It had hard research mixed with entertaining banter. The students would need to explore skill video analysis, storyboarding, video production, script writing and presentation of data amongst other things as part of their inquiry. They could end with an evaluation, based on their findings just like the Mythbusters show – “Confirmed” “Plausible” or “Busted”.

This is just a nebulous idea at the moment, and needs plenty of refinement, not to mention a systematic upskilling program for both the students and I. But I think it has great merit and I’ll be working on it over the next while.

PS. If you want to see a “Happy Gilmore” drive performed by mere mortals, along with the type of video that students are likely to produce, here’s one from the Slow Mo Guys:

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MasterCoach Mystery Bag Challenge

Posted on by Posted in Inquiry, Physical education, Popular culture .

I’ve been playing around with an idea to get  my Year 10 students to think about games and how to run them.
I’ve always been a fan of inserting popular culture references into my teaching, and one particular TV show captured my attention last week. Master Chef Australia is on at the moment, and it saw a segment that inspired me to try something new (for me, anyway).

I call this the MasterCoach Mystery Bag Challenge, based on the MasterChef Mystery Box Challenge.
Not seen MasterChef?
I’ve Tube Chopped a short video to give you the idea….

What I do with the kids is get them to work in groups of 2 or 3. I grab a bag of random sport gear. Markers and bibs are standard. It has to include an item for moving around between the players (ball, frisbee, bean bag etc) and some props (hoops, speed ladders, etc) that may or may not be used. I then give the bag to the group.

A MasterCoach Mystery bag

The group then has the time it takes for the rest of the class to clear the change room and have the roll marked to set up their activity.  Based on the Mystery Bag contents they can use what they want, and devise a set of rules as well. They usually have between 5 – 10 minutes to get set up.
When the class comes to them, they have to explain the rules, run the class through a warm up and basic intro to their game.

The instructions are given

The game they devise runs for 20 minutes – during this time they can modify games aspects of the game or rules where necessary.
During this time, I ask the group members Game Sense style questions (What would make this work better? What would you change if you started over? What did you find tricky?). So far some of the conversations have surprised me with the depth of understanding and thinking from the kids.

The game is played

I also had a thought. This could be made even more interesting by using Jarrod Robinson’s Spin It app. You could give the group a chance to spin up random warm ups or activities to be included in their session. You could do this well in advance or for extreme planning stress, just before they start.

Give it a crack – I’d love to hear your stories on how it went for you, or about variations of the activity that work for you.

Jonesy

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GoPro in PE

Posted on by Posted in GoPro, Mobile technology, Physical education, Technology .

I have played around with a few gadgets in class over the years to try and mesh tech and the outcomes of my PE programs. I played around with cheap GPS data loggers and found they could be useful for analysing player movement in a game situation, just like the pros., for a fraction of the cost.
I’ve owned a GoPro camera for a while now and I’ve used it mainly for recording my cycling adventures. In the process of using it to help make a school promotional video, I discovered that the GoPro had potential in PE class for studies and analysis from players POV (Point of View).

Most people have access to a recording device of some sort, so a GoPro isn’t a prerequisite, but the development they have put into into the mounts make it a very usable device for physical activity. The footage from a chest mounted camera is pretty raw and unscripted, but it gave me a few ideas on what it could be used for. I’m thinking  – part of a student portfolio that demonstrates their participation in not just school activities, but long physical activities outside school.


How do you think a GoPro camera could fit with enhancing your PE program outcomes?

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Reflections and crystal balling

Posted on by Posted in Games for Learning, Inquiry, Leading, Learning, Pedagogy, Physical education .

This will be my last post for 2013, I think.
With the school year finishing in under a week, I’ve been reflecting on what has happened in my classroom, with my faculty and with my online communities that I interact with.

Looking Back…

cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo by Blake Danger Bentley: http://flickr.com/photos/blentley/4472514575/


At school, I’ve struggled in a lot of ways. I struggled returning to school after being away in an office, doing something that I initially thought was going to be a valuable resources for teachers, but unfortunately PLANE has withered into nothing. I learned plenty though – about ways of teaching, and about leadership (done well ,and very poorly too).
Returning to school was tough – I felt like an inexperienced teacher in front of my classes, and I knew staff were checking me out too. By year’s end, I felt I had my “mojo” back and was part of the team at Erina again. I think that mainly came about by keeping busy, trying new things, taking calculated risks and making wise (not always popular, though) decisions.
In my classroom, I’ve tried things that I always thought would make learning more authentic. Inspired by Mark Treadwell, Andy Vasily and others I wanted to base a lot of what my classes do on Inquiry learning. I really wanted to avoid spoon feeding students, and I’ve made some progress but there is a long way to go yet. Part of the battle is convincing students and  staff to bust out of the “spoon fed” paradigm and try something new or different.  I’ve documented this  through the year, so check it out.

My Year 7 class and I tried Minecraft and I was very encouraged by the experience of using a disruptive platform like game based learning to approach mainstream health topics like relationships. I learned a lot from a group of educators that play together in Minecraft on a Monday night – @fedsie @NBooth005  @SCU006 @VivienTuckerman @nickpatsianas
Not all of these educators are teachers – but they are educators none the less.
If you want to read about what Year 7 and I did – check it out here.

My online connections have provided some fantastic learning and its been great to watch PEPLC and PEPRN grow and stimulate global thinking and collaboration. I haven’t contributed as much as I should, but watching the community grow has been a buzz. It has taken the hard work of people like Andy Vasily (again) and Dr Ash Casey to show that research can exist in our classrooms, in the hands of everyday practitioners, and not just pronouncements from ivory towers. I congratulate Andy and Ash along with @PENathan @phys_educator  and @kellyannparry (amongst others) for advocating for praxis in Physical Education research and practice

The tag #pegeeks has had an interesting year. There was a vigorous debate about what it stands for. Personally, I think it has been diluted by brand builders that have hopped on a successful vehicle and used it for their own purposes, but there you go. I just know that where I used to watch it avidly, I now just check in from time to time, and often leave shaking my head. I find more value in the #pechat tag, which is probably a reflection of my interaction with Twitter more generally.

Looking Forward

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by Mark Skipper: http://flickr.com/photos/bitterjug/870861414/


On reflection, my work and what I post about has definitely taken a turn into new territory – I used to focus on tools, rather than teaching. I reckon I’ve flipped that on its head – tools are fine, but good teaching and learning environments are key. And that’s where I think 2014 will be taking me.

Next year is shaping as scarily big. My school is adopting a BYOD / eTech model for the entire Year 7 cohort. That will be a post for later on. In a nutshell, we are recycling DER laptops to work with Google Apps for Education.  My part in all this is PL and pedagogy support for teachers involved in the program, ensuring that the focus is not just the tool, but the adoption of effective teaching and learning supported by the tools.
Inspired by incredibly passionate operators like Bianca Hewes and her husband Lee, I’m seeing the natural dovetail of our E-tech program with Project Based Learning as a crucial factor for it’s success. I’m an enthusiastic amateur with this approach, and selling it to staff will be a challenge. But I’m confident that their desire to make a difference will make a different way of doing things seem more attractive and worthwhile.

In 2014, my focus will be learning, not just the tools from spruikers that don’t understand classrooms offer as solutions. My passion for PE remains undiminished, but I think my worldview has become just that – whole school rather than just faculty based. My passion for engaging kids in PE is as strong as ever and making their learning relevant is my core business. Student voice and student choice will all be a part of that.

So cheers, thanks for reading in 2013, and see you in the New Year.

Jonesy

 

 

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Marking and feedback in PE

Posted on by Posted in Physical education, teacherstuff .

I recently wondered about the sorts of thing PE teachers did when it came to marking and feedback as part of their day to day work.
So, harnessing the the #pegeek tag and Google Forms, I created a survey for PE teachers worldwide to respond to. I then turned the data I received from the respondents into a visual representation, using Spicynodes. Spicynodes is pretty cool – clicking on each node gives you a connected narrative type effect.
Unfortunately (in a glass half empty view), only 14 PE people worldwide responded to the survey 🙁

Happily, though, (in a glass half full view) I got some response to the questions 🙂

Interestingly, there seemed to be not a lot of data about about whether the task, homework or tests were from practical or theory classes (probably due to my poor survey construction), and that might be the subject of a further survey in the future. But it appears plenty of marking and feedback is happening, mainly in theory classes. As a response to this post it would be great to hear about how people mark and feedback in practical lessons, especially if students are using apps and devices as their work tools.
Click on the image below to check out the Spicynodes visualisation. I’d love to hear what you think.

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From No Spoons, to ladles, and in between

Posted on by Posted in Inquiry, Learning, Pedagogy, Physical education .

I’ve been prompted to revisit the original post “No Spoons” and give an appraisal of where it got our class. I can honestly say it’s been a difficult 9 months (there could be an extended metaphor on pregnancy in this, maybe), but in reflecting on the experience I have some good leads on where to go for the potentially more scary HSC year.

Peppercorns cc licensed ( BY NC SA ) flickr photo by Dennis Wilkinson: http://flickr.com/photos/djwtwo/7312515190/

What happened?
The structures I set up had varying degrees of success in the way they were received and worked in the classroom teaching and learning setting.
Tools
Much of the “infrastructure” I set up was viewed in different ways by different students. Some embraced the OneNote notebooks enthusiastically, but I was disappointed that it was impossible to make them “live” notebooks via syncing through the DET wireless network. They ended up becoming individual notebooks, with the students responsible for their upkeep, which created an inequity of access to information as a result of inconsistent levels of student commitment.
The blog was dependent on the students submitting work electronically. This worked pretty well, but I needed to stay on top of the posting, which I didn’t. The students were offered roles as contributors, but saw that as an additional work load that they didn’t want to take on. One of my resolutions is to be more diligent in publishing out work over the next 12 months.
Textbooks – the students are so wedded to the idea of having a text book that it became a major distraction when we didn’t issue one to everyone (even though I knew some kids wouldn’t even open them over the course of the Prelim year). So I resorted to sharing snippets of textbooks that enabled them to work on the set tasks in class. This is linked to their use of laptops – digital texts were available, but not everyone valued them as much as paper texts – go figure.
The student use of laptops remains a frustration for me. Whether it’s the hardware, or the perception that bringing one meant they had to do work  – it resulted in an inconsistent approach and another equity issue. You can’t expect everyone to be on the same page if they don’t have the book, so to speak. However, the final tool in my toolbox did actually result in a reason for using laptops that most students engaged with.
Edmodo worked really well, most of the time. Submission of work, homework and quizzes were consistently completed by the majority of the class, but not everyone – it’s funny how you always seem to get one Luddite in a class these days, even amongst the technology immersed generation we teach these days! Online conversations, however, were not a strong point of our Edmodo experience – which is surprising, because the conversations in class were often of high quality and vigorous. This will be an area of development in the HSC course – I found this interesting article that hopefully will guide my implementation of the course on Edmodo this year.

The Concept
I have to say I’m still committed to the original concept, but I quickly realised that the way I went about it was obviously too much of a pedagogical shock for the kids to handle. Let’s face it, junior high school hasn’t prepared them for the sort of thing I wanted to them to do  – think for themselves about their formal learning.
As a consequence, we swung from pure inquiry (which they weren’t ready for, and rebelled against), to a pseudo spoon feeding situation that pleased them, but almost killed me. By the end of the Prelim course, the pendulum had swung to somewhere in the middle, which we both seemed to be happy with. I was getting them to think, and they were ticking their information boxes. The Learning Cycle I used in practice sort of still looks like the original, but I learned that you have to be adaptable in the  timing of it. For example, sometimes the discussion works better in class for somethings, but online for others. The recognition that discussion is an integral part of the process, however, is the non-negotiable.
I also made sure that the lesson delivery was varied – there was no way I was going to lecture. I made sure we had had stimulus material as the basis of lesson “hooks”. I also made use of the social strengths of the class, and planned to have lessons that were solely group work exercises designed to have the class mixing their knowledge and ideas to promote a deeper understanding. Some of the best feedback I got from students in the Prelim course was regarding “the classes we get to talk to each other”.
Another thing I started to use that made a difference was the Cornell notes concept.This video, although a bit cheesy, is a great intro into how to use the system. I had been worried that their note taking was not reflecting the learning in class, so I spent some time aligning our syllabus with Cornell note templates. The students were introduced to the note taking technique, then given templates to fill in during class. This allowed us to do more inquiry based work in class, and they were given reflection time to compile their notes. This certainly ticked the equity boxes, and provided collaborative opportunities for the kids to build their notes together. This is a useful template to see what it’s all about.

The HSC
Just typing that gave me a gut clench. I know the students will be under pressure for the next 12 months to perform to their best, not just in my class, but in all 12 units. I will be under pressure too – I am still committed to getting the students to think about my subject, not just regurgitate in an exam. But they need to to acquire course information, and be able to use it. So my plan includes:

  • A real life approach to the learning – I’m going to create a teaching program so that where applicable the syllabus “Learn To’s” will be positioned as real life scenarios – this will be to create that climate of imagination and thinking through options. For instance,  the first “hook” lesson for Core 2 ( Factors Affecting Performance) will be a hypothetical that will set the scene for what we have to learn, but position it in a believable case study or project for them to investigate.
  • Cornell Notes – provide structured templates for the students to build a solid body of notes. Each template will be based on the critical questions in the syllabus, and the “Learn To” dot points. I’ll provide examples as I create them, but here’s one from the Prelim course to show you what I mean.
  • Edmodo – I’ve played with it for long enough to know that it has a powerful place in my classroom. Combined with our school hosted Google Apps, I intend to create an “anytime, anywhere” learning environment.
  • Make the lesson delivery as vibrant and engaging as possible. Rather than lecturing, I intend to find stimulus around us that means something to the students. Students asking questions and answering each others questions will be an indicator I strive for.
  • Quality exam preparation, where the students are adept at thinking on their feet, and not rely on preparing a stock answer, will be my goal.

I’ll endeavour to update as we go along. It’s going to be an interesting ride. But I’m feeling more confident that I can pull this off. Hell, it might even be fun.

“Twisted” cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by Beyond Neon: http://flickr.com/photos/kungfuji/230461728/

 

 

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