Jerry Fisher Post #4

This week was one of the best in regards to everyone getting into the activities and the energy of the class. We started the week working on the Pilipino National dance of Tinikling, and I found it refreshing that the students tried it without much complaining. This was especially true of the boys with whom I expected a lot of resistance. After explaining that it was a type of Plyometric drill that was similar to ladder drills they took right to it. During the session, the one thing that I regretted was that I did not have any modern rock jams for them to do it too. That was one thing I learned from the class, so I went out and purchased one of those sports rock jams cd’s for the next time. During these classes, there was a lot of Marzano’s cueing strategy being implamented. I would walk from group to group and would either have to clap out the 4/4 rhythm and get them back on time, or take over the sticks and help them get the rhythm back. Then there were the times when a student felt a bit embarrassed about trying it and I would fall in next to them and do the dance along with them counting out the timing as we went. It took several times of explaining that, on the one and two counts their feet would be outside the poles, and then on three and four counts inside the poles, again a lot of cueing.
We then switched up and finished off the week with ultimate Frisbee. Again, a lot of cueing going on as my supervising teacher and myself got onto the floor and participated to assist in demonstrating the strategy that would lead to better control of the game and scoring. We continued throughout the game to reinforce the proper way to hold a Frisbee and how to throw it. It was a great week as far as participation and energy levels go, and I enjoyed this week immensely. There was also some use of advanced organizers, only not in a traditional manner. When demonstrating the dance moves I had to break down the steps into several different sections, for clarity, on what the progression was from one movement to another. Therefore, even though it was not a traditional graphic organizer that was laid out on paper, it was a more organic version. The students had to be interactive with the organizer to enable them to understand the step sequence involved to be successful.
I was also pleasantly surprised on how both teachers have started to include the students with special needs into the class. Before these students weren’t really involved at all with the main class and just wondered around the gym doing their own thing. This week, when picking teams, the teachers went out of their way to make sure that these students were picked and had a chance to participate with their classmates. As for the students, this has never been a problem as the class has always shown concern and respect for these students and tried to involved them. Now we have the adults doing it and that’s a big difference.