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Teaching Games for Understanding - Lesson Demonstration

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Link to Kinsale Rugby Football Club website

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Link to Kinsale Rugby Football Club website

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There will be several resources used over this six week scheme in order to support and contribute to learning that is to be achieved. These will include:

Colourful and detailed learning wall to help students understand the various concepts and terminology associated with rugby and TGfU.

Self and peer assessment worksheets so students are able to track their own development and progression in the topic as well as helping others to.

Projector and screen to display video clips that are relevant to the topic of a particular lesson.

Video analysis template sheets so students are able to analyse relevant video clips displaying skills and principles of play associated with rugby.

Exit cards will be used to assess the students understanding and overall enjoyment of the lessons.

Video analysis apps i.e., coach’s eye, where students can analyse their and own and each others performances in various skills and game scenarios and identify areas of strength/weakness and how to improve.

Worksheets, such as crosswords, wordsearches, questionnaires, etc., will be available for any non-participants and be connected to the learning taking place in the lesson for inclusion purposes.

General equipment such as rugby balls, bibs, cones and recording device i.e., iPad.

Personal equipment such as proper school attire, roll book, whistle, stopwatch, clipboard and markers/pens.

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Staying Well

Learners will be encouraged to demonstrate care for the safety of themselves and others at all times.

Learners will be challenged to be physically active in each lesson and to develop their skills and understanding of the game of rugby.

Managing Myself

Learners will be asked to reflect on their learning in each lesson, identify areas of strengths and weakness and then set personal and achievable goals to improve their performance going forward (can be done through video analysis apps such as coach’s eye).

Being Creative

Learners will be challenged to explore various options and solutions to different problems posed during different games during each lesson.

Learners will be encouraged to display creativity and implement certain ideas particularly in the area of games making.

Communicating

Learners will be given the opportunity to express their own thoughts and opinions during class discussions.

Learners will be challenged to communicate with fellow classmates calmly, respectfully and effectively throughout each lesson when working as part of a group or team.

Working with Others

Learners will be encouraged to develop strong and positive relationships with their classmates throughout this scheme, particularly when working as part of a group/team.

Learners will be challenged to deal with winning/losing in a mature and respectful manner.

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Targeting Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Fluency Strategies

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Targeting Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Fluency Strategies

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Targeting Literacy and Numeracy Skills

The National Strategy to improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People in Ireland 2011-2020 (2011, p.8) explain that “Literacy includes the capacity to read, understand and critically appreciate various forms of communication including spoken language, printed text, broadcast media, and digital media” and that “Numeracy encompasses the ability to use mathematical understanding and skills to solve problems and meet the demands of day-to-day living in complex social settings”. Therefore, it is vital that these are targeted by various strategies throughout this scheme. These strategies are outlined below:

Literacy Strategies

Students will learn, understand and use the key terminology associated with playing the game of rugby e.g., try, handling/carrying, penetration, creating/denying space, etc.

Students will complete written tasks throughout the scheme in the form of self/peer assessment sheets, worksheets, video analysis templates and the completion of exit cards to monitor their development and progression in the topic.

Students will be encouraged to play an active role in class/group discussions about various themes associated with the lessons where they will have the opportunity to communicate any ideas or questions they may have.

Students will be challenged to read, process and understand content that is conveyed to them around the lesson topic through the use of the learning wall.

Students will work on designing new/modified games through “games making”.

Numeracy Strategies

Students will become familiar with the scoring system in rugby e.g., five points for a try, three points for a penalty and two points for a conversion.

Students will be responsible for keeping the score in their own small sided/modified games throughout the scheme.

Students will become familiar with the various dimensions used in different activities and games used throughout the scheme.

Students will use the skills of prediction and strategy when participating in competitive activities/games in order to win.

Students will understand the different numerical rules associated with the games/activities e.g., each team must have 5 successful passes before they can score.

Digital Fluency Strategies

“Digital fluency is a combination of new and old techniques: a mix of the classic tropes of any discerning historian or journalist with some very specific knowledge about how the internet works. It is an amalgam of established critical thinking and information literacy skills, but also bodies of knowledge and techniques that allow these skills to be applied to a new context posing new challenges and opportunities” (Miller & Bartlett, 2012, p.51).

The use of IT and the internet is now becoming increasingly important in education as it’s popularity increases in its use in everyday life. Therefore, efforts will be made to target digital fluency in this scheme to help best equip students in this area. For example, students will be challenged to analyse video clips displaying various skills associated with rugby (passing, tackling, attacking/defending, etc.). Video analysis apps such as the coach’s eye will also be used by students to assess their own ability in various rugby skills and game related movements. Additionally, students will be tasked with finding a video clip themselves demonstrating a particular skill/movement/concept and report on this clip through Microsoft Forms where the teacher will be able to read their findings. This will be done as a homework activity and can be presented and discussed at the beginning of the next lesson.

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The assessment strategy used in this scheme will be predominantly formative in nature with an Assessment for Learning (AfL) approach taken. This is in line with the guidelines set out by the Department of Education and Skills (2016, p.15) which explains that “the purpose of assessment and reporting at this stage of education is to support learning.” The most common methods of teacher lead assessment during this scheme will be teacher observation and questioning which will occur in every lesson as well as focused specific feedback to the class as a collective and the individual learners on the features of quality associated with the various skills, techniques and games. This is in line with recommendations provided by Perlman and Lockwood (2008) who explain that providing learners with focused and specific feedback on how they are performing and how they can improve instead of giving general feedback is critical to their development in a given skill.  Questioning will be a key strategy used in every lesson to help awaken and develop students game understanding by targeting their cognitive domain and making them question why they perform a certain skill/movement at a particular time in a game and how to perform it most effectively. In order for assessment to occur most effectively it will be vital that the learning intentions are shared with the students at the beginning of each lesson and an agreed set of success criteria is also discussed in relation to what is being learnt. This will be particularly crucial when students are self assessing themselves and peer assessing each other. Students will do this through simple observation, worksheets and video analysis using apps such as coach’s eye. This type of assessment will help learners identify areas of strength and weakness as well as helping them discover ways in which they can improve.

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The main fundamental movement skills that will be targeted throughout the course of this scheme are running, chasing, fleeing and dodging (locomotor), balancing and jumping and landing (non-manipulative) and throwing, catching and kicking (manipulative).

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This six week unit of work will take place on the school AstroTurf (weather depending – will be in school gym when AstroTurf is inaccessible). Following the general housekeeping routine (bags placed on stage/outside of pitch, roll call, phone and jewellery collection, uniform check, collection of injury/sick notes, assignment of tasks to non-participants), each lesson will begin with the learners being introduced to the learning wall as the outline of the lesson and the learning intentions are shared and discussed. There will also be a brief recap on the previous weeks lesson which will include questioning and class discussion. In the first lesson students will be introduced to the concept of rugby through watching a video clip displaying the basic rules and skills of the game. Video clips will be used throughout this scheme of work to demonstrate to students how certain skills are executed in a game scenario (in line with the TGfU instructional model). Each lesson will begin with a game specific pulse raising warm up accompanied with mobility exercises and gentle stretching.

The main body of these lessons will be focused on different skills associated with rugby each week and small sided games will be used to allow learners practice these skills which are required to participate effectively in a rugby game e.g., handling/carrying, passing, tackling, etc., as well as to promote game awareness such as the principles associated with attacking and defending in a rugby game (keeping possession, penetration, creating/denying space, intercepting, etc.) (Luttrell & Chambers, 2013). Students will participate in modified games that will be used to nurture and develop the students in their acquisition and practice of these skills through the TREE model: Tactics and time, Rules, Equipment and Environment (Luttrell & Chambers, 2013). These games and activities will challenge students to work cooperatively and effectively as part of a team throughout as well as challenging them to develop their own ability in the game. Students will be tasked with finding solutions to certain problems in a game scenario and then given time to reflect on how well they did this and how they may possibly do it better. As teacher I will also break down parts of certain games when appropriate to highlight to students something that was done well and why or something that could be better and challenge them to find a solution for this. As well as games, students will also be afforded the opportunity to develop their skills in isolation through practice activities/drills as deemed appropriate and necessary before moving back into a game where they can apply these skills in a system of “whole-part-whole” (Saipe, 2003). This method is supported by Griffin et al. (2003, p.215) who claim that “students learn best if they understand what to do before they understand how to do it”. Students will also be required to complete self and peer assessment/feedback sheets at various times throughout this module in an effort to “support and guide their learning” in this particular topic (NCCA, 2016, p.15).

Each lesson will conclude with a cool down where learners will have the opportunity to lower their pulse rates and stretch the main muscle groups before returning to the learning wall where they can recap and reflect on what they have achieved in that particular lesson through questioning and discussion. Learners may also be required to tick an exit card indicating whether they enjoyed the lesson or not and/or complete a self-assessment sheet on what they learned in that particular lesson. However, it is important to note that games and practice activities assigned to each lesson during the creation of the scheme might be amended during the duration of the scheme.

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Rugby has become an increasingly popular topic for PE in Kinsale Community School in recent years and as a result it is required to be taught in both first and second year as outlined by the KCS PE skeleton scheme. The popularity of the sport in the school is largely due to the existence of a club in the local area that many students are now involved with. Furthermore, the school has launched its first ever competitive rugby team this academic year displaying the high level of interest in the sport amongst students, staff and members of the community. Therefore, with KCS being a “community” school it is only logical that the PE program matches and supports the interest in this particular sport. Additionally, rugby falls under strand 2 “Games” of the new Junior Cycle PE short course (NCCA, 2016) which explains that through engaging in invasion games, such as rugby, students will learn about a range of transferable movement skills and competencies and how these can then be applied to a variety of other games categories e.g., divided court and striking and fielding games. This six week block will allow students to develop and enhance their ability in and understanding of rugby as well as improve the associated fundamental movement skills (running, jumping, balance, catching, throwing, etc.) through small sided games, modified games and team activities. This will in turn help students improve in key skills such as communicating and working with others (NCCA, 2016). These skills are not only important in sport and Physical Activity but also in everyday life.

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“Children should begin to see the need for, and relevance of, particular techniques as they are required in the game situation”  (Bunker & Thorpe, 1986, p.7).

This particular group of students have expressed a clear enjoyment of participating in PE through fun games and as part of teams/groups. This has been evident to observe from the very first unit of work but also clear as students have expressed previously through the form of completing feedback sheets that they want to be involved in more game scenarios during PE lessons. This, therefore, makes the TGfU instructional model most suitable for both this topic (rugby) and this particular class as TGfU is considered “a learner and game centred approach to sport related games learning with strong ties to a constructivist approach to learning” (Griffin & Butler, 2005, p.1). This model focuses on moving away from the traditional methods of skill acquisition and instead places the emphasis on immersing students in game situations where they can develop their game sense with decision making, problem solving and tactics are critical to ones engagement in the game and skill execution and development meaningful in the game context – “learn to play, play to learn” (Luttrell & Chambers, 2013). Therefore, this will predominantly engage students cognitive domain which is appropriate to this class who have shown they are always eager to under the “how and why” of game scenarios through questioning and general class discussion. The principles of TGfU are ideally suited to the teaching and learning of rugby due to the key skills that can be taught through it – attacking/defending, retaining/regaining possession, spatial awareness, etc. Through this model, all students will be challenged in both a cognitive and psychomotor sense as well as being required to work and communicate effectively as part of a team – something this class have shown enjoyment of and excelled at so far.

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I just remember rugby Re membering Physical Education as More Than a Sport