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Cowley, S. (2006). Getting the buggers to behave (1st ed.). London: Continuum.

Cowley, S. (2004). Sue Cowley's A-Z of teaching (1st ed.). London: Continuum  .

Good, T. & Brophy, J. (2000). Looking in classrooms (8th ed.). New York: Longman.

Kerry, T. (1982). Effective questioning (1st ed.). Basingstoke (England): Macmillan Education.

Kyriacou, C. (1998). Essential teaching skills (2nd ed.). Cheltenham [England]: Nelson Thornes.

Kounin, J.S. Discipline and Group Management in Classrooms. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970

Primary School Curriculum - Physical Education. (2016). Retrieved 1 December 2016, from http://curriculumonline.ie/getmedia/ca8a385c-5455-42b6-9f1c-88390be91afc/PSEC05_Physical-Education_Curriculum.pdf

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-Policy Informing Practice
- Management of the Learning Environment
- Pedagogical Tools
- Case Study
- Reflections

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Name: Eoin Byrne
Student Number: 115494208
Module Code: ED2314
Module Title: Physical Education Teacher and Coaching Pedagogy
Lecturer: Dr.Fiona Chambers

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When it came to questioning,  we had to be very selective as to when we asked them. Cowley (2004) states that the purpose of questions are to "find out how much a class already knows about a subject, to work out where we need to go next, and what is still left to cover, or to tease out and develop the children's thoughts and responses" (pp.88). As Kyriacou (1998) explained, questions must also be asked in a positive and enthusiastic manner to engage the students. Both these points formed the basis of our questioning. We also kept in mind the guidelines set out by Kerry (1982) We asked questions a the beginning and end of each lesson. We began by asking lower order questions, to see exactly what knowledge the students acquired, followed by higher order questions, to see their understanding of said knowledge and to get their opinions on what they have learned. A mix of convergent and divergent questions were used.

In each of our lessons, while at the learning wall, we asked students a number of questions before and after lesson. These included, but not limited to;
- Can anyone tell us anything they know about FMS?
- When might we use these movement skills?
-Why are FMS important
- Why did X work better than Y
- Can anyone name the teaching points of X.

Feedback was also very important in our lessons, as it helped enhance the students knowledge and understanding. We made sure that all of our feedback was positive. We did this because one of the aims of the primary school PE curriculum is to promote physical activity throughout the lifetime of the person, and we did not want to discourage any child. Some examples of the feedback we gave were
- "Well done, your landing was excellent, next time let's try and get the arm action as well"
-  "Much better this time, let's try and get down a little lower now"
- "Your hop is excellent, you hit all the teaching point. Well done"
- "You all worked very well as a team together, keep it up"
- "This time, try to avoid your knees going over your toes,but your back position was perfect"

Finally, to enhance our learning wall, we tried to keep words to a minimum, and use as much colour as possible. We used pictures that were relative to the lives of the pupils e.g. Usain Bolt,. These strategies ensure that the learning wall is memorable to the students and helps to summarise and contextualise their learning. We felt our strongest learning wall was the one we used for team challenges, as it hit all the criteria outlined above. The effectivness of this learning wall can be shown through this lesson being one of our most successful.

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2. Management of the Learning Environment. 

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2. Management of the Learning Environment. 

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We used a variety of strategies to ensure that learning took place as effectively and as safely as possible.

At the start of the first lesson, we set down basic ground rules, or set expectations. For example, every week in Bishopstown, we would explain that there were two rules; To listen attentively when a teacher is speaking, and to have fun. We kept it at this, as Good & Brophy (2000) explained how some situations such as this procedural rules are required,   behavioural rules should be kept to a minimum. Cowley (2006), briefly explains how your first time meeting with a new class gives you the chance to determine how the year will go. She also details how sharing clear expectations with the class is vital in effectively managing behaviour. It takes only 30 seconds for students to 'suss' you out as a teacher, so setting out these expectations and creating good behaviour is vital in helping the students learn

As we each had to do a case study on an individual pupil, we made the effort to get to know our students individually., as teachers should. Good and Brophy (2000), also outline how students who like and respect their teachers want to please them and will be more likely to imitate their behaviour and adopt their attitudes. This was an excellent way to optimise learning as it got students 'onside'. Not only did we foucs on our assigned pupils, we also made the effort with every student, such as asking how they got on in their matches over the weekend etc.

Before each lesson started, we had to make sure that the learning environment was safe. Students need to know they are safe before being able to give their all to a class. We did this by making sure that all hazards such as bags, benches etc were removed from the space being used. We also laid out a boundary that the students were not allowed to go outside during the lesson, to ensure that they avoided all other immovable hazards in the hall. Having an organised space also helped us to focus more on the students and their learning, rather than stressing over having to set up for the next activity or worry about potential dangers.

Another method we used to ensure the students learned effectively was dividing them up into teams. Children in particular like to work together in class, especially in PE. From speaking with the students, they all seemed to prefer team sports and games, so it only seemed logical to allow for group work as often as possible. One of the aims of the primary school curriculum is to develop the person socially also. We did this with Vygotsky's theory on social learning in mind, and we felt that the students learned in a much more efficient manner, particularly when it came to assessment, when they were in groups. This worked very well during our game of treasure chest when teaching FMS

Finally, we used our own personalities to ensure that the children learned and felt safe in our learning environment. We approached each lesson with a smile and with enthusiasm, and made sure that we enjoyed the class as much as they did. We presented ourselves as friendly and approachable, and I felt that this put the students at ease immediately. We built a great rapport with them and they respected us just as much as we respected them. The importance of this was stressed to us in our lectures with Mr.Twomey, and  We felt that this was a very under rated strategy, but one which is pivotal.

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The primary school curriculum proved central to our planning. While all aims were included in our planning there were two main aims in particular which we felt we should  our lessons around. The first one stated that the aim of Physical Education is to " to help in the acquisition of an appropriate range of movement skills in a variety of contexts". We planned for this through incorporating a variety of fundamental movement skills into our activities. We dedicated an entire lesson to Fundamental  Movement Skills, but also brought them into our other lessons such as dance and team challenges, to help the students acquire a range of FMS in different contexts. The primary school PE curriculum also aims " to promote enjoyment of, and positive attitudes towards, physical activity and its contribution to lifelong health-related fitness, thus preparing the child for the active and purposeful use of leisure time", and we felt this was one of the most important aims of the curriculum. To cater for this, we made sure that everything was taught through fun games, and that we never never negative in our feedback. We spent one lesson on Health Related Fitness, and used the learning wall to enhance the students' knowledge on the contribution of physical activity to their health.

We used numerous strategies to plan for literacy and numeracy. One game we played, ship sea shore, incorporated literacy at different levels through reacting to words and the photos. We also incorporated literacy very well into our team challenges. We gave each team a specific list of items to retrieve, and they had to decode the information and make a decision.

Numeracy also came into our team challenges. In the assessment, each team was given a certain amount of money for each correct answer. The students then had to count up their total, with the winning team becoming "Millionaires".

We were also able to incorporate numeracy and literacy into our basketball games. Court dimensions, scoring systems and specific terminology was used to target numeracy and literacy among the students.

(All references retrieved from  http://curriculumonline.ie/getmedia/ca8a385c-5455-42b6-9f1c-88390be91afc/PSEC05_Physical-Education_Curriculum.pdf )

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Today we received the opportunity to visit Bishopstown Boys School. During this visit, we took the time to survey the hall and get familiar with the size of it, the layout of it etc. We also took the this opportunity to note down what equipment was available to us in the school, to help us plan our lessons as efficiently as possible. This gave a good indication of what to expect the following week when we were faced with children for the first time. Reality began to set in, as well as nerves, and I began to realise that a career as a teacher is not far off. We also began to speak about observation sheets and these helped hugely in assessing not just others, but in seeing things that I could remember myself to help improve my own teaching.

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During my time in Bishopstown Boys National School, I had the opportunity to observe a student and focus on the way he moves and learns in PE.  The pupil I had to focus on was pupil number 9. My initial thoughts was that he was a student who may disrupt the class, and be constantly messing with his friends. He seemed to be full of energy, and constantly talking and messing around with his peers.  I was, however, very far off the mark. He behaved impeccably throughout every lesson, and listened attentively throughout. Whenever he had a question, he put his hand up and waited patiently to be answered. He showed every person in the hall the due respect, and got as much respect back in return.

From conversing with his teacher, he spoke very highly of Pupil 9. He explained how he was a "lovely kid" who would "do anything to help his friends". He outlined how Pupil 9 interacted very well with his peers, and was quite popular. His teacher described him as a sports fanatic.

From speaking with him, he spoke very highly of his father and the relationship the two of them enjoy. He wants to play as a midfielder because that's the position his father plays in, though he proclaims himself to be a very good defender.  They are both season ticket holders at Manchester United, and regularly travel over for matches. He never mentioned any other family, although he didn't give me a chance to really ask him about his family. He was so outgoing that I found it almost impossible to get a word in.  The interest in Manchester United is something we both share, and I felt that this helped hugely in building a rapport and mutual respect which optimised learning. Sport also plays a big part in the life of Pupil 9, and perhaps this played a role in his behaviour in the PE class.

I found, from my observations, that he moves quite well and quite freely, and this may be due to his participation in hurling, gaelic football, and soccer. However, sometimes, the social aspect of some tasks took over for him, and he focussed more on the fun element, rather than the quality of the exercises/tasks.

When speaking of topics that he was interested in, Pupil 9 proved to be very knowledgeable, and used vocabulary  way beyond his years. He spoke very in depth about Manchester United, in particular about their tactics and how he feels they can adapt and find a system that works for them. From this, I began to understand that, once he becomes interested in something, he gives it great attention and care. This was something for me to keep in mind when teaching him and his classmates. It reminded me to make everything relevant in any way possible and to constantly link lessons back to things he enjoys.
Pupil 9 also relayed to me how he much preferred playing team sports, as they allowed him to make friends and to socialise. He emphasised to me that the most important thing to him in sport and PE was to have fun.

Having gathered this information from him, I thought about how I could help him learn in the most effective way possible. I felt that team games were the best way for him to learn. As he was quite intelligent, I tried to challenge him on a cognitive level that was slightly higher than the rest of the class. I introduced some of the more complex terminology, and asked him more complicated questions  as I explained tasks to him and corrected him.

When it came to teaching fundamental movement skills, I tried to relate each of them back to Manchester United players. For example, when teaching the one legged hop, I explained how the way we land is the same way that the players land when going up for a header, or how the goalkeeper lands when going up to catch a ball.  This helped him greatly, as, having attended over 20 matches, he was able to see these skills being applied, and he had the opportunity to emulate his heroes.

As well as this, I was able to relate each of the movements we performed back to his own experience in sports. He explained to me how, in Gaelic Football, he plays as a midfielder, the same position I play in. I was able to relate a lot of the skills and concepts we taught throughout the placement back to this, and how they would help him become a better player. For example, when we taught the lesson on cardiovascular fitness, I mentioned to him how this is important if he wants to play in midfield, as midfielders are constantly running.  He seemed to trust what I was saying a lot more after this, almost as if he believed what I was saying more, and put more emphasis on learning about the , rather than rushing through to try and win the games.

As mentioned, Pupil 9 worked very well with others. This, in my opinion, is down to his easy going, outgoing and friendly nature. He explained to me how he had moved here from England, and I feel that this had a huge impact on him. It's possible that he developed this outgoing personality as a way of making friends, ad resulted in him working very well with others, particularly in a Physical Education context.

I felt I learned a lot from my observation of and interactions with Pupil 9. It reaffirmed my belief of how important it is to pay attention to a student as an individual, and to relate to them. After all, the learning environment is student centred, and should always remain so. It showed me how important building a good rapport with the student is, and how important being friendly and showing an interest in them is, as Pupil 9 learned a lot more in this type of environment. Overall, this was a very worthwhile experience.

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Today we taught the cardiovascular system through basketball. Due to other groups running out of time, we were only able to teach our warm up. The lack of time flustered us a bit, and I felt that as a result, we tried to rush through as much as we could, rather than focusing on the quality of learning. Because of this, I felt we moved too quickly for the cognitive ability that our students in schools will display, and because of this I felt nothing was learned from it. The lack of time had us flustered, and the lesson may have come across as very disorganised, something which may have put the students off. Students like a safe and organised learning environment and I feel that this lesson fell somewhat short of providing this.

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This lesson, being our first, had both strengths and weaknesses . I felt that we demonstrated the effects of exercise on heart rate very well through the games, without them focusing too much on it, but rather enjoying the game and taking the heart rate after the games. However, I think we gave too much attention to the game and it's rules, rather than emphasising what it was we were actually trying to teach the students. This may have been down to the fact that we had never taught a lesson before, and used the games as something o hide behind when we felt under pressure or nervous. The approach we adopted for this lesson was very behaviourist, and allowed for very little group work or discussion, again upon reflection, possibly down to the fact that we were very nervous and did not want to make any mistakes. This lesson definitely disproved the myth that teaching PE is an easy job, and gave a bit of a reality check as to what is required.

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Having completed this teaching practice, there are a number of things for me to reflect on. The importance of planning the class was made very evident to me as the weeks went by. It is often said that a well planned class can greatly enhance the learning of the student, and that it can also give great help to the teacher. Kyriacou (1998) briefly outlines how planning "enables you to think clearly and specifically aboit the type of learning you wish to occur in a particular lesson" (pp.19). I also saw the value of giving the students a safe and comfortable learning environment, and will remember the importance of this going forward. The placement also helped me to figure out what kind of a teacher I would like to be, but also gives me ideas as to how to alter my teaching style when needed. I also now understand how important it Is to build a good rapport with the students, but not to cross the line between being friendly and being a friend. This for me is one of the most important things to remember, particularly as a young teacher. On top of this, It was emphasised to me how vital it is to keep the class active as long as possible, as this was when we were faced with disciplinary issues. Dealing with misbehaviour also proved quite challenging, though these few weeks gave me a good opportunity to try different strategies. I became aware of the importance of preventing misbehaviour, more than becoming aware of how to deal with it. Kounin (1970), conducted a study which found that the key to good management is keeping student as active and as involved as possible in the class, thus preventing behavioural problems. Looking back, it was the lessons that involved constant movement and minimal talking and this is something which I will definitely bare in mind in the future.  Overall, I found this placement very enjoyable and beneficial, and the prospect of being in a secondary school In January is suddenly a lot less daunting. It also convinced me that teaching is a profession that I will thoroughly enjoy

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I thoroughly enjoyed this lesson. The students were really engaged and were challenged both physically and cognitivally in a fun way. Health Related Activity can be difficult for many students, so I felt it was important to constantly praise students and offer encouragement. This seemed to work very well and they listened to me a lot more, in otherwords, they knew I cared and therefore cared what I knew. I also used positive correction in the lesson, for example "that was much better this time, now lets try to do X, Y or Z the next time" This is something for me to consider going forward in teaching. Again, we incorporated Vygotsky's theory on social learning through group work, and used our games to incorporate Bruner's scaffolding theory to build on their knowledge, with each activity enhancing their knowledge and understanding of HRA

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Before beginning the peer teaching and micro teaching in Bishopstown. a number of things went through my mind. Firstly, it seemed to be a daunting task, as I had never had the opportunity to teach before, other than summer camps. Although they are similar, the thought of being in a school context frightened me. The prospect of embarrassment also entered my mind. Upon reflection, this was silly to think, as we are here to learn and improve, although it is a very natural thing to think. I stressed to myself the importance of making a good first impression on the students, and had in my head, an idea of what sort of a teacher I wanted to be. There was a part of me that was excited to begin teaching in the school, as it offered me my first real chance to teach in a school context. I felt that, because of my part time job in a childrens entertainment centre, that I would thoroughly enjoy the primary school setting and would have a good understanding and experience of how children of that age behave or misbehave in the context of physical activity.

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This week,  I felt was our strongest week as a group. We eliminated all unnecessary time at the learning wall and kept everything simple and to the point. We randomly chose students when choosing groups to avoid people moving along the line or essentially picking their own groups. This worked very well for us as it ensure everyone was included. The group work proved very effective, as the students enjoyed being able to work together. It also linked in with Vygotsky's theory on learning as being social and taking place in communities. Our strategy for literacy was particularly strong in this lesson, though the challenge for us now is to incorporate numeracy and literacy in the same session. Our rapport with the students is very strong. They clearly have respect for us and are eager to learn from us, and this makes it a lot easier for us, as it takes the pressure off and eliminates the nerves. There were, however, some thing which didn't work as well. Some of our activities didn't have much coherence i.e. Simon Says, and this is something we need to work on. Personally, I felt I had much more control of the class this week, particularly at the learning wall. This may have been down to the fact that they were asked questions and were picked at random to answer, keeping them all on their toes.

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In this lesson we taught the Cha Cha Slide. This is quite a popular and well known dance, which a lot of the students had a general knowledge of. With this in mind, we decided to use Bruner's scaffolding theory to add to and develop the student's knowledge of the cha cha slide and it's moves. This worked very well as the students were able to see a clear link between each of the activities and found the movements quite easy to put together in a sequence. Again, we felt it best that a behaviourist approach was used, as dance involves reacting to a stimulus, and it was easier to keep control. Overall, on a personal level, I felt I could have been a lot more confident, though this will come with practice, and I would consider dance to be a weak area of mine. My own positioning needs to be worked on, though perhaps the nerves and the new environment played a role in this. I felt that we spent too much time explaining some of the activities, and that this could create problems in a longer class, as kids would get bored, as they are a very energetic class. Perhaps from now on, it would be more suitable to use the approach given to us by Arthur Twomey in his lectures, the KISS approach - Keep it Simple, Stupid.

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Overall, we felt that this lesson was much improved on previous lessons. The students were much calmer and we had a better control of the class. I feel that this was due to the basic rules we laid out at the beginning of the class. Charles,(2011,)states that students behaviour is based on whatever is more satisfying to them at any given time. We stressed that obeying the rules would lead to them having more fun and felt that this appealed to the students. As we were teaching important movement skills, we felt a behaviourist approach worked better, as it revolves around constant repetition of a task, along with feedback from the facilitator, something we felt was important as some of these skills may have been new to the students.It also allowed us more control of the class and gave us a chance to build more confidence as teachers, while allowing us to get to know the class better. This week, my own positioning was a lot better , and it enabled me to have greater control over the class and deliver instruction in a clearer manner. We also built more of a rapport with the kids this week, and this helped hugely.