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Raviv, S., & Low, M. (1990). Influence of Physical Activity on Concentration among Junior High-School Students. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 70(1), 67–74.

Gall, M. D. (1970). The Use of Questions in Teaching. Review of Educational Research, 40(5), 707–721.

Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives. Vol. 1: Cognitive domain. New York: McKay, 20-24.

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1. Pedagogical tools
2. Case Study
3. Reflections

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FMS Whiteboard | EP 4:  Move Well. Move Often

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At the beginning of the teaching practice i felt that was i very nervous about teaching and because of this I didn't project my voice as well as I was at the end. I found myself getting into the role more effectively as the sessions progressed.

I also felt as a group that our classroom management on the first day could have better, as the the students didn't engage in our lesson as well as they could have and also our timing of the lesson was poor but as the weeks progressed, we gained more confidence in our teaching and also got to know the class more it was much easier to control the class. 4

I felt that this teaching practice experience was very beneficial as I felt myself grow as a teacher and a manager. I think that my teaching has improved greatly and I have become more efficient and confident

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"It is a truism for educators that questions play an important role in teaching. Aschner (1961), for example, called the teacher "a professional question maker" and claimed that the asking of questions is "one of the basically ways by which the teacher simulates student thinking and learning". Also, asking questions is one of the 10 major dimensions for studying teachers' behavior in the widely used System for Interaction Analysis (Flanders, 1970)." - Gall, M. D. (1970). The Use of Questions in Teaching. Review of Educational Research, 40(5), 707–721. In my opinion, it is imperative that teachers ask questions to find out the student's prior knowledge, identify gaps in their understanding and to enable them to improve on understanding in lessons. We should ask questions at the start of lesson, at the learning wall to find out the prior knowledge of the pupils, for example, have they heard of the sport before? Or, have they participated in the sport before? Next is the warm up, we could ask questions such as, why do we warn up? In the main body of the lesson I feel questions should be asked on the basis of the level of skill and understanding of the pupils. For example, if students are executing skills wrong, gather them in and ask them the success criteria of the skill, in the hope that they will carry them out more effectively when dispersed back out into the lesson. Also in the cool down we would ask them the importance of cool down, and what are the benefits of it. Then in the conclusion of the lesson you would come back to the learning wall and ask questions about the lesson as a whole, such as, what did you learn today that you didn't know before? And did you enjoy the lesson? Questioning should be done according to Bloom's Taxonomy. Bloom's Taxonomy includes six levels of questioning: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating. Benjamin Bloom, an educational psychologist, created the taxonomy in 1956 as a way for teachers to measure and organize what they want to teach. Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives. Vol. 1: Cognitive domain. New York: McKay, 20-24.
Feedback should be given positively and in a constructive manner as not to dampen the spirits of the pupils. Pupils should never be singled out when giving any feedback, so there is no pressure placed on the student. Feedback should also be educative in nature. Keep things as simple as possible, not to confuse the student on what he/she has to do. An example of this would be to gather the class and give feedback such as, "i noticed some students were kicking the ball incorrectly, remember the head, hands and feet when kicking the ball, and always drop the ball with the hand of the kicking foot."
A learning wall should be designed with the students learning intentions in mind. Make sure that it outlines clearly the contents of the lesson and the show the skills clearly with diagrams, so the students have a clear idea of what is expected of them in the class

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I felt that the baby shark activity was possibly too childish for 6th class pupils as it was difficult to keep some of the students engaged.

I also felt that the creative theme, similar to the first week's activity, was the theme of animals. Again, I found that some of the students were not fully engaged in the activity as they felt embarrassed to dance in front of their peers.

Also in the performances of the themes we announced there would be a prize at the end for the best groups performance. I felt that we should specified the prize of no homework, as when it was revealed at the end some students said they would have tried to engage better if they knew what was the prize was.

I also felt that we needed to watch our time management better as we cut ourselves short on the cool down.

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There was music in the warm up and in the body of the lesson when performing the dance.

I felt that the Simon Says game was possibly too childish for 6th class students. The aim of the game was to introduce the students to the various different moves involved in the cha cha slide dance. This game could possibly be adapted and progressed to suit the needs of 6th class pupils and keep them engaged better.

During the cha cha slide performance i felt that we should've alternated the lines so all the groups could be engaged in the dance. During the dance we could've called out actions such as "row 1 swap with row 3" etc. This could have possibly sorted the lack of engagement in some rows.

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There was music in the warm up and each individual group had a different song for each genre.

I think we gave the students too much "imagination" time for the length of the lesson. I also felt that some of students felt embarrassed dancing amongst their peers and therefore they were more reluctant to try and create a routine.

Once again I think that the two girls did not partake in the demonstration because they felt too embarrassed to dance in front of their peers. IN future i think that this can be avoided by cutting down the sizes of the groups so that there is more inclusion of all the students

I felt we got too carried away in the imagination phase of the lesson and lost track of time. in future I feel that one person needs to time keep each lesson to keep the whole lesson running smoothly.

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12 years old

6th class student in Educate Together Cork City

Plays rugby with Sundayswell, in the forwards.

Likes to use his imagination

Likes to dance, but has no previous experience out of it outside of school

Likes jazz music

Would like to learn a new dance, upbeat

Week 1

Loved today's lesson

Liked using his imagination to create dance moves and how to put them together to perform a routine.

Although he loved the session himself felt that some people felt awkward dancing in front of their peers and didn't partake fully.

Week 2

Loved today's lesson again. Enjoyed it more than last week.

Would love to do the cha cha slide again.

For next week would love to do something with competition or a race involved.

Trains for rugby on Mondays and plays matches on Saturdays. Playing in Athlone this Saturday.

Week 3

Liked today's lesson the best and loved the experience we gave them to do dance over the 3 weeks.

Won the 3 rugby games he played at the weekend.

Feels he has a greater knowledge of dancing after our time in the school.

He liked the competition at the end  of the lesson as it made him try harder and do the best he could.

Feels his movement in dance is more proficient after our 3 lessons.

When I first met John I felt that he was very open towards me, which meant we gelled quickly. This enabled me to able to help him with his movement skills. In the first lesson he was in my group for the creative dance, so I immediately knew without finding out his background that he seemed to be very physically literate. He was very open to dance and to move his body freely and imaginatively.

After talking to John after the lesson I found out that he played rugby as a hobby, which backed up my observations in saying that he was very physically literate. Also as well as this it was very apparent in the first lesson that the communication skills he had acquired whilst playing rugby had transferred over into his everyday life in school and partaking in any sort of physical activity i.e or dance lessons. This could be seen in the creation of the creative dance. Our group was given the genre of hip hop. Although his knowledge of hip hop dance moves was not the highest, with some prompts from the mentor he was very quickly able to communicate with the rest of his group to organise the routine. He was the member of the group that had the best communication skills and guided the rest of his group along while making the routine, and in the end, they made a very smooth routine. I also found that his that his concentration and engagement in class was very good, I feel this could be because of his participation in sport outside of school. Studies have shown that partaking in physical activity can influence concentration levels. This was shown in a study by Raviv and Low (1990). "The level and quality of concentration were tested before and after each lesson in one class session. Two of the four classes participated in physical education activities, and the other two studied science. Each subject matter was studied the beginning and at the end of the school day. The research design was 2 x 2 x 2 factorial (two subject matters, two times of the school day, and as a repeated measure two times of test for each group at the beginning and end of each lesson). The level and the quality of concentration found at the end of each lesson were significantly higher than at the beginning." -  Raviv, S., & Low, M. (1990). Influence of Physical Activity on Concentration among Junior High-School Students. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 70(1), 67–74.

From speaking with John at the end of the final lesson I asked him for his opinion of our 3 weeks in the week in school which he said he thoroughly enjoyed, but when i asked him if he would've changed anything he said that he would have like if the lessons were longer to allow the class more time to move and express themselves. This would also have benefited us also as it would have helped us in our approach i getting them to move well and move often.

With regard to our approach in getting the students to move well and move often, I felt that John enjoyed doing the cha cha slide so much was the fact that the song was so inclusive and intense, and there was constant movement throughout the song. This showed how we implemented our approach of getting the pupils to move well and move often. This song was full of different movements which broadened the students horizons to the majority of the different fundamental movement skills, for example skip, slide and hop.

In conclusion, I feel that our teaching experience was beneficial for all parties, the students of the school and us, the student teachers. Our time at school helped us to develop our confidence and competence as teachers, as well as implementing our approach in helping the students to move well and move often. I felt that I succeed in helping John to move well and often through our dance lessons.

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The movement of the body in a rhythmic way, usually to music and within a given space, for the purpose of expressing an idea or emotion, releasing energy, or simply taking delight in the movement itself.