On arrival to our first day at Educate Together we were greeted by the principal, Elizabeth McKennedy. Here we were informed about the school rules and ethos. For example, the principal made us aware that students attending this school were from a wide variety of cultural and religious backgrounds. Students were also not required to wear school uniforms. Students attending this school also address their teachers and principal by their first name, creating a friendly, equal atmosphere in this educate together school.

Following our encounter with Elizabeth we were introduced to the teacher whose class we would be teaching in the coming weeks. As a group we were assigned 1st class students. Following the encounter with the teacher she helpfully gave us a class list, highlighting particular students’ disabilities and students who portrayed qualities that would affect our teaching e.g. short attention span or ability to misbehave.

 

This was our first week of teaching the main topic from the scheme of work: gymnastics. Today's lesson plan comprised of three different rolls; teddy bear roll, pencil roll and tuck and roll. As this is a group teaching placement, we each took a group of six students per gymnastics mat. We believed that this method of teaching was most suitable for this exercise as each student gained more teacher attention and executed increased number of attempts at each roll. The students were able to make a good attempt at the pencil roll, but some slightly struggled with the tuck and roll. Having small groups to teach ensured that all students were engaging in the exercises equally.

 

The focus of this week’s class was individual and partner balances. We began the class questioning students on what was covered in last week's class. This allowed to students to recall what was covered in last week's class while enabling us to see what knowledge they gained from last week’s class. It was informative to see students recalling the importance of warming up when questioned. Following the success of the small group work last week we decided to follow the same format for today's lesson. Unfortunately, students were less attentive and cooperative as they were the previous week. This suggests that our lesson did not meet the student’s fulfilment. On reflection of this lesson one aspect I would improve from my teaching is acknowledging that people of similar heights and weights executed the partner balances better then those who were un evenly partnered up.

 Week 4 

On reflection of the final week of the primary school placement I believe my classroom management skills improved from pervious weeks. My ability to organise the students into groups improved. It was beneficial to observe the students creating their sequences using what they learned in the previous lessons with us.

I have seen some improvements in my classroom management skills during this module. In the beginning weeks of teaching I stood in one area of the classroom without moving around. I now know that it is of better classroom management to walk around the classroom to be able to see all students.

My voice projection improved. This is due to my increased teaching ability confidence.

In future teaching I must improve my explanations of tasks and make them clear and accurate. On reflection I believe that some of my explanations of tasks were too worded and difficult to understand, especially for children

This seven-year-old student showed great interest in the topic of gymnastics as she participates in gymnastics outside of school. I was informed by the student that her father teaches her some gymnastics skills along with teaching her two younger sisters. Her main backgrounds and interest are music and dance which reflects on her strong interest in the gymnastics class. ‘The Gymnastics strand outlines the movement activities for each class level and indicates how movement can be developed sequentially’ ( Primary School Physical Education Curriculum).  Following the first interview with this student it was evident that she had previous experience with gymnastics. However, this was not the case for all students in the class. Some students showed disinterest in the topic of gymnastics which lead them to embark on low levels of misbehaviour. According to the School Matters Report carried out by the Task Force in 2005 explains how ‘the term ‘low level disruption’ was used to describe a range of behaviours that occur on a regular basis in an increasing number of schools’ (school matters report 2005). Some of this low-level disruption was observed by this student’s classmates, disruption such as talking out of turn and lack of attention and cooperation. ‘The Task Force is very aware that the behaviours are not in the least trivial nor are they neutral in their impact. Rather they serve to impede a teacher’s capacity to teach and a student’s opportunity to learn (School Matters Report 2005). This was observed when repeated corrections had to be made to some students while trying to provide feedback for another student. Following a question on the benefits of the warm up, this student provided a correct answer demonstrating how the body needs to be ready for exercise. In the warm up aspect of this lesson this student showed immense concentration in listening to instructions of the teacher. During ‘the floor is lava’ this student showed good control and balance when jumping from one mat to the next. ‘Early references to movement education stressed the need for all people to have a thorough understanding of the body in movement, and for each person to have personal mastery over his own body in all movement situations.’ (Barrett, 1973) Throughout this observation it was evident that this student had a strong ability to perform well in these gymnastics’ sessions. When executing the pencil roll this student believed she was doing it correctly but instruct had to be provided to keep her hands straight above her head when demonstrating the pencil roll. Following this instruction, the student (along with several other students) continued to bend her elbows while performing the pencil roll. In order to improve this reoccurring issue, I asked each student what their favourite subject was in school before they began the roll again. The student in questions’ favourite subject was mathematics. I encouraged her to imagine she was a sharp pointed pencil ready to be used to do maths homework and if she bends her elbows the led of the pencil would break and she wouldn’t be able to complete her maths homework. This metaphorical approach activated the student’s imagination while allowing her to execute the pencil roll in a better manner.            
 This student executed a good attempt at the teddy bear roll. Following several attempts with little fault the student informed me that her father had taught her and her sister how to do the teddy bear roll. Some correction had to be made for this students’ torso during the ready position of the teddy bear roll. Following the previous success of a metaphorical approach to the roll, students were asked to imagine they were their teddy bear and recall how straight their teddy bear likes to sit on their bed while they’re at school. This imagination approach was not a successful as the last one, but slight improvement was seen in this student first attempt and last attempt of the teddy bear roll. The final roll of this lesson, the tuck and roll, caused most difficulty for the student in question.  This roll had to be broken down carefully into the start, roll and finishing positions. Although this student could demonstrate the best attempt of the group, she struggled in maintaining the final position of getting onto one knee with the other leg straight out to the side at an angle for balance. Following a couple of attempts this student was unable to retrieve her balance in the finishing position. To rectify this, I challenged the student to freeze in her finishing position as if she was an undercover spy on a mission. The following attempts were of slight improvement following this intervention.

In the creation of the sequence this student showed successful leadership qualities as she used her knowledge of gymnastics to help her peers create a sequence. Some students struggled with the transition form one aspect of the sequence to the next but following a number of practice performances, the transitions improved slightly.