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Our first lesson in Bishopstown boy’s national school was on the strand of dance, the primary school curriculum document was very helpful for me in this area as dance isn’t my sporting background. I noted that dance in education involves the student creating, performing and appreciating movement as a means of expression and communication (NCCA, 1999). I will make sure that this occurs in our lessons in the coming weeks. I also looked at the different aims of this document for example to promote the physical, social, emotional and intellectual development of the child and to develop positive personal qualities (NCCA, 1999). I hope to have an amical relationship with every student so I can attempt to develop their personal qualities. A great way to develop the students’ intellectual ability is to promote literacy and numeracy within the lesson. 

It is vital to note that we must develop literacy and numeracy skills in all children and be conscious that literacy and numeracy is far more than being able to read or count. I will attempt this by helping them understand the difference in meaning of words that are spelled the same for example getting them to understand that the term strike in sport is very different to the term strike in a protest. I also hope to this through dance like showing them a word and they must do the dance move that correlates to the word. I also hope to integrate numeracy into these lessons by bringing problem solving into the games for example when we move onto team challenges; giving them a “treasure chest sheet”, where they must find the different and right number of objects around the hall. We have also planned to bring in numeracy in their first lesson of dance, by counting the number of steps they must do in a particular movement.

Shake hands or greet them

Posture: Stand up straight, this will give students the immediate impression that you’re professional. 

Eye contact. Look into their eyes for the entire conversation and look engaged.

Charm: Smile and make a joke, ensure students don’t view you as the enemy.

Introduce yourself: This can break the ice and can act like a crutch if you are nervous.

Ask a question: I knew that it was a dominantly rugby and soccer area so I asked “What did ye think of the Liverpool match last night”.
Listen: Listen to what the students have to say, I found that sometimes they had very interesting and informative things to say (Dovico, 2016).

1: When a teacher is speaking, the student must listen.
2: If a student has a question he must raise his hand.

3: Students must obey teacher’s instructions.
4:Have fun

Pupil 1 was born in 2007 and is 9 years old. Pupil 1 is the eldest of three children (one brother and one sister) in his family. Although he goes to school in Bishopstown he lives in a neighbouring suburb known as Ballincollig. Pupil 1 is of Sudanese heritage. Both of his parents are originally from Sudan but he has lived in Ireland all of his life. I got the impression after speaking to this student that he was from a very “close-knit” family as when I asked him about his family he spoke confidently with an enthusiastic manner. I also feel after speaking to pupil 1 that he is very mature for his age as he took great pride in being the eldest child and had a parent-like charisma about him when he spoke about his younger siblings. Pupil one also took pride in telling me that he takes part in maths camps during his time off. Pupil 1 is clearly a very intelligent student particularly in maths. I noticed when I spoke to him, it took him a number of seconds before he processed what I had said and to respond. I found this to be interesting and asked his class teacher about this.

His class teacher spoke about pupil 1 as being a “genius”. I wondered was it my accent or was I speaking too fast since the “genius” of the class seemed to struggle to respond to my questions. I questioned his teacher about this and he nodded and expressed that “this happens every day, I regularly ask him questions and whether he knows the correct answer or not, it will take him some time to respond”. His class teacher also expressed that he felt pupil 1 could do with help in this area, but this is not possible due to his circumstances and his parents beliefs which also needs to be respected. 

Unfortunately, the inability to process information in sufficient timecomes into the PE hall and this effects his ability in activities and sports. Pupil 1 engaged well with other students and was quite popular so although he struggled in some activities in the PE hall he was motivated by his peers. He struggled most with the basics of movements otherwise known as fundamental movement skills. I recall doing a dance lesson with his class and he really struggled in executing a “criss-cross” with his legs. I also noticed when we were doing games or activities that involved running that he was very slow to start and lacked power in his initial take off. Likewise I noticed that his balance and hand eye co-ordination was very poor. When I instructed him to stand on one leg, he would lose his balance almost immediately and when there was any game involving a ball he found it very difficult to catch and to throw. Pupil 1 seemed oblivious to his inability to carry out these tasks effectively. When he failed to execute a skill he still looked like he was enjoying the lesson and continued to have up-beat personality. In my opinion I think that it is so important and I am delighted that pupil 1 enjoys PE no matter what the case but I feel for him to be more physically literate, he should be assessed by an occupational therapist which will lead to greater things in life in the field of health and physical activity, I also think that he could enjoy PE even more.

The class teacher also expressed concern about the student’s social difficulties however I thought that pupil 1 was a very friendly and up-beat student, I also thought that he interacted well with other students and seemed to be quite popular. It was after these types of observations that I thought maybe physical activity is the key for this young boy to “come out of his shell”. After his team successfully carried out a task he would cheer and congratulate his other team-mates. Pupil 1 also spoke passionately about playing soccer, he spoke about how he plays with Ballincollig United and said “I love it”. So I think ultimately although pupil 1 isn’t as competent as other students, PE and other physical activities are a way of social interaction for him. 

To help this student in the areas where he is weak I would breakdown the skills completely for him for example instead of telling him to “run” or “throw” I would go through the steps of each skill so that he can be eventually be competent and efficient at that particular skill. It is really important that pupil 1 can do these effectively as FMS are the foundation for developing future specialized and context-specific movements (Burton, 1998) and are ultimately the building blocks to physical literacy.

Overall pupil 1 was a pleasure to teach as he was friendly, obedient and applied himself to the best of his ability at every task. I am delighted that I got this opportunity to do a case study on this pupil as it proves that you can learn so much more about an individual when you focus and take time to show an interest and speak to them, this is also backed up by many theorists.