Prior Skills: Pupils have displayed at the very least a basic level in the fundamental movement skills of balancing, running, turning and jumping, which will serve the pupils well in this scheme. 

 

Prior Attitudes:  Overall, this class are well behaved and are motivated to take part for the majority of the time. This class are generally an enthusiastic class; however, they tend to get carried away during pair and group challenges, which has resulted in minor behavioural issues needing to be addressed.  The challenge for me in this module will be to implement a guided discovery approach to learning in which the pupils can actively contribute to their own learning.  However, I cannot, with this group just act as a facilitator as their will be a need to operate a didactic approach with regards to instruction on occasion, as this class in my experience do not possess the maturity to work off their own initiative-just yet. 

 

Athletics is a fundamental base for almost every sport, thus as well as being a major competitive sector in worldwide sporting events, it is a sport based on the primary motor movements of the human being. It allows the students to experience and develop the lifelong skill of personal goal setting as well as offering them the opportunity to develop their social skills and confidence whilst recognising their physical abilities.  Athletics “provides the students with the opportunity to develop personally, socially and physically through participation in a variety of athletic activities in a safe and enjoyable environment” (JCPE, Guidelines for Teachers, P.142).  The subsequent JCPE area of study according to the National Council of Curriculum Association (2003) can provide students with the skills of running, jumping and throwing which can be transferred and applied across other areas of the JCPE curriculum and other sports. Similarly, it can provide students with an appreciation and value for athletics and the associated rules governing such events. Equally, it presents students with the perspective to experience competitive situations in the context of setting personal goals and comparing prior performance to previous personal attempts rather than relating solely performance to that of others. Finally, it ensures that students experience opportunities to develop socially through participation in group activities. 

 

This second-year group are at the stage where they need to be given an opportunity to develop socially & personally and so Athletics is the ideal choice.  Moreover, I feel this activity will encourage the students to embrace the different roles they will be learning about. It is also a sport with a lot of skills and techniques to be mastered which will help greatly in introducing the role of the coach. Students will get an insight into what it takes to be an effective coach and perhaps this will open up an area of interest for some of them, who do not possess or particularly engage with the area of active participation in a competitive fashion.  Athletics also offers the unique combination of both track and field events, as well as individual and team events and so offers the ideal opportunity for pupils who do not participate in sports to find an activity in which they may find enjoyable, which can result in participation in physical activity outside of the school environment

·        Locomotor: Walking, jumping, running, skipping, hopping

·        Manipulative: Throwing & Catching

 

Numeracy skills: Students will become familiar with the dimensions of the athletics court, estimate distance, perimeter and area through participation in different tasks, organise themselves independently and in groups, use skills of calculation through time record keeping, use time management skills to complete tasks within a certain time limit.

 

Digital Literacy skills: Students shall improve their digital literacy skills in a number of ways throughout this unit. From time to time they will be asked to record and assess each other’s skills against the criteria given, for example 90-degree angle in the knee when running. Apps such as Coaches eye and Slopro will be used. “In light of the rapid and continual development of digital technology, individuals are required to use a growing variety of technical, cognitive and sociological skills in order to perform tasks and solve problems in digital environments” (Eshet-Alkalai, 2004). 

 

Communicating: Learners will participate in a variety of tasks which will require them to work as a team and in pairs in order to succeed. 

 

Working with others: The learners will be required to work with team mates in order to achieve a desired goal.

 

Staying Well: Students will learn to be confident and communicate opinions and beliefs with confidence in a variety of ways. They will contribute to decision-making within the class and be positive about learning while finding enjoyment and fun in learning.

·        Perform competently, confidently and safely in a range of athletics events

·        Demonstrate activities to enhance performance in athletic events, including physical and mental preparation

·        Take responsibility for improving their own performance, based on personal strengths and developmental needs (NCCA, 2016)

·        Set realistic and challenging goals for achievement in physical activity.   

·        Take responsibility for their behaviour, commitment and progress in physical education class.  

·        Apply their learning about taking personal and social responsibility beyond physical education class (NCCA, 2011)

·         Hellison, D. (2011). Teaching personal and social responsibility through physical activity. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

·        Metxler, M.W. (2011). Instructional Models for Physical Education, Third Edition, Holcomb Hathaway Publishers: Arizona. 

·        National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) (2011). Senior Cycle Physical Education. 

·        National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) (2016). Short Course Physical Education. Retrieved on January 17th, 2019, from: https://www.curriculumonline.ie/getmedia/e54d94c9-935f-4dfd-a9e1-c5c94c7de88c/NCCA-JC-Short-Course-PE.pdf