A Curriculum is defined as “a sequenced and organised set of learning activities that are planned and implemented for a particular group of learners”. Focussing on the primary curriculum we will aim to use these set of learning activities to teach infants in a primary school. The aim of the curriculum is to get the students and teachers to think critically. The curriculum should not be seen as physical aspect but rather as communication between teachers, students and the knowledge in which the teachers aims to impart on the student.

The Primary school curriculum can support a teacher when creating a lesson plan both short term and long term. Teachers are given the different aims and goals which are supplied by the Physical education curriculum and can use these to base their lesson plans. For instance the PE curriculum gives a list of the objectives for the child’s development during the duration of the different years. One example is that the curriculum aims to supply the children with fun and enjoyment while moving. This can help the teacher to comprise fun into every lesson while also challenging the child both physically and mentally. The curriculum creates four points which should be considered when creating a lesson plan for a group of students. First of all the lessons should have the correct structure and presentation. These include the different strands and strand-units. For the duration of our teaching practice in Bishopstown primary school where we thought junior infants gymnastics, we needed to involve our lesson with the different strand units for this module. Some strand-units included movement and understanding and appreciating gymnastics. Our lessons from the first day needed to be based around these strand-units. The next point when planning for a class was to have a high range of activities as to ensure that classes do not become repetitive as children will become bored easily if they are not kept challenged. This was important for us as a group, we needed to ensure that our lesson plan was flowing with the person before and after us and to ensure the activities were similar. The next point for planning was to help the students to learn the importance of being active in the different strands (Anon, 2017). The last point is linkage and integration. This involves how we include other subjects or qualities such as numeracy and literacy into our lesson plans. The curriculum can give us methods which are appropriate to the different modules that we are teaching. The aim is to help the children to learn literacy by learning the correct phrases and definitions of gymnastics. For example when we were teaching gymnastics we got the kids to try to repeat what we were going to do or ask them to explain a forward roll. For numeracy we used distance or different shapes as a method of help them think mathematically. (Young, 2014)

 

 

Teaching a high number of students with a wide range of learning levels is challenging for any teacher. Some students may have learning difficulties and some may just have no interest in what the teacher is saying. It is our job as the teacher are listening and learning throughout the duration of the class and doing so in a safe environment. There are five strategies in which I use to ensure the students are learning.

 

 

1)    Establishing a positive mental set

Begin the class by talking maybe for 1-2 minutes about something that is popular or something the majority of the students have an interest in. This will perk the students up before they begin the lesson which can create a positive environment for the students to learn. After the two minutes and the lesson begins it is important to maintain the student’s interest. This can be done by referring what was done last week or even asking a student to explain a certain phrase or term. Ensure that when speaking the tone of voice is clear, loud and has a sense of excitement or curiosity to it. For example when teaching in Bishopstown I used Paw Patrol to get the pupils engaged and then ask asked if he runs, and jumps. Then I told the students that we would be like paw patrol by jumping and running in today’s lesson

 

2)    Smooth Transitions-

It is important to have a smooth transition between the different activities in which you plan to teach. They create a free flow through the lesson which help the students learn more and become more engaged. Ensure that when beginning a certain module that you learn from the basics. If an activity is very complex then the students might not grasp the learning intentions. Furthermore it is important to be understandable to students. For example if students are taking time to learn a certain skill give them more time. If the skill is rushed then students will not learn and will forget it very easily. For example in our group we came together and planned our lessons plans so that they all co-correlated with each other. 

 

3)    Maintaining Students Involvement

To keep all students involved and learning in a classroom is not the easiest for any teacher. It is not just the ability to keep a student busy, as students might not learn in the correct manner. For example by making a student write a lot of information about a certain skill does not mean he will be able to perform this skill. It is important to get the right balance between learning potential of an activity while keeping the student interested and involved in the lesson.

 

4)    Safety- When teaching students the number one mission is that all children are safe during the duration of the lesson. This includes that no activity is unsafe or too extreme that it be a hazard for them when participating. Furthermore it is important the environment is checked before and after the lesson as to prevent any risks. For example when teaching in Bishopstown, on the second week the weather was very wet. The students lined up in the PE hall before class and brought in a lot of excess water. It was important for us as the teachers to dry up this water rapidly as to prevent any slips or injuries.

 

5)    Monitoring pupils’ progress

It is important to monitor each individuals learning progress as to ensure that they are working at a comfortable while challenging level. A student’s progress can be done by observing them individually in the different lessons, asking them different questions and having routines and opportunities for when the student can ask for help. Students can be at all different levels so it is important to have the correct progressions for different activities or skills in order for the student to learn.

 

(Kyriacou, 2007)

 

When asking student’s questions it is important not to ask the pupils closed questions which will result in yes or no answers. Our aim as teachers is to get the students to think critically about a certain topic. It is crucial to ask questions such as “In your opinion why do you think that worked very well” instead of “do you think that worked well”. By thinking critically about a certain area the students learn more and will think critically in the future. When teaching gymnastics to infants I asked the students “what movements did we use today that was similar to paw patrol?” What did you enjoy most about the different rolls we did today? Can you tell me what the hardest part of that lesson was?? These questions I asked the infants were more relaxed. While doing peer teaching I asked more challenging questions such as “Why was this skill appropriate to this task?” and “What in your opinion worked well today and what didn’t?”  

 

It is vital that teachers give students feedback as they learning. This helps the student receive knowledge on what they doing well and what they need to improve on. It is vital as it can help a student become more motivated to learn. Aim to always give the students regular feedback and not every few months as this can cause a pupil to lose focus. A teacher should give a student specific feedback on what the student is doing well or not doing well. Furthermore it is important that a teacher is careful when giving feedback as not to damage a student’s confidence or self-esteem. A student should receive feedback for every task or activity in which they are partaking in. It is important to give a student constructive feedback. This supplies the student with information specific to what you have observed. It is important to give the student positive feedback.

 

Learning wall can have many advantages to a teacher’s lesson. It can help a student to focus on what is important. For example having bright coloured text with the important information in larger writing can help the students remember what they learned after the lesson. Pictures or clip arts can be added to a learning wall to aid with a student’s learning. This can help a student get a visual focus on what they will doing in the lesson.

A Learning Wall can help divide the information which the teacher aims to impart on the student by having it visualised on the wall. When making a learning wall it is important that the relative information is all included as the teacher can relate back to the wall at any point in the class. For our learning wall in Bishopstown we had pictures of the different movements the children would be doing in the lesson, not only that but the pictures were of cartoon characters they were familiar with. This helped the students get visualisation of what they were doing and some even pretended they were the different characters or animals. (UCC Blackboard Notes)

 

During my time teaching in Bishopstown NS, I was given the responsibility to interact one particular child. I had to communicate with the child at the end of every week in order to get know his background and interests. The student I investigated was a junior infant. He is four years of age. His birthday is on the 12^th of July, and he plans to have a big birthday party with all his friends and family. His dad is builder and works every day. His Mom doesn’t work at the moment as she is minding his little brother and sister. He loves spending time sitting on his dads digger. He is going to start to play Gaelic football soon and this is his favourite sport. He was born in Cork University Hospital. He has two siblings, who are twins and younger. At the weekends he likes to play with his brother and sister. His favourite subjects are physical education and mathematics. By first impression he seems to be a shy boy but very good communicator. He listens intently to what you are saying and doesn’t get distracted by what is going on around him. For the first week he didn’t speak much and information was hard to get from him but by the third week he became more confident and even asked his own questions. He is at the right developmental stage for a 5 year old. I asked him to count to ten and he had no problem even being able to go to 20. He is starting to use phrases associated with numeracy such as adding and minus. He seems like very intelligent boy. Furthermore he is able to differentiate between the present, the future and the past. I asked him what day it was today, and what day it will be tomorrow. He is able to speak in future tense. For many children under the age of 4 they would use yesterday as every day that happened in the past and tomorrow as any day that will happen in the future. For the three weeks I spent with him, I asked him different questions which related around different days. I also asked him to describe different objects to me, such as the bench he was sitting on, the school bag on the ground and ball in the corner. For each of these different objects he was able to describe at a standard of a 5 year old. If we compare, what this boy is able to do, to that of Piagets stages of cognitive development, he would be labelled at the intuitive stage. The Case study is able to interact with his teacher and responds well to feedback. He has many friends and communicates with them on a daily basis. He seems confident when participating in physical education class and reacts to the teachers instructions. On the second week, I asked Case Study what my name was and he remembered. He has good memory of not just my name but his peers too. For a child of four years old he seems to be above his level of development. He is a tall boy and is one of the tallest in his class. He knows what is right and wrong and behaves to a high standard throughout the duration of the class. He treats his classmates with good kind-heartedness and is never impolite to them. When given the rules of the game he responds by obeying those rules and does seem to be naturally gifted at different skills. He does give his full attention and effort when practicing the different movements in the physical education class. Furthermore he is able to run around freely and jumping over different objects seems not to be a problem to him. He is able to control his speed, going from a jog to a sprint. The only slight concern was his balance, I noticed on two occasions he would go up on one leg when sprinting around a corner or when turning. I encouraged him to try practice slowing down or to put a bean bag on his head when he was running and trying to not let the bean bag fall off His other fundamental movement skills seemed to be at the required level for that of a four year old boy. Case Study is able to large objects and has a good perception of his environment. For the three weeks I observed him, he was being taught dance. Head, shoulders, knees and toes was the theme for the third week. From observing him on the 3^rd week, he seemed competent and confident at what the teacher was instructing. He had good level of understanding of the dance and seemed to be enjoying himself. Furthermore he seemed to be doing the different movements at a high standard. After this class, when communicating with him he said he really enjoyed that dance. I encouraged him to keep participating in dance if he enjoyed it. I recommended that that he can do lots of other types of dance outside of school if he was enjoying it. Additionally I encouraged him to play some type of sport outside after school. He said he does rather play inside but I tried to encourage him that running around outside is better than being inside.

I enjoyed observing and getting to know Case Study. He seems like a very well-mannered boy, he shows good obedience to the teachers and respects his fellow classmates. He enjoyed participating in the physical education class for the three weeks. He seems very well advanced both mentally and physically for a 4 year old boy. His effort was superb for the duration of the three weeks. Case study showed competence and confidence in the variety of different activities in which he was challenged to participate at. If the physical education standards are kept at a high standard his FMS should continue to develop at a level required for his growing age. 

1.    Tuesday 3^rd of October 

2.    Tuesday 10^th of October

3.    Tuesday 17^th October

4.    Tuesday 24^th October

5.    Tuesday 31^st of October

6.    Tuesday 7^th of November- Checking the school

7.    Tuesday 14^th of November

8.    Tuesday 21^st of November

9.    Tuesday 28^th of November 

The last assessment I made from the peer teaching and teaching in Bishops town is that Physical education is not as important as other subjects. I feel it doesn’t get the time required to improve a student’s fundamental movement skills. The resources available are very good. All equipment we needed for the lessons was available for us. (Pritchard, 2009)

·         Anon, (2017). [online] Available at: : http://activeschoolflag.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Primary-School-PE-Curriculum-Teacher-Guidelines.pdf [Accessed 15 Dec. 2017].

 

·         Kyriacou, C. (2007). Essential Teaching Skills (3rd ed., pp. 68-105). CHELTENHAM: Nelson Thornes Ltd.

·         Rogers, B. (2003). Effective Supply Teaching. London: Sage Publications.

·         Young, M. (2014). What is a curriculum and what can it do?. The Curriculum Journal, 25(1), pp.7-13.

·         Pritchard, A. (2009). Ways of learning. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.