Students have developed mixed levels of FMS development in the previous scheme. These include locomotor, manipulative and stability FMS. Students have not worked well in group activities requiring skills such as communication and working with others skills.

 

Following my initial three week exposure to this class I have discovered that this class presents some challenges. Learners have not engaged well in any theory or checking for understanding work. They appeared far more enthusiastic when they are given the maximum amount of time to participate in activity. I will need to be creative to motivate participants and ensure they engage with the learning intentions through the activities. This is where I feel the sport education model may be of benefit to this class, given the attitude towards physical education of a cohort of the class.

The rationale for choosing to use the sport education instructional model is one that it is a need of the class. As I have mentioned above in the prior attitudes section, there is a cohort of the class who are unmotivated by physical education. They believe PE to be solely about playing and participating in sport as an athlete/player. The aim of this scheme through the sport education model is to educate the students that sport as a whole is so much more than playing. The sport education model allows the teacher room to facilitate every student’s interest and talent into the PE/sport environment, so that the satisfaction levels of all students during PE class increases (Perlman, 2010).

            Tag rugby provides ample opportunities for all interests to fit the sport education instructional model. Some of the roles I plan to use are:

·         Players

·         Referees

·         Commentators

·         Photographer (for SMGS website)

·         Journalist (for SMGS website)

·         Coach

·         Equipment manager

·         Televison Match Official (TMO)

·         A.N. Other depending on student requests

 

These broad areas will hopefully fit the needs of all the class. This will allow everyone to be motivated and enthusiastic towards physical education class. Each person will have their own role within the group and will teach them responsibility and accountability while also teaching them to be sportspeople in the fullest sense. 

Rugby is one of the most popular games played not only in Ireland but all over the world. There are currently over 150,000 registered players in Ireland with the numbers growing in recent years (www.irishrugby.ie). This largely due to campaigns aimed at popularising the game for children. Mini rugby structures such as Leprechaun Rugby have been hugely successful. Therefore providing learners with an opportunity to engage with the sport is certainly valid.

This leprechaun rugby approach is hugely suited to children of this age as the focus is not on physical development or prowess. The focus instead is on running, handling, defensive and attacking skills (www.irishrugby.ie). These provide learners with the basic, essential skills needed for rugby before they begin to think about physical development. It also may give students who may fear the physical aspect of the game an opportunity to engage with it.

 

The initial lessons will focus on handling and running skills- led by those who are coaching under the sport education model. The focus will be placed on these skills both in games and drills by the coaches with their support teams. As learners develop proficiency in these areas the focus will move more to tactical awareness and games so to involve commentators, photographers, journalists and referees. Each lesson will begin with a recap on the previous lesson and then an explanation of learning intentions. The lesson will then move to adapted games and drills which focus on the lesson topic. The lesson will then close with a recap and checking of understanding. All lessons will take place in the PE hall. Learners will be provided with a learning wall consisting of visual aids for the main topic of the lesson. Peer learning will be encouraged through demonstrations and team games. An approach of guided discovery will be adopted especially during the weeks focused on tactical development.  The scheme will conclude with a tournament as the learners will be split into four teams with everyone involved in their own capacity under the sport education model.

 

The area of wellbeing is one we in Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál PE department have placed a huge emphasis on this year. In order to make wellbeing visible to the students, we have placed posters around the hall showing the indicators of wellbeing. This scheme will target wellbeing through the very nature of the instructional model in place. Sport education instructional model is one which allows indicators such as feeling connected, respected and active to be hit with almost every activity. The rationale for combining sport education and tag rugby fosters the spirit of what wellbeing in a broader sense encompasses as everyone is involved and feels part of the lessons through the sport education model.

Furthermore it will take place at the beginning of lessons to look back over what was covered in the last lesson. This will create linkage between lessons and help students form foundations to build on. Learners will always be provided with the success criteria before any activity begins- even those who are in non-playing roles through the sport education model. This allows the focus to be on the learning rather than the teaching. I agree with (Weatherby-Fell, 2015) as she states that adopting this student-centred approach rather than teacher directed approach improves student cognition, motivation and engagement. Learners will also be asked to demonstrate previous skills learnt in order to display knowledge. The learners will use placemats to share what they have learnt during the lesson. This will allow me to ascertain if the learners have engaged with what the lesson targeted. Also it will allow for peers assessment when the placemats are spun to read the groups work. All of this assessment will be formative as further chances will be given to learners to correct any mistakes and display progress.

The sport education model allows for a range of assessment methods. Those who are coaches and referees will be peer assessing the others who are playing. Those in non-playing roles such as journalist and photographer will have their work placed on the school website and I have asked an English teacher in the school to assess this. I will be assessing the players and coaches. Feedback from teacher and peers will be vital if assessment for learning is to take place during this sport education scheme. Learner’s enjoyment of the lesson will be assessed by using a sheet which they must tick after every lesson. I think all of the above measures will allow me to assess learners in the psychomotor, affective and cognitive domain.

 

Numeracy skills 

 

Students will be digitally active during this scheme/instructional model through their use of video analysis and the school website. The school has six iPad’s for PE usage and the aim is to have the students’ video their games themselves. They will then critically analyse both their own decisions and the decisions of their peers. This task is designed to encourage self-reflection and to improve their actual learning from the sport education model, i.e. become better decision makers during games. This is aligned with their digital literacy competence and aimed to improve this through apps such as the Coach’s Eye and SloPro. The coaches can use these apps to improve his/her players. The referees can use these to act as a TMO official. The students whose role it is to be the commentator, journalist and photographer will be uploading content from their digital devices to the school website. Each role with the tag rugby sport education model will aim to improve the student’s digital literacy competence

·         Siedentop, D. (1994). Sport education (p. 4). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishers.

·         Standage, M., Gillison, F., Ntoumanis, N., & Treasure, D. (2012). Predicting Students’ Physical Activity and Health-Related Well-Being: A Prospective Cross-Domain Investigation of Motivation across School Physical Education and Exercise Settings. Journal Of Sport And Exercise Psychology, 34(1), 56. doi: 10.1123/jsep.34.1.37

·         Wallhead, T., & Ntoumanis, N. (2004). Effects of a Sport Education Intervention on Students’ Motivational Responses in Physical Education. Journal Of Teaching In Physical Education, 23(1), 4-18. doi: 10.1123/jtpe.23.1.4