Paul Esteves - Dodge ball

Lesson Name or Number:		Quadrants Dodge ball			Date:   April 8th 2014
Name:	Paul Esteves		Subject:	Physical Education			Grade(s):	6

                                                                                                                                 

Rationale:  This activity is meant for you to enhance your communication skills with your classmates, and remain constantly engaged in the game the entire time. From a physical stand point we are working on throwing, catching and dodging.

The class I was teaching had 3 or 4 students with low social interaction skills. The lesson plan I was given was to simply do a warm up and play dodge ball, I modified this to maximize the time in the gym and keep students actively engaged.

Prescribed Learning Outcome(s): The prescribed learning outcome for this class was improved interpersonal communication with classmates as well as developing students throwing, catching and dodging skills.

Instructional Objective(s): The students will be able to communicate more effectively with their teammates. Students will have improved throwing, catching and dodging skills. Finally the main focus is to keep students active through out the entire game is no student is sitting out.

 Prerequisite Concepts and Skills:  Throwing progressions, which should have been taught from previous years, will be needed. As well as lessons on proper catching technique. As for the dodging aspect, it is a natural instinct, however agility based lessons plans would allow for development in this area.

Materials and Resources:

Teacher	Students
20 orange cones 20 rhino skin dodge balls 1 whistle	Shorts T-shirt Non-marking running shoes

Lesson Activities:

Teacher Activities Preparing the materials before class is essential. Preparation is half the battle when it comes to utilizing time as efficiently as possible. Since the goal is to maximize time in the gym. Once students are changed and ready, I will run them through a warm-up.	Student Activities Arrive to the gym and get changed Warm-up: Students will begin with 2 laps around the gym Students will now line up behind the cones I have laid out for our main activity; there are 4 lines of cones so there should be 4 even lines. One at a time they will be doing agility drills. Hoping forward side to side over the cones until they reach the center. The next person in line may go once they are halfway. Once at center they will side shuffle to their left all the way to the wall. Once they reach the wall they will backpedal back in line. Repeat 3 times.	Time 5 mins. 7 mins
Once students get a drink of water and are ready for the activity, I will sit them down and brief them on the game. It is also to important to note that the safety implications.	Quadrants Dodge ball:  Divide the gym into 4 squares. I used small orange cones to clearly mark the areas. The class will be divided into 4 teams. Each team will start in a square, with 5 balls in each square. On “GO” they will try to hit the opposing players in the other three square. If a player hits an opposing player with a ball that player will raise their hand and walk over to their square and they are now on their team. When a player has their hand up that signals they have been hit and are walking to their new team and they cannot be thrown at. If a player catches a ball the player that threw it must join their team. Players must stop when I blow the whistle.	15 mins
Teacher Activities	Student Activities	Time
Once the game is over I will blow the whistle and ask students to clean up the balls and cones.	Pick up balls and cones and change in time for next class	3 mins

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI): The content of the original lesson plan is still being executed; students are still working on their throwing, catching and dodging skills. However, by altering the process of the lesson plan I was able to create an environment in which everyone felt like a winner and was constantly engaged. This was also a beneficial way to maximize the amount of repetitions and improve student’s skills as much as possible. Altering the game so that no one sits out emphasizes inclusion as well. This was important for me to do as I have seen previous classes where the students with social difficulties have sat out with a rather discouraged expression on their face. By altering the process it significantly improved the learning environment.

Organizational Strategies: I chose to layout the cones that divide the playing surface before the students arrived. I then used them for the warm-up and main activity to create a smooth transition between activities. I also put away all of the equipment along the walls to avoid balls being stuck under them or students hiding in the far corners. For the equipment I could not put away I covered it with gym mats to eliminate any issues. Another important factor in the gym is where I position myself to see all the students. The best method is to constantly circulate and remain active as the students see this and they feed off of it. Having a teacher that is passionate instill passion on the students. Unlike other games where making even teams is important this game the teams are forever changing therefore there isn’t too much of an emphasis.

Behavioral Management Strategies: As stated earlier, a major aspect to this was communication and I thought this might cause an issue. Many times students get over involved in games and cheat, this is mainly caused by the fact that they do not want to sit out and watch from the sidelines. They want to be involved and remain actively engaged. This is why I had students who were just hit by a ball to raise their hand as acknowledgment that they were hit. This also allowed them to get to their new team without being hit by other students. Before the game started I preached honesty to the group explaining that they still get to play even when they are hit so playing fair and displaying sportsmanship were encouraged. Students who did not obey the rules would sit out if they did not listen. I made sure everyone understood the rules and I never had a problem.

Assessment and Evaluation: Since the goal is to improve communication and remain physically active my evaluation will be based on what I see from students. Engagement level would be one part of the evaluation and the other would be the level in which students communicate effectively. Talking to your teammates about who is throwing at them or developing strategy with in the game is an asset to communication. Another part of communication is being honest and sportsmanlike with other classmates so that the game flows smoothly.

Extensions: The main skills on catching, dodging and throwing are applicable in many sports contexts. Catching and throwing are two of the biggest concepts involved in baseball and many other sports. Dodging is another form of agility, which is applicable to almost every sport.

Reflections (if necessary, continue on separate sheet):  My supervising teacher supervised the class and she gave me very positive feedback. She really enjoyed how the game was always continuous, and for the first time they came back to class tired and not hyped up from physical education. From classes I observed the regular physical education teacher seemed disengaged and lessons were not fine-tuned. If they were working on badminton they would simply rally, or if a game was introduced it was not age appropriate and students were discouraged. From watching these classes these were things I learnt from. I felt like I did a good job on including everyone and emphasizing communication and inclusion. When teams got one sided or one square was vacant I would reset the teams and start over again. This allowed students a small break to catch their breath and prepare for the next round. The only aspect I would have altered was making the squares smaller so that there is less room to move around in. Giving cues during this game was difficult due to the fast nature of the game, however I was able to successfully give feedback while we rest for another game. Feedback was given was relatively simple and basic, making sure we were aiming for students knee’s this way if we miss high we hit their stomach and if we miss low it hits their feet. Overall the game played itself out rather well, the key to having these kinds of games run smoothly is to organize it and structure accordingly to the age group and goal. This is an area where I feel I showed my best, I had to do very little regulating during the game and I was pleased with my efforts and the outcome.