Ryan Alwert

Objective/Competency Analysis

Over the course of this class I have learned and accomplished many things. I have gained more experience teaching students, learned and experienced new exciting games and the realms in which you can use them, I have worked in groups and developed block plans in collaboration with other students, I have used resources to develop activities and facilitate these activities for diverse groups, I have insured that each person in my activities are safe, and I have gained more experience assessing myself and others. I have met these objectives through several activities done in class. I participated in group facilitation with Evan Bratz, I led a facilitation in a group to my peers with Stephanie, Karl and Ashley and I led a facilitation with the same group to Mr. Alwert’s class at Bethel Junior High School. Through these opportunities to grow and expand as a physical educator I have met the objectives of the class in several ways and am a more confident and prepared individual that is one step closer to being ready to teach in the public school system.

The three opportunities that I received in this class to get in front of my peers as well as a junior high class have let me grow more confident speaking in front of others. I have grown more confident with each passing year and relished the opportunity to get in front of real students that I will one day teach. It was an eye opening experience because it forced me to deal with students who may not want to participate in the lesson that you have created. Teaching to our peers at PLU is an easy task because everyone in the class wants the others to succeed and do well so they do not disrupt each others lessons and act as a junior high student would. That is why it was so thrilling to gain experience teaching students in a school because they were not as polite as we are to our peers. It challenged my skills as a teacher and forced me to adapt to the situation and become a better teacher so that I could control the students and keep them on task. I look forward to more opportunities where I can teach in the public schools and continue to grow as a teacher becoming more confident each time.

Up to this point in my education at PLU I have dealt mostly with teaching my peers and with teaching sports in the classroom. This was my first opportunity to teach games and activities outside of sports and outside of my peers. Teaching diverse populations challenged us to adapt to our environment and challenged us to use all of the skills that we have learned to keep students on task and safe throughout the class. This was my first taste of teaching a ninth grade class and opened my eyes to the reality that is physical education in the public school system. It is still a reality that I eagerly approach but one that is going to challenge me to implement all of the teaching principles that I have learned up until now. Not only was teaching these lesson a new experience but participating in these also allowed me to see what games work and what games need to be adjusted when you take them outside of our peers. Before this class there were not many lessons outside of sports that I was comfortable in teaching. Now on the other hand I feel I am prepared to teach students outside of my peers here at PLU but also teach activities that allow student to work together and cooperate to build relationships and teamwork.

            Collaborating with other can many times be a negative encounter. This class allowed for three opportunities to plan and facilitate lessons with others which helped me become comfortable working with and relying on others. Other the semester I worked I a small group with Evan Bratz where we created a lesson plan for a peer teach and also worked with Karl, Ashley and Stephanie to create a block lesson plan to teach at Bethel junior high. These two encounters allowed me to gain knowledge of different activities and also how to put these activities together to form a block plan where each activity builds on the previous activity allowing the group to build relationships and work together. Each group that I was in worked well together and built on each others experiences allowing each to leave feeling they contributed as well as adding activities and knowledge to their resources. I am now able to lead a variety of recreational and adventure activities through the work in small groups and facilitation opportunities that we received in class. I have built a repertoire of games and activities that I can lead in many different circumstances and to many different diverse groups. Along with the activities that I have become accustomed too I have become more comfortable leading them knowing that all of the students will be safe during the activity.

            When leading physical activities you always have to have the student’s safety in mind. The opportunities of leading facilitation in this class allowed me to plan for student’s safety as well as maintain a student’s safety while they were participating in my activities. It was a great experience to plan and lead these activities because they forced me to be responsible for students the student’s well being and make sure that I maintained a safe environment in the classroom.

            Lastly I gained experience this semester assessing myself and my peers. It is very important to always improve as a teacher and continue to add effective elements of instruction to your teaching style. Through assessing myself and reading peer assessments as well as watching the video on my lessons I have become a better teacher and know what it focus on to improve further. Feedback from yourself and others is very important and is something that I will continually use to become a better teacher.

            Overall I feel I effectively met the class objectives through the activities that we participated in during Recreation 296. I have made strides towards becoming a public Physical Education teacher and have improved as a teacher. I feel I am one step closer to being ready for the public schools.

Activity Reflection

            Over the course of this semester we did a variety of activities that have prepared me for other classes that I will take in this major and has equipped me with tools that I can use when I enter the professional world. Three activities that I completed in this class have prepared me for the future. They are; the first group facilitation, the block facilitation, and the ropes course. Each gave me more experience in teaching and participating in recreational activities and allowed to become comfortable leading recreational activities to diverse groups.

            The first facilitation that we participated in during the semester shed light on activities you can do outside of sports and fitness. I had little experience teaching adventure and recreational activities before this project and was grateful to gain experience in the area. Evan Bratz and I led this activity together. We started with a tag game called French fries and Frankfurters to get the class warmed up. Once the students were warm we played a game called blindfold slalom, which built students communication skills and teamwork. This game consisted of students completing a course blindfolded while getting directions from there teammates who were not allowed to talk. The students were successful in completing the course and did a great job of working together toward a common goal. Not only did I get to lead a facilitation for activity one but I also got to participate in other students activities, which gave me an arsenal of games that I can use in any given situation. It also required me to think outside of the box and make adaptations for certain situations so that I can adapt and change activities to fit any group that I am leading. This built a nice framework that led into the second activity that we participated in, which was the group facilitation at Bethel Junior High.

            The second activity was more challenging then the first in the since that we had to plan for a longer time line, work with a larger group, and teach a class outside of our peers. It however was an amazing learning experience for me. It was the first time that I have led an activity to students in a public school. I felt that this activity challenged me more than any lesson I have taught before because it was to students in a real public school and not just my peers acting like 15 year olds. This experience has helped me immensely because now I see how important it is to be organized and thorough when explaining a task to a large class. It has also helped me realize the implications of planning ahead and how hard it can be to keep all of your students involved especially when you are working with a limited size of class and a limited space for them to work in. This activity helped me tremendously and has motivated me to continue to improve my abilities as a teacher and has also created a stronger confidence and belief that I can be a great physical educator. We played two games during this activity link tag and blindfold slalom that i mentioned previously. The lesson went fairly smoothly but keeping the students on task seemed to be more of a problem then it is teaching our peers. It was a tremendous experience however and has helped me understand what it takes to be a physical educator.

Self Assessment

After reviewing my peer feedback, video of facilitation, and instructor feedback from my facilitations I feel that I made progress toward becoming a better teacher over the course of this semester. Overall I feel that I earned an A from this class by being to class on time everyday and participating actively, Improving and completing all of the tasks concerned with facilitation one and two and completed my electronic portfolio so that it contained all of the materials necessary and had a professional appearance.

            Everyday I was prepared for class and on time. I was always dressed, ready for participation and eager to participate in the activity of the day. I came to class with the assignments completed and participated in most class discussions adding relevant information. I did not just go through the motions concerning peers assessments as well as partner, group and self-assessments and tried to help the individual who I was reviewing improve as a teacher. I tried to give specific feedback on areas that they could improve and participated when students were debriefing activities and finding out ways in which they could modify and improve games. On the whole I felt I created a positive classroom environment where all students could work together and improve as facilitators. Not only did I fulfill my duties as a participant I also met the criteria in the area of active leadership.

            During each facilitation I did my part to prepare and plan for the activities and had all of my work in on time. I was a little confused as were many other students on the proper way to submit assignments through Sakai but was always prepared for class and activities that I led. I worked well with my group and presented ideas and encouraged others during group work. During facilitations I felt that I did a good job of implementing facilitation ideas and allowed the students to have fun as well as work on various skills. After reviewing my peer and instructor assessments I met standards in their eyes as well with all of the students giving me positive reviews of the work that I had completed. I feel that there are still areas that I need to work on to become a better facilitator including continuing to improve at packaging my cues and being clear when I explain an aspect of the lesson however I felt I improved and got positive feedback that expressed the same sentiment towards my work.