Entry Routine

This blog is about a past experience of mine when I was student teaching in the United States. I remember teaching in a primary setting and was amazed at the simple entry routine that my supervising teacher used. She was a passionate teacher that spent countless hours designing, developing and implementing activities that were focused on the student.

Her entry routine was nothing new or outlandish, but it worked. She would post a laminated A3 sheet on the gymnasium door that had instructions for the students to do when they entered. For instance, it might say something like
- Jog clockwise around the gym, stopping at each corner to do the activities.
- Complete one lap and meet in the middle of the gymnasium

Teaching Athletics - The Throws

The other day, I observed a very interesting approach toward teaching the throws (discus, shot put, etc.) within an Athletics unit of study. These preservice teachers (PTs) utilized an inquiry based lesson that focused on underlying movement concepts within each of the throws (e.g. production of force). The lesson started off focusing on the shot put and had students in pairs standing about 15 meters apart and used bean bags instead of a real shot put. The PTs progressed the lesson using some of the following statements

1. Standing with your feet facing your partner and without moving your feet, show me how far you can put the bean bag?

2. Standing with your feet side-on to your partner, show me how far you can put the bean bag without your hand leaving your neck?

Preservice Teachers and Student Enjoyment

As I continue to observe and speak with preservice teachers (PTs), I am confronted with the concept of enjoyment. The majority of times when I ask PTs whom I supervise how the lesson went, the default statement is something similar to the following:

"It went well. The students seemed to enjoy it."

Introduction

As I have started to teach in Australia, it has come to my attention that primary physical education is and can be taught by both specialists and non-specialist teachers. As a passionate advocate for physical education, I have started this blog with the intent of (a) building a cohort of individuals passionate about physical education and (b) developing dialogue to enhance the pedagogical practices for students within primary physical education.

It is my hope that this blog will be a place to ask questions and share information to achieve the aforementioned goals. If you are interested, please sign on as a follower or pass this site along to others.

Thank you and talk soon

Dana Perlman