Concept based learning
- Concept based learning, Criteria, feedback, Goal setting, peer coaching, Professional Development, Research, Teacher Reflection, Uncategorized
Discovering Meaning in PE
This post is long overdue. I have taken a hiatus from writing and this has been both good (giving me time for other focus) and bad ( I have genuinely missed writing about my thinking about and recording my work in PE). This week I have been enjoying listening, reading and dialoguing about the Purpose of PE for me as a teacher but also in connection with student learning and the ultimate goal of every PE teacher – How do we make PE meaningful so that every student in our care wants to come back to our spaces and then in time wants to create their own meaningful movement journeys…
- collaboration, Concept based learning, formative assessment, Professional Development, standards based grading, Teacher Reflection, Twitter
What core underlying standards are you teaching?
What? This week, Aaron Beighle vlogged out over twitter to ask about standards based grading but focused specifically on asking PE people what they teach through PE. You can see his vlog here (3m09s): So What? This has been a constant thinking for me – what is it that I believe in? What are my core values and do they align up with what I teach? Are these values that are worth investing in for my students (so they align with the school values and core expectations and life goals) and are they culturally sensitive to the needs of our students in Beijing China? I have been working to try…
- Concept based learning, formative assessment, Goal setting, Professional Development, Teacher Reflection, TGfU, Uncategorized
Professional Learning Part 4 – Collecting Evidence – Lesson 1 + 2
untitled by Mark Barry CC BY NC SA This year I have been working around two professional development goals – one is data driven and the other is to video myself teaching and work to see areas of strength and areas for growth. I am on a quest to use data more effectively in my PE classes to really see if what I am doing has the desired affect on student learning. I have been sharing a lot of my thoughts, concerns and questions on Voxer and have been soaking up the commentary of others – one in particular, Dr. Stephen Harvey, a lecturer and writer working in the USA…
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Thoughtful Strategy can lead to Success.
Eyes on the Prize by Alan CC BY NC SA Thoughtful strategy can lead to success. In PE our team has been working hard to develop Key Concepts of study that could be used in any context – not just PE. This has lead to some healthy conversation with our PE Team about the lifelong learning we want students to take from our subject and apply to other aspects of their lives and in our Net Games units we look at Strategy through the Key concept of how to plan for performance and collaborate effectively with others to do this. Students have been working in designated teams of 3 (that I…
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Spontaneous Dance Mob
Our Grade 9 students all take PE at the same time, so we have 65 students and three little spaces to play. Our PE department made the decision a few years ago to do Dance at the same time as to share the Gym and our Dance room and avoid the Turf during the winter cold and usual rainy seasons. This has been a good decision as it allows our students to mingle out of class groups and for us to really share the work that is happening in our unit. This unit focused on What makes a Great performance? and we look at a whole host of important features…
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Monkey on my back
Snow Monkeys 16 by P.Fabian CC BY SA NC For many months now I have been mulling over some ideas that sit poorly with me. I feel like I am a bit of a fraud but to be honest but I think I am a little hard on myself as a teacher. I am at a cross-roads and need to address the monkey on my back. At APPEC I had the opportunity to go to a few different workshops or listen to key notes and I feel that through these I can better articulate what has been making me feel uncomfortable but allowed me to articulate this better for myself.…
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APPEC – TGfU and Visible Thinking Routines
November 15-16th the first Asia Pacific Physical Education Conference will take place in Hong Kong at the HKIS campus. There is a lot of buzz around this conference and I am looking forward to going and meeting up with a lot of #Physed people that I have been working alongside online (through Twitter) but now get the chance to meet in person and learn with and from. I am presenting on two different workshops – the first is on Teaching Games for Understanding and the use of Visible Thinking Routines as a part of determining what students think as they go through our work as teachers. I have been…
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Invasion Games – Designing a Game
Koi by David CC BY NC Simplicity really is key to a unit that runs smoothly and I continue to aspire to be able to keep things simple to eliminate the stress that I feel when I can see the end of a unit coming towards us (date is fixed) and I haven’t finished yet. I haven’t yet found all of the right pieces but I do feel that with this unit I have got close to the desired goals that I set myself in delivering the unit: to keep things simple – reduce written tasks, reduce homework for the students and for myself connection – to connect learning to real…