PED 201 Last Lab at St. Mary's

Our last lab at St. Mary's couldn't have gone any better. My group and I brought in lots of props for the Easter holiday. We played different games with different age groups including a battleship type game which was a huge success.

Over the course of the semester at St. Mary's I have learned a lot about teaching children. I learned that patience is key when working with young students because getting frustrated isn't going to make them listen or cooperate any better. I also learned that the most important part of teaching a P.E. class is to always make sure that you have lots of activities planned as well as a back up plan incase those activities don't go as planned.

Overall, I feel I greatly benefited from the experience at St. Mary's and I can't wait to start teaching my own classes as a Physical Education teacher.

PED 201 Fifth Lab at St. Mary's

Today was another difficult lab. We assessed the kid's ability to dribble a basketball and kick a soccer ball. Most students were able to perform basic, initial, dribbling skills and were able to kick a soccer ball at the wall. However, few of the students were able to actually control a soccer ball with their feet. This caused us to have to re-think our activities because we assumed that they would be able to keep the soccer ball under control. This was the first time I ever had to completely re-create an activity on the spot with no warning, and I think my group did a very good job of changing games and keeping all of the students active. This also made me realize the need for a back up activity and even a third activity incase their are limitations or unexpected turnouts in class.

PED 201 Fourth Lab at St. Mary's

Today was one of the hardest labs. We were supposed to asses the kids abilities to perform the overhand throw and their ability to catch. However, the students were off the walls today and extremely hard to keep on track. I found myself constantly trying to get them to focus and stay on task in the games we attempted to play. However, they continued to space out and wander away from the groups. We were able to assess them in their skills, but it was extremely difficult.

PED 201 Third Lab at St. Mary's

Today in lab we used a superhero theme. This got a great reaction from the kids who were excited to act like their favorite superheros for the day. We also assessed their skills in the leap, horizontal jump, and slide. We used a number of different, superhero oriented, games to get the to perform the skills and they all went great. I also felt that today there was much more interaction between the young kids and our college class because we are all becomming familiar with eachother and getting to know eachother better.

PED 201 Second Lab at St. Mary's

In today's lab we assessed the kid's ability to run, gallop, and hop. The younger group (k-1) had developed basic skills in all 3 aspects but none of them had progressed to a mature level yet. However, when the older kids came up (grade 5) they had already mastered the 3 skills and were able to perform other skills while running, galloping, and hoping.

PED 201 First Lab at St. Mary's

The first meeting with the kids at St. Mary's is an experience I will never forget. At first I was completely overwhelmed by the number of kids in the gym. The kids were all extremely energetic and couldn't wait to start the activities with us. I quickly adjusted to working with the kids and had a really great first day teaching and playing with them.

PED 201 Dodgeball Controversy

Currently the game of Dodgeball is not permitted to be played in Phys. Ed. classes. I believe this ban should be lifted and that student's, if they desire, should be allowed to play. The game teaches hand eye coordination, concentration, teamwork, as well as many other skills.

There is much more to Dodgeball than just throwing a ball. Students must be able to use their motor skills to catch, throw, and avoid the ball. The game also forces students to be attentive to their surroundings in order to avoid being hit.

I believe there are many valuable aspects to the game of Dodgeball and feel that it has been unjustly and hastly removed from the Phys. Ed. curriculum.