Assignment 3B

Assignment 3B

            For Assignment 3B, I chose to teach the “Wednesday” lesson part of my unit plan.  In this lesson, students are to attempt to dribble between their legs up and down the floor as quickly as possible while keeping control of the ball.  Although, I realized in Assignment 3A that I made a mistake with the pre-assessment portion, I kept everything in for this lesson, just so I can see how it goes from beginning to end.  I also figured I would learn more from my mistakes than from my corrections the first time around.  I also wanted to keep everything together for continuity’s sake. 

            As with Assignment 3A, it took me much too long to measure the student’s time in the pre-assessment activity.  It took nearly 5 minutes once again to measure just 6 students as they went through the activity.  I also left in the portion about losing the ball just to reinforce the idea that it is difficult to measure. 

            Once I got through the warmup activity and the pre-assessment and onto the instruction, I felt that the lesson went pretty smoothly.  I may be at an advantage because I have students that immediately understand the terminology, but I am still teaching a somewhat advanced skill, and as in 3A, I chose students that are still mainly unsuccessful at achieving this skill if left on their own.  I took the strategies I discussed in Assignment 2A and 2B and did my best to teach them as if it was my real classroom.  As in 3A, I had 6 students for this part of my unit plan.  I did it on two consecutive days, and had some change over in the students.  I had 3 from the previous day and 3 new students.  My findings are as follows: (Pre-Assessment)

Name	Time (Seconds)	# Amount of Times Lost Ball
Student 1	17.3	1
Student 2	21.1	2
Student 3	14.8	0
Student 4	16.8	1
Student 5	20.2	2
Student 6	22.5	2

           

            After the pre-assessment I instructed the students following my lesson and unit plan.  I modeled the correct skill for them and had students practice the maneuver both in a stationary and dynamic setting.  I gave them feedback informally as they attempted to perform the skill. (Formative assessment) After feedback and positive reinforcement of the students performing the skill well, it was time for the summative assessment.  The results are as follows: 

Name	Time (Seconds)	# Amount of Times Lost Ball
Student 1	16.5	1
Student 2	19.1	1
Student 3	14.5	0
Student 4	15.7	1
Student 5	19.6	1
Student 6	16.5	0

           

All the students performed better as far as the time goes during the summative assessment portion of the lesson.  One of the issues I had after I designed the initial unit plan was I was confounded on how I would grade the students that lost the ball the same amount of times from the pre-assessment to the summative assessment.  3 of the students in this lesson lost the ball the same amount of times during the two portions of the lesson.  I would have to figure out how I would grade that.  I obviously did not think that through.  Also, yet another issue with my rubric arose.  Student 3 lost the ball 0 times in the pre-assessment.  I did not take into account how I would measure a student’s performance that loses the ball 0 times in the pre-assessment.  My grading scale for this assessment is as follows:

Action	Grade:
Performed Better on Both Skills	100%
Performed Better on One Skill	85%
Performed Better on Neither Skill	65%
Did Not Participate	0%

So, if I was giving grades for these 6 students, I would hand out 3 100 percent’s. (Students 2, 5 and 6 as the improved on both skills)  I then would be confounded on what to give students 1, 3 and 4.  These students improved their times, but did not improve the amount of times they lost the ball.  If I went by my rubric, I would have to give them 85%.  However, I never included what would happen to a student if they simply maintained the course on either time or how many times they lose the ball.  Also, how would I account for a student that does not lose the ball 1 time in the pre-assessment? 

Reflecting upon my experience, I definitely learned quite a bit.  I learned that I have to think through all scenarios before creating a rubric and grading scale.  I think the instruction was fine, and I figured out that I need to cut down the time spent measuring students so that I can get to all students and still provide time for everything I want to accomplish in the period.  I also learned that in physical education, like other classes, I should try something out before I assign it to students.  For example, had I tried out the ball handling and being timed etc. I think I would have realized I would have had a difficult time attempting to determine whether a student lost full control of the ball or not.  I would undoubtedly change that entire aspect of the lesson, and just remove it from consideration altogether.  I also would change how long I measure the students for, as going up and down the court is simply too much and will take too long.  I also learned about creating a rubric and grading scale that accounts for all foreseeable scenarios.  Until I started talking to some of the students, I did not realize how easy it would be for them to manipulate their initial time to ensure that they would improve it and receive a higher grade.  That is really a silly mistake that I need to avoid in the future.  As always, I enjoyed the actual teaching of the lesson.  Nothing in the world makes me happier than helping, facilitating and teaching students in all areas of the education world.  I am quite happy to see that my joy, enjoyment and enthusiasm will indeed transfer over from a traditional classroom setting to the unique world of physical education.