Lessons 7 to 11

Striking and Fielding

Central Idea:

• Capable team members are reflective and self-aware

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Learner Outcomes:

• Interactions:

  • Reflect on shared and collaborative performance​

• Identity:

  • Reflect o​n inner thoughts and self-talk

  • Identify how their attitudes, opinions and beliefs affect the way they act and how those of others also impact on their actions

Lesson 7:

• This lesson was a review of everything we covered so far. After a quick warm-up, I gathered the kids around and went through all the activities and big ideas covered so far.

• Afterwards, I sent the students off to play Run the Bases with Strikers and attempt to apply everything we covered so far:

  • Self-talk​

  • Feedback to improve

  • Steps to catch, throw, bat, etc.

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Lesson 8:

• This lesson was dedicated to introducing the kids to Tee Ball. The layered activities we did for the first half of the unit introduced them to the basics of Striking and Fielding games. Furthermore, a reason I put this unit at this time of year was a way for us to get prepared for a school tee ball tournament that the school is hosting later in the year.

• I showed the kids a video of Tee Ball – we discussed the skills required, the positions, etc. Afterwards, we went out to play a game. I separated the class into 4 teams and let them go. Fortunately, I had a couple of students who were in the tee ball team last year so I let them help me run one field and I worked on the rules on the other field.

• After about 10 minutes I gathered the class around to fine-tune the rules of the games and inquired into what they needed to work on. Fielding was the biggest problem but also base running strategies. I got the teams to discuss with each other strategies for the next innings. I posed several questions for them:

  • Can two runners be on the base at once? How can we avoid that?

  • If a runner is on third base, where should the ball be thrown?

  • Find each other’s strengths, how can you use these best for the team?

• We went back out there.

• With 5 minutes to spare, we discussed what were areas we needed to work on. We concluded that we needed better fielding skills – some short drills need to be introduced for the next lesson.

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Lesson 9:

• We started this lesson with some simple throwing and catching drills. I asked the class to break down the term fielding and what we need to do to be successful at it.

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• We determined: overhand throwing, underhand throwing, rolling, catching. I broke the class up into 4 teams and they went off and designed their own throwing and catching drills.

• After 5-10 minutes the class came back together and we shared each other’s drills.

• We then decided on one drill for each of the 4 skills and as a class executed them.

• With 20 minutes left of the lesson, we went back to Tee Ball and tried to implement our new skills.

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Lesson 10:

• This lesson started with a discussion on how we can use self-talk in Tee Ball – essentially the same as before. This is more to keep this big idea explicit and to demonstrate that this skill can be used in multiple settings. We then went off to our throwing and catching drills we designed last lesson.

• Afterwards, Tee Ball.

• Halfway through the lesson, the students gathered to reflect on shared and collaborative performance – an outcome for this unit. We determined what this meant and how it relates to this unit. We determined some criteria to assess this:

  • Everyone needs to know their role in the team

  • We encourage each other

  • We are open-minded to other people’s ideas

  • Find ways to get better

• With this in mind, we went back to our game. With 5 minutes left, we gathered to conclude the lesson and determined whether we met our criteria.

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Lesson 11:

• This is the final lesson of the unit and it has been great fun to work on. I particularly liked the way the students determined their own success criteria for their shared and collaborative performance. Furthermore, their chance to create their own catching and throwing warm-up/drills was awesome.

• We reviewed the entire unit – this took 5-7 minutes. We touched on the big ideas and some milestones achieved.

• We did our catching and throwing warm-up drills and went to play Tee Ball.

• With 20 minutes left of the lesson, the students started on their summative assessment: "Tell me everything you have done and learned so far in this unit."

• With this type of assessment, I encourage creativity and originality. They can collaborate with their peers but ultimately, their work is their own. They could use iMovie, Pages, BookCreator – it is their choice. I gently hinted that they should take a photo of the whiteboard as it had everything we discussed at the start of the lesson.

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