Continued - Lessons 5-8

Athletics

2016-2017 Central Idea:

• Independent training, intrinsic motivation, and self-belief can enhance body control for movements in Athletics.

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Learner Outcomes:

• Active Living:

  • ​Demonstrate greater body control when performing movements

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• Identity:

  • Motivate themselves intrinsically and behave with belief in themselves

  • Work and learn with increasing independence

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2017-2018 Central Idea:

• A clear plan and optimism can help us develop new skills to overcome challenges

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Learner Outcomes:

• Active Living:

  • Demonstrate greater body control when performing movements​

  • Plan, perform and reflect on movement sequences in order to improve

• Identity:

  • Motivate themselves intrinsically and behave with belief in themselves​

  • Work and learn with increasing independence

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Lesson 5:

• With all the testing done, it was time to start training. After their warm-up, I airdropped each of them, what I call, “Athletes Notes”. You can find it here. It contains information on each of their events. Each event is broken into different sections: technique, specific drills, strength and conditioning drills and some have an analysis card.

• I got the kids to sift through the notes for about 5 minutes. As an exit pass to start training, I asked each kid to share one piece of information they found from the Athletes Notes.

• The kids were super excited. Unfortunately, some kids just went straight to their events and started blindly jumping or throwing. I am glad they were excited, so I let them keep going like this for 10 minutes or so provided they were being safe. Some kids I did have to pull aside to reemphasize safety.

• Halfway through the lessons, I asked the students to raise their hands if they applied some techniques from the Athletes Notes. Not a lot did, to be expected, since they were so keen to just get stuck in. Therefore, their new task for the rest of the lesson was to pair up and to be a coach for each other - use the Athletes Notes to start improving their technique by giving each other feedback.

• With 5 minutes left of the lesson, we gathered, discussed the days successes and areas they needed to work on.

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Lesson 6:

• The students got stuck into their warm-up first and afterwards gathered to discuss the day’s plan. By now, the kids were aware of our three key terms: intrinsic motivation, independent training and self-belief, therefore, it is up to them to start applying it into their training so they are prepped for the carnival.

• Prior to letting them off to train, I introduced Hot Lessons. This is where I give a short but detailed run-down of one of the events. I blow the whistle and call out, “Hot Lesson, Discus!” as an example. Any student wishing to know more about the discus can come and join in. We go through the Athletes Notes and discover areas each student needs to improve upon, may it be the stance, grip, release, or all of the above. It’s an opportunity for the kids to have some extra guidance for their specific event.

• The kids trained for the remainder of the lesson with a few Hot Lessons thrown in as well.

• For the remainder of the unit, the kids can practice before school as well since the PE teachers will be there to supervise. This is also a great way for us to see who is dedicated to improving.

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Lesson 7:

• Referring to the transdisciplinary skills / Approaches to Learning, there are research skills and thinking skills. Their Learner Profile for this unit was being an Inquirer and Knowledgeable. Even though we have already been doing activities designed to touch these I did want to make it more explicit. I introduced these and discussed ways they have already been doing this. I then asked them, “who wants to be faster in their track event?” All hands were raised. What better way to learn how to be fast than by watching the fastest man on Earth.

• Using this slow-motion video of Usain Bolt’s sprint, we looked the running style of the fastest man over 100m in the world. You can see the video I used here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fjC1Oim0UQ

• Alternatively, I just found another one that breaks down his actual race where he made the world record of 9.58s (this would have been great to show them – definitely will next year): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MHBxiOQLoo

• I did want to put into context how ridiculously fast these sprinters are. Looking through their 50m results so far, we worked out who the fastest kid in the class was: 7.89s over 50m. We worked out that “Tom” – a pseudonym, would do 100m in about 15s. Usain Bolt would have done 100m by the time Tom finished 70m. The kids were dumbstruck. They were then keen to find out how he can be so fast.

• I uploaded this video onto their Seesaw accounts and using this worksheet, the students observed the different elements of his gait and discovered ways they could incorporate his style into their own training. The students worked out that he lands on his toes, his head is straight and his foot almost touches his bottom, among other observations. We went out to the track to try out his technique and to give each other feedback You can find the worksheet here.

• Towards the end of class, we reviewed the lesson and I gave them their formative assessment: “Using any means (BookCreator, iMovie, a poster, etc.) tell me everything you have learned in this unit so far.” Again, no word count, or requirements, just a blanket statement to allow them to freely and creatively show their learning.

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Lesson 8:

• Most of the students uploaded their assessments onto Seesaw, which makes things extraordinarily easy to view and mark. Sitting on my couch, I was able to look at assessments on my phone and mark away. Others handed in their assignments by hand or airdropped to me.

• When marking these open assessments, I’m looking for several things:

  • Creativity: Is it unique and engaging?

  • Application of knowledge: Are there elements of the lessons being presented?

  • Organization/logical presentation of ideas: Is it presented in a way that is logical and easy to read/view?

  • Key terms: Are our big ideas being presented?

• An important technique I learned previously was visualization. I felt it really helped me with my own training. I found this video from TED and showed it to my students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2O6mQkFiiw

• We broke down the key points from this video:

  • Focus! Avoid distractions.

  • Start slowly then get faster

  • Practice frequently at different times of the day

  • Visualization

• We then did an activity involving visualization. Each student sat on a chair and I gave blindfolds to each of the students and for 3 minutes I asked them to think of one event they really wanted to improve in for the carnival. I asked them to think of each step, imagine the track underneath your feet, feel the shot put in your hand, feel the wind in your hair. Imagine every detail of your event.

• We went outside and tried to implement this technique into their training. We worked out several steps prior to them executing their events, i.e.: high jump:

  • Step 1: Take a deep breath, relax

  • Step 2: Visualize your movement

  • Step 3: Do it.

• Some students really took this to heart and were reaching personal bests. Others, did not see the point but overall, everyone has been improving.

• For the rest of the lesson, they continued training, applied the steps, recorded their training and did a few hot lessons.

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To continue reading about this unit, please click here.