My reflections after class on Tuesday 2nd August

Hey there everyone,

I thought that class went OK yesterday. I mean we covered content that I thought is going to be useful for you in terms of POLT, VELS, the E5 instructional model. I am a little sorry that it was only the week before in 4006 that you looked at POLT - I am hoping that by contextualising to PE it made it more understandable...additionally hence some of the difficulties with working with content when staff are on different campuses operating in different programs (Education, Sport and Outdoor Recreation, other).

For me it is important that you understand where and how the VELS and other documents are likely to have developed...does this historical picture get covered in other Education units? I am not sure...I tried to be brief as possible so that I could give over the time to some more productive discussions on POLT and later on unit planning.

In retrospect the discussions around POLT were very intriguing (thanks to all those who brought chairs! Keep it up for next week!) as you had to really be explicit in what you actually do in the class (not classroom as picked up by one student!). But being explicit is really important, not only for this task, but also for putting your thoughts on paper for unit planning and subsequently (next week) curriculum planning. It is likely that it is really going to be the last time you get dedicated 'space' and 'time' to really think/act/feel/reflect on what and how you want physical education in your classes to be like. Without sounding like a broken record, I am really hoping that you understand this...!

I do not know why, but I get a little paranoid in seminars, lectures when students start copying me and my gestures. I found myself seriously thinking about pausing for a moment or two and asking those students whether there was anything wrong with me - but you know I do not know what they are thinking at any given time and I might be completely wrong and ignorant in terms of what I understood them to mean with their gestures. Importantly it suggests that you really do not know what students are thinking or doing at any one given time in the space that you are teaching within.

Not sure I did such a great job introing the e5 instructional model. The 5 e's are important to understand but like the POLT students need time to disseminate these to fully comprehend them. Remember that your teachers should know and understand how to enact these - so use the opportunity during your professional experience rounds to really drill down and ask them how they 'operationalise' them...It just reaffirms for me the importance of the two-way relationship that needs to occur on your rounds, not only are you asking for support from them in developing your teaching, but you need to find out as much information as possible about what they are up to and how they enact some of these issues, models and principles.

I am concerned and frustrated at the same time that students are not really reading that much...for me this hampers the breadth that can be covered in the seminar. Part of the final activities were based on the readings of Rink and case study #2 on Penney and Chandler (a reading that I asked students to complete last week!). There did not seem to be a really positive reaction when I asked how many people had completed the readings...am I reflecting too much on this??? Maybe I am. Maybe the students have done the reading they are just not explicitly stating this.

I really did not give too much time for the discussion to get both case studies completed...what was I thinking presenting two case studies. My rationale was to start with a simpler one on a unit of soccer and then progress to a more difficult one with the thematic approaches. Most of the groups started with the first one (my guess is that they did not want to embark on #3 because they (a) had not done the reading or (b) were too brain dead to start really conceptualising something at 5pm???) - this is also a little more realistic as most of them will be presented with this on rounds and in their first appointments. I am optimistic that some will go away and nut out some solutions for this, however part of me feels that only a couple of the 30 will do this - it is important!!!! Planning, planning and planning will make teaching a little easier, but is important because teachers will teach to their plan - especially if they have done one.

Some really interesting thoughts on how you might be able to get or use student centred approaches in PE in such a short time. Remember 'small steps'. Don't go trying to do a unit of SEPEP in 4 weeks, take some important parts from the pedagogy, but remember that what drives the design is likely to be the unit rationale followed closely by the unit objectives (which can be more than one!). Then think about what sorts of pedagogies are likely to help you succeed in achieving those objectives. Remember that the activity is the 'vehicle' for meeting the planned unit objectives. Planning, planning, planning is important (have I said this before?)

I do not want to overuse the group think and work thing either. Two weeks is enough! I need to think about finding some other pedagogies that get students to critically reflect on the content and ideas that I am proposing to them. I think I need to give them time to individually reflect on the content that I am proposing. What is it that I can do next week related to curriculum planning?? I am going to have a think over the next couple of days...I have some thoughts, might just have to wait and see.