Last Day at St. Mary's

The last day at St. Mary's was a very enjoyable day because we used the easter theme.  Many people were dressed up as bunnies, had plastic eggs and many other easter props that made the students really enjoy the last day.  The game that my group and I led was basically capture the flag, but it was capture the bunny.  We had many plastic eggs all around and split the gymnasium in two sides where we told the students that it was 10 points to capture the bunny and 1 point to capture an egg.  This game had the students running around and having a lot of fun, I also thought it was a very good game because at no point was any student not moving around.  If a student got tagged them had to go to the "bunny dungeon" where they had to open up an egg and either do the activity of jumping rope, dribbling a basketball or throwing a tennis ball at a target.  After the students completed the task, they were allowed to re-enter the game which made the game go very smoothly.  After the game we finished off the day with the older students playing basketball the rest of the time.  Overall my St. Mary's experience was very enjoyable where I got to work with students from Pre-k to 5th grade.  All grades had their ups and downs but overall they were all very fun and enjoyable.  The thing I took back from St. Mary's is that no matter what activity you are explaining you need to be as excited or more excited that the students to get them interested in the game.

Fifth Day at St. Mary's

Today at St. Mary's we did not observe the locomotor movements of the dribble(basketball) and the soccer kick because my group and I led a game that allowed others to observe.  The game we led was zig/zag soccer and was a very good learning experience for me.  The game I thought felt more like a drill and I think the students felt the same way.  This game allowed the other ped201 students to view the locomotor skills, but it was not enjoyable for the students.  I learned from this game that if it is not fun to teach, it will not be fun to play.  After the game I stayed up in the gymnasium and finished the day out with some multiple goal soccer and variations of basketball games that included horse, knock out (elimination) and a game of three on three.  Overall this was the best lab for me because I believe I learned the most from it and really showed me that teaching can be difficult at times, but no matter what you have to stay persistent.