Practical Hours

Being an athlete at SUNY Cortland really pays off. This year the SUNY Cortland football team was able to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA playoffs before losing. As a starter and a true team player, I can gladly say it was a great season. The whole experience has been one I will never forget and I look forward to taking care of business next year with junior eligibility. Being on the team, we participate in many activities for the community. Starting at the beginning of the semester the football team helped all of the students who live in dorms move into their rooms. Not just one dorm, we were dispersed to certain halls and we stayed their for several hours. It is important to give back to the community and fellow classmates to get the respect we wish for. Another activity which the football team presents is a youth day. There is one day in the spring and also a day during the fall season. This season kids were able to participate in an obstacle course which was set up in one of the gyms and they were also able to come onto the field for pregame. When giving to these kids, I treat them just like I would treat my future students. The youth's eyes are on me and it is just like teaching. It is really something special to see a kid look up to you as a role model. Even as a college athlete, the youth look up to me and watch every move I make. It is important as a college student, and a future teacher to continue to be a role model. I remember when I was younger and would watch the football games and wish to be an athlete just like them. I also decided to pursue a career in physical education because of the role models I had in my middle school and high school levels. I will make sure to be a role model for my future students as my teachers were for me. "It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it."- Albert Einstein

Self Defense Unit Plan

Here is a Self Defense Unit plan which I created. The block plan is simple to follow and I also have assessments attached. If there are any questions please message directly to my blog or email me at espillettpe@gmail.com

1.UNIT PLAN
2. LESSON PLAN

Lab D

Finally Lab D was here. From my experience with Lab C, I decided to stay with self defense, but I wanted to change the style of teaching by adding in stations. At each station I posted the directions which were simple to follow, with the materials needed. I unfortunately was coming on with a cold that day so it was tough for me to sleep the night before.I was well organized for this lesson and it definitely showed. I wanted to make sure I really scored at least a 4 out of 5 on the time coding sheet and I wanted to score as many points as possible on the C9 form. I really feel that following that form as a guideline will help me as a teacher in the future. The lesson went well and I didnt have any serious discipline issues that I needed to take care of. Everyone behaved well and when there was a slight issue, I handled them properly. One thing I learned is when using stations, it is tough to answer everyone questions on time. Students may have a question at the same time from another group and it is our responsibility to answer them. It is best to answer a question as best as possible before moving onto the next question. Also, when teaching stations, I tried to arrange them so they were in my vision at all times. Working with self defense, its important to make sure the students dont fool around and end up hurting one another. I focused more on my closure and it definitely showed. Although I still felt rushed, the closure went well but it was my fault that I rushed through the ending. I gave a bit to much instruction that I really didnt need. Here is my transcript if you wish to check it out. I still caught myself saying alright and it was starting to get annoying. I will try to expand my vocabulary and focus on different words to say. My feedback increased much more and I was very pleased with the overall feedback I gave. The statements were clear and some refered to the actual skills which were performed. Great Job class! =)

Lab C Day 2

Coming into Day 2 of Lab C I was well prepared. The only thing that I was worried about was teaching in the field house which was very hard to do. The high ceilings and noisey lights, usually make it very hard for the students to hear what is said, but I was able to pull it off well. I planned to continue with the techniques beause the students seemed very interested. I started off by showing all of the students the classroom rules which everyone followed very well. I noticed that I sounded a bit more energenetic and comfortable being up there and I was starting to change my style of teaching. I realize that my voice is very deep and at times it may be hard to understand what I am exactly saying so it is important to ask questions and speak slower. One of the problems with my lesson was that I had to many tasks in such a short time. With all of the tasks, I found myself rushing throught them and saying Alright more than usual, as shown on my transcript. After viewing my time coding form, you can clearly see that there was too much instruction. Listening to myself, I would say the only negative thing with my voice is that it is really deep. I feel that deep isnt necessarily bad because I have great projection. I was very pleased with this lesson and recieved compliments on my improvement. Its important for me to focus on more feedback in the next lesson to keep the class positive.

Lab C Day 1

For Part 1 of Lab C I was excited to teach something totally new to the class. Most of the students in the class already participated in the SUNY Cortland Self Defense program but for this day, I was the person who was in charge. Danielle was my partner for this Lab and we had to evenly split the time. Danielle would start first and I would come in second to finish up for 7-8 minutes. As I was preparing to step up and teach, I was much more confident because this was something I was comfortable with teaching. Preparing to teach this lab was more difficult than I expected because I had to come up with several tasks to teach. Although the lesson was only 15 minutes, the tasks had to be divided amongst my partner and I. Danielle was also new to self defense so I had to introduce the skills and techniques to her a few days prior to teaching. When teaching its important to stress safety because there is a great amount of contact during this lesson. I felt that I did not stress safety enough during the different techniques which were taught. After I completed Lab C day 1, I felt very confident in the demonstration in which I provided and the feedback which I was given. My closures need work but I feel that when the time is increased for Lab D, I will be able to calm down and focus on the important keys to a closure.

December 1, 2008

Todays In class Quiz

Push Up B1

The first lesson which I was able to teach to the class seemed very short and unprepared. Chris and I were able to teach the lesson to the class, but with poor technique. I was not able to hear myself speak clearly. I realized that I spoke in a monotone and it actually made me bored. Watching these tapes will help me critique my teaching skills and really see my strengths and weakness's.