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Hipping and Hopping into Lab D!

When I first found out I would be teaching hip hop, break dancing or "popping, locking, and dropping" for lab D, I was very nervous. I don't have much of a dance background and a lot of what I was doing was based on how I had seen dance taught in Rhythms and Dance.

Looking back to Lab A, I just laugh because I don't even feel like the same person anymore. Although I've only learned a semesters worth of work, I feel like it was the most important information I learn as a teacher. I saw such a dramatic change in my teaching abilities and my structure. My voice is another thing that has changed and has at least doubled in volume.

Looking at my lesson plan, my method of teaching hip hop was to teach a basic, attainable, yet challenging hip hop dance in a short period of time. The dance that I taught I choreographed myself based on online resources and previous experiences. The one part of my lesson that I was really proud of was my instant activity. The idea came to me riding on the bus one day after class. My instant activity consisted of square foam pads with each of the numbers 1,2,3 and 4 on each of the pads that were spread out across the dance room. The student would proceed to grab an index card from the center of the room go back to any spot on the floor. Each card had a sequence that the student had to perform (such as 3,4,1,3,2,1,3) with their feet. After the sequence was over, the student would do the locomotor skill stated on the card while going back to the pile to pick up another card. I think this was a great intro into dancing and stepping and everyone really seemed to enjoy it.

My C9 form was definitely a big part of my lesson. This was the first lesson that I really studied everything on the form and tried to incorporate everything into my lesson. My only weakness was that I forgot my intratask variation. I think I had an issue with this because I wasn't sure how to make the task easier or harder with out changing what I was teaching the students in the routine. After talking with Dr. Yang I understood that I could have done something such as having two students try to coordinate their dance together.

Looking at my time coding form, the amount of activity time I had this lesson was definitely my strong suit. I had more management time then I would have liked to have, but it was due to technology issues, which would have been eliminated with a little more preparation. My instruction was 1% over what it should be because I found myself talking in between every dance segment. To improve this, I need to try talking more while the students are still moving instead of constantly making them stop, go, stop, go.

Developing the Content

Curling Was No Match for the 2006 Gold Medal Champ!

Hands down, this was the best lab so far. Going onto the ice and being able to change the environment of the classroom was a great relief after a long jump-roping unit. I had no experience with curling, but I idolized the Olympic games this past winter. Looking back, I'm glad I watched so much because it made teaching that much easier. Although being on the ice had some downfalls such as my carrying voice and safety hazards, the overall experience was a positive one. Looking at my transcript, I wasn't able to make out a lot of what I was saying when I was on the opposite side of the camera trying to interact with the students at the other end of the lines. Because the ice was loud, I wasn't able to make out most of my comments to students. It was also hard to try and make it around to every one because I can't just jog to student like I usually would in the gymnasium. My feedback was lower than usual, but I got as much in as I could. Another issue was my activity time, which can be seen on my time coding form. I wanted the students to coordinate so that all of the rocks were going across the ice the same way at the same time. If some students were throwing one way and others the opposite way, there would be a greater risk for injury. Since I had this structure, the activity time was lower than I liked. I also tried to get through a lot more in my lesson, so I found my self describing things more because I tried to relate everything to the actual sport.

Lab B2- The Double Under; Saltare Needs Some Back-up Dancers!

This lab was probably my worst lab so far. I was nervous to listen to my voice recording because I was having an off day. I knew I would find a lot of things that I forgot. Some of the things that would have been better for my lab would been if I wasn't sick. I sounded out of breath and I don't want to sound like that while teaching. Another improvement I would have made would have been to do an instant activity because I was the first lesson. My feedback wasn't very strong and was very generic this lesson and I'm not sure why. My instruction was also way too long. When looking at my timecoding, my talking needs to decrease a lot. Looking at my transcript, I did a lot of repeating and made very similar comments to everyone. I think I had a good hook because America's Best Dance Crew was something the students could relate to.

During my lab B1, I taught a jump rope skill called the straddle cross. It was a challenge to teach a jump rope skill because jump roping is not a regular or basic sport.

My time coding results varied from my results last lab. My management time increased a lot because of the way I organized the students. To improve on that, I'

ll do something next time such as make it a game or count down to get the students set in position faster. I had no waiting time in my lesson, which is a good quality that I seem to portray in every lesson. One thing I wanted to improve on from my last lab was the amount of feedback I gave during the students' activity time. This feedback can be seen on my feedback analysis form. Looking back at my video, I gave feedback to five students, four out

0f the five of which were congruent and relating to the tasks and cues that I taught them. Looking at my transcript I did a lot more talking than it felt li

ke. When I'm in front of the group I tend to blabber on and I don't realize what I'm actually saying. I did improve with my simpler cues, but I still think I spent too much time talking as well as a little too repetitive. I also noticed that I have a tendency of saying "There ya go" when helping a student with a skill. I'm not sure if that's a habit I should try and break, but it did come up a lot.

Time Coding; Transcript; Feedback Analysis

The first day of 255, we were asked to do a lesson on the spot. Being caught off guard, I got nervous about the activity I should do and what to say, which is very evident in my video. I recently did a time coding sheet to look at what was going on in my lesson every ten seconds. Looking at this time coding sheet, I was efficient with my management, which was only 6.7%, and my waiting time, which was 0. Both of my instruction and activity time were even percentages, which I need to improve on. Looking back on my video I talked a lot and if I were learning the lesson, I would have been bored. I need to be more enthusiastic and make the lesson more interesting to attract the children to want to learn. After practicing these methods in class, I'm working my way to make my re-do lesson a success.

On Friday, our class did a re-do lesson of a skill, which can be seen here. For this lesson, I went back and typed up everything that I said during my lesson, which you can see on my transcript. This REALLY woke me up to how much I talk and how little I need to talk. Looking back the only cues I needed were feet together, ball over head, follow through. I made the lesson more confusing and spent too much time on my hook. My lessons are very frustrating for me to watch because I know my potential, but I make myself nervous. When a classmate is teaching, I can pinpoint everything that I would have done differently to improve, but when I'm the one teaching it's hard for me to catch. I know that teaching takes time so I need to practice more and feel more comfortable with how I'm teaching.

Feedback is very important when teaching so that the students understand what they're doing well, which motivates them and also what they're doing wrong so it can be corrected. On my Feedback Analysis Form, it shows the comments I made to students during my lesson. I made comments to Steph and Gino that were both skill related. I also had Steph and Alex demonstrate, which I think I did because I know them the best out of the whole group. In the my video, I also made a comment to another student, but what I said is unclear. In my next lesson I'm going to make sure I give back a lot more feedback to the students.