Anthony Tiziani- Lab D Nohejbal

Me on one of the first days of class

What?                                                                                                  Me teaching lab A
For lab D I taught the pass in Nohejbal as the 9th grade teacher.  I knew that I had to start from the very basics because nobody had ever even heard of this game before. Since the students were in 9th grade and never played before I had to go over some basic rules, history, and techniques of Nohejbal.I started them off with an instant activity of soccer knockout. This got them using their feet and trying to control a ball. The next activity I had them do was to get with a partner and practice the pass that I had demonstrated to them. They were to start off catching the ball and then passing it back to their partner but as they got more comfortable I told them to cut the catch out and to control it before they passed it back to their partner. I allowed the students to work on this for several minutes so that they could get the basics done in order to work towards a full game of Nohejbal.

Gut
Out of all the lessons I had to teach this semester, this is probably the one that I was most anxious for. I was both nervous and confidant at the same time. I was mostly nervous because my lab C did not go so well so I knew that I had to do good but I also had the thought in the back of my head that maybe I'm just got going to be good at this.I also had a higher level of confidence for this lesson for several reasons I think. The first being that I really got to know my class mates and became friends with them so it made it a little easier. The second reason was that I was now in a group where other teachers could have helped me out a little if I needed them.  The biggest reason however for my confidence was that I had been there before and with every lesson that I taught I grew more comfortable in front of the class.

So What? 
Teaching games like Nohejbal is important for students because it is an international game and learning games played around the world helps them to become more culturally aware and gives them more activities that they could possibly play once they exit high school. Although the students had never played this particular game before doesn't mean that they were complete beginners.  They had all done most of the skills before just in different sports or activities. We used these skills that the students were some what comfortable with to start the class. This made the students realize that even though they were learning a new game, they really kind of knew skills and techniques used in the game.  From there we progressed into some skills that may have been challenging but with the base of knowledge and experience we felt as is the student swould have no problem handling it.

Now What?
The students now know the basics for the game of Nohejbal. Future classes would work to make the students even more comfortable playing the game. Eventually a real soccer ball would be introduced once the students are ready for it. If the game is played regularly throughout the students time in high school then they should be able to become competent in it and it can become a life time activity for them, since that is what we are trying to create.

Reflection
The amount of growth that I had in this class has got to be greater than any other class that I have ever taken.  To go from where I was when I first entered the class room to where I stood after teaching Lab D on the last day of class blows my mind. With that being said, I am no wheres close to the teacher I want to be. This class also opened my eyes and made me realize that teaching is not even close to as easy as it seems, but I like the challenge. Lab A was only an instant activity but I struggled even doing that. Now in Lab D, its like I don't even have to think twice about it because it is just an automatic when I start thinking about my lesson plan. Being comfortable is easily the biggest thing I am going to get out of this class. Becoming comfortable is all about reps and how many times you get up there and make mistakes(and learn from them!).