Anthony Zeppieri - Lab D - Cuju

Lab D - CUJU

What-  My teaching group and I had the ancient Chinese game called Cuju.  This game is considered the origins of modern day soccer.  When I found out this was our topic I really wasn't the most thrilled person in the world.  I knew the game was mostly about juggling a ball with a team and trying to shoot it in a goal which I knew was going to be hard for most of the students in the class.  When we choose each section to teach I choose to do the instant activity and the first activity. This really wasn't to hard for me to figure out because I knew I had to start the class off with some type of juggling drill so the students can practice it for further game play.  The main this I wanted the students to get out of my part of the lesson was to be able to juggle a ball using the proper cues.  When I explained the cues I had Hannah demonstrate it because she had past experience with soccer so she was a lot better at juggling then I am.  I gave the class a choice of using a soccer ball, gator skin ball, or a team handball ball during the first activity because I wanted them to have a variety of options to practice juggling with so they could feel more comfortable with a skill they might not be to great at.  During my activity, I handed out a mark up sheet for the class to write down how many times they successfully juggled the ball in a row.  This was for me and the other teachers to see where each student were at so we could know what to do later in the class.  I wanted the students also to be aware of their surroundings because everyone else was doing the same thing and balls could end up flying around the gym, so I wanted them to be careful and to try to control the ball while juggling.

Here I am showing the class the boundaries for my instant activity.

Gut-  Even though my confidence was built up from the other labs I have done, I was still pretty nervous.  I was nervous because I knew we didn't have any help from Dr. B or the TA's, it was all on me and my group.  Also, I was the one starting off the lesson so it was nerve racking because I knew if we got off to a good start it would care on throughout the lesson, but if it went wrong it could have changed the atmosphere for the rest of the lesson.  I was also worried a little bit.  I wasn't worried about our overall lesson and the activities, I was just worried about how the class would react to our game.  It is a very passive and respectful game so it could have seemed boring to the class and I was worried that the class would have been discouraged if they couldn't juggle well enough.  I was very happy though how the other teachers in my group were able to modify the game enough to make it more enjoyable for the class and they seemed to have enjoyed it better when it was modified.

Here are some facts about Cuju and China.  Also a couple of rules for the game of Cuju.

So What-  I planned my lesson to try and make it as simple for the students to understand as I could.  Starting off with a tag game and then having them juggle at least 3 times before having to come back into the game was a good thing because it was a little prerequisite to my next activity with juggling.  I think it was hard for me to really give feedback during my activities because the students were spread out throughout the gym and juggling.  I tried my best to really try and find the people who looked to be struggling the most, even though a majority of the class was struggling to juggle for a high number of times in a row.

Now What-  Now that all labs are finally done, I think overall I built up my skills to be a teacher, but I still have a lot to learn.  I still sometimes forget to do certain things like reiterate a safety statement and to talk about my expectations.  I also really need to work on stopping the class for a teachable moment or to make a modification to the activity because they can be really crucial for the students learning.  Another few things are that I need to be prepared to teach games that I may have never even heard of before, like Cuju, so I can teach it to my students with ease.  And I need talk about classroom behavior more.  I noticed a couple of people during my part kicking the ball without control and it could have made the class a lot more chaotic.

Reflection of Growth:  When we started off with lab A I was extremely nervous.  One was because of the topic I had and two was because I never really taught basically anything.  Anyone could tell easily that I was nervous during this lab because I would struggle to think of exactly what I wanted to say and my body language showed I wasn't all that confident.  Going into lab B I was more confident in the sense that I was more prepared to teach a full dance to a class.  I was still a little nervous, but I learned from lab A that I needed to say certain things so the class could understand me easier.  Lab C I personally think was my best lab.  I was actually confident in myself going into it because I created my own dance and I had a solid game plan going into the lesson.  I was able to portray each step with ease.  I still needed to work on with giving better feedback to the students, but my overall teaching I thought was done well.  I learned a new style in this lab, jigsaw style, and I feel like it worked out well for my lesson even though I could have ended it with the whole class doing the dance instead of the groups performing in front of everyone else.  Lab D was a new challenge for me because of the group teaching.  I learned that working together and communication was a very important thing in building a lesson as a group.  I think as a group we did pretty well even though it was a tough task because of the juggling aspect. I obviously still have much needed improvement as a teacher and I will continue to work hard to improve.

Here I am going over the cues on juggling a soccer ball.