John Odle- CUJU

What?

When my group got the game Cuju for Lab D, I was not as enthusiastic as I would have been had I got another game. The reason why I felt this way was because from what I saw I didn’t get the game at all. I felt like this was going to be the most challenging game out of all to teach. The good thing was that I wasn’t alone. I had the other students there as my backup and me as theirs. This really took the workload and cut it significantly in four parts, otherwise it might have been a real struggle. One of the reasons why I felt like the game would be hard to teach was because from what we observed from the class, they were only a select few that knew how to juggle with some proficiency. The rest of the class including myself struggled in this skill. My part of the lesson focused on the 6 v 6 game, where there would be three targets and the students will have to hit the targets using the cues and teamwork. With the game Cuju working as a team is a very important part of scoring. If there isn’t any unity then there can only be chaos, which is not what we want in the classroom. While watching the students preform the other skills needed to be at least adequate in the game, I decided to modify the activity to make it a little easier by letting the ball be able to hit the floor. That made the students a little more successful, I think in scoring. One other thing I tried to implement in the game was a little dance that the other team that didn't have the ball could do to “distract” the other so they wouldn't score. The reason for this was I didn't want the students to just be standing watching the game go on but I wanted to make sure they were at least moving and not just waiting.  

Gut

            When our day came to teach the lesson I was a nervous because we had to do everything for ourselves. We couldn't rely on Dr. B to start us off; we had to act like it was a legit class. I felt as if we prepared well and everyone knew what they were going to do and how we would transition, so that eased me. I didn’t want the lesson to be bad or uninteresting because the students would struggle if they hadn’t had a enough experience in juggling. I myself couldn't juggle well so I knew how I would feel if my peers were doing good and I was the one that could be helpful. I watched the students they looked as if they were having a good time which made me feel really good. The one thing the Hannah brought up was the safety of the students which became a concern when the students would be hitting the ball hard and fast. I didn’t want to take away from the game but we had to make sure that everyone was being safe. So I felt good that we stopped the game and addressed the safety concerns that we saw during the drills and games. I felt as if the students learned and were happy with the lesson but if they didn’t we would have to try and make it more interesting and fun with a better game and activity overall.

So What?

I planned my lesson in a way that it would work on things they may have known already which would give them a revision of what little they might have known form previous years.  I thought the lesson was very challenging for the students and made me see what I had to work on with the class to get them physically literate. As I looked at my video, I saw that the class was maybe struggling to hit the target and that just means that I had to adapt and try to make the task easier for the students and then when they become more successful then make it harder. When doing something that you are not familiar with that means that not only you as a teacher are learning nut the students are learning as well.

Now What?

Now that all the labs are done I definitely feel like I have become better more and more every time I taught. Lab D has taught that you need to be prepared to teach anything and any topic. I didn't know anything about the sport and I think that I did a good job. If there complete star students that were excellent at juggling then the game would have been more riveting. Now as a teacher I have to be able to spend more time with the skill before going into such a big game. If this was a unit then I would know where I need to spend more time with what people or persons and what the class needed from me to be more successful.

Lab A-D

From the start of this semester when I found that I would have to be teaching a whole class of my peers, I felt as if that it wasn't something that I was ready for now. I have always been a person that wasn't shy but when it comes to actually teaching in front of people I had just met I felt like I couldn't do it. Once Lab A was over I definitely learned things about myself when teaching. When Lab B came around I felt as if I improved but not as good as I could be. I personally feel as if Lab B or Lab C was one my better performances. I know that I have grown and I do feel that if I had gotten an easier game to teach for Lab D, it would have been my best performance. I now know what I am good at and what I need to do to become a better professional and teacher when it comes to having that real job. 

                                        Discussing the Closure with the class