UNIT4:LESSONS OF PERFORMING PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTS EXERCISES
Key unit Competence
By the end of this unit, student-teacher will be able to prepare a lesson
related to performing Physical Education and Sports.
Introductory activity
4.1 Recall concepts and content related to performing Physical
Education and Sports exercises
Activity 4.1
In primary schools, Physical Education and Sports is learned in both level:
Lower level and Upper level. Both Lower level and upper level learn games.
Those games should be used during warm up or cool down or in learning a new skill.
Warm up games/exercises
Warm-up is a moderate exercise which makes a child prepared to start intensive physical activities. The role of warm-up exercises is to prepare heart, lungs, muscles and joints for intensive work. They help to concentrate on next activity and reduce risks of being injured. Warm muscles are better absorbers of collision than cold ones.
There are three kinds of warm-up activities:
- Cardiovascular activity: This activity arises temperature, speeds heart beating and respiration movements. There is, for example jogging, in place skipping and walking while raising the feet higher.
- Joints mobilization activity: It is a motion that unlocks joints which will be strongly needed during physical activities.
- Stretching exercise activity: it enhances the circulation of blood towards muscles. It unlocks and warms-up muscles.
Warm-up exercises must:
- Precede every physical activity: Always take time to warm yourselves up;
• Be progressive: Start slowly and easily: Accelerate rapidity and intensity progressively;
• Be concentrated on muscles and motions needed in the following actiity: If the planned activity is relay race, concentrate
on legs;
• Be entertaining: Do various warm-up exercises. Use mostly games instead of standard exercises. Make warm-up exercises a game or tell a story while doing exercises. You will see children reacting with much more liveliness.
A cooling down exercise/game
It is a moderate exercise that takes place immediately after intense physical activity.
It has two parts:
– An easy exercise of the whole body whose intensity decreases
gradually. For example, a simple cooling down exercise can start with a jogging, and then slows down to marching;
– A moderate stretching.
Cooling down activities should:
– Be a convenient: conclusion of any physical activity; always take time to recover;
– Be progressive: it is necessary to slowly reduce the speed and intensity. For example, a good recovery after running should start with a light jogging for 2 minutes, then slow down until it becomes
a walk for 2 minutes, and finish by stretching for 5 minutes.
– Focus on the muscles and movements as required during intense activity: For example, you can use the same stretching
you used for heating to cool down.
– Be enjoyable: Change cooling down activities. Often use games instead of standard exercises. Children become more involved if you incorporate an element of play or a story for cooling them down.
A Stretching exercises
The stretching involves movements that lengthen muscles and make them more elastic.
Stretching exercises:
– Improve physical performance: Flexible muscles are more responsive during exercise and physical activity.
– Reduce the risk of muscles and joints injury: Elastic muscles are less likely to be torn when they are stretched.
– Reduce muscle sore: The stretch itself is a good practice for health. It helps us to keep the full flexibility and motions in joints.
How do we stretch?
Stretching should:
– Be a standard part of warming-up and cooling down activities.
Always take the time to stretch.
– Be done when muscles are warm. The best time is just after a cardiovascular activity and after intense activity.
General instructions for stretching
– Move slowly and gently into each position until you experience a moderate stretching sensation.
– Hold the stretch position for 12-20 seconds without bouncing.
– Repeat the stretch.
– Reverse right-left instructions to reach both sides.
4.2 Personal qualities of a Physical Education and Sports teacher
Activity 4.2
Teaching Physical Education and Sports lesson depend on several things.
One of them is about the qualities a Physical Education and Sports teacher should possess. Some of them are as follow:
– Teacher should have enough knowledge in child psychology in order to correctly handle different learners’ behaviours, make a proper judgement for a given arguments and analyse arguments to be advanced.
– Teacher should command without brutalizing. He should have a corrective attitude and instil group discipline which brings mutual respect, calm and productivity.
– Teacher should always be available to help his learners.
– A teacher should have a clear vocal tone which brings vivacity, dynamism, availability and mobility. He should be listened to and should listen as well.
– A teacher should have coherent gestures with no confusion.
– A teacher should have a peripheral field of vision to see and be seen by all learners.
– A teacher should be a good referee and be precise in his orders by adapting his teaching to learner’s reactions and abilities.
– A teacher should be able to create a relaxing and joyous atmosphere during sports and physical sports lesson.
– He should give a chance to all learners to participate so that they may find interests, stimulation and enthusiasm.
– A teacher should be smart (clear clothes, wearing sportswear and sports).
– The teacher should also take care of defining activity area by limiting where activity will be performed and planning how to distribute and collect of sports equipment.
Application activity 4.2
In a class of P4 there are 40 learners. 3 of them have physical disability (they have one arm only). A physical education teacher is going to teach passing in volleyball. Discuss how a teacher should conduct physical exercise whereas all learners will participate actively in that lesson.
4.3 Preparation of a Physical Education and Sports lesson
Activity 4.3
A PES teacher wants to prepare the lesson which is related to “Safe play using basic rules in football game”.
1. Choose one of the following competences which will be addressed.
a. Fabricate balls in local materials
b. Demonstrate the importance of football in society
c. Playing in team
2. In which step of physical education and sports lesson plan competence chosen above will be developed? Describe how that
competence will be developed.
Through planning and presentation of a Physical Education and Sports lesson the teacher has to know how students may increase their knowledge, skills, values and attitudes. This should be done through lesson preparation of a Physical Education and Sports lesson. A good preparation of lesson is a good tool indispensable and inescapable for teachers.
It is presented in three forms:
- Theoretical or mental preparation
It consists of holding the major idea of the lesson and predict eventual difficulties (number of learners, playground, teaching aids, teaching placement). In order to achieve lesson objectives, proposed exercises (educative) have to be organized according to pedagogical progression and coherence during the different stages of a lesson.
- Written preparation
The subject should be written in preparation exercise book or on a preparation sheet.
- Practical preparation
This is the time in which a physical education and sports teacher deliver the lesson during practical session.
Steps of Physical Education and Sports lesson plan
♦ Introduction:
- Open discussion.
- Warm-up (general warm up and specific warm up).
♦ Lesson development:
- new skill (Technique, tactic or ngame situation)
♦ Conclusion:
- Cool down
- Final discussion using RCA Approach (Reflect Connect and Apply)
- Opening discussions
Opening discussion (readiness), is the period in which a teacher may conduct the following activities:
- Checking of children’s status, clothes, materials and playground.
- Observe whether learners are ready to begin the activity.
- The teacher asks introductory questions which arouse motivation and curiosity of children and prepare them to learn.
- Warm-up exercise(preparedness)
Warm-up is a moderate exercise which makes a child prepared to start intensive physical activities.
The role of warm-up exercises is to prepare heart, lungs, muscles and joints for intensive work. They help to concentrate on next activity and reduce risks of being injured. Warm muscles are better absorbers of collision than cold ones. Warm up should be done with balls / implement in order to help athlets to be familiar with it or review the previous learned skill.
- Body of the lesson (lesson development)
It is the main part of the session. It is the period of enforcing the exercises or activities themselves, in order to achieve objectives of the course. It covers more than half of the time reserved for the whole session.
- conclusion
Apart from being relaxing exercises, this stage also consists of collecting materials and closing discussion or moral talks.
Cooling down activities and collection of materials
At this stage, cooling down activities are proposed: slow and soothing exercises which help the body get its normal rhythm.
Regarding closing discussion
This stage follows a series of “Reflection-Connection-Application” processes. It is based on the cycle of learning through experiment, related to active pedagogy, cantered on the learner.
This closing discussion enables the learner to put links between realised activities and his/her future or present life. Teachers make learners think about what they have learnt, establish connection between what they have gained and what they knew before and apply it in their daily life.
Collection of materials
Children in charge collect materials and bring them back to the teacher.
4.3.2 Assessment of Physical Education and Sports lesson.
Activity 4.3.2
Read the passage and answer questions asked
Mary is a Physical Education teacher at primary school in P6. While she is teaching some of learners’ present difficulties about performing exercises. Discuss strategies Mary will use in order to detect and solve the problems presented by those learners with difficulties.
In general, during sessions of Physical Education and Sports, holistic development of children should be evaluated on various levels. Thus, the teacher must evaluate capacities such as:
- Mental capacity: level of concentration, memory, capacity of anticipation, problem solving
- Technical competences (physical): to throw the ball, to catch it, to pass it to others etc.
- Strong emotional points: such as self-confidence and feeling secure.
- Social competences: such as cooperation and solidarity.
- Attitudes and values: such as optimism, confidence, respect and impartiality.
More particularly, the teacher will evaluate how well student are acquiring the key knowledge from games, sports techniques and tactics in which they participated. It will probably be necessary to observe and evaluate other targeted learning by answering to questions such as:
- Are children improving their competences from the games?
- Did they understand the ideas discussed?
- Are they able to make connection between what they have learnt and what they meet in daily life within their families or with their friends?
Observing and attentively listening to children help the teacher know whether or notthey have understood. Children, teacher and the school benefit from the evaluation.
4.4 End unit assessment
1. When teaching a lesson of physical education and sports, there are steps to be respected. Emphasize importance of each one.
2. You want to teach your learners passing in handball. How would you proceed?
3. How would you proceed to teach your learners passing as one of techniques in handball?
4. Prepare a lesson plan of Physical Education and Sports to be taught in P6 (choose one topic from syllabus).