Field Experience Day 5 - February 17th, 2012

Skill themes and student abilities:

            The 2^nd grade class at St. Mary’s continued their unit in Floor Hockey with a review in passing and stick handling. I had the privilege of teaching the introduction to the shooting skill in Floor Hockey. Mr. Mack divided the class into two stations where he reviewed on one end of the gymnasium while I demonstrated a snap shot and one-timers on the other end. I was nervous but also confident being knowledgeable with the unit.

            I started the lesson with a review of the safety rules and then demonstrated the snap shot with cues. The cues were to make sure the blade was behind the puck, snap the wrist forward and follow through. I had the students lineup into two lines and shoot on two goalie nets place on the other side of the lines. After the students each had two chances to shoot the puck I demonstrated a one-timer slap shot with pinpointing. The cues included anticipating the pass, keep eyes on the puck, make contact with the puck and follow through. Again I had the students get into two lines using only one goalie net. One line was a line to pass the puck to a peer and the other line was to shoot the puck into the net. Once one student passed the puck they would rotate and go to the end of the shooting line while the shooter would go to the end of the passing line.

             There was mixed feelings after completing this lesson. I felt great that I accomplished a lesson successfully. Although my performance of teaching the lesson was successful, the skills that the students performed I felt were too advanced for 2^nd graders. The students understood what was expected of them, which was observed through checking for understanding questions. The student’s skill abilities on the other hand did not meet the expectations I was hoping for. They shot the puck but never really snapped their wrist to perform the snap shot. The one-timer I felt went well after I told the students they were able to stop the puck prior to shooting. This is not necessarily a one-timer but has the same concept being able to anticipate the pass.
           
            This was a good lesson for me to learn moving forward. Mr. Mack had expressed that 2^nd grade is a difficult level to teach because the skill level is at a gray area where some skill abilities are to advanced where others are not so much even if the students understand the concept. Given the opportunity I would change the focus of my lesson using manipulation skills that were not as difficult. The wrist shot and slap shot would be more appropriate for a 2^nd grade class. I would also start the lesson off differently using a play teach play method having the students just shoot the puck around for the first couple of minutes. This is a positive step moving forward to become a physical educator.