Watch and Learn

At St. Mary’s I observed a six year old boy named Shamus who is in first grade. I also observed a five year old girl named Kasey who is in kindergarten. These two individuals were both able to perform the locomotor skills of running, galloping, and hopping. Even though Shamus was only one year older than Kasey it seemed to have a very big impact on the differences in ability. It seemed like Shamus was able to perform the locomotor skills more consistently and for a longer period of time. Kasey on the other hand would start out doing well but her movements started to break up after a little while. Shamus was overall more coordinated with his steps throughout the three locomotor skills. I also saw that both of the students were making mistakes similar to one another. For instance, on the Gallop, the foot trailing was not always at a position adjacent to or behind the lead foot. But overall both students performed well.

The effective teaching strategies that I observed on Monday were using music, dressing up, acting out all the different parts, and just being really enthusiastic with all of the activities. It seemed like the more excited we were to explain the game, the more they wanted to play it. I used music and being really enthusiastic towards all of the children playing our game. These teaching strategies made all of the children really want to play and be a part of the Stink Letter Stew Game. We also had the chefs that were stirring the stew wearing aprons so the kids felt that they were giving ingredients for the stew. This really made the kids feel like they were all helping to create the end product of the stinky letter stew. I felt like each game had different strategies that worked better than others but one teaching strategy that always must be present, in all games, is just being very enthusiastic and eager for the children to be playing the games. This will make them want to play that much more and by the end of the class you want them to be excited for the next time we play.