Reflecting & Connecting 2015-16

“We do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience.” ~ John Dewey ~
"Communication - the human connection - is the key to personal and career success." ~ Paul J. Meyer

2015-16
Connecting & Reflecting - Starting With The Bulletin Board

I did a lot of thinking this summer about how I wanted to start the school year. I knew that I really wanted to make this year about making better connections and create meaningful ways for students to reflect, make changes and improve performance. I want to do a better job connecting with students, helping students better connect with lessons and physical education on the whole, making connections and partnering with other teachers to create multi-sensory learning experiences and incorporating more movement in the classrooms, and making purposeful connections between my choices as I plan and deliver lessons to what I have learned about brain compatible learning. In past years, I have decorated my bulletin board space with this that and the other stuff but have never really been happy about it's usefulness. It was nice to look at and had some good information for students but this year I really wanted to build it in a way that made it useful in helping students connect to each lesson and the subject of physical education.

I wanted it to be the focal point for considering efficiency, introducing and connecting to a lesson, and lesson closure and helping students reflect on what they did in class. I decided that I was going to take my time as I add the parts and pieces. An added challenge is that I want it to be a useful tool for all of my students K-8. Being that my year is going to be about connections I decided that each part of this learning tool should be connected much like a mind map. I would need something in the center. I wanted the center to be about all of my students and so I came up with The Physically Education and Literate ME - Body - Mind - Spirit. (I know I can learn to make great visuals on the computer but I like getting the markers out and seeing what I might be able to do.) Everything will build outward from the center. On this first day of school this was the only thing on the board. I used a variety of turn-to questions with the kids to explore what the image and words meant at each developmental level. Things were off to a good start.

Our school uses the KIPP Character Strengths for all grades in all subjects. It creates a common language and focus for us as a school community and helps us create connections between these character traits and success across all subjects. These strengths encompass the habits of mind it takes achieve one's goals. At school community meetings each class prepares a presentation on one of the strengths, we have our character compass posted on a common bulletin board, we use this language in the common areas (lunch, hallways, recess) and each teacher completes an assessment for each child in each subject area on all of the criteria for each strength. Personally, I front load every lesson and activity by having students connect to the character strengths by setting a personal goal or intention during their dynamic warm-up. In this way they are getting their bodies and brains ready for physical education. As they enter the gym they hear the dynamic warm-up music (much of which has been chosen by the classes and in separate playlists on my iPod). First and second grades do a dynamic warm-up walk choosing movements that challenge balance and flexibility, third and fourth grade

students do the same but we add trying to work at low to approaching a moderate intensity, fifth through eighth grade students have learned the 3 planes of motion and develop individual or partner dynamic warm-up routines that hit all three planes of motion in addition to challenging blanche and flexibility. As they move around the perimeter of the room they pause at the bulletin board, take a deep breath and set their goal for the class period. The younger students are learning the vocabulary so they choose the name of a character strength, the older children know them and are asked to focus more specifically on one of the criteria and to choose something that is sometimes difficult for them and the oldest students (7th & 8th grade) are asked to take it one step further, reach the higher centers of the brain to manage their emotional state to help create a positive learning experience for themselves if they need to do that at this time. So naturally as we worked to develop this year's R&R (not Rest & Relaxation but Routines & Rituals for an efficient and safe learning environment) the next part of the bulletin board I put up was related to our school's character strengths which created a natural connection to the personal and social interaction standard in physical education. I worded it a bit differently but it means the same thing. You might notice that each character strength has its own color. This use of color creates an episodic memory tool (remember how I like to connect everything to brain-based learning) that has helped the kids remember the traits. And those things that look like colored rubber bands are jelly bracelets. I have a bin of those so if students want to take a reminder of their personal goal or intention they can take a jelly bracelet, wear it for the class period and return it at the end of class. More later…

Everything has been up and running for quite some time now. I'm happy with how things are working and ready to share the rest of the board. I started by adding the other 3 sections (motor skills & movement patterns, health and skill related fitness & concepts, principles, strategies & tactics) all connecting to the center - The Physically Education & Literate ME! During each lesson (K-8) I used the board to connect to the different parts of class.

Then I really wanted to create a menu for each part of the board with the vocabulary I use as I teach. This also creates a sort of menu to pull from as we expand our thinking as we build learning targets and make further connections. The motor skills and movement patterns includes what the body does including locomotor, manipulative, non-locomotor and maneuver weight. The fitness section includes health related components, skill related components and F.I.T.T. In the concepts, principles, strategy and tactics includes space, body parts, quality of movement, categories of games, relationships, laws and vocabulary.

Call it what you want, skill cues or critical components. When my students are in the learning phase of developing motor skills they are thinking "body look-fors." I created this visual several years ago and it's working out very well. My youngest students are thinking about making a moving picture with all the "body look-fors" as they participate in the learning experience. When putting the learning targets up on the white board for the day it's best I don't forget the person and the glasses… I will be reminded.