Lesson Description and Reflection

Lesson Description and Reflection 

I taught a lesson in a Fitness for Life high school class. I taught the workout portion of the class. A large basis of my lesson was based on the ideas of Vygotsky Theory of Cognitive Development. Vygtosky is one of my favorite theorists that we learned about this semester because he discusses the importance of the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition. In physical education, social interactions happen every single day. Peers are constantly collaborating with one another to learn new concepts, skills, sports, etc... In my particular lesson, I embodied Vygotsky's importance of social interaction. I paired up the students together with a new partner so they could accomplish a goal (finishing the workout) together. This was a huge social interaction because at first, the pairs seemed to be a little uncomfortable and shy with one another. This is most likely because my cooperating teacher always allows them to choose their partner. By the end of my lesson, the students were motivating and encouraging one another. It was really cool to see this different interaction between the students that I did not notice all semester. Motivation is HUGE in physical education. Providing both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation should be worked together in order to see the best results. The motivation theory that I based my lesson off of was Deci and Ryan Self-Determination Theory. This theory discusses that people are motivated by three innate needs. The first is competence. This is where people need to gain a mastery level when learning new and different skills. Once they feel like they have learned these skills they are more likely to achieve their goals and take a step in their actions. I used this in my lesson because since I had been observing this class for many weeks, I knew the basic skills that they were capable of doing. I encompassed these skills that they have already mastered, while also providing differentiation examples of more challenging exercises. The second part of the self-motivation theory is connection or relatedness. This is where people must feel a sense of belonging and attachment to other people. These relationships have already been formed over the course of this class, but I helped to challenge this by pairing them with someone who they usually do not pair up with. The third part of this theory is autonomy. Autonomy is that people need to feel like they are in control of their own goals as well as their behaviors. This is where self-determination comes into play heavily. I incorporated the use of heart rate monitors in my lesson which would track the students heart rate. By doing this, it allowed the students to keep track of their heart rate and see if they were in the intended target heart rate zone. This seemed to really motivate the students since they were able to see their progress. I also incorporated the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) developed by Albert Bandura into my lesson. This theory discusses the idea that when people observe a behavior or a task by someone who is doing it correctly, they are more likely to remember the sequence of events and use this information to further guide behavior. I implemented this theory into my lesson by providing a physical demonstration of each exercise in the order in which is was to be completed. The students were also using this theory when observing their peers, especially their partner.

1. My lesson went well because I definitely think that I helped the students master the learning topics for that lesson. I wanted the students to learn different ways to do the basic exercises that they have been learning all semester. I could tell by observing this class for many weeks, that they do the same exercises very often. I wanted to show the students different, more challenging ways to do the same exercise in order to grab their attention and differentiate for students who find the basic way too easy. I was pleasantly surprised when the majority of the students at least tried to do the exercise the way that I had taught them. A lot of them were able to do it successfully, which really shocked my cooperating teacher.
2. I think that there is always room for improvement in each and every lesson. I think that looking back on my lesson, I wish I would have had all of the students follow along with me as I showed them the new and different exercises. When I was showing them, they were all standing around me in a circle and I think it would have been more effective if they would have done it with me.
3. I think all of the students are really engaged to begin with, which made it really easy for me as I taught my lesson. Pairing the students up with someone they usually don't pair up with really helped with student engagement. It held the students more accountable since many of them were not as comfortable as they are used to. Also, the use of the heart rate monitors really motivated the students. The students would often look at their heart rate monitor to see where they were at. I noticed a few times the students would look at their monitor and then seem discouraged for a moment. Then, all of a sudden, they would workout harder than they did before.
4. I think that I could have increased student motivation by providing some sort of extrinsic motivation. For example, if the whole class in in their target heart rate zone for the majority of the class then they can have 3 extra minutes to change, etc...