Ye Olde Voyage

As you can see by analyzing my heart rate from the current graph, I died several times during class. Haha, I think the reason for my many deaths during class is because the strap that I was using for my heart rate monitor was a larger size than I thought, and I didn't know about it until We started our scavenger hunt and it began to fall down around my waist and I had to keep picking it back up. Other than that I actually felt that during class because we were running around so much I was able to get a great cardiovascular work out. I thought that the most interesting part about the entire activity was the fact that there were about 20 kids literally sprinting all over campus, running in and out of buildings and unlike high school. There was no teachers or professors telling us to slow down and stop running. I felt like I was in the Suny Cortland 2008 version of the Breakfast Club. Another part of this lesson that stood out and was very interesting and it made the lesson more complete was the fact that all of us were so interested and concerned with what we were doing that we were completely unaware of the amount of physical activity that we were doing. This lesson forced physical activity in a fun and enjoyable way which is very important when planning for a lesson. Although my heart rate data doesn't show it, I had one of the best cardiovascular workouts that I have had in a while. I felt energized and alert for the rest of the day.

Realizing the reality

As the weeks pass I have had more and more experience with teaching. Well, teaching my peers that is. I sometimes feel really awkward when teaching my peers because I get the feeling that the separation between teacher and student is not yet there, and it wont be until the journey is complete. However, it is amazing how quickly I am getting comfortable with teaching. I recently taught a few lessons on the unit of wrestling. I wont lie, I was intimidated at first because each lesson was being taught in groups of 2. Each student was expected to teach 7 minutes each. My partner ended up changing his major and I had to teach a 15 minute lesson by myself. I never really had any experience doing something like this before so it was a big deal at first to me. I remember the first day that I taught this lesson. I was pretty nervous but I figured that since I was here to learn, I would rather make mistakes now than when I was in front of my own class. Anyway it went off rather well. I was surprised at my professors reaction and the reaction of my peers. I couldn't believe how 15 minutes flew by. I had a detailed lesson plan of the things I wanted to cover throughout my lesson and I thought that by working quickly I would be able to get through all of it. I didn't even get close. I got very into my lesson. for some reason, even though it was only a teaching unit for my peers it was really important to me that they learn the lessons I had planned. I guess because it took me a long time to make sure that everything was planned out the right way with the right progressions and the right amount of time spent on each part of the lesson. I really am beginning to think that I am throughly understanding the skills and the techniques and pretty much all of the qualities it takes to be an effective and well appreciated teacher. I only hope that as time goes on I am able to utilize the feedback given by my fellow physical education majors in an effort to further my abilities and increase my teaching skills to their pinnacles. Believe me when I say that history IS in the making and with the right mindset and the work ethic and will power, it is only a matter of time until a dream becomes a reality.