Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Lab 5


Today my group didn’t lead any activities but we observed students dribbling basketballs and kicking soccer balls. I didn’t feel these activities worked very well. These relay activities left many kids standing around for long periods of time. This made them bored and want to move on to the next activity. Another reason why I thought these activities failed were because not all the students had the skills to dribble a ball or kick a soccer ball around cones. Although there were modifications to the game I just wouldn’t run that activity with that age group of kids.

Most of the games have been appropriate for the students at St. Mary’s, but some had to be changed or modified because they just weren’t working. The one game that comes to mind that didn’t work at all was the parachute game. I think that was the only game that just didn’t work. There were other games that had to be modified like the pizza game my group played with the children. During the middle of the game we noticed that the invisible oven that the students had to throw the pizza toppings over was to far and many of the students couldn’t throw their objects far enough to reach their partners. We simples modified this game by making the oven smaller. Two games that I felt were very appropriate were Zanny Zoo and the Superhero game. Both captured the students attention and kept it throughout the entire game. The games also made the kids think and kept them active and excited to play.

There can be many limitations to games or activities when trying to assess motor skills. Some that I noticed were a game may not enable the student to fully and clearly demonstrate that skill. Another limitation is that in some games the children are just trying to win and don’t care or forget about the skill at hand. The speed of a game can also be a limitation, for example a game where the goal is to tag someone. Space is also needed when assessing motor skills. If you play a game where there are a lot of people and not a lot of space, the child will not fully be able to complete his or her skill.

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