Developing the content refers to the process of helping
children learn the various motors skills that are typically taught in physical
education. As part of this process,
teachers decide how long students should practice a given task, which cues are
most appropriate for refining the task, and how to challenge the students to
improve. Imagine you are five minutes
into a lesson on dribbling a basketball.
You have tasked the students to dribble in a clockwise path around the
gym. You already have to start making
decisions about when and how to change the task, provide a cue or offer a
challenge. In a typical class some
students would be performing below the expected standard of being able to
dribble without losing control while others are speeding around the gym
dribbling easily with either hand, in and out of traffic. What goes into your decision to change the
task, provide cues to refine performance, or offer challenges to those who need
them before they get bored?
The beginning teacher might arbitrarily assign a new task
every five minutes under the assumption that five minutes is about the limit
before boredom sets in. The experienced
teacher, on the other hand, considers the goals of the lesson and that there is
always a progression between tasks in order to arrive at proficiency. How to design this progression is the
teacher’s key challenge. Merely changing
from one dribbling activity to a different one is not necessarily a
progression. Progression in lesson
design can consist of making tasks easier or harder, of changing them from
static to dynamic, altering the number of required movements, changing the
number of children involved (size of the group), modifying the equipment, or
using defenders.
In addition to the progression of tasks, refining through
the use of teaching cues is another important aspect of practice. Cues are a lot like feedback. It’s all about the quality. Saying “Keep practicing – you’ve almost got
it,” to a student who is trying to dribble without “spanking” the basketball is
fairly useless from an instructional standpoint. Whereas, “Touch the ball with your fingertips
– it should feel springy,” is a cue that is more likely to help the student
progress. Some cues are used too often
or too indiscriminately, like “Keep your eye on the ball.” Graham makes an interesting point that a
parent who has minimal background in physical education often uses this cue for
many skills: batting, catching, kicking, punting, tennis, etc., and it is
occasionally the right cue for the situation. “But the skillful physical
educator, in contrast to the uninformed parent, is able to provide the child
with an appropriate cue that enables the child to concentrate on an aspect of
the movement that will lead to an efficient motor pattern for that skill.” This is where the art of teaching is
evident. That ability to isolate a small
piece of the skill that the student can give their complete focus to is the key
to unlocking the larger skill. What is
the right cue for the child who does not step with the opposite leg when
throwing but rather with the same side leg? “Step with the other leg,” “You’re
a righty, so step with the left leg,” “Keep your right foot back and step and
throw with your left leg.” All are bound
to be ineffective. The key is for the
child to get the feeling of shifting all his weight to the back (right) leg to
the point where they are standing on one leg only. That is the essential piece – the tipping
point at which the correct motion becomes inevitable.
While two thirds of the class works on static or dynamic
dribbling tasks, one third will need additional challenge to ingrain their
skill and bring it to a new level.
Introducing defenders is one possibility. But that might demand too much reorganization
of the space. A good alternative would
be to introduce a piece of equipment that would increase the challenge. You might offer the choice of tossing a scarf
while dribbling, or a set of bean bags that have to be picked up and dropped in
a bucket while maintaining the dribble.
How does the reflective teacher improve his or her teaching
in this area? One way is to have an
observer record data about the type and frequency of teaching cues you
give. Graham provides examples of templates
that allow the observer to capture information about statements that the
teacher makes to the class about motor skills (not behavior). The key is for the observer to capture the
intent of the statement as being in one of the three categories: extending/changing tasks, refining tasks,
applying challenge. The observer totals
the frequency of statements in each category so that patterns become
clear. This is helpful information for a
teacher, but it’s at least as important to assess the quality of the
tasks, cues and challenges in terms of results in student performance. Some key questions to ask are: Did the students understand and use the cues
being emphasized? Was the cue
appropriate – was it the right cue at the right time? Was the progression of tasks to easy or too
hard? Were tasks changed unnecessarily
or too quickly? Did the challenges
motivate students to practice longer? Were
the tasks appropriate for accomplishing your objectives for the lesson?
