Internship Seminar What will be covered: The internship context The internship Setting The educational focus of my internship My role and contribution to the internship Theoretical knowledge about my specialist area Personal development How will my internship be beneficial to my future teaching career?

Internship context Sports activators is a pilot project that is currently running within three clusters of Otago primary schools. It has been developed due to schools identifying that they needed help in: delivering sport and physical activity options creating school community pathways that moved children into sport. The ‘Sports activators’ initiative has been made possible through recent Kiwi sport funding introduced by SPARC in 2010

Internship context The purpose of Sports activators is to increase school aged children's: Sporting skills Fundamental motor skill levels Sport participation levels Opportunities to participate in sport both inside and outside of school ‘Improving sports opportunities for children’ Key focus on children that aren't currently involved in sport

Internship context The role of a sports activators is to: Target, develop and deliver individual school based programmes. Teach four sequential ‘sport specific’ sessions to each class per term Provide professional development for teachers Establishing key linkages with local sports clubs and facilities

Internship Setting For my internship I worked along side my internship supervisor Ginny Young, who is the sports activator for the west Dunedin cluster of primary schools. Within this cluster there are 12 very different primary schools. The majority of my internship was set outside, teaching physical education on either the courts or fields of different primary schools. Within my internship we taught sports specific lessons to the full range of primary school students, ranging from new entrance to year 8. As schools had ownership of what sport they wanted to learn we taught a wide range of sports lessons An aspect of my internship that I really enjoyed was teaching in a wide range of school deciles and meeting children who have come from very different back grounds and have had a wide variety of physical education experiences. Because Sports activators is an initiative that works within 12 different primary schools we usually spend one or two whole days at a primary school (depending on how big the school was and then moved onto the another primary school the following day,. We did not returning to the school until several weeks latter. The purpose of this was to allow teachers to continue to teach follow on lessons so that next time we came into the school students would be more confident and capable. Through my internship I worked outside in the rain, snow and sunshine. An important aspect of being an effective teacher is being able to modify your lesson to suit the physical environment, weather conditions , available equipment and learning needs of the students. Working in a wide range of schools has meant that I have had to learnt and developed strategies of how to teach in a wide range of different sized areas ,modify my lessons to cater for the different types of sports equipment or lack f equipment a school has and cater for a wide range of students skill levels and needs. Important aspect of my internship was communicating and interacting with a wide range of principals, teachers and students. When teaching we worked alongside the classroom teacher

The educational focus of my internship The learning objectives for my internship were to: Gain knowledge and experience of how to plan and deliver sequential physical education sessions Gain experience in teaching sport and physical activity in years 1-8. Investigate the barriers that need to be over come to deliver an effective physical education program within primary schools. Gain experience in how to effectively teach fundamental skills by engaging students in the lessons and making sport fun and interesting. Practice and acquire management and facilitation skills for teaching physical education in large and small groups. Gain new skills in how to provide professional development for teachers.

My role and contribution to the internship Observation of teaching Preparing and setting up equipment Planning lessons Teaching lessons and skills Providing feedback Managing and facilitating students Communicating with my internship supervisor, principals, teachers and students

Physical education in the New Zealand curriculum “By learning in, through and about movement, students gain an understanding that movement is integral to human expression and that it can contribute to people’s pleasure and enhance their lives”(Ministry of Education, 2007, p.23) The four stands: A - Personal health and physical development B - Movement concepts and motor skills C - Relationships with other people D – Healthy communities and environments To effectively be able to deliver quality physical education in New Zealand primary schools, teachers must have an in-depth knowledge of Health and Physical Education (H&PE) within the 2007 New Zealand curriculum. The overall purpose of Physical Education is to engage students in movement experiences that promote and support the development of physical, emotional and social skills that can be transferred into all aspect of an individual’s life. Physical education is about educating for a healthy balanced lifestyle, through helping students to value and understand the importance and benefits of regular and sustainable physical activity. The main focus of Physical Education is on promoting the well being (haoura) of the individual themselves, of other people, and of society through learning in movement contexts. This can be achieved through the development of movement skills, acquisition of knowledge and understanding about movement, and the development of positive attitudes towards physical activity. Consequently Physical Education comprises of learning ‘in’, ‘through’ and ‘about’ movement. Physical education in the New Zealand curriculum needs to be viewed as more than a single dimensional subject (Gatman, 2005). PE is a multi-dimensional subject that comprises of teaching and learning “in movement , through movement , and about movement” (Ministry of Education, 2007, p.23). There are four strands for health and physical education, comprising of personal health and physical development , movement concepts and motor skills, relationships with other people and healthy communities and environments. Can anyone tell me what strand sports activators links closely to?

Why is it important to teach students fundamental motor skills? The learning and teaching that took place in my internship was primarily based around Strand B of the Health and Physical education framework. B1- Movement skills B2 – Positive attitudes and challenges “Leaning in movement” B1- movement skills –where students develop and apply, in context, a wide range of movement skills and facilitate the development of physical competence. B2- Positive attitudes and challenges – focus on students developing a positive attitude towards physical activity by accepting challenges and extending their personal capabilities and experiences. The 2007 NZ curriculum and the 1999 H&PE curriculum portray that When students learn ‘in’ movement, learning takes place as students develop physical skills through engaging in; play, games, sport, exercise, recreation, adventure, and expressive movement in diverse physical and social environments. ‘In’ movement students learn basic and more advanced locomotor, non-locomotor, and manipulative skills. Being physically educated on how to successfully perform fundamental movement skills is crucially important, it allows students to use their physical skills to develop and extend their personal capabilities in a range of physical activity contexts. I believe that developing fundamental movement skills provide a foundation for many physical activities and promotes personal competence and a sense of self worth in students. Having these skills is an essential part of enjoyable participation and a lifelong interest in an active lifestyle. Talk about how through my internship setting I was able to see how motor skill learning could really boost students confidence and passion to learn and participate. Talk about a 8year old boy who at the start of the lesson was shy and unwilling to participate due to his lack of ability to bounce a ball. But once he was taught the basic fundamental skills he was far more confident – I even saw him participating at lunch time in basketball Why is it important to teach students fundamental motor skills?

Learning about my area of specialization: Effective pedagogical teaching approaches and strategies The importance of time on task How important it is to effectively plan sequential physical education lessons The importance of fun and engaging lessons The importance of community links and meaningful learning What I have learnt about my area of specialisation is..... Another point I have learnt participating in sports activators is how important it is to effectively plan.....

Personal development Organisation and the ability to modify lessons Confidence and content knowledge Coping with uncertainty and new situations Building professional relationships Working collaboratively as part of a team

How will this internship benefit my teaching? Greater appreciation and awareness of the range and ability of learners Working with a wide range of year levels More effective planning and delivery Improved confidence and ability Management and facilitation skills Professional development & collaboration

Thanks for listening Does anyone have any questions?