Bethani Spraggins
Motor Learning
Dr. Epling
PDFE # 5
The slideshow entitled “Becoming Invaluable” was very helpful for me as a junior in college and would be even more helpful for a student just entering college. The slideshow presentation presents many questions that most students are not aware of. College freshman rarely think about graduate school or his/her overall plan for success in college. I think that it allows students to see the whole picture and not just focus on the everyday homework and test taking; it could make students remember that he/she is working towards an overall goal. I liked how the slideshow also gave information for those planning on attending graduate school and those students who plan to work in the sports field immediately after graduation.
This slideshow would have been helpful to me as a freshman because many times I felt that my advisor was only preparing me for the semester to come and not informing me of career options and the importance of being involved in extracurricular activities. My favorite statement in the power point was “Think about this for every grade you make, every assignment you complete, every organization you join, every experience you accept”. I try to have this thought process on a day to day and week to week basis when I feel like my school work is overwhelming me. I was thought that it was helpful to have the “resume tips” listed out in the power point because I feel like many people are unaware of what things will attract an employer to choose him/her. Overall, I know that this tool was helpful to me now and would be especially useful for a college freshman who might not realize the importance of actions now for his/her future endeavors.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
PDFE # 4
Bethani Spraggins
Motor Learning
Dr. Epling
September 27, 2010
PDFE # 4
I chose to interview Coach Chandler from Trion High School. He is a football and weights coach for the high school. He also teaches physical education everyday to both athletes and non-athletes in the high school. I developed eight questions to ask Coach Chandler; our meeting was on Friday, September 24, 2010 at approximately one o’clock.
The first question that I asked him was what were the everyday tasks for him as a physical education teacher? He answered that there were no everyday tasks other than taking roll for him and that even that was quite easy due to increased technology. He also stated that he did not understand why it was necessary to take roll after the first block class. The second question that I asked Coach Chandler was what were the perks to being a physical education teacher and coach? He felt that not being confined to a classroom, having the choice of whether to teach inside or outside, the kids being able to express themselves, and the fact that children do not have to remain seated constantly were all perks to him. I also asked him what his favorite part of his job was. He replied that seeing his students improve physically, both in regular physical education class and especially weight lifting was his favorite part.
I was also curious as to whether he felt prepared completely for being a teacher after he finished his college degree. He automatically replied that he was not ready after graduating because of the many unforeseen challenges that are faced every day. He explained that because you deal with people it is always unpredictable. The next question I asked was: Are there any negatives to being a physical education teacher? He answered that the only negative was when students did not want to improve physically or did not want to dress out. Also, with any job there is stress as well. I also was curious about how difficult it was to follow the state standards; he explained that the athletic director handled the task of making sure that the standards were followed and this made it not difficult for him. The fact that there are no tests in physical education also helps.
Many of the physical education teachers for the elementary age have an assistant, and I noticed that many high school teachers do not. I asked Coach Chandler if he thought it was necessary for him to have an assistant. He explained that it was not necessary, but was helpful in order to divide the groups of weightlifters and “walkers” so that each will have a teacher with them. By “walkers” he means students that do not lift weights and walk during the class period. The final question that I asked him was: What are the typical challenges you face every day? He says that every class period there are some students that do not want to participate or dress out. Motivating them is always an issue in his high school classes, mainly for those students who do not play sports. Overall, I learned very much about the many aspects of being a physical education teacher.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
PDFE # 3
Bethani Spraggins
Motor Learning
Dr. Epling
September 20, 2010
PDFE # 3
The event that I observed for the Professional Development/Field Experience assignment # 3: Movement Preparation was the University of Georgia versus Arkansas football game. The football game was played on Saturday, September 18, 2010 and was aired on ESPN at 12:00. The football game had several examples of each of the movement preparation classifications. Reaction times are lags between the initial stimuli and the actual movement; these lags can be of varying lengths. An example of reaction time in the UGA versus Arkansas game was when the quarter back, Aaron Murray had to throw a pass to Kris Durham. The defender was closely covering him and Murray saw that Durham was open and threw the ball to him. The reaction time was very quick and it allowed Durham to receive the ball.
Hick’s Law states that with the increase of stimuli, the time of the reaction slows down. An example of a time when there was only one stimulus was when the quarterback receives the ball from the center and the defensive tackle only had one option, and that was to tackle the quarter back. An example where there were multiple stimuli was when Kris Durham was trying to get open to receive the ball and has the option of running one of fifteen different routes. The defender has fifteen different possibilities that could happen and he must react to which ever takes place.
Psychological Refractory Period is the delay between the reaction of a first stimulus and a second stimulus within a brief time period. This example happened during the first quarter, when the first touchdown scored during the game by Arkansas. The quarterback Ryan Mallett was given the ball by the center and he acted like he was handing the ball off to the running back, when in reality he had the ball behind his back. This caused the entire defense to react as if it was a run play, and this left an open area for Mallett to throw the ball to the wide receiver that was left wide open. The defense then must react to the second stimuli and this reaction happens much slower than the first.
Anticipation is predicting what will happen and when it will happen. There can be both accurate and inaccurate anticipation. There are both positive outcomes for correctly anticipating a reaction and there are also negative outcomes for an inaccurate anticipation reaction. An example of an accurate anticipation is when the Georgia offense anticipated accurately the Arkansas blitz. They accurately anticipated and picked up the blitz allowing the quarter back to complete the pass to the wide receiver. The inaccurate anticipation example is when Georgia incorrectly anticipated the blitz and Aaron Murray got sacked.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
1st Meeting Minutes
Our group met on Tuesday, September 13 from 6:50-7:10 in the classroom 206 in the Cage building. We decided that the name of our group would be Kin 330 Rehabilitation Group. The Minute recorder was Bethani and we decided to rotate each week on recording minutes because Mandi and I are the only two in our group. We will be dual leaders and dual minute keepers. Both of us were present for the meeting and we set our next meeting up to be on Tuesday at 5:10 in the Centennial building. We decided on the topic of "Differences and Similarities of Physical and Occupational Therapy". We accomplished alot during the meeting this week. The minutes are submitted by Bethani for approval by Mandi on September 15, 2010.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
PDFE # 2
Bethani Spraggins
PDFE # 2
Motor Learning-Dr. Epling
September 10, 2010
Movement Classification
The observation area that I chose this week was a physical education class at Trion Elementary School. I observed the teacher, Mr. Thomas, teaching a fourth grade class on Thursday, September 09, 2010. The class structure was composed of a warm-up, circuits, and a cool down. The gym was set up into different stations. The stations were a rock wall, scooters, jump ropes, ladders, medicine ball sit ups, BOSU ball, and a basketball toss back. The students were divided into groups of six and rotated around to each station. The warm-up part of the class was a few exercises that strengthen the core muscles, strengthen arm muscles, and stretch out the muscles. The children did jumping jacks, sit-ups, push-ups, stabilizers, and butterfly stretches. The cool down was the children participating in a jump rope contest for a prize of an ESPN magazine. Many of the exercises performed throughout the children’s lesson were focused on improving core strength; Mr. Thomas explained to me that because of the increasing childhood obesity rates they have been focusing on core strength training.
An example of each type of fundamental movement in this setting would be: Loco-motor movement would be doing jumping jacks, Manipulative movement would be catching the basketball during the toss-back, and stability would be the stabilizers during the warm-up. All of the activities used different muscle groups; one of these is when using the BOSU ball it works the internal and external obliques, transverses abdominis, and the rectus abdominis. A time when the children used fine motor skills and muscles was when they threw the basketball to the toss-back. While this activity used gross muscles such as the pectoralis major and the deltoid, all of the fine motor movements of the hand are being mastered as well. The kids performed a continuous task when he/she was jumping rope because there was no distinct beginning and end.
The children in the physical education class were all using Limited Decision Making. The activities that they were participating in did not involve complex thinking, such as coaching a sport. The environmental predictability of the situations was relatively the same. Climbing the rock wall was in a predictable environment and was using a closed skill. The ladder run through, scooter push, and sit-ups with the medicine ball were all in the gym setting where the environment is predictable and the skills are closed.
Using Gentile’s sixteen category system we can categorize most of the movements present in the Trion Elementary class. The stabilizers performed in the warm-up would fit in the “body stationary, no object manipulation” and “No environmental variation and no context variation” box. The basketball throwing onto the toss back would be in the “body stationary, object manipulation” and “no environmental variation, no context variation”. An area that fit into the “body transport, no object manipulation” and “no environmental variation, no context variation” box was when the kids climbed the rock wall and when they ran through the ladder on the ground. When the children pushed the scooter with his/her hands through obstacles this movement is categorized into the “body transport, object manipulation” and “no environmental variation, no context variation” box.
Overall, the children were building his/her motor movement skills while having a great time. Classifying these movements helps me understand how to place movements into certain classifications and to understand how crucial different types of movements are in the development process.
PDFE # 2
Motor Learning-Dr. Epling
September 10, 2010
Movement Classification
The observation area that I chose this week was a physical education class at Trion Elementary School. I observed the teacher, Mr. Thomas, teaching a fourth grade class on Thursday, September 09, 2010. The class structure was composed of a warm-up, circuits, and a cool down. The gym was set up into different stations. The stations were a rock wall, scooters, jump ropes, ladders, medicine ball sit ups, BOSU ball, and a basketball toss back. The students were divided into groups of six and rotated around to each station. The warm-up part of the class was a few exercises that strengthen the core muscles, strengthen arm muscles, and stretch out the muscles. The children did jumping jacks, sit-ups, push-ups, stabilizers, and butterfly stretches. The cool down was the children participating in a jump rope contest for a prize of an ESPN magazine. Many of the exercises performed throughout the children’s lesson were focused on improving core strength; Mr. Thomas explained to me that because of the increasing childhood obesity rates they have been focusing on core strength training.
An example of each type of fundamental movement in this setting would be: Loco-motor movement would be doing jumping jacks, Manipulative movement would be catching the basketball during the toss-back, and stability would be the stabilizers during the warm-up. All of the activities used different muscle groups; one of these is when using the BOSU ball it works the internal and external obliques, transverses abdominis, and the rectus abdominis. A time when the children used fine motor skills and muscles was when they threw the basketball to the toss-back. While this activity used gross muscles such as the pectoralis major and the deltoid, all of the fine motor movements of the hand are being mastered as well. The kids performed a continuous task when he/she was jumping rope because there was no distinct beginning and end.
The children in the physical education class were all using Limited Decision Making. The activities that they were participating in did not involve complex thinking, such as coaching a sport. The environmental predictability of the situations was relatively the same. Climbing the rock wall was in a predictable environment and was using a closed skill. The ladder run through, scooter push, and sit-ups with the medicine ball were all in the gym setting where the environment is predictable and the skills are closed.
Using Gentile’s sixteen category system we can categorize most of the movements present in the Trion Elementary class. The stabilizers performed in the warm-up would fit in the “body stationary, no object manipulation” and “No environmental variation and no context variation” box. The basketball throwing onto the toss back would be in the “body stationary, object manipulation” and “no environmental variation, no context variation”. An area that fit into the “body transport, no object manipulation” and “no environmental variation, no context variation” box was when the kids climbed the rock wall and when they ran through the ladder on the ground. When the children pushed the scooter with his/her hands through obstacles this movement is categorized into the “body transport, object manipulation” and “no environmental variation, no context variation” box.
Overall, the children were building his/her motor movement skills while having a great time. Classifying these movements helps me understand how to place movements into certain classifications and to understand how crucial different types of movements are in the development process.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
PDFE #1
Bethani
Motor Learning
Dr. Epling
Assignment # 1
The event that I chose to observe for my Professional Development Experience was two of the games coordinated at the YMCA celebration day at the YMCA in Rome, Georgia. This event took place on Saturday, August 28 on the field behind the Rome YMCA. The event was open to children and families in the community, YMCA members and his/her families, and the YMCA staff and his/her families. There were several hundred people attending the event. I specifically observed two different areas where movement was present: the dart throw and an inflatable.
Both the dart throw and the inflatable were safe for the children playing them. Both of the stations were supervised by adults while the children were moving. The dart throw was led by two individuals who made sure the children formed a line. The children throwing darts stood about seven feet from the dart board and aimed to hit the target. The children used their motor skills in several different ways. They used discrete skills when throwing the dart and the children had to have good hand eye coordination. There was a large difference between the accuracy of a younger child and that of an older child. The differences in their stages of learning were apparent; those children excelling at the task were in the late stage, while the children having a harder time were in the early stage of development. The inflatable jump was also enhancing the children’s motor movement skills. The children had to focus on balance and coordination while in the inflatable.
The children jumping in the inflatable were actively moving, while the children throwing darts were only moving his/her arm and using only object manipulation. Both of these activities were in my opinion developmentally appropriate for the children participating. Most of the children were between the ages of three and twelve. Though this is a large range, both of these activities seemed to work for all ages. The only problem that arose was when children who were three or four did the dart throw they had to stand very close to get the dart into the hole. There were not any modifications that I would have made to the activities because they were supervised properly; the inflatable only held a certain number of kids at a time and the dart throw was coordinated well also.
The children participating in the dart throw and the inflatable enjoyed the activity and many of the children returned several times to repeat each station. The children used continuous skills when jumping in the inflatable and used discrete skills when throwing the inflatable dart. Overall, the event was well run and helped children enhance his/her motor learning skills while having a great time.
Motor Learning
Dr. Epling
Assignment # 1
The event that I chose to observe for my Professional Development Experience was two of the games coordinated at the YMCA celebration day at the YMCA in Rome, Georgia. This event took place on Saturday, August 28 on the field behind the Rome YMCA. The event was open to children and families in the community, YMCA members and his/her families, and the YMCA staff and his/her families. There were several hundred people attending the event. I specifically observed two different areas where movement was present: the dart throw and an inflatable.
Both the dart throw and the inflatable were safe for the children playing them. Both of the stations were supervised by adults while the children were moving. The dart throw was led by two individuals who made sure the children formed a line. The children throwing darts stood about seven feet from the dart board and aimed to hit the target. The children used their motor skills in several different ways. They used discrete skills when throwing the dart and the children had to have good hand eye coordination. There was a large difference between the accuracy of a younger child and that of an older child. The differences in their stages of learning were apparent; those children excelling at the task were in the late stage, while the children having a harder time were in the early stage of development. The inflatable jump was also enhancing the children’s motor movement skills. The children had to focus on balance and coordination while in the inflatable.
The children jumping in the inflatable were actively moving, while the children throwing darts were only moving his/her arm and using only object manipulation. Both of these activities were in my opinion developmentally appropriate for the children participating. Most of the children were between the ages of three and twelve. Though this is a large range, both of these activities seemed to work for all ages. The only problem that arose was when children who were three or four did the dart throw they had to stand very close to get the dart into the hole. There were not any modifications that I would have made to the activities because they were supervised properly; the inflatable only held a certain number of kids at a time and the dart throw was coordinated well also.
The children participating in the dart throw and the inflatable enjoyed the activity and many of the children returned several times to repeat each station. The children used continuous skills when jumping in the inflatable and used discrete skills when throwing the inflatable dart. Overall, the event was well run and helped children enhance his/her motor learning skills while having a great time.
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