Week Two: (Started: 8:20 | Finished: 16:20 | Overall work placement total hours completed: 14 hr 40 mins/60 hr)
The second week on my work placement was very easy. Due to the two timetable rotation, I had two lessons due to the amount of free periods during the day. The first lesson was the year 7s who were on circuit training again. The lesson consisted of the same exercises as the previous week, however; this time we increase the difficulty of the exercises. For example, instead of planking with both feet on the ground, we got the pupils to raise one leg around 6 inches off the ground. This coursed the pupils to work harder and ultimately have their working heart rates increase in comparison to last week. The second lesson was year 10 to which they were on badminton. Their lesson revolved around the different types of serving (forehand, backhand, back court etc.). With badminton being a sport that I am quite aware of, I was able to help those struggling with the skill by demonstrating and explaining the technique for the serves. I then conducted a little tournament where the pupils playes half court singles, first to 11. If they win by a serve they get double points. This allowed them to test the different serves in order to challenge for an extra point.
After the school finished, Wellfield High School had a basketball match against Worden. Although the score wasn’t in favour for Wellfield, this allowed me to talk to the players and give them feedback on their performance. In addition, I was able to give them ideas and teach them a better way of defending or attacking. Whilst the players were playing, I got the pupils on the bench to analyse those on the court and feedback to me with what they are doing well and what they could improve on.
In this blog I will be reflecting on my first week on my work placement. My reflection will be produced around Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (1988) [Refer to my blog ‘Introduction’ for more details on the model of reflection].
In terms of how the day went, the day was fairly simple as four periods consisted of just fitness (circuit training) in the dance studio with the exceptions of the Year 11s doing theory on violence and misuse of drugs in sport. You can refer back to my ‘Week One of Work Experience‘ blog for more detail on the day.
With the events in day I can say that my feelings were fairly mixed due to the fact that the lessons were all the same so there was no variety in the lessons. The exercises were all the same, the timings on each station and rest periords were all the same. This lead me to be quite bored towards the end of the day. These types of lessons restricted the chances of teaching as I was deemed more of a motivator to keeps the kids exercising. In regards to the Year 11 theory, I had a sense of relief due to the change in types of lessons. However; teaching was fairly restricted again as the pupils were given the task to complete six mark questions around the idea of violence and misuse of drugs in sport. I found myself just reading over pupils work to see if they were on the right lines, although I was not allowed to help as they were put under exam environments in preparation for their GCSEs. Overall the day wasn’t pleasing and didn’t satisfy my needs for this work placement. The first week didn’t help me towards achieving my goals.
This week made me come to the sense that not alot of teaching can be done at the moment due to the session revolving around fitness until the half term break. Year 11 theory will mainly consist of exam questions as their GCSEs are only aorund the corner so my teaching can be limited. In the idea of trying to better myself in these situations, instead of just being a motivator in the fitness sessions, I could of given them developments/progressions in the exercises to make them more challenging for the pupils. This could of led me to be able to teach them the correct technique to perform the exerices. This leads me to come up with an action plan. My action plan will be to get more involved rather than being an observing or a motivator. I will challenge the pupils more if they are finding the exercises easy. I could potentially query them about the exercises and teach the about the working muscles. In the regards to the theory aspect, I could give them specific questions to answer or give them a quiz before the lesson fully starts to test the knowledge before the questions. This will allow me to help those that are struggling in certain areas of that topic.
Week One: (Started: 8:20 | Finished: 15:00 | Overall work placement total hours completed: 6 hr 40 mins/60 hr)
Figure 1: Two week TimeTable Rota
It is important to note that Wellfield High School follow a two timetable plan where the timetables alternate each week. The first week I worked the time table was as shown in Figure 1. My timetables are within the Wednesday section.
This week’s work experience started with year 9s (period 1), year 8 (period 2) and year 9s (period 5) were doing fitness in the dance studio (Figure 2). Before the lesson started, the pupils had to record their resting heart rate (Beats per Minute (BPM) before taking part in exercise. They counted their BPM for 30 seconds and doubled it to get their resting heart rate. The pupil then began to complete a 10 station circuit working on different parts of the body. The work time was 45 seconds with 15 second rest time before beginning the next station. Stations included; Planking, Press-ups, Triceps Dips, Wall-sit, Star-jumps etc. After each student went around the circuit once, they recorded their BPM again and compared it to their resting heart rate. They should have found that their working heart rate was significantly different than their resting heart rate (working heart rated suggested to be at around 120 BPM). Some found this wasn’t the case due to lack of participation so the pupils went around the circuit again with higher intensity.
The only other group that were taught opposed from doing circuit training was year 11s (period 4). Year 11 were on theory where they were practicing six mark questions on the topic of drug abuse in sports. This covered Anabolic Steroids, Diuretics and other drugs with the addition of the negative effects it might have on their performance and health.
Figure 2: Dance Studio with mats for circuit training
Before beginning my work experience, it is important to set aims and objectives to set a target to achieve. The following will be my aims and objectives whilst my time at Wellfield High School.
Aims and Objectives
The first learning objective set is to build confidence within myself and verbally. This will be achieved by getting involved within the lessons, to help pupils struggling or in need of help. To evidence this, I will write a daily diary to reflect on what I’ve been doing that day with the addition of what went well and what I could improve on.
Another learning objective that will be set is to begin to dig deeper into what the profession of a P.E. teacher consists on, to gain an understanding of whether it is a job for me in the future. This will be achieved by asking the current teachers what they think of the job and what challenges does it hold. To evidence this, I will ask a series of question and log the answers within the diary.
To be able to deliver and plan a Physical Education less is another learning objective to which I seek to complete. This will be achieved by observing what kind of lessons are conducted to fit the national curriculum to allow myself to gain an understanding of what should be planned. This will then allow me to review preset plans and create my own accordingly. If I have the confidence that I seek to build on, I will deliver this session with the approval of the teachers. To evidence this, I will include the lesson plan within the diary to prove my understanding on their types of lessons. If delivered, then I will reflect on my performance within the diary using Gibbs’ reflective cycle.
Overall Aims
My aims of this work placement are mainly surrounding the idea of whether or not this industry is a career that I would like to pursue. Teaching Physical Education in High Schools is a profession that I am currently fond of, with the addition of another career within sports analysis. This work experience will allow me to identify whether or not the job is suited to me and whether I should go down the career path of working towards being a teacher or whether I change the spectrum and begin to work towards something else. Furthermore, an aim that I would like to set is to get more involved within their lessons to not only build experience of coaching or teacher, but to improve my confidence and speaking skills.
Hello everyone and welcome to my blog for my work experience!
My name is Cameron Molloy and I am a second year on the Foundation Degree in Sports Coaching course at Runshaw/UCLAN. As part of this course, we are required to complete a 60 hour work experience in a occupation to which we would like to work towards in our professional career.
Due to my aspiration being to work towards a P.E. Teacher, I have decided to complete my work experience at my old high school, Wellfield High School. This is because I already know the existing teachers making me fit into my surrounds a lot quicker. This blog will account for my diary where I will blog around what I have done each day and reflect on what has occurred. My work experience will consist of working 1 full day every Wednesday until those 60 hours are complete. In Wellfield High School, I will look at covering all aspects of teaching including; (1) Practical sessions, (2) Theory sessions, (3) Planning P.E. lessons, (4) Marking work, and (5) After school activities. This as a whole will give me a clear insight of what I will be expected to do in the professional and whether or not I want to continue my path on becoming a P.E. teacher. Wellfield High School follow a specific motto to which their base their curriculum around, “Inspire – Challenge – Achieve – Nurture” (WHS, 2019). In addition, their school aim is to provide a broad and balanced curriculum which focuses on maximizing the students’ potential, to make students the best that they can become (WHS, 2019). The school began as a self-produced high school, however, in 2017, the school decided to join partnership with the Endeavour Learning Trust (WHS, 2019). This sparked a new beginning for Wellfield as they became partners with two other schools; Tarleton Academy and Burscough Priory (WHS, 2019).
Reflection Model
Figure 1: Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (1988).
Within my work experience, I will be using Gibbs’ model of reflection (Gibbs, 1988) which is comprised of six distinct steps, namely: the description of what has happened; the feelings revolving around the experience; the analysis or sense making of the situation; the conclusions and potential alternatives in dealing with the situation, and; the action plan that you would set in place if it would arose again (Gibbs, 1988; Mahlanze, Sibiya & Govender, 2015). This model is a cycle meaning that once you are at the last stage [in this case the action plan] Gibbs (1988) suggests that you act on the plan set, to allow yourself to reflect again and ultimately better yourself. Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle is illustrated in Figure 1.
This model will be used myself for its simplicity and easy-to-follow steps to understand and develop personally through the experiences that I’ll will go through during my work experience. After using Gibbs’ framework, Wilding (2008), Chong (2009), and Fakude & Bruce (2003) recommended it to be useful for deep learning and practical applications of reflective practice.
References:
Chong, M. C. (2009). Is reflective practice a useful task for student nurses? Asian Nursing Research, 3(3), 111-120.
Fakude, L. P. & Bruce, J. C. (2003). Journaling: A quasi-experimental study of student nurses’ reflective learning ability. Curationis, 26(2), 49-55.
Gibbs, G. (1988). The reflective cycle. Oxford Polytechnic, 15(3), 271.
Mahlanze, H. T., Sibiya, M. N. & Govender, S. (2015) ‘Guided reflection: A valuable tool for improving undergraduate student nurses’ levels of reflection’, African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation & Dance, pp. 396–408.
Cameron's Work Experience Blog 