Unit of Work for Sports in Tharhima Secondary School - Speech or Presentation Example

Running Header: UNIT OF WORK Unit of Work for Sports in Tharhima Secondary School Name Institution Unit of Work for English in Tharhima Secondary School Description of Context Teacher’s name Mercy Johnson Contract level I District Riyadh Saudi Arabia School Tharhima Secondary School Academic year I Evaluation period  Preliminary  Final Course English (As a second language) Unit title Sports as co curricular activity Dates of unit from 17-10-11 to 28-10-11 Number of lessons in unit 5 Subject(s):__English_ Minutes for Teaching: __60___ Number of Students: __20___ Grade Level: _0 level__ Ages: _15 – 20 years__ Males: _12 __ Females: 8 __ White: __None Hispanic: _None_ African-American: __None_ Native American: ___None____ Asian: ___20 ______ African: _None_ Chinese: _None_ Other: __N/A____ English as a Second Language: _All____ Students with IEP: __None __ Academically Gifted: ___5__ All students take English as a second language. They attend English classes on part time program as the subject is optional. They take other subjects as stipulated in the syllabus. The other subjects are taught in Arabic, a factor that has a great influence on the overall teaching of English. English classes in the school are scheduled one hour each and are offered three times a week. Within the English class schedule, the students are taught a number of sports as co-curricular activity. The essence is to enhance the use of English out side the class supplement daily routines. Goals The goals of the teaching unit are that by the end of the whole program:- 1. Learners should be able to integrate sports in their learning curriculum. 2. Learners should be able to play a number of new games as instructed to them. 3. They should also be able to communicate and easily integrate with English students without much difficulty as they engage in various sporting activities. 4. Learners should be able to appreciate the importance of sports as any other learning activity. 5. The unit is also aimed at strengthening the bonds between the students to enhance friendship that is vital for learning. Rationale This particular unit of work is selected mainly because of its approach to teaching English as a second language. The subject is not one of the favorite in the school, a factor that has made a reasonable number of students build a negative attitude towards it (Hall & Hord, 1987). As such, the mode in which it is taught should be learner friendly and accommodating. This is the main focus of this approach. The first objectives are to boost students’ morale in the subject so as to eliminate the notion that English is only for West. Most students love sports. Therefore, the unit aims at using sports as a topic to enhance language learning. The teaching methods used in this unit have the approach of heavily involving the students in the lessons so that they can easily relate with. The methods include individualized teaching, cooperative learning and projects among others. They are the most appropriate ones because of their nature of involving the students in the lessons (Leathard, 1994). They also help in building teacher-student relationship that is always an added advantage when it comes to teaching. With a good relationship between the two parties (teacher and students) the teaching process becomes relatively easier as the students will be free with their tutor and can comfortably ask for clarification whenever necessary. On the other hand tutors will easily understand their students as they can easily open up to them. In so doing the methods help students build a positive attitude towards the subject which is the main goal of the unit (Woodrow, 1991). In addition, sports as a topic give a good platform on which things learned in class can be practiced. All the methods involve the use of practical examples and materials. The materials in this context refer to all sporting tools used in or outside the class which include balls, stop watches, wheelbarrows, spoons, eggs and score shits among others. The sports activities and exercises have to make sense to students and that is why they are chosen from things that they can easily relate to. They greatly help in making the content of the unit relevant to them especially in instances where they are not familiar with the games (MacArthur & Malouf, 1991). Daily Lesson Plans Below are tables of lesson plans for each hour; Lesson one Date 17th October, 2011 Time 09:00AM – 10:00AM Topic Sports as a co-curricular activity Objectives By the end of the lesson:- Students should understand the importance of co-curricular activities to complement their daily learning routines. Students should be able to understand the need of taking co-curricular activities seriously as they are equally important. Students should show high levels of concentration in all activities and exercises. Students should be able to participate in any activity in or outside the class. Lastly, the students should be able to relate to all the instructions they get both in context and relevance. Procedure He will highlight the objectives and importance of the lesson. After the introduction, the teacher will involve the students in the lesson by asking them to share stories about their favorite sports. They will also state what attracts them to the various sports. Another thing the teacher will ask is the favorite sporting teams of the various sports that the students support. It will also help determine the most common sports among the students. This will enable the teacher design various activities and exercises. In the end the teacher will give class work that should be completed by the students and handed in for marking. Teaching materials Textbooks Students’ work Students are expected to:- Share short stories and experiences of their favorite sports with others. Listen to the others and the teacher. Assessment methods Students’ attention will be assessed by evaluating the manner in which they participates in class. Students will also take assignments from which the effectiveness of the lesson will be assessed. References Integrated English Book I Understanding Sports Recommendations The lesson was well covered with no major challenges. Students’ participation was superb. However, there were incidences of shyness with a number of students probably because of the challenge of speaking in English which they are not yet fluent. Nevertheless, they managed to build confidence thereafter as the lesson proceeded. Task and assignment responses were encouraging. Most of the students were anxiously waiting for the actual activities in the field. Lesson two Date 19th October, 2011 Time 03:30PM – 04:30PM Topic Sports as a co-curricular activity Objectives By the end of the lesson:- Students should be able to try out a number of activities as instructed by the tutor. Learners should be able to integrate with one another as they participate in various sporting activities. Learners should also be able to address each other in English during the activities in the field just like in the classrooms. Procedure The lesson will begin with a recap of the previous lesson where the teacher will make comments on the previous assignment. He will then introduce the new subtopic stating its importance and objectives. He will guide the students through a number of sporting activities and their instructions. The students will also contribute their knowledge on the particular sports. He will then give short assignment to be completed by the students Teaching materials Class textbooks Students’ work Students are expected to:- Listen carefully to the teacher as he introduces the topic. Partake the assignment as instructed and hand it in on time for marking. Assessment methods The students will be assessed by the manner in which they involve themselves in the class, how they contribute and how active they are. The assignment will also be used to theoretically gauge their knowledge. References Understanding Sports Recommendations The lesson was quite interesting listening to students participate. One thing I noticed is that a good number of them were quite active as the class did not dwell so much on theory. They were so anxious to get to the fields and partake in the activities themselves. Generally the class was so interesting and lively. Lesson three Date 20th October, 2011 Time 08:30AM-09:30AM Topic Sports as a co-curricular activity Objectives By the end of the lesson:- Learners should be able to take instructions as given. They should be able to take part in various activities as expected of them. Students should show a good fighting spirit when it comes to the competitions. Procedure The teacher will take the students to the pitch and guide them through a number of sporting activities as learned in class (the exercises of activity I are explained later on in this paper). He will be in charge of all the activities and supervise them to determine the rightful winners. Teaching materials Chicken eggs. Table spoons Maize sack bags Stop watches Students’ work Students are expected to:- Listen to the teacher for instructions concerning the activities. Participate fully in competitions of activity one. Assessment methods The students will be assessed through their participation in the exercises. All the exercises will be treated as competitions and success will be determined on basis of merit. References Understanding Sports recommendations This was a real test of the students’ progress. The lesson was so interesting as the students took it to the pitch to fight for the number one position. It was fascinating to watch them take up the chances whole heartedly. To some extend the time appeared so short as the students were reluctant to get off the pitch. Lesson four Date 24th October, 2011 Time 09:00AM-10:00AM Topic Sports as a co-curricular activity Objectives In the lesson:- Learners should be able to take instructions as given. They should be able to take part in various activities as expected of them. Students should show a good fighting spirit when it comes to the competitions. Learners should also be able to communicate in English as they play. Procedure Just like in the previous lesson, the teacher will guide the students through instructions of the exercises. Thereafter the teacher will foresee the exercises to determine the rightful winners. Teaching materials Chicken eggs. Table spoons Maize sack bags Stop watches Students’ work Students are required to:- Pay attention to the teacher and adhere to the instructions. Assessment methods The students will be assessed through their participation in the exercises. All the exercises will be treated as competitions and success will be determined on basis of merit. References Understanding Sports Recommendations Being a continuation of the previous class, the lesson was equally enjoyable with students continuing to show a good fighting spirit. They were also keen to listen to the instructions and they adhered to them apart from a few cases. Lesson five Date 26th October, 2011 Time 11:00AM-12:00PM Topic Sports as a co-curricular activity Objectives In the lesson:- Learners should be able to take instructions as given. They should be able to take part in various activities as expected of them. They should also show good teamwork in achieving a common goal. Procedure This particular lesson was for the second activity that had four exercises that test students’ coordination as a group (details of the activity are discussed later on in this paper). The teacher will guide the students through the instructions of the activities and supervise them accordingly. He will also be in charge of determining the winners of all the competition in the activities and announcing them. Teaching materials Three basket balls Two wheelbarrows Stop watches Students’ work Students are required to:- Listen carefully to the instructions Take part in the exercises without fraud. Assessment methods Just like in the other activities, the students will be assessed through their participation in the exercises. All the exercises will be treated as competitions and success will be determined on basis of merit. Their coordination will be gauged by the way they perform as a group. References Understanding Sports Recommendations This was a perfect way of ending the unit. Students were able to work together despite all underlying factors. It was also fascinating to watch them blame each other and push each other to work hard. The girls seemed to be on the receiving end on this as their boy counterparts really pushed them to the limits. Generally, I can say the unit was successful and very interesting. Posttest activities and exercises In addition to the unit of work, I set up posttest activities with the intention of evaluating the goals and objectives of the unit (Wrench, McCroskey & Richmond, 2008). The main goals of the unit were that by the end of the topic, students should be able to integrate sports as a co-curricular activity. They are supposed to understand and appreciate the importance of these sporting activities. As such, the activities were designed to test these objectives. Activity I As an introduction to sporting, the first activity had a simple and self explanatory design. In this activity, the students were tested on their endurance, power and ability. The activity began with simple jogging around the school sporting ground. In the first twenty minutes of the lesson the students, in their games kits, made two laps around the field. After the laps students stretched so as to get ready for the lesson. The requirements in this activity included, maize sacks, table spoons and chicken eggs. The first exercise was aimed at testing personal concentration. The exercise was designed to determine how much the students could do on their own. For instance, after stretching, students engaged in a sprinting race. They were first divided into four groups of five each. The groups sprinted for 100 meters and the winner and the first runners up were taken to compete in the semifinals where four were eliminated and the remaining four proceeded on to the finals. Personal contribution was also tested through relays. The students were divided in groups of five that took each other in relays. Grouping was gender sensitive to make sure there was equal representation (Schramm, 1954). The third exercise in the first activity tested students’ concentration and balance. In this exercise, each student was given a table spoon and an egg. The students were expected to race while balancing the egg on the table spoon in their mouth. During the race, their hands were supposed to be in their pockets. They were disqualified once they interfered the balancing of the egg with their hands. Similarly, whoever dropped the egg was out rightly disqualified from the race. In the forth exercise, the students raced for 100 meters while in maize sacks. The essence of the exercise was to test students’ balancing and energy. Every one of them was given a maize sack bag, stood in it and had to hop through the 100 meters. Activity II The second activity was mainly designed to test how much the students could work together. The activity comprised of three exercises that involved teamwork. It was the students’ obligation to fully participate in the exercises so as not to let down their groups. The exercises were also treated as a competition so as to enable vetting of the students’ personal as well as collective participation. Success in the competition entirely depended on merit in various exercises. The overall winners were drawn from the overall performance of all groups. The requirements in this activity included two wheelbarrows, three basket balls and stop watches. The first exercise tested students’ endurance. In groups of twos, the students had to race while carrying each other on the back. In this exercise, the students could interchange positions as much as they wished as long as one was carrying the other at any one particular time. In addition, the manner in which they carried themselves did not mater as long as one of them was completely off the ground and suspended on the otherThe distance for the exercise was 200 meters. In still the same groups of twos, the second exercise demanded the students to race but this time using wheelbarrows for double the distance. In this exercise, one student had to ride the wheelbarrow while the other rode on it. They could switch positions at every quarter of the race.. The third exercise was purely to test the balancing power of the students. In this particular exercise, the students, still in the groups of twos, were provided with a basket ball of which they were to balance it between their backs. The exercise’s instructions demanded the students to balance the ball between them without engaging their hands. They were them supposed to walk through a distance of 50 meters. Whenever they let the ball go they had to start all over again. It was really a fascinating encounter especially where the competitors were of different heights. Assessment Analysis Bellow is assessment analysis of each student by position in the exercises in the first activity. Student Exercise I Exercise II Exercise III Exercise IV 1 Raisa Abdallah, 1 11 9 12 2 Mwanaisha Hamadi 2 8 7 9 3 Baddim Hussein 3 19 17 11 4 Mwanaisha Kivutsa 4 20 11 3 5 Lulu Hassan 5 1 20 4 6 Swale Mdoe 6 7 16 10 7 Swale Bin-Hadji 7 18 5 1 8 Abdulrahim Adhurah 8 9 18 5 9 Nurdin Laden 9 17 12 2 10 Al-Hadji Kingi 10 6 6 13 11 Fatma Muhamed 11 16 19 15 12 Moze Nah 12 2 3 17 13 Faisal Karim 13 10 15 6 14 Kari Noa 14 5 8 19 15 Almasi Noor 15 14 10 8 16 Aziz Muhamed 16 3 2 7 17 Asha Rajab 17 12 4 14 18 Ali Karim 18 15 14 16 19 Ali Faisal 19 13 13 18 20 Muhamud Muhamed 20 4 1 20 The score board shows the results as registered by every student. Results represent the position of the student in each of the four exercises in the first activity. According to the results, Mwanaisha Hamadi appears to be consistent. It is really fascinating especially because she is girl and has beaten a total of twelve boys to scoop the overall number one position. However, on overall, the boys performed best. They dominated the top positions as there are only four girls in the top ten positions. Nevertheless, Mwanaisha was noticed and appreciated for emerging the best among them all. groups Exercise I Exercise II Exercise III 1 Raisa Abdallah, Muhamud Muhamed 1 5 4 2 Ali Faisal Mwanaisha Hamadi 2 10 8 3 Ali Karim Asha Rajab 3 4 5 4 Swale Bin-Hadji Abdulrahim Adhurah 4 9 10 5 Kari Noa Faisal Karim 5 6 3 6 Swale Mdoe Lulu Hasan 6 3 9 7 Aziz Muhamed Almasi Noor 7 8 6 8 Al-Hadji Kingi Nurdin Laden 8 2 1 9 Mwanaisha Kivutsa Baddim Hussein 9 7 7 10 Moze Nah Fatma Muhamed 10 1 2 In activity two, Mwanaisha appears to have been dragged down by Ali to emerge number fifth as a group. The combination of Raisa and Muhamud paid off as they emerged the best group securing top positions in almost all exercises. Contrary to what I expected, gender was not a major issue in the performances of the groups. The students coordinated well especially in the first exercise where they had to race while carrying each other. Appendix A-D shows some of the activities demonstrated in pictures. Reflective summery I can conclude that the unit was covered well without major hustles. Students were able to understand and appreciate the importance of sports in their learning curriculum. It was greatly appreciated seeing them participate fully in the activities. They kept time whenever it was time to go out to the fields. They were also ready to take up challenges, a factor that enabled them to greatly enjoy the unit. Similarly, they encouraged each other to communicate in English during the exercises, a factor that was desirable as it was part of the objectives of the unit (Thompson, 2007). The unit also helped them better their sporting skills as well as strengthened the bond of friendship among them. This was evident from the way they encouraged each other to work hard and remain focused. As a teacher I also learned a number of things. For instance, I realized the best mode of teaching is by directly involving the students. When you make them come up with the answers and suggestions, they find it easy to relate with. It also helps them build a positive attitude from within (Sullivan & Steven, 2003). However, there are a number of things that I would prefer them slightly changed. For instance, the time allocated for the unit was quite limiting. At times it was challenging to cover all the exercises in the one hour provided (Makino, Hatasa & Hatasa, 1998). Students also made the same observation and from time to time they requested for an extension of the lesson. They were reluctant to come off the pitch to change for the next lesson. They felt their choices were limited in the short time allocated. With an improved attitude and psyche, I would recommend that the number of lessons be increased in a way that there is a lesson each and every day (Rose, 1984). References Hall, G., & Hord, S. (1987). Change in schools: Facilitating the process. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Leathard, A. (1994). Sports in schools, London: The Guardian. MacArthur, C., & Malouf, D. (1991). Teacher beliefs, plans, and decisions about computer- based instruction. Journal of Special Education, 25(2), 44-72. Makino, S., Hatasa, Y., & Hatasa, K. (1998). Japanese communication, culture, context. New York: Houghton Mifflin. Rose, M. (1984). Writer’s block: The cognitive dimension. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. Schramm, W. (1954). How communication works. In W. Schramm: The process and effects of communication. Urbana Illinois: University of Illinois Press. Sullivan, A & Steven M. (2003). Understanding sports. New York: Pearson Prentice Hall. Thompson, T. (2007). Making Sense of Autism. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. Woodrow, J. (1991). Teachers’ perceptions of Language learning. Journal of Special Education, 25(2), 44-72. Wrench, J., McCroskey, J, & Richmond, V. (2008). Why sports should be taught in schools. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Appendix A: Sack racing Appendix B: Wheelbarrow racing Appendix C: Egg balancing Appendix D: Balancing basketball Read More