First Day of Classes 2012

Well first day of classes for 2012 and one of the busiest for sure! My new EPE 310 class runs for 5 pm until 8:50 pm. (Elementary School Physical Education for those who do not know what EPE stands for) I thought this class would drag on and on but today we had a lot of fun. We were taught how to cram into a one min speech our memories of our physical education experiences. It was good to hear about how others remember physical education and comparing it to your own. Sometimes I wonder if physical education is conveyed properly. Some remembered beep tests, running laps, gymnastics (O the joys of being in a neck brace) sports, yoga, while others remembered dodgeball and capture the flag. No matter our experiences in physical education we will always take them with us when we go teach one day. If we remember something negative about a particular event we might not be so willing to try it in our classrooms, but who knows we might be willing to jump back on that horse and try it again.

Onto some important note taking; there were three activities we played today.                One of which included a noodle passing game in which we laid on the ground head to feet in a linear line and, with a noodle, passed it taking the noodle from our feet up past our bodies onto the next persons feet. This created a lot of excitement, some competitive nature and got great involvement from all of us. The second activity was a Rock, Paper, Scissor competition called ‘Evolution’ having completing multiple stages of success all the way to the other end of the gym challenging those at your stage. If you win the match you move up and if you lose you move down. I really appreciated the respect involved. Before each match you would shake hands say “Good Luck” Rock, Paper, Scissor and high-five saying “Good Game.” This gave losing a battle a positive message. The last activity involved students running from all four corners of the gym into the centre to grab playing cards, all of the same suit from Ace to King. The challenge is having the cards face down and having to flip them over to collect the correct cards. I love the idea of this game being adaptable to all grade levels.

This new class gives us an opportunity to try different areas of social media. (Creating this blog for example) I never would have tried something like this before. I am too scared of writing my thoughts down for everyone to see, but I am challenging myself to try something new. I already had a Twitter account but our professor wants to communicate through this social media which I find fantastic. I can check it on my smart phone and not have to worry about logging onto my computer at home to see new e-mails. I believe this semester is going to be a great one! All us pre service teachers out there, “Let’s Get Er Done!”