Field Experience Day 17

FIELD EXPERIENCE DAY SEVENTEEN April 20th 2012
St. Marys School - 5th grade

Topics: Reflection of Lesson

Within class today the students were in the lacrosse unit. This lesson reminded me of playing with the  same old fashion sticks when I was a student. In reality, there was no one gender who dominated this activity over the other. I thought it was great seeing how equal the skill levels were. My partner and I were able to lead an instant activity including some skills previously worked on in lacrosse. The warm up is called GB (Ground Ball) Frenzy. Students were handed a lacrosse stick and divided into two teams that were positioned at each end line of the gymnasium. Before we went any further with the instant activity we reviewed the safety rules of space awareness and the student’s responsibility of holding their lacrosse sticks. We wanted to make sure all students knew the rules and safety expectations before starting because otherwise it could get dangerous. We scattered the light weight balls used for this unit in the center of the gym. When the whistle blew the students would have to run to the balls picking up one ball at a time with their lacrosse stick, running back to their side and dropping them at their own ends barrel. The technique for picking up a ground ball with a lacrosse stick was demonstrated in a class prior to this lesson. The team that gathered the most balls in their barrel would win that round. Since my partner and I were ultimately counting the balls in the buckets, we made it so that each team won a round regardless of the outcome. 

After this instant activity our host teacher continued the lesson going more in depth with picking up and carrying the lacrosse balls. The students then got into pairs and practiced rolling the ball to their partner and on the receiving end they had to try to pick it up and carry it back over to the other side. As I watched and helped with management, it was fun for me to see different skill levels. Because I am not proficient in lacrosse, it was easy for me to help students in learning different techniques that may help them relating them to my own techniques that have helped me. The lesson ran smooth and I was happy to observe where the students stood for the next lesson.