21st Century Skills

Creativity works in my class during class activities. When students have to complete an objective, they have the ability to work with their team and come up with creative ways to complete the objective. For example, during our team-building unit, students had to complete a variety of tasks. There was one task in particular where all the students had to stand on this board. Half of the group started on the left side of the board and the other half on the left side of the board. To complete the objective, students from the left side had to switch over to the right side and vice versa. Each group came up with a different way to get everyone across the board. Critical thinking and problem solving occur in those activities as well as other activities. When the students are not successful at one of the team building activities. They think about what worked well and what did not. Students test a theory and determine if it works. If not, they continue to problem solve until they come up with a way to solve the problem. Communication can occur before, during, and after activities. Before students start a game, they communicate with one another to determine their role on the team. During the game students have to communicate with one another to help the team be more successful. For example, if students are playing volleyball and the ball is coming over the net, students have to communicate who is going to get the ball. Without communication, the students may not go for the ball or both students may go for the ball causing the ball to drop. After activities, students can communicate and discuss what happened during the game and begin to come up with strategies that will help them improve before their next game. Discussions occur mainly at the end of the lesson. Discussions are used to conclude the learning of the day and to highlight key points. I think this can be done much better in my class. Discussions could be used to address a lot of topics that would be relevant to the students. Collaboration occurs daily. Students have to collaborate with one another to complete group activities. Students share their ideas with the group and the group bases their decisions off of what they think will work best. We have also collaborated with other teachers on campus. We had the physics teacher come in and give a physics lecture to the students about concepts that tie into physical activities and sports. Information literacy is taught in a variety of ways. Students are in the class on Mondays discussing key terms and concepts that they will learn during the week. Students are introduced to new terms in the weight room and during sports. Students bring in a favorite food or drink to class and they are taught how to read food nutrition labels. Media literacy is taught by discussing with the students about what is a reliable source for health and fitness and what sites are not. Students learn about ergogenic aids and how companies try to market them to make them sound better than they really are. Technology has not been used a whole lot in the class, and I feel like we could use it more. However, we have used technology before. We have had students bring in their phones with cameras on it and during the gymnastics unit, students film one another's performance and the performer is able to see how well they performed and they can get feedback from their peers. Ipads can be used in the same way. The teacher can film the student's performance and show the student and give them feedback based off of that. For research projects, students use the internet to gather and organize information. We try to provide as much independent practice as we can. When we introduce the students to a skill, we provide them with drills and activities that they can choose from based on their skill level. If the student is at a higher-skill level, they can choose the progressions that are harder. If students are at a lower-skilled level, students can choose the progressions that make the drill or activity easier. Students interact with their peers on a daily basis. Most of the activities that we do have students working together. Students are on teams and they work together to be successful in the sport.