Our Muscly Bodies

As previously posted, in 11PE we are currently exploring human anatomy. After the skeletal system, we then learnt about the musculoskeletal system.

Last year I taught Year 12 and 13 PE, and throughout the anatomy units I realised the students had a considerable gap in their knowledge. Many of the students had taken Year 11 or 12 PE in the previous year, so would have learnt about the bones and muscles, but unfortunately could not recall much of the previous learning. As a result I knew I needed to spend lots of time building students confidence and competence in Year 11, in hope to support progress moving into Years 12/13.

I have been trying to include activities which encourage students to recall the bones and muscles, but also apply their knowledge so that they are thinking a little more in depth, and also hopefully activities which they enjoy! I found an activity on Twitter where students wear jumpsuits and draw on the muscles and bones of the body, so we gave this a go yesterday!

By having students work in small groups to create the musculoskeletal system, I could quickly see which students needed some extra support and who were more confident. I liked being able to work with students one on one or in their small groups, in a relaxed environment, where they were really learning! By actually seeing a life size version of the musculoskeletal system, which they created, students were actively engaged in the activity and asking one another lots of questions. The discussion and collaboration between the students was incredible to see!

After the tracksuits, we moved outside to build on knowledge of the bones and muscles, introduce movements and revise muscle pairings. Simplistically, for every movement, there are always two major muscles (minimum) that create this movement. These two muscles are called the agonist or the antagonist, the muscle is either shortening or lengthening respectively. Additional muscles which support the movement are called synergist muscles.

The class were given chalk and asked to 'chalk their sport'. I gave the three groups one joint each (knee, hip and elbow), and asked them to think of one part of a sport where that joint is used, then label the joint, the movement and the bones and muscles (including the agonist and antagonist). Like the jumpsuit activity, I was able to discuss with students what they were creating in their groups and could easily identify who was confident. To extend the students a little further, I asked each group to explain their drawing with their peers including which muscle is lengthening and which is extending. 

I really enjoyed this lesson and feel confident the students all learnt at least one new thing, and many felt more confident with the application of anatomy. Moving forward I am looking forward to starting biomechanics soon (e.g. Balance & Stability/Levers) followed by exercise physiology!

I was also observed by Anne Sinclair for this lesson for additional evidence towards my registration. To see Anne's feedback, please head here! Additionally, please visit my appraisal site if you would like to see any of my other evidence.

Exploring The Skeletal System

This term in 11PE we have started our 'Move That Body' unit, exploring anatomy, biomechanics and exercise physiology. I really enjoy teaching these topics because I find the body so fascinating! We have just finished learning about the skeletal system, and have started to explore the musculoskeletal system. 

I have tried to be creative with the activities we do, to ensure students are confident with the names of the bones (and eventually muscles). We have played Simon Says, played Anatomy Arcade (Whack-A-Bone and Poke-A-Muscle) and students created their own skeletons and labelled them. For this task, students were given free access to the store room and asked to create a skeleton and then label the bones on Google Drawing. 

Please see three examples of student blogs sharing their skeletal systems: Autymn, Kori-Lee and Tyler.

As one of my goals this year is to increase my use of technology into my teaching, and recently I reflected the need to have more tech in PE, I have been looking around for some ideas. Anatomy particularly lends itself to some interactive websites including BioDigital. The students were given about 20 minutes to look around the body in the 3D human body and were incredibly engaged. As I did, the students were amazed how they could zoom inside the body, and take away/add different layers of the body. Biodigital allows the viewer to explore more than the muscles or the bones, which are the greatest focus in our units. I wish I had more time to explore other parts of the body, particularly the nervous system.

Virtual/Augmented Realities are becoming bigger in education, so I would like to try and become more familiar and confident with them, so I can include into my teaching. Last year Ashley explored Anatomy 4D and I also played with Google Expeditions at the GAFE conference in the holidays, both great VR tools. PE Geek also blogged about Anatomy 4D, encouraging me to include this interesting tool into my 11PE class for further revision, and an extension of learning. I am also looking forward to including a Google Expedition of what happens to the lungs from smoking cigarettes into my Exploring Substances unit in 10Health.

The Power of Ownership

Currently, our Year 12 and Year 13 classes are completing an anatomy and biomechanics unit. These topics, and subsequently the internal assessment, is one of the harder assessments to pass, because it is so black and white. The students have to analyse an ideal performance (such as an athlete) for a specific part of their game play (i.e. a basketball jump shot), and then compare the ideal to their own performance. Throughout, students will make reference to the bone, muscles, movements, and biomechanical principles that are occurring throughout that performance.

Recently, both classes have been creating revision resources for anatomy, focusing on bones, muscles, and/or movements, after a few weeks of learning about them all. Unfortunately, a substantial part of the learning for this unit is rote learning, however my co-teacher and I are trying to make the learning interactive and variable, so the students don't just learn what they need to know for the assessment and then forget everything right after. So, hopefully creating something to revise from has helped them to learn without

everything thrown out the window once they have the credits.

Several students created Kahoots
which we will complete as a class

We kept the task reasonably open, so that the students could create something that was going to help them, something they understand. The process of the creation is revision itself, as well as the final product - which we will go back to use to revise and the students work will be shared across the two classes. Both of the classes were slow to start, as there was a little bit of confusion and a little bit of hesitation. 

A group of three boys took photos of themselves to then label and
discuss as they have here using Google Slides.

Some students enjoyed simply
labelling diagrams as this is how
they learn effectively.

Upon reflection, I wonder whether the students aren't offered many opportunities to create something, knowing they will share it. I know we don't create much in PE, due to the nature of the topics, but I am trying to bring more in where/when I can. If they are out of the habit of creating and sharing their work, like many did in primary school, this could be why they were so hesitant. Eventually, though, the students came up with their ideas, planned their creations and on the whole, the creations are impressive. We had wanted to move onto biomechanics much sooner, but as they started to get on a roll and create some amazing work, we kept going with the creations. I cannot wait to see what the students create in the future, as they are so talented!

The Way Of The Future?

Today I had the opportunity to visit Albany Senior High School in action. ASHS is based in North Auckland and is a co-ed school with students Years 11-13 only, no juniors. I wanted to visit ASHS because of the modern learning environments of the school, to see how classes are organised and run.

There are multiple levels in one building, each level referred to as a learning community (more commonly known as houses). Each level does not comprise of classrooms, but large open plans with desks, chairs, whiteboards, projectors and computers all over the place. The levels are organised into learning spaces, where up to eight different lessons take place. The major difference between a mainstream school and ASHS was there were no walls between learning, which changed the atmosphere completely.

Four classes all taught side by side

Upon talking with teachers and students, I quickly learnt how appreciative and privileged they feel to be a part of something different. The students discussed the need for preparation for the future not only with reference to content knowledge and skills, but also skills which can be utilised in a workplace environment. Consider a stereotypical business workplace; lots of little offices, phones ringing, photocopiers copying, kettle boiling and conversations all over the place. ASHS aims to teach students how to focus their attention on one thing at a time and block out any background noise and distractions, which I saw in action.

Students have other classes right beside them who may be completing an experiment, may be watching movies or may be sitting an assessment, and they need to concentrate on what is happening in their class. I sat in the learner's shoes for a lesson and I could hear three teachers teaching, and none of these teachers were the teacher of my class. I was amazed by how much background noise and movement there was, but the students weren't phased. Many did not even hear those teachers teaching, because they have learnt how to block them out. 

Attempting to demonstrate how close the students work, there are three different classes here!

My biggest takeaway from the day was a reflection of whether we really need four walls - what does this achieve? I think the reason why many schools aren't teaching and learning in this type of environment is attributed to fear. Fear learning will not occur, fear the students will misbehave and the teacher will lose control; however, at ASHS learning was happening, and the students were well behaved across the board. The teachers discussed the behaviour is easily managed because the students appear to rethink about their actions before following through, as there are 100+ students and 8 teachers in the same space they are, not only their class and single teacher.

I hope in the future I have the opportunity to teach in a modern learning environment, or an innovative learning environment, as I was blown away with what I saw. I also now feel as if I have more of an understanding of what my MDTA cohort talk about when they make reference to their large learning spaces with multiple teachers, even though ASHS is a little different. I am very thankful for this opportunity and am excited for more school observations next term.

An Intro To Anatomy

The focus for today's digital immersion was Stop Motion animation, with the task to create an animation related to upcoming lessons we will teach. Stop Motion animation is about taking a series of snapshots, then editing them together to look like a movie.

Senior PE are moving onto Anatomy and Biomechanics after their current assessment. I narrowed my creation to focus on the major bones of the body, creating a skeleton with playdough. If you are studying Anatomy and Biomechanics, I would recommend you visit Anatomy Arcade's revision games, as they are engaging and educational!