My approach to this daunting task will be to provide lessons that students can easily understand, and then slowly progress to more difficult tasks. I intend to read certain selections to the students and then ask for their feedback orally. Then students will be required to read the selections and provide written feedback. I hope to collaborate with the classroom teachers with regard to ideas and strategies in planning and implementing this curriculum. It is very important that the Physical Education teacher knows the level of reading ability of the students before these activities can be done. Once the reading level is known the material can be changed to ensure success for all students. Collaboration between the Physical Education teacher and the classroom teacher often doesn’t take place. Hopefully, the classroom teacher could assist in following up on some of the student’s progress.
I plan to show some video of athletes getting interviewed, so the students have an idea of how to interview somebody. Also students will have a journal in which they will write any ideas, thoughts, or feelings about the activity of the day. The journal writing will become a creative outlet for the students. I plan to use the empowered writer’s technique to assist students in the creative writing aspect. The Empowered Writers program is a writing program that is currently used by the teachers in our school. The basic premise of the program is to teach the students basic skills before they even begin to write. The skills are presented in a logical order so students build upon the previous lessons. The basic framework of the program is called the “Writing Diamond.” The diamond is broken down into six sections that flow in a logical order. The first part of the diamond is called entertaining beginnings; this is where the writer must “hook” the reader so that they want to continue to read the story. The next section describes the setting; this is where the ordinary setting is left behind, and the students use their creative side to bring the reader somewhere interesting. The next section is where the suspense is built if the story is suspenseful. The most important part of the story is the main event; this is what the whole story builds up to. The main event should be very descriptive, well thought-out, and it should contain definitive actions by the characters. The following section is the solution or conclusion of the story. This where the main event comes to a close, or the conflict is resolved. The final section is called the extended ending sequence. This is where the characters reflect on the main event, which might include their feelings, thoughts or decisions in respect to the main event. When a story gets broken into smaller sections it becomes easier for the students to write out their thoughts. This program will be introduced in the fourth week of the unit during our short story portion of the curriculum. During week four we will be reading
Casey at the Bat
and
The Gym Teacher from the Black Lagoon
and I will have the students come up with their own version of
Casey at the Bat
or
The Gym Teacher from the Black Lagoon
, or create a story of their own.
For example, the students may choose to have Case
y
hit a monstrous home run instead of striking out, or I will ask them to create a short story about the class activity or a sport they might have seen on TV or even a sporting event they may have attended. This program makes telling a story relatively easy: I want the students to be successful in their first writing attempt. The students will be able to work on their stories in class and then the rest will have to be done at home. I will ask for volunteers to share their stories.
