Name: Date:
Jennifer Lassiter
Elementary Health Fitness
- This is teacher Jennifer Lassiter (blue shirt) and her assistant Nancy Sciaraffa (green shirt) teaching an elementary Health Fitness lesson. At this school, the Health Fitness classes are made up of approximately 40-50 This is why the teacher, Ms. Lassiter has an assistant to help her manage and teach the class.The assistant serves the role of a co-teacher. At the beginning of the lesson, watch how the students are organized into group to play a game. You will not see the very beginning of the lesson in which there was a review of previous learned concepts related to the skills needed to play the game.
- Health Fitness teachers know how powerful the concept of ‘team’ is when playing a game or Did you just hear Ms. Lassiter ask the students to decide who was going to be #1, #2, #3 and #4? Did you also hear her tell the students who were having a disagreement, ‘You will have to solve it’? Reflect: Why did she say these things to the students?
- Lassiter wants the students to solve problems together so she wants them to work out problems together. Why does she want them to solve their own problems? Reflect. You just heard both Ms. Lassiter and her Ms. Sciaraffa connect today’s lesson (game) to previous taught rules, concepts, and strategies the students used in other games – a connection to prior learning. Ms. Sciaraffa also connected the game rules to math vocabulary – perimeter, line, etc. Why is it important to help students make connections between disciplines?
- Listen now to Ms. Lassiter restate the concepts and skills the students will be using while playing the game. She is restating the objectives of the lesson. Why did she do this and was it important to do and why?
- Notice how Lassiter has stopped the game twice now to remind students of game strategy. She is closely observing the students play the game and wants to provide immediate and specific feedback so the students can continue to play the game with success. What are your thoughts? Reflect.
- Now you will see how Lassiter reviews the skills and concepts used during the game and brings closure to this part of the lesson before she transitions to the next part of the lesson. The students are thereby reminded of what to concentrate on as they continue to play the game with their peers.
Notice how the assistant gets students’ attention she can go over the rules for the next part of the game.
Reflect on what you have observed.
- Effective teachers always reflect on the lesson, and lesson outcomes. Listen as the teacher reflects on this lesson, and compare it to the responses you have written on the observation worksheet. Use both the teacher’s reflections and your own observation when writing your overall observational
