HPE SP2 2016 Tamra Jones

Lab School: Teaching Evaluation

Week 2: Lesson 2: Netball

Teacher: Melissa Hylan

Technical- Actions of the teacher

1. My teaching capabilities:
My lesson began by collecting the students from their classroom, greeting them and completing a roll call to
see who was present and to assist me with putting names to faces. After this we made our way to the tennis
courts. To present the lesson activities I positioned myself in front of the students. I explained that we would
be playing a game of netball, in which we would use and practice the skills that Miss Hadlum had taught the
previous week. I also used this time to describe how to play the game ‘bib tag’, which we would be using as
our warm-up. To ensure that I kept everyone’s attention and that we had the most time possible for the
activities, I kept this introduction to minimal time.

I used a whistle to gain attention of the students, during the lesson. I explained that as we were outside I
would be doing this and that if they heard it, I wanted them to stop and look at me. When I had to use the
whistle, I would speak louder or I would use my voice and hand gestures to call the students in closer to me.
The students were responsive to this and they followed my instructions well, I believe this was reflected
because I didn’t have to repeat myself. I had to use the whistle once to regain the attention of some students,
who either couldn’t hear me or were distracted by the group of students on the court next to us. I quickly blew
the whistle and asked the students to come back to me, this refocused their attention towards me, which
allowed me to explain what I needed to.

Initially I didn’t think I needed to use many demonstrations in this lesson as we had learnt the skills we needed
to use in last week’s lesson and the students were very competent in these. However as the game progressed
it was clear that the students had played netball before and that I needed to add in more of the rules used in
a game of netball. I had only focused on the rule of no stepping with the ball. I soon realised that I needed to
bring in the rule of being 3 feet away whilst defending. To begin with I tried to explain this, however there
were students who asked questions and therefore I recognised that they did not understand what I meant.
One student said “that isn’t far enough” when I explained that three feet was about a metre. He had thought
I meant three metres. I used James (my helper) to show what three feet was. By watching the reactions of the
students and through their acknowledgements, I knew that they had then understood what I meant.

I also had to do a toss-up in the game. One of the students involved in the toss-up expressed his concern about
how far I would throw the ball up into the air. I demonstrated how far it would be thrown up with him and the
other student.

For cool down I used the goal ring for students to all have a shot at trying to get a goal. This was not in my
original lesson plan, but was a fun way to finish, as the students had really enjoyed their time at goal shooting
during the game. I physically demonstrated what I wanted them to do at their turn. The final activity for the
lesson, was stretching. I asked if anyone could show me a stretch they had done in the previous lesson or did
anyone have a stretch that they wanted to share with the group. In a circle, which I was a part of, the students
shared their stretch and everybody copied.
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I feel that my instructions were mostly clear and concise, apart from when I explained how we would play a
half-court game of netball. I felt that the way I had described it was quite confusing. However the students
seemed to understand what I had meant. I do believe that this was because of the students being in year 6
and obviously they had played half court games before. I feel that I need to work on how I would describe this
better for future use, as younger students probably would not have realised what I meant.

I also found that the students knew more about playing netball than what I had assumed. I had modified how
we would play the game, which did include minimal rules. It became clear quite quickly that my rules were
too minimal. Some students brought to my attention that “the rules are…………..” With this I added more rules
as we went. The students responded to these and followed them well. I could have avoided this confusion if I
had explained at the beginning that we were playing netball with modified rules, compared to netball which
you would play outside of school in competition.

2. Were there any times during the lesson that you felt ‘uneasy or nervous’ about
what was happening?
The first time I felt uneasy about what was happening was when I had to decide who would be partners in ‘bib
tag’, there was an uneven number of boys and girls. I asked everybody to get a partner for the game. There
were two students left, a boy and a girl. I could tell straight away that they did not want to be partnered
together. I handled this by saying, we are just doing a quick warm up, and you won’t have to be partners for
long. They appeared happy with this and participated well together. On reflection I realise that I need to avoid
situations like this in the future and find ways in which I can group students together.

I also felt uneasy when I was trying to describe how we were going to play a half-court game of netball. It
seemed confusing to me, the way in which I had explained it. On reflection of this I feel I need to develop a
clear way of how I will communicate this in the future.

I had two students who injured themselves in my lesson. The first student was hit in the face with the ball and
the second student hurt her wrist. Both of these situations made me feel uneasy as I was not sure whether I
had done enough, or whether I should have taken them to the front office straight away. As I didn’t know the
students very well it was hard to gauge how bad their injury was. On reflection I believe that I did the right
thing as I allowed the students to tell me whether they wanted to continue participating and they had the
option to sit out for how long they needed/ wanted to. As both children returned to the game I feel that
neither students were trying to avoid participation.

ANALYSE: What happened for learners:

3. Consider your interactions with students in this lesson.
Throughout the duration of the lesson I was able to notice individual students and their interactions. The
students had learnt the skills we were using in their lesson the previous week, which meant this week we put
them into a game of netball. I was the umpire for the game, so it gave me an opportunity to really watch what
the students were doing and give feedback to each student as they got the ball or intercepted it. The students
demonstrate the outcome of (ACPMP061), as they utilised the fundamental movement skills that they had
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practiced last week.

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My interaction with the students became easier, when I was able to use their names more frequently. At the
beginning of the lesson I read through the role to see which students were at school for the day. We have
done this each week and whilst I remembered a few students’ names, it wasn’t many. However during my
lesson, one of the students was hit in the face with the ball, which then gave me an opportunity to discuss
with the students about how they needed to ensure that the person they were throwing the ball to was ready.
So after this the students began to call each other’s names when they were throwing the ball or wanted it
thrown to them. Whilst originally this was implemented for their own safety it, it ended up being a great way
for me to learn the names of the students. This also reflected outcome (ACPMP069), as the students
recognised the need to take care of others safety on the court whilst they were participating.

I tried to encourage and acknowledge the participation or effort of each individual student. On reflection I
found that I encouraged a few of the students who looked as though they were less confident than some of
the other students. I also found I encouraged some of the boys which looked as though they may have been
getting bored or distracted. I found that by encouraging their participation it kept them engaged in the activity.

4. Consider the student’s participation in the lesson.

The warm up activity ‘bib tag’ actively engaged every student and they all looked as though they were enjoying
themselves. Due to the class being small (a few absences), each child was involved a modified half-court game
of netball, which met my outcome of MIP and the curriculum outcome (ACPMP061). I believe that the
environment was a safe learning environment, as no one was singled out and there was a lot of
encouragement given, by not only me, but the students as well. Each student had a chance to play each
position and I swapped Mr S (my helper/fill in for the game) around from team to team so that there was not
a disadvantage to one team. He did a good job of playing fairly without it being noticeable that he was not
trying his best! I also swapped students around so that they were standing other students, not always the
same person, so that abilities were matched a little more evenly. When shooting I noticed that one of the
students struggled to get the ball, so when I swapped the positions I put Mr S in the goal ring with her. He of
course did not try as hard as the student had, which meant she got the ball, I could tell that this really
encouraged her, as her confidence grew and she appeared to try harder than she had before.

To encourage participation by everybody I ensured that I actively encouraged all of the students and changed
positions around frequently. I feel that this kept them engaged as they were not in one position too long for
them to get bored. As we were playing half court, the game was faster than if it was a whole court game and
because the area was smaller it meant that each student was always around the action.

As mentioned before I had two injuries during my lesson, which did affect their participation. The first student
who was injured sat out next to Ms Hadlum for a while, whilst we continued. I checked on him regularly and
asked him if he was okay. I told him to re-join the game as soon as he felt he was able to. Initially I thought
that perhaps he wanted to sit out from the game and that he was using his injury so he didn’t have to join in.
However he did re-join the game and he tried very hard in his participation.

The second student hurt her wrist during the game. She continued to participate, even though I could tell it
was bothering her. I encouraged her to take a break if she felt she needed to. In the end she did take herself
out of the game. I felt as though she was really enjoying the activity, because she did not want to take a break.
Once again I checked if she was okay and kept doing this. After we had finished Miss Hadlum took her to the
front office to get checked out, she ended up being okay.
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Relate: (Back to Outcomes set for the teacher and student):

5. What outcomes do you think you achieved for yourself and your students?
I believe that I achieved the outcomes that I set out to achieve in my lesson plan.

I spoke loudly and clearly and this was reflected by the way that the students reacted to me. They were
attentive and they listened. I felt as though I engaged them and used eye contact. One way in which I think
that this was reflected was because they asked me questions.

I also feel I worked really hard to give positive and encouraging feedback. This was something that I felt I had
not done in peer presentations, so I made a conscious effort to ensure I did this. I feel that I achieved this as I
spoke to each student throughout the lesson. I feel that my encouragement was reflected through the positive
participation of the students. I noticed that they also encouraged each other, which I would like to think that
this was a result of me modelling encouraging behaviour.

I found that because the students were engaged in the activity and appeared to be enjoying themselves it was
very easy to be positive and energetic with them. The students were having a good time participating and I
could tell this by their smiling and the effort they were exerting. I did call the students in to explain a rule at
one point and was questioned “are we finished?” My initial feeling was that this was a negative comment as
it had come from a male student. (I was concerned that because we were doing netball with our group, that
we would engage the female students more than the male students). I said “no, I just wanted to explain a
rule”, he responded with “good, because this is fun”. This to me was a reassuring comment and from this I
learnt that I should not have assumed that this activity could not engage male students and that I was
successful in my teaching, as I was actually told they were having fun.

I did find that I didn’t have to use any demonstrations when it came to skills, as the students had a good
understanding from the previous week. We did have to use a toss-up in the game, which we hadn’t covered,
so I used this to practice my teaching of how to do one and did use over exaggerated slow movements of how
the ball would be thrown in the air. I feel that this was an easy to follow instruction, as one of the students
had no knowledge of what a toss- up was, but he listened and watched and he was the one who got the ball
in the toss-up.

For the students I feel that they tried really hard to implement the ‘no stepping’ rule, an outcome I had focused
on, for them. This was reflected each time someone got the ball it was very clear that they stopped and tried
hard not to move. When a student did step, there were other students who would point it out, this reflected
to me that they were engaged, in not only what the rules were that we were following, but also with the
efforts of the other students. As the students had clearly played netball before, it was pointed out that some
people were standing too close, we then had to implement the 3 foot rule for defending. This was not originally
a part of my lesson plan, however we needed to add it. I feel that this also reflected that the students were
engaged in the activity, as it had been noticed and they wanted it to be changed.

The student’s skills of throwing and catching were already established prior to our first lesson, the lesson last
week helped to practice them and it reinforced the chest pass, lob pass and bounce pass. Throughout the
game the students used all three of these passes they had practiced last week, which I feel reflected their
engagement in that lesson and as they utilised these skills in my lesson it was very rewarding to see. It showed
that they listened and remembered.

I feel that the students achieved my outcome of working as part of a team, (ACMP067). This was reflected by
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the students throwing to everyone on their team. There were not students who tried to keep control of the
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ball. This may have been because I made it that only 2 students could be in the goal ring, this meant that there

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was only one person who could shoot a goal for each team. I swapped this regularly so that everyone had a
turn. The students also were encouraging of each other. This group of students does feel like they are
respective and supportive of each other, and I believe that this is all of the time, not just for this lesson.

The most important things that I learnt from this lesson are:

1. That positive reinforcement and encouragement helps students to be motivated and engaged within a
lesson. If they are recognised, for positive reasons they are more likely to want to positively participate.

2. That keeping students engaged, helps to keep them on task. That the quicker you engage them when they
look like being off task, the easier it is to keep them on task.

3. That I need to explain that I have modified the rules of the game, for the lesson. That yes, there are different
ways to play a game or do an activity, however for today this is how we are playing it and this is why.

I feel that the main area I need to work on for future practice is in my delivery of instructions, so that they are
clear and easy to understand. To do this I feel it is important that I have a clear understanding about how I am
going to describe my instructions and what the actual point I want to deliver to the students is. The best way
I believe for me to develop this is to think about how it would work and then practice what I am going to say
before I actually have to.

I also feel I need to develop some ideas on how to group students, and then gain the confidence to use these
grouping methods and stick to them, even when the students are not happy with the decision. I am sure that
this authority comes with practice, yet I believe that I need to work on being prepared, so that I feel confident
in my delivery and enforcement of my decisions.

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Lab School: Observer’s Evaluation

Week 3: Lesson 3: Netball

Teacher: James Speissegger

1. Links with previous lesson:

James used the same warm up activity ‘bib tag’ as the previous week. His lesson plan (before it rained) was
going to introduce netball positions and allow students to utilise their skills of throwing, catching and
bouncing, which they had been working on in the past two weeks. The lesson would have also allowed
students to practice and build their skills on the rules of netball (no stepping, three feet and toss ups). The
weather changed, so then James modified his lesson. Ball skills were still practiced, along with the rules of
netball.

2. Introduction to the lesson:

James greeted the students and completed the roll call. He explained what was happening for the lesson, and
explained that this may change, depending on the weather.

3. Describe (Technical- Actions of the teacher)

Positioning and Feedback:
James positioned himself in front of the students when he was speaking to them and walked with them as a
group, to the tennis court. During this he spoke to the students and asked them how their day had been and
what they had been doing. During the warm up game James moved around the court and interacted with the
students giving them positive encouragement. I could tell that the students were engaged with this positivity
as they would smile when he encouraged them and it looked as if they would then try a little bit harder. The
weather set in and James moved the students to the undercover area. The rain was very heavy and it was hard
to hear, however James grouped everyone very closely to him in a circle and spoke loudly. He had to regain
the attention of the students several times (as they were interested in watching the rain), however he did this
very clearly and regained their focus quickly. He highlighted that he knew it was hard to hear, so everyone
needed to listen carefully. He discussed how the activity would be changed a little bit because they were
unable to use the courts now. He adapted his lesson plan very quickly and I believe he implemented it quite
well. He was able to keep the students outdoors, which they were all happy about. He explained the
importance of not throwing the balls near the windows and included extra rules, which meant no long passes,
and if the ball did hit the window or the roof it would then be in the other team’s possession.

During the game, James positioned himself well. Whilst umpiring he moved freely up and down the area. He
appeared to be able to see all of the students and he used his whistle confidently to impose the rules and to
gain the attention of the students. During the cool down James was a part of the circle and he participated in
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the stretches with the students.

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James offered praise to each student on their efforts and he also acknowledge their behaviour and effort at
the end of the lesson, especially because of the last minute changes, due to the weather.

As the area had to be set up differently to what it would have been on the court and the rules had to be slightly
changed, the students were unable to throw lob passes. James recognised that the students were having
trouble with getting the ball over the defence players, so he reminded the students about the bounce passes
they had been practising. This worked, the students started using these, which meant that the game was more
progressive.

James was attentive to the abilities of the students, this was reflected through his inclusion of the students
who were not getting the ball as often as others. James would ask these students to throw the ball in from the
side line or start the centre pass. He changed the students to do this each time, so it was fair and didn’t appear
that any student was being singled out.

One of the most positive actions that I believe I saw James do, was when we went to collect the students from
the classroom. The students were all standing with us, doing roll call. One of the students came out of the
classroom with a teacher, he had clearly just been spoken to about something and he looked a little down
about the situation. Straight away James noticed him and said “hi ……. It’s good to see you, come and join us”,
this acknowledgement and positivity that James gave him, straight away changed the students demeanour.
The student joined the group and I believe he participated well, to me it felt that James had changed the way
he was feeling about himself. Needless to say the student had a great time participating within the activity.
This was obvious through his participation and effort. He was very attentive when James spoke and he smiled.

James closed the lesson with cool down stretches and with acknowledgement and praise of the students for
their participation and flexibility due to the weather.

4. Analyse
Critical- What happened for the learners:
I don’t believe that the lesson privileged some students over others. James ensured that the game was fair by
the rules that he enforced and he was obviously attentive to the game as I could tell he was being inclusive of
all students by who he choose to throw the ball in. As I discussed earlier he was able to do this in a way which
didn’t look like he was singling students out. I feel that there was a balance between competition and
cooperation. The game was competitive, however I believe that James encouraged cooperation between the
players on the team. He would point out if someone was free to pass to, and he would encourage them to
look for their team.

James provided a learning environment which was safe and free from display.

Firstly he ensured the safety of the students by limiting the space on the outdoor court, away from the wet
areas. He focused attention on trying to avoid these areas. He then brought the students undercover before
the rain started. He pointed out a side area which was a bit wet that he wanted them to avoid, and when the
ball went out on that side he brought the pass in, into the middle so that the students were not standing in
the gutter.

During the game he ensured that all students had a fair go, through rotating pass-ins, and he gave praise to all
students, not just some. He encouraged one student who was running around, but clearly was not actively
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involved. She was not interested in catching the ball. She did pass the ball in once, through James’

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encouragement, however he did not push her, as it was clear she was uncomfortable having others watching
her. She did however appear to be engaged, she was running around, she shadowed another girl, she didn’t
have much ball contact, but she was involved. This was the first lesson she had been at school for, so she had
no background knowledge about what we had done previously. On reflection, addressing this may have made
a difference to her participation.

5. Relate:
I believe that this lesson, would have helped James reach some of his objectives as a teacher. I understand
that he was not overly confident in teaching netball, as he did not know the game or rules very well. Then for
it to have rained, I am sure that this made him even more uneasy about what to do. However I believe that he
overcame this challenge after a while. To begin with he appeared concerned. However once he had the
attention of the students (from coming off of the courts), he spoke confidently and his presentation to the
students was clear and easy to understand. James kept the students engaged and it was clear that they had a
good time. They were all actively involved, smiling and they interacted with James and listened to him when
he spoke.

James spoke loudly (very well, due to noise of the rain), his delivery was clear and he positioned himself well
so that all of the students could hear him. He was attentive to the students, he quickly engaged those when
they looked like they were not listening (watching the rain) and he encouraged and acknowledged the students
when appropriate.

I believe that the students were able to practice the ball throwing and catching skills that we have worked on,
and due to the slight change in rules, due to the location they had to modify these. Which they did very
successfully.

This lesson was changed, due to the weather. As it was started outside, it was good that James was able to
keep it outside in an undercover area. The students still got the opportunity to run around and James was able
to practice teaching something he was a little uneasy about teaching. As there were no goal posts in the
undercover area, Lottie and I became the goal posts, the students had to throw the ball to us to get a goal. We
were used, because student numbers were low, however obviously as a teacher this would not be normally
possible. Fletcher suggested that in this case, a student could have taken our place at each end in the goals.
To rotate this student, whoever had passed the ball for the goal would then become the catcher. He also
suggested making the goals a square where the students could pass in to the catcher from any side, rather
than just have the goal line straight, with more students, both of these ideas would be easy to implement,
increase MIP and make this activity successful for a teacher with no helpers.

This lesson could have been taken inside and James could have used his wet weather lesson plan. However
because it had started outside and the students were enjoying running around, it was good that he was able
to move them undercover and continue with his original lesson, with slight modifications. I believe that the
lesson was successful for James because he was challenged and I feel he was able to work with what he had.
He altered his lesson quickly and smoothly and he changed his delivery to be closer and louder, because of
background noise. I feel that the students benefited from the changes James made, they were able to hear
him, they all actively participated and they were able to remain out of the classroom for the lesson. I also feel
that I was able to learn from this lesson, through observing how James changed his lesson plan and how he
altered his teaching style to suit the conditions.
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Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), F-10 Curriculum, Health and Physical
Education: Foundation to Year 10 Curriculum v8.1, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting
Authority, viewed 5 May 2016

https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/health-and-physical-education/curriculum/f-10

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