Ryan Baldwin

Poca High School

Fall 2016

Task 1- Contextual Factors

School and Community Factors
Poca High School is located in Poca, West Virginia in Putnam County near the Kanawha
County border. The community of Poca has a population of 980. Poca is a primarily
homogenous community in which 98.7% of the residents are Caucasian. Hispanics, AfricanAmericans, and Asian-Americans make up the remaining 1.3% of the population. The
population in the school reflected these numbers as well with a 98% Caucasian population, 1%
Hispanic, and 1% African-American. The minority students were not excluded or isolated by
their classmates. The male and female population was essentially equal in all the classes. I made
up teams for various activities and I was able to put an equal amount of males and females on
each team which made it easier to plan team activities. I had three 90 minute classes each day.
This gave me a chance to have the students dress for class. It also gave me time to implement
Fitnessgram preparation into each lesson in addition to the activity for the day, which would not
be possible in an 8 period day. There is little parental involvement in the classes. The only
parental involvement was when parents sent notes to tell us that their child was ill or needed
some special attention. Therefore, I planned my lessons to respect parents request as long as
they were medically backed up by a doctor.
Classroom Factors
I had the entire gymnasium at Poca High School to conduct my classes in. I also had the
luxury of going out to the football field and track. As a result, I included some conditioning on

the track in most lessons to get the students prepared for the Fitnessgram test. I also was able to
do activities such as kickball to break up the monotony of being in the gymnasium every day.
There were six basketball rims in the gym. I had plenty of room to play multiple basketball
games at one time so all the students were active at all times.
Poca High School only had 5 basketballs that were of good enough quality to use for my
unit. I would have liked to have had all the students doing the dribbling drills at once but the
amount of equipment did not allow this to happen. As a result, I had to plan my lessons to
incorporate more group drills and team activities. This made it so the students got less
repetitions of the skill we were doing that day but got to work on team and
interaction/cooperation skills.
Student Factors
95% of the students the students in the physical education classes were 9th graders. The
students were not as cognitively, socially, or emotionally developed as seniors or juniors.
Therefore, I had to take this into consideration when planning my lessons. I knew that they
could not handle a lot of team activities so I only planned team activities for one day. I also
knew that they would do well with competition so I added relay races into my dribbling lessons.
When assessing my lessons I looked for effort and participation to assess the students
performance because most of the students were not athletically inclined.
Task 2- Unit Framework
Big Idea
The main idea for my unit is The students will learn and perform the basic fundamentals
of basketball, including dribbling, passing, and shooting. This big idea is an important core

principle because it covers all of the basic skills that are necessary to be able to play basketball.
Each student objective in this unit is like a sub-objective of the big idea. I covered dribbling,
passing, and shooting in separate lessons during the unit.
Standards
The main standard covered in this unit was PE.HS.2.03: Students will identify and
explain specific motor skills (e.g., dribbling, passing, follow-through) and incorporate into
personal practice. Two of the student objectives from the unit were Students will dribble a
basketball using the proper dribbling technique, and Students will understand and perform
various dribbling techniques. Both of these student outcomes relate back to the motor skill of
dribbling, addressed in the standard. Another student objective of the unit was Students will
understand and perform the basic fundamentals of shooting a basketball. This also relates back
to the standard in that shooting a basketball is a motor skill that the students need to learn that is
addressed in this standard. I linked another student outcome, Students will understand and
perform the three basic basketball passes (chest, bounce, overhead.) back to this standard as
well. The motor skill of passing a basketball connects this standard and student outcome.
Another standard I addressed in this unit is PE.HS.1.02: 2. Students will participate in a
variety of team sports (volleyball, basketball, etc.) This was addressed by having the students
play competitive basketball games against one another in teams of five. I linked two student
outcomes to this standard: Students will cooperate with teammates to accomplish a goal, and
Students will combine their knowledge of dribbling, passing, and shooting to incorporate them
into competitive basketball games. The first outcome links to the standard in that it promotes
teamwork skills and learning to be a part of a team. The second outcome links the two standards
together, combining teamwork skills and the motor skills I taught earlier in the unit.

Learning Objectives
The learning objectives are developmentally appropriate for students of all athletic
abilities and motor skill levels. They assess the student by determining if the students can
perform the proper fundamentals of dribbling, passing, and shooting. This objective addresses
the psychomotor domain of learning. They do not assess on how well they perform these skills.
However, they do require the students to perform the exercises properly on a fundamental level,
which requires them to apply what I taught them to the physical performance of the skill. This
challenges the students to think and put forth an effort.
Anticipate Student Challenges
Some students might have no prerequisite knowledge about the game of basketball and
the terminology. This could lead to communication problems between me, the teacher, and these
students. I do my best to teach the students about the sport and teach the lesson in a universal
language. Other than these strategies, I will encourage students to ask me questions if they do
not understand how to perform a task or what they are supposed to do.
Another anticipated student challenge would be the underdeveloped motor skills of some
students. Some students might not be a developmentally appropriate level when it comes to the
motor skills necessary to dribble, pass, and shoot a basketball. In order to overcome this
challenge, students will be graded on the effort they put towards performing each skill correctly.
The most athletic student will have absolutely no advantage over a less-athletic student when it
comes to assessment of the lesson.

Task 3- Assessment Plan

Alignment with Learning Objectives
The assessments that I did for this unit were all skill-based assessments. In order to
assess the students on their dribbling ability, I had them stand at one baseline, dribble past the
other baseline and back. I recorded their times and how many dribbling errors they had. I used
this as the pretest for the unit. This tied-in with the objectives Students will dribble a basketball
using the proper dribbling technique, and Students will understand and perform various
dribbling techniques. I had the students do the same thing at the end of the unit to determine the
improvements each student made. In order to assess the students shooting ability, I had each
student take ten foul shots and record how many they made out of the ten. They did this multiple
times. After teaching the unit, I had them perform the same test to evaluate performance.
In order to assess the students knowledge of the three basic basketball passes, the chest
pass, bounce pass, and overhead pass, I observed the class when they started passing as
compared to the end to the unit to determine how many more students understood the concepts.
Assessment Criteria/Technical Soundness
When performing the pretests, I informed the students that they would not be graded on
their performance, but they would be graded on their participation and the effort level that they
gave. I also told them not to worry about their initial scores, but how much they improve
throughout the unit. The students had a more positive attitude towards the assessments after I

told them this. When the students were performing the assessments, I had them do it one-at-atime on the side while the rest of the class was free-playing. I did this because some students did
not feel comfortable doing it with other students watching and I felt it made the testing
conditions better. There were no minimum requirements for mastery of this content. I was just
making sure the students performed the skills properly and gave their maximum effort.
Variety of Assessments
Since I was in a physical education classroom, all of my assessments were skill based. I
assessed various skills that pertained to basketball. I did a formal, timed test for dribbling, and
informal skills tests for shooting and passing.

Task 4: Design for Instruction

Planning Instruction
The scores and times for the pre-assessment data had a wide range. There were some
students that were familiar with basketball and the skills we were going over and others that had
no experience with basketball at all. So, I had to find a way to challenge the more advanced
students while keeping it simple for the less experienced students. 95% of the students that I had
were 9th graders. Therefore, when I explained the directions for the lessons, I was more direct
and thorough than I would have been for a class with more upper classmen. I understood that
motivation would be low is some students and overwhelmingly high in others. Therefore, I tried
to intermingle these students on teams as much as possible to give the lower motivated students
an outside force to motivate them other than me. Also, I made the teams up before the class
periods to make them even in terms of ability and avoid embarrassing a student by having them

picked last. I just asked me teacher what he wanted me to teach and he told me I could teach
whatever I wanted so I chose basketball.
Instructional Strategies
The big idea for my unit is Students will learn the basic fundamentals of basketball,
including dribbling, passing, and shooting. The main instructional strategies that I used to teach
the unit varied based on what skill/objective we were learning. For dribbling (Students will
dribble a basketball,) I gave the class directions on what to do, direct instruction. I then had the
students divide into groups to do the drills and relay races, group practice and cooperative
learning. It has been scientifically proven that adding competition to a lesson increases
motivation and actually increases the scores on assessments. The relay races added an element
of competition and I could see the positive results. The students were into the lesson and excited
about the activities. However, when they were dribbling, they were the only student dribbling in
their group at the time so it added an element of individual practice as well. For shooting
(Students will understand and perform the basic fundamentals of shooting a basketball,) I gave
the students instructions as well and had them shoot in groups. This incorporated direct
instruction, group practice, and cooperative learning as well. While the students were shooting, I
walked around and offered some teacher-guided practice as well. I incorporated competition into
this objective as well in the form of knockout games and foul shooting competitions. Once
again, this increased student motivation and participation levels. When we did passing (Students
will understand and perform the three basic basketball passes, chest, bounce, overhead,) I only
had 5 basketballs for 30 students. So we had to do group practice, even though I would have
liked to do individual practice. I had to adapt my lesson to meet the materials I gad available.

Rationale for Best Practice

As I referenced earlier, I wanted to include group practice into most of my lessons. It has
been proven that working in a group or team has positive benefits when it comes to physical
activity. When students are extrinsically motivated by teammates or group members they will be
more motivated to accomplish the task and perform to their best ability to help the group or team.
Also, adding competition to anything increases the motivation of the participants and has been
proven to increase performance and scores in most situations (psychologicalscience.org). Also, in
my physical education classes at WVSU, such as HHP 446 and HHP 341, my professors have
stressed the importance of adding competition to physical education lessons for the very same
reasons. I added the relay races and shooting competitions into my lessons as a result.
Resources and Materials
I had no television or other forms of media in the gymnasium so I was limited on using
technology in the unit. I had five usable basketballs and classes from 19-30 students. I had to
find ways to ensure that all students were participating at all times with the limited number of
materials I had.
Differentiated Instruction
As I stated in my TPA templates, Student 1 is a behavioral disorder student. This
student does not like listening to authority and goes out of their way to do the opposite of what
the teacher asks. Their participation level in physical education is low and when they do
participate their effort is below acceptable standards. They commonly walk intentionally when
they are supposed to be jogging in order to get a reaction from the teacher. I chose this student
because I wanted to motivate them so they would have a different attitude towards the unit and

physical education class in general. The main form of differentiated instruction I used for this
student was extra one-on-one direct instruction with the student. This seemed to make the
student more willing to participate and increased their performance level as a result. This student
bought into the unit after I talked with them directly about why they should participate and give
their best effort.
Student 2s situation was as follows Student 2 is low-functioning in the motor-skills
department due to a disability they had when they were a baby. However, this student gives
maximum effort every day in physical education class. I chose this student because I see
potential in improving their motor-skills that pertain to the basketball-related motor skills that are
addressed in this unit. In order to accommodate the student, I did as follows: For student 2, I
gave them the option to attempt the pretest and posttest twice (in-case he messed-up, struggled,)
so they did not feel an extreme pressure to perform in a do-or-die situation. The student did not
need to take the tests a second time, as we were both satisfied with the scores. I stressed to the
student to do their best and they would be graded on effort and not their scores.
Task 6: Impact of Student Learning
Whole Class
The pretest for the first objective was a basic dribble from baseline to baseline and the
times were recorded. Being a physical education class, this was the only objective where there
was measurable data recorded. The average score on the dribbling pretest was 15.8 seconds.
This was a bit slower than I expected it to be. However, all the students gave their best effort. I
could see that some students struggled with the basic motor skills required for dribbling a
basketball.

The students posttest scores were excellent. The average time for the posttest was 12.3
seconds. Every student improved their score from the pretest. I noticed that most students were
smoother when dribbling and their motor skills were a lot better than they were on the pretest.
12.3 is a good average for the class. The slowest time was 16.73 seconds and the fastest time
was 9.1 seconds, so there was a wide range.
As a class, I was extremely satisfied with the students scores from pretest to posttest for
the dribbling objective. They knocked 2.5 seconds off the class average. This was a significant
improvement. The students gave an effort and willingly participated. The focus students were
no problem and they gave an effort as well and were successful in reducing their times from
pretest and posttest. Every single student improved a significant amount. The smallest change in
the class was 1.8 seconds and that student already had a mastery score on the pretest. I was
honestly surprised that every student made significant strides after only a week of class but it was
a pleasant surprise. I was happy with the progress and it gives me confidence moving forward
into my teaching career that I can be an effective physical educator.
The class was successful because they were isolated from the other students when
performing the tests and were not embarrassed about performing them in front of the other
students. The students specifically told me that they were glad they didnt have to perform the
assessments in front of the class. Also, the cooperative activities the students did throughout the
unit added an element of competition and allowed the students to grow and get better.
Focus Students
Focus student one did not resist doing the pretest. They caused no problems and were
cooperative and respectful. The students time was in the mastery range. The students ability

was never a concern of mine, but their cooperation and effort level was. However, they caused
no problem. Focus student two had the slowest time in the class due to their physical disability.
However, they could complete the assessment pain-free. They tried their best and their disability
did not discourage them from giving their best effort. They had a pretest time of 22.28 seconds.
The posttest was much of the same as the pretest. The students had no problems. They
gave their best effort and had times of 12.8 seconds and 16.83 seconds respectively.
Both students improved their times from the pretest to the posttest. I was particularly
happy with student two, as they improved their time by 5.55 seconds, one of the biggest
improvements in the class.
The conditions that allowed the students to meet the standard were mentioned in previous
tasks. I gave student 2 the option to take the test twice (which he did not take) and I offered
student 1 some extra direct instruction to get them motivated and to buy into the program.
Task 7: Reflection and Self-Evaluation
Insights on Teaching and Learning
The most rewarding aspect of my time at Poca High School was definitely getting to
know my students. I enjoyed interacting with them and seeing them grow in their physical and
mental abilities. The least rewarding part of the experience was attempting to plan lessons with
the limited materials I had at my disposal. However, I feel like this was good for me in the long
run because most schools have a limited budget and materials. Overall, my experience at Poca
was an extremely positive one and I learned a lot about classroom management and how to
handle disciplinary situations.

Implications for Future Teaching

I feel like I did a good job explaining and demonstrating the skills and activities to the
class. The students knew what they were supposed to be doing and how they were supposed to
do it. I need to improve my classroom management skills. Coach Love helped me improve them
in some aspects but I feel like the more Im in the classroom the better I will get at managing the
environment. Creating an environment that promotes learning will only help my students learn
and grow.
I know the content knowledge of physical education on a professional level. I know the
skills and activities that are required to become a professional physical educator. However, I
understand that I can always grow on a professional level and will continue to do so throughout
my career.
Professional Growth
I openly welcomed any feedback, criticism, etc. from my cooperating teacher and the
other members of the staff. Coach Love has been teaching for a long time and he obviously
knows a lot more about it than I do. I used this field experience as a learning experience and
took in as much information as I could.
Two professional strengths that emerged during my time were my knowledge of the
content and relating to the students. I feel confident that I know and understand the skills that I
will be teaching in physical education, whether it is elementary, middle, or high school. I also
feel like that I can relate to the students and understand their situations while still being fair and
firm towards them.

Like I said earlier, classroom management and handling disciplinary problems are
weaknesses of mine at this moment. I need to get better at organizing the classroom so the
lessons can be more effective and efficient. Several teachers told me that this will come with
time and experience but I will work to improve my skills in these areas.
I ultimately would like to teach physical education and coach baseball. This experience
reiterated my career choice. I have never been more confident and comfortable with my choice
to be a physical education major and cant wait to get my career started.