Tag Archive: pe

1. Lessons learned from Lockdown PE

   3rd March 2021 10:18 am Leave a Comment

   After filming 72 PE videos over the last year, here are some thoughts.

   To paraphrase Admiral Ackbar in ‘Return of the Jedi’: “It’s a wrap”!

   Our final PE video was filmed and edited last week: #72. We initially started by planning only nine when I first contacted Willand Primary School 50 weeks ago. None of us knew how traumatic and disruptive the next year would be.

   For our last video I recruited some friends and colleagues from around the world. Each of whom coaches with a different style and manner but they all share a consistent message: we want to help the children get better.

   Three lessons learned

   1. Planning is essential: we decided to do 10-minute chunks around the 3 themes of movement, physical fitness and skills. This gave the framework from which we could expand. The teachers and pupils could then use those chunks as stand-alone sessions or as part of a bigger lesson.
   2. Technology helps: a better camera, tripod, microphone and editing software meant that the videos in Lockdown 3 looked and sounded better than those first 9. Having captions and links broke up the boring sound of my voice. We could not have done this 10 years ago (on our budget).
   3. It’s hard work overcoming the counting paradigm: We avoided giving simple tasks that are easy to count and record. We seemed to be alone in this endeavour as the curriculum and other NGB videos were obsessed with ‘getting a score’. Schools liked sharing one-minute, simplistic tasks such as catching a pair of socks as many times as possible in a minute and writing it down. This counted as a ‘PE lesson.’ UGH!

   Our lessons were about exploration and discovery and implicit learning: things that require patience, diligence and good teaching!

   Unfortunately, having been a home schooling parent this year, education seems to be very mechanistic in all areas. My son had to read a poem and do a comprehension quiz: he got 10/10 but had no idea what the poem was about. He read the questions first and then searched the poem for the answers.

   This same, limited, approach is endemic within PE. Teachers want numbers and so reduce the learning and task difficulty accordingly: plank for 5 minutes anyone?

   You can see the improvement in our loyal video subjects over the last year: the tasks and lessons inspired them to practise on their own, even if they were shy on camera. That has been the best thing for me.

   Transforming PE for your pupils

   As a result of this experience, and my collaboration with Andy Stone, I have organised a teachers’ CPD workshop called Post Pandemic PE: creating the resilient student.

   You can learn how we developed our practical and systematic approach and adapt it for your school.

   Thanks for reading and watching. Stay safe, stay healthy.

2. Primary School PE in Lockdown 3

   21st January 2021 11:12 am Leave a Comment

   The Prime Minister announced Lockdown 3 at just after 8 pm on Monday night. At 0551 on Tuesday morning I had an email from Miss Hawkins, the Head Teacher at Willand Primary School, asking me if I would produce some more PE videos.

   ‘Of course,’ I replied. So, here we are again. Another series of videos designed for parents and pupils who are homeschooling for 7 weeks at least. (Our previous collaboration won an award from the Youth Sports Trust).

   The Framework

   We upload three 10-12 minute videos a week in this sequence.

   • Video 1: Movement
   • Video 2: Physical Fitness
   • Video 3: Skills and drills.

   Everything is done with the equipment -poor parent and child in mind. We sometimes show how to make your own equipment in a Blue Peter style.

   The content is fresh and varied and we set up a structure within each class and then show some ideas of ‘freestyling’ where children can build on the ideas we give and develop their own routines.

   We are encouraging creativity, exploration and fun rather than just dish out sets/reps and endless minutes of planking.

   What is different in 2021.

   We have introduced some changes to the format based on what we learned after the last series of lessons.

   • 1: Trying to link and progress between different content. Now we have a library of over 50 videos we can link back to previous lessons and reference them.
   • 2: Adding titles, texts and links within the videos. Better editing software has allowed me to do this. I have paid for ProDirector plus and edit on my phone.
   • 3: Better Audio-Visual equipment. Everything has been upgraded since March 2020. My Motorola phone has much better storage as well as cameras. A new tripod and remote microphone have also been essential.
   • 4: Adding quizzes, fun facts and top tips to break up the lesson and help retain the children’s attention.

   We have still not gone ‘viral’ and many pupils don’t watch them, but those that do have been commenting in class. When I see people on our once a day allocated walk outside, they often tell me how they are using the videos.

   These videos are imperfect but they are up and running and accessible for the pupils.

   If anyone wants the pdf of the lesson outline, please email me.

   Stay safe. Stay healthy.