iDance Exergame Lesson and Setup for Fun & Fitness

Posted by Stephanie Paulsen
My Lab D finally arrived & I enjoyed the lesson as much as my students did!! The setting of my class was that they were at a 12th grade level and I had to implement practice into my lesson. With this in mind I wanted the first few songs to be strictly practice based and have the students go for high percentage completed! 

Since my lesson took place at 9am I wanted to get everyone moving & energized so we started right away! The students did a warm-up song and then moved into the next few songs of practicing for high percentages! 

One thing I believe I did really well this lesson was making sure everyone was on task, gave great congruent feedback, and also made sure the students understood what they were supposed to be doing through out the lesson! I made it a priority to give my students great feedback so they could perform to their potential and know that they were performing the songs successfully!

Keeping the class organized and on task was something I believe I did very well during my lesson. 

I made sure to check if there were any questions before starting a new task and made sure everyone was prepared prior to the start of each song. Below are some pictures showing how I had the students situated. With a high noise level it was key to keep the classroom and students organized & on task! 

Another thing I did well was give my students a challenge and also let them work together in pairs. The challenge and group songs allowed all students to be on an even playing field and no matter what skill level each student possessed they were all equal for these two songs.

Some things I think I could have done differently or work on for future are that in the beginning of the lesson I had the student who got the highest % write their initials and score on the board. Originally I planned it to be for the 12th graders to have friendly competition and hopefully motivate them to perform better. But this can exclude some students which is a very negative outcome. To correct this I should have each student write their % on the board, that way each student can try to beat their own score. This way they are not competing against their classmates and students are way less likely to be excluded. 

To end the lesson I called everyone in and gave them a FITT information handout which had information, examples, definitions, and a short homework assignment. Due to time constraints, the handout made it possible to quickly cover a topic and give the students information to learn the topic on their own. This handout would be used as part assessment for this unit as well.

Overall this lesson as made me grown as a future teacher immensely. I learned a lot through my successes, trials, and failures. I received feedback from my peers, experienced new things through technology, and expanded my physical education knowledge as a whole. My students experienced growth & success which is key to any physical education class and is what I strive to do everyday!!! 

Lab D was a success & I am moving right along to become the great teacher I want to be!! Below is a slideshow of more pictures from my lesson, be sure to take a look!!

Here are videos I & II of my Lab D Lesson!

To view my documents please feel free to click the links below:

Time Coding Form click - HERE

Complete Lab D Unit Packet - Here

Below is my C12 Evaluation Form!

As part of my Lab D Unit I also had to put together picture and video instructions of how to put together and use the iDance system! You can view them by clicking here and watching the video below: 

Below is the video of the instructions made by my partner, Max Stern!

To finish off my Lab D experience we completed our iDance bulletin board!

Thanks for viewing!

You can view my blog at SP-PE.blogspot

Follow me on Twitter: @SPaulsen_PE

View my Professional Portfolio by clicking here!

Special Thanks to Motion Fitness / Exergame Fitness for the iDANCE equipment!

Using iDANCE Exergaming in Student Teaching

Posted by Andrew Snide
This Friday, April 27, Professor Yang allowed me to borrow the iDANCE system to bring to my student teaching placement in State Street Intermediate School in Skaneateles, NY.  This school is grades 3-5 and the class sizes range from 18-48 kids in one class.

Having the opportunity to use this system took a lot of planning and plenty of time training with the materials.  Going to Boston, MA with Professor Yang in March to present the Exergaming systems was the start to this opportunity.  This was followed by many days in the Exergame lab using the system and getting used to how it works and how to set it up.  After it was all over, the only way I could describe the success to this program was "It couldn't have gone better".  I have never seen students so engaged in activity dealing with music.  As soon as they stepped in the gym, their faces brightened up and I knew I had their attention.  The best moment of this lesson was having one student who never participates, dancing like crazy with a smile on his face.

The plan for the day was to only use the iDANCE system with my two smaller classes of 18 and 24 students.  However, it was so successful that I ended up having the all of my classes using the program, recess classes, and teachers all coming in during the day to use it.  The largest class I used it with was with 38 kids and was still a success.

My host teacher has been interested in purchasing one of these systems for his school for a while now but has never got a chance to use it and present it to the administration.  I had the principal come in for about 20 minutes during the lesson and within 10 minutes he had my host teacher bring out a catalog to see how much it was worth.  The principal, both P.E. teachers, and all other teachers thought this program would be great for the school district to use within the four Skaneateles schools.

I have found out that it pays to take the extra time and do different things within the P.E. program.  Anything that you do can lead to something greater.  This experience that I had was by far the best in student teaching yet.  Yes, the amount of planning and stress before the lesson took a lot out of me, but by the time I was teaching, I was in the best mood and was having a blast.  So, if there's any advice that I would have to give, it would be to take chances and ask for things that may be out of reach because you never know the opportunities that could arise.   

Special Thanks to Motion Fitness / Exergame Fitness for the iDANCE equipment!