Sky Sports 'Living for Sport' Program

For the second year running we have taken part in the Living for Sport project ran jointly by the youth Sport Trust and Sky Sports.  This years project has had a makeover and as you maybe aware a lot of time has been spent on the launch and marketing of the project.  This is something which I feel has been a benefit to the project.

The students chosen to be involved this year were identified by the leadership qualities they have shown in PE lessons throughout Key Stage Three.  The project launch was also run differently this year and a mentor from the youth sport trust came to meet the students straight away.  We were really lucky in this respect, as we met Jenna Downing (Xtreme Inline Skating World Championship & World Number 1) and Paul Broadbent (Captain of the Sheffield Eagles Challenge Cup Winning side).  Jenna led the session and Paul shadowed, as Paul is new to the process and was their to (in his own words) build up his confidence speaking to students in an educational setting, now i'm 6'3" and Paul towered over me, his also is the size of a door so quite what he was worrying about I do not know!!!!

This session went really well and all of the students were engaged in the learning and came out with lots of ideas of how they wanted to structure the learning.  It was decided that the students would do six after school sport sessions which they would each take turns in leading sections of it.  All the sports were chosen by themselves and I simply facilitated it.  The sports chosen were:-  Boxing, Circuit Training, Tennis, Trampolining, Boccia & Volleyball this allowed for a number of team and individual sports being catered for and multi abled sports.  The key thing which we wanted the students to get out of it was the confidence to deliver extra curricular sport to younger members of the school and then some of our primary partner schools. 

After the six weekly sessions were complete Jenna was invited back into work with the students, this day visit had a specific focus on goal setting and a session what Jenna termed 'the six keys to success' this allowed the students to set their own targets, both sporting and academic.  they also spent time having a go at Inline skating and trying some jumps and tricks.

The final part of the session involved the students intervewing Jenna for the school newspaper.  I also used this time to interview her using specific questions to GCSE and about the David scenario which has been a great help to my GCSE class.

Next Steps

The students all had a positive experience during this project and i would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to promote independent learners and promoting a growth mindset.

The project has now led to the students delivering extra curricular clubs and leading primary events which include the planning of a sports day!!

for further information on Jenna, Paul and the project see the links below.

http://livingforsport.skysports.com/mentors/paul-broadbent

http://livingforsport.skysports.com/mentors/jenna-downing

http://livingforsport.skysports.com/

Developing SOLO in my classroom

During an Easter revision session I wanted to develop the use of SOLO not only for stand alone lessons bur for use from now until their exam at the end of May.  Using the Pam Hook book 'SOLO Taxonomy: A guide for schools' I searched out for a way to use SOLO for section B of the AQA GCSE PE exam.  Section B consists of a scenario and then questions ranging from 2 - 8 marks available.  These questions could be from any topic within the GCSE spec.  The first thing I wanted to do was create a wordle of the scenario so the students would be able to pick out possible topics.

Once they had worked through this we then discussed possible questions which may appear in section B.  Using Kiplings questions (Thanks to @Davidfawcett27)  the students wrote their own questions about several topics 

I then introduced the Hot Solo Maps - to do this I again used the wordle of the scenario and looked at the mind map they had produced this showed understanding in a prestructural form.  I then got each student to pick out one topic to concentrate on.  For example they may have picked out training methods.  They would then show their understanding of the topic in general forming closer to a unistructural understanding.  In the third box I then asked the students to relate it back to David and how training methods affect him.  This showed more of a relational understanding of the topic and would ensure higher marked when answering the questions requiring extended pieces of writing. 

Finally I asked the students to link a further topic to the idea meaning the students are able to develop their answers and are in the extended abstract phase of their understanding.

Next Steps

During the next six weeks I intend to continue to use the hot maps so the students eventually build up a bank of answers showing deeper learning which will mean the students will achieve a better grade in the longer questions.

The SOLO taxonomy learning is something which is relatively new to me but I can only see positives from it.  It lends itself to allowing the students to work independently and also with regards to scripting longer answers in the exam.

I am planning on using this as an example at the Barnsley TeachMeet as I a feel this type of  SOLO has got potential to transfer into all subjects.