RUNNING HEAD: HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION OBSERVATION

EDUCATION 240
Elementary Health and Physical Education
Observation Classroom Project
Students will observe a Health classroom, Physical Education classroom and spend time visiting
with an elementary Health/Physical Education Teacher. Spending extended time with a teacher
will allow students to gain first-hand knowledge of the teachers instructional style. Observe,
record, and reflect on the behavior and skills of elementary students in both, Health and Physical
Education classes. Students may work alone or with a partner for this assignment. However, in
order to receive a grade, each student must submit this project in the Blackboard Grade
Center.

To complete this project, students will need to do the following:

1) Identify one elementary teacher to observe in a Health class and in a Physical Education
class. These two observations may take place in a private or public school. (Be sure to
complete the Teacher Identification Form).
2) Arrange to observe two classes and spend time visiting with the each teachers.
3) Record the behavior and skills of students in the Health and Physical Education classes using
the guiding questions provided.
4) Collect information from the teacher on his/her use of the National Health and Physical
Education Standards, Indiana Academic Standards and Best Teaching Practices.
5) Write a 1000 word minimum paper which includes information gathered from the two
observational experiences, the teachers use of the National Health and Physical Education
Standards, Indiana Academic Standards, Best Teaching Practices along with class notes,
discussions, and the textbook.
6) Two- In Text Citations (from the textbook or another resource) must be included in the
paper.
7) See the guiding questions, Paper Outline and Rubric provided below.

Be sure to use subtitles and information gained from the observation as you submit the following
items in APA Format:

o Title Page
o Subtitles Introduction, Health Classroom Observations, Physical Education
Classroom Observations, Teacher(s) Perspective, Summary. Include any handouts the
teacher may have provided.
o Reference Page
o Submit the answers and notes from this project with the paper in the Grade Center.
RUNNING HEAD: HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION OBSERVATION

Health and Physical Education

Observation Project

Guiding Questions

These detailed Answers and Notes from the interview must be submitted as a part of the Observation
Project.

1. Is the gym/classroom able to accommodate all of the students and activities? Yes. In the
gym, there is plenty of open space for the children to run and do their activities. There are
also plenty of balls, hoops, jump ropes, etc. for the children to do physical activities with.
In the health room, there are plenty of desks for all the students. Also, there is a lot of
room for the students to move around and have their own personal space.

2. Which national and state standards are being met with the Health and Physical Education
lesson being taught? The day that I observed the gym class, it happened to be the day that
they had some of the special needs children come and do activities with the typical
students. For the health class, they were presenting their projects that they did over drug
abuse. They were 7th graders.

3. What best teaching practices are being used? In the gym class, the teacher was very
patient with the kids. I observed kindergarten along with some of the special education
children. The teacher did a really nice job doing activities that were good for both classes
that were in there. In the health class, the teacher did a nice job of helping the students
not to be nervous when they went up to present.

4. What routines were evident i.e. starting the class, ending the class, transiting from one
activity to another? Starting the class in gym, the students knew to come in and sit on the
floor and wait for instructions. They also knew not to talk when she was talking. In
health, the students knew to come in and sit at their desks and to wait on the teacher.

5. What safety measures are in place? In the gym there were mats along the walls. In the
health room, the door could be locked if it needed to be.

6. Did each student have an opportunity to participate in the activities being taught? In the
gym, yes. Even the students with the special needs were able to participate. In the health
class, yes. Each student did the project.

7. What types of classroom manage skills were evident in both classes? In both rooms, I
could tell that the teacher had full control of the students and what went on in the
classroom. The students in both rooms were totally tuned in to what she was saying to
them.

8. What types of assessment were used in both classes? In gym, the students had to work on
waiting in a line properly. In the health room, they had to sit quietly while each student
presented their project.

9. Was the lesson plan part of a thematic unit being taught over several days or weeks? In
gym, it was working on waiting in a line. In health, it was drugs.
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10. What challenges did the teachers face teaching each of these classes? In gym, the teacher
had to be very patient with the special needs students because they needed the extra help.
In health, the teacher had to grade the students on their work they did for the project.

11. What were the teachers comments about the curriculum, lesson plans, classes, students
etc.? In gym, the teacher told me how she loved to see how the typical students and the
special needs students worked together during the time. In health, the teacher was very
impressed with how well the students did on their projects.
RUNNING HEAD: HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION OBSERVATION

Health and Physical Education Observation

Lexi Mazur

Ivy Tech Community College

RUNNING HEAD: HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION OBSERVATION

The school that I went to for the gym class was White Oak Elementary. The school has

grades preschool through fourth grade. It is located in Avon, Indiana. The teacher that I observed

was Dawn Foster. Dawn Foster is the schools gym teacher/ physical therapist. So that means

during some of the gym classes, she has the developmental preschoolers (special needs) come to

gym class with the kindergarteners. She does this to help motivate the developmental

preschoolers to be able to do the activities that the typical students do. The developmental

preschoolers are not physically handicap, they are more so mentally handicap.

I thought it was very interesting how the teacher had the developmental kids come in

with the typical kids. I feel like it really help the special needs children have a visual of what the

teacher was asking them to do. When the teacher gave the instructions, the typical kids

understood and did what she said. The special needs children then went along with what the

other children were doing. They all seemed to get along and I could tell that the typical kids

loved being with the special needs children. A lot of them stood right next to them and wanted to

help them the whole time.

For the health class, I observed a teacher named Karen Lasky. Karen is a middle school

health teacher at Avon Middle School. The school only has grades seventh and eighth. She has

been teaching health for six years now. During the time I was there, the students were presenting

their projects about saying no to drugs. They were very interesting to listen to. The class had

about thirty students in it. This was a seventh grade class that I was observing.

The students had to make a poster and write a paper on why people should not do drugs.

The students did a really nice job and the teacher was really pleased with the results as well.

In the health classroom, as soon as I walked in, the teacher greeted me and was very nice

to me. I got there ten minutes before the class started. I went for the first period of the day. I got

to sit and talk to the teacher for a few minutes while the kids were coming in and waiting for the
RUNNING HEAD: HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION OBSERVATION

bell to ring. I learned that the teacher went to Ball State for college and went to Brownsburg

when she was younger. I had a lot of fun talking with her.

When the bell finally rang, she went up to the front of the room and told the kids to get

out their projects and to put them on their desks. Every kids had their project completed. She was

very happy about that. She said that this was the first time this year that everyone had their work

done. I found that to be very interesting. After she saw that they all had it done, she had them go

up and present one at a time. I could tell that some of the kids were very nervous and I could also

tell that some were not nervous at all. They all did a very nice job and they each got to present in

that class period. To present their project, they had their one page of research and they also had

their poster to go along with it. I loved looking at the posters. When they got up to present, they

had to read their papers and tell us about their posters. That was all they had to do.

I thought it was interesting to see how to them, it was a big project even though to me, it

seemed so simple. I know in the future they will have more challenging things that they will have

to do. It was the same way for me back when I was in middle school. It seemed like everything

we did back then was so easy compared to what we do in college. Some of the kids got to talk to

me after the class was over and they were saying the same thing. They were telling me how they

were afraid to get to college because of how hard it might be once they get there.

The thing I found most interesting while I was there was how well the teacher managed

her classroom. The kids knew right when they came in, to sit down at their seats and to wait for

the teacher to give instructions. I was very impressed because I did not know how middle

schoolers were going to act. The teacher needs to earn respect from their students. The students

will try to test you out from the beginning, but you have to show them that they need to respect

you (GEHLP, 2013).

When I went to White Oak for the gym class, I had a great experience. When I got there,

I had some time to talk with the teacher before the kids got in the gym. She told me how we were
RUNNING HEAD: HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION OBSERVATION

going to have some special needs students in the class along with the typical kindergarteners. I

was very excited to hear that because I am getting my minor in special education. These special

needs students were preschoolers who are developmentally delayed. Only a few of them had a

physical disability. The physical disabilities that they had were just mild. One girl had a leg brace

and the boy had bad vision in one of his eyes. There were a total of twenty-four kindergarteners

and a total of seven developmental preschoolers in the gym. The adults in the gym were the gym

teacher, an assistant for the preschoolers, and me. We all worked together to help the children.

The activity that the gym teacher had planned was one where the kids got to practice the

skill of waiting in a line to do something. She mixed up the developmental preschoolers with the

typical kids. She said that the developmental preschoolers would follow along with what the

typical kids do. This helps them each learn from each other (THES, 2015).

Once she got them in groups, she had them line up in five different lines. Each child had

to wait their turn to shoot the basketball. For some of the developmental preschool kids, it was a

little hard for them because they were not used to using the skill of waiting in a line and having

to wait their turn. Even though this activity was simple for the typical kids, it was a little

challenging for the developmental kids. After they watched the typical kids do it for a while, then

they started to get the idea and felt better about having to wait their turn. I thought it was

interesting how much they learned from the typical students.

The comments that the health teacher made about the class that she teaches is that she

wishes that she had time to do more hands-on activities with the students. She feels like they

would get a lot more out of the lessons and it would keep them more interested in what she is

trying to teach them. I feel like that would keep the kids more interested as well because it allows

them to do something different rather than just sitting and taking notes.

The comments that the gym teacher made about the gym class was that she loved having

both of the classes together. She loved it because she feels like they learn a lot from each other.
RUNNING HEAD: HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION OBSERVATION

She said that sometimes she feels like they learn more from the typical kids than they do from

her (THES, 2015). I feel like that could be very true because the kids usually feel more

comfortable around other kids and are more likely to take after other kids because they have

more in common.

Overall, this experience was so much fun. Even though in the health class I would have

liked to see an actual lesson being taught, I still felt like I learned a lot from the students and the

teacher. I also learned a lot from the gym class that I observed as well. I learned that sometimes

you have to be patient and that you can learn a lot from children. This experience has also taught

me that sometimes kids learn more from other kids than they do from the actual teacher. I find

that very interesting because they are supposed to be learning from the teacher. Kids are usually

more comfortable with other kids than they are with the teacher because they have more in

common with the other students.

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Reference Page

Teaching Health Education in School. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2017, from

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/gradeschool/school/Pages/Teaching-

Health-Education-in-School.aspx

Grade 3 to 5 Elementary Health Lesson Plans. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2017, from

http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/health/35/
RUNNING HEAD: HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION OBSERVATION

Health and Physical Education Observation Project

Grading Rubric

Points are awarded based on thoroughness and attention to detail Possible

Points
Title Page 5

Reflection Paper Content 50

Demonstrates critical expressions in each section of the paper using all
resources available - teacher responses, class notes/discussions, textbook,
and personal reflections.
This paper must include Subtitles in each section.

a. Introduction/Background Information
b. Health Class Observations
c. Physical Education Class Observations
d. Teacher Comments
e. Summary/Conclusion

Two textbook citations - The citations may be a direct quote or a 10

paraphrase of the textbook content.

Reference Page 5

Observation & Interview Identification Sheet 10

Include Questions & Notes 10

(from observations & interviews)
Mechanics Grammar, etc. 10

Total Points 100

RUNNING HEAD: HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION OBSERVATION