Adapted Observations and Reflections

Below is a break down of my experience working with students with disabilities in the Sport and Splash Program here at SUNY Cortland. Again for me this experience was pretty amazing. I had the opportunity to work with two students who were diagnosed with Down syndrome, who gave me an insight to their abilities both physically and mentally. Now after this class, I believe that I will take what I have learned from both the class as well as the students themselves and will be more comfortable and willing to work with other students with disabilities. I had an amazing time with both of my students and I will miss them, but the experience that I had working with them in this program will stick with me for the longest time!

Day 1 – Sept. 19: Today was the first day with the students, it was very overwhelming at first, because I did not know what to expect. I had a little background on my students so it was very overwhelming. I was unorganized by not having a lesson plan, I had so many different activities planned in the Gymnasium to work on the different skills to see where the students’ abilities are.

Day 2 – Sept. 26: This class I was focusing on pre-assessing the students using the TGMD-2. The only reason for using this assessment was to check the locomotor and object control skills. I did not use the scores to assess the students; I just looked to see what the students were capable of doing. This class went pretty well as there was more structure behind the lesson.

Day 3 – Oct. 3: This week went very well; we finished up the pre-assessment this week. By doing this I was able to sit down with the students and gain a little more insight on what they like doing activities wise. I was also able to talk to them to gather their interests in general to make it more of a relaxed setting in future classes.

Day 4 – Oct. 10: This week we were continuing to work on the student’s cardiovascular endurance and I set up a scavenger hunt for the students. They had a blast, they liked having to search the school move around, they were very happy with the lesson for the day!

Day 5 – Oct. 17: This week we focused on soccer dribbling skills. They were interested in the skill but it was not something that they wanted to perform for the entire class. I needed to think of other activities for them to do, I made it into a competition and had them work on control while moving faster. By the end of the lesson, they were ready to go to the pool to swim.

Day 6 – Oct. 24: Today we were playing Volleyball, Michelle was willing to play Volleyball, but Jeni was hesitant to participate. We did our normal warm-up which went well, but when we went to play sitting volleyball, Jeni was not in the mood to play, she started saying that she hurt herself and could not participate anymore. So we changed it up and allowed them to stand up and play one versus one volleyball.

Day 7 – Oct. 31: Today we worked on cardiovascular endurance again. The lesson went very well and the participation was great. There was a whole lot of laughter going on as well. Overall a good day for 356 Lab!

Day 8 – Nov. 7: Today we were working on cardiovascular endurance. We had a obstacle course that they went through, working on jumping rope, running, skipping and hopping. They were participating throughout the entire lesson but they will focus better on a particular skill.

Day 9 – Nov. 14: Today we performed our regular warm up which went very well. We then moved down to the racquetball courts to play racquetball. Jeni was hesitant to play because she did not want to play using the safety glasses. Once I convinced her that it would be

Day 10 – Nov. 21: Today I took, Jeni, Michelle, Ken and Benson to the weight room, they were very intrigued and participated the entire time of the lesson. They did not want to leave to join in to the group activity because they wanted to stay in the weight room and lift weights. Today’s lesson went very well and I was very impressed by the amount of effort that they placed into their work out for the day.

Day 11 – Nov. 28: Today we were working on juggling with Jeni, Michelle, Ken and Benson. It went well but the students were not as interested, so changed up my lesson to bowling a little bit as well as some beach volleyball. I feel as though this lesson was not as prepared as I had hoped for and that I needed to prepare better for the last lesson of the week.

Day 12 – Dec. 5: Tonight’s lab was a good way to end the lab. Our main focus was bowling to let the students enjoy their last day of Sport and Splash for the semester. It was kind of a surreal experience because it was the last night of lab which was good, but it was upsetting too because I have created a relationship with Jeni and Michelle and it will be interesting to not come to lab every Monday night. One complication in today’s lab is that Jeni was starting to have a “meltdown” because she was not able to see Dan as he was absent.