South Meadow School
Peterborough, NH
A caring, cooperative, respectful, and academically challenging community of learners.
I completed my elementary student teaching at South Meadow School. SMS was awarded the 2005 and 2012 New Hampshire Excellence in Education Middle School of the year award. SMS is a regional, rural middle school. It serves students from Peterborough, Greenfield, Temple, Dublin, and Sharon from grades 5-8. The total enrollment is just over 400 students. During my time at SMS I worked with Tod Silegy. Recently, the New Hampshire Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (NHAHPERD) announced Tod Silegy as the recipient of the NHAHPERD Middle School Teacher of the Year Award. Mr. Silegy is also the Athletic Director, head of the Physical Education Department, and the boys soccer and girls softball coach.
During my time at SMS, I assisted and taught a number of units including: ultimate frisbee, ultimate football, speedball, cooperative activities (including a duel rock climbing wall and suspended balance beam), pin soccer, capture the flag, tug of war, yoga, and circuit fitness training. I also planned on my own and taught a volleyball and fun games unit.
During my time at SMS, I assisted and taught a number of units including: ultimate frisbee, ultimate football, speedball, cooperative activities (including a duel rock climbing wall and suspended balance beam), pin soccer, capture the flag, tug of war, yoga, and circuit fitness training. I also planned on my own and taught a volleyball and fun games unit.
What I Learned...
Holding students accountable: I highly valued my time at SMS. Middle school students are at such an influential age in their lives. The school motto, "a caring, cooperative, respectful, and academically challenging community of learners" was embraced and celebrated among all of the school faculty, from top to bottom.
Interacting with Students: It is important to establish a good rapport with the students in order to earn their respect and trust. At SMS, when appropriate, I was able to joke around with the students and have fun, but then at the same time, I learned how to be serious when deemed necessary. Keep It Simple: Students at the middle school level need activities that have few and simple rules. If an activity had too many complicated rules, the students would get caught up in focusing on making sure each rule was being followed exactly rather than having fun. The students had the most success when activities were easily understandable and had everyone moving. |
Observation ReportsThe following are two observation reports filled out by my supervising professor while observing me teach at SMS.
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PE NewsletterWhile at SMS, I created a fun PE Newsletter and sent it home with all of the 5th grade students.
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