The introduction of iPads has greatly enhanced student learning in Physical Education, while taking a lot of time and pressure of me, the PE teacher. I have always tried to incorporate information technology into my lessons, but in the past the negatives have at times outweighed the positives. In our swimming and gymnastics units last year, I filmed every child in the school (on my own cameras) and spent endless hours downloading, editing, saving, burning and projecting, so that students could review their performance from the previous week.
With the iPads, students have the ownership of IT, taking the role of photo/videographer and seeing an immediate image or video of their performance, allowing them to critically analyse and retry on the spot. This is great for all sports, but particularly those that involve complex motor skills such as swimming and gymnastics. The gymnastics unit that has just been completed has greatly improved by the the use of iPads in class. Gone are the days when you say to a student “Your arms need to be straight” and they reply “They are straight”! A quick photo shows them who is right! 🙂
We will be using these tools to supplement our swimming programme, which restarts on Saturday and will run until the end of the year. Please ensure that your child comes fully prepared for this, on the correct day (see below), as it is now too hot to be sat on the side watching!
Saturday – Grade 6&7, Grade 2, Grade 6
Monday – Grade 4
Tuesday – Grade 3, K1&2
Wednesday – Grade 8&9, K3