"My Favorite Lesson"
I teach 6th grade PE, where enthusiasm is high but overall skill is pretty weak. The unit was a sport called Gaelic Football and the lesson was designed to teach kids how to perform a kick pass to a teammate. The objective of this lesson was "TSWBAT perform an accurate kick pass to a teammate 8-10 meters away."
The previous class, they learned how to perform a "solo", which is essentially using the foot to pass it to oneself. It's a difficult skill to use during game play while on the move. One of the major skill cues was that the foot needed to be flexed, that is, the toe has to be pointed upwards. I explained how this action essentially keeps the ball within their arms reach. So, at the beginning of the class, I had students review the skills cues verbally and think reflectively as to why these cues are necessary. When it came time to practice the kick pass, I gave no instructions on the skill mechanics, using the "guided discovery" method of learning, where kids can explore different ways of performing a skill and what works best and what caused less success. I only referred to previous passing methods in Gaelic, restating that an effective pass should be low (not an arcing lob to which the defense can easily react) and not so powerful that the teammate cannot catch the ball.
Watching students adjust their footing, their body positions, extension of the foot that promotes outward flight of the ball (rather than the contained self-pass "solo"), adjusting the power of their kick and seeing a tremendous improvement in their cognitive process in Gaelic Football was rewarding. The students had a great time with the whole process, feeling more freedom in their practice than they are normally afforded. After 10-15 minutes of this, I called them in and had THEM verbalize the skill cues that they found to generate the greatest success. To hear them do this rather than just explaining myself was a great lesson for both the students and me. I ended by telling them, "You see, all of you can do this on your own! Use this when you are playing outside of class, when you are practicing any skill in any activity." Their reaction and expression indicated they took pride in their ability to learn a new skill on their own and can do the same with any activity they pursue.