Heather Soden

KIN 489A
May 4, 2021

APE Teacher Observation and Reflection

1. The first observation was of Chris Ortiz’s 7th and 8th grade middle school class. The

student teacher began the lesson with a check in feelings chart. They warmed up with leg

swings, knee rotations, squats and jumping jacks. The teacher had a 30 second timer on

the screen with narrations on how to do the exercises. The teacher also had videos of the

exercises and was doing them on camera for the students to observe. The main exercise

was a HIIT workout consisting of flutter kicks and high knees. I liked how the next

exercise showed up in the corner with five seconds left of the previous exercise to allow

the students time to prepare. The teacher was very encouraging and would cue the

students with words of encouragement like, “Keep it up” and “10 seconds left.” The

teacher reminded the students to get a water break and had music playing with a picture

of the timer during the break. The main activity consisted of an underhand catching

activity related to football. I liked how the teacher incorporated this skill with football to

make it more memorable for the students. She also incorporated football related cognitive

goals into the activity. She played football videos and asked the students questions related

to scoring, number of players and object of the game. To conclude the workout, she had

the students stretch an asked cue questions such as, “Where did you feel the stretch.”

2. The second observation was of Brittani's Ikemoto’s K-3 class. The lesson began with a

“Go Noodle” video as they were waiting for students to arrive. She showed the students

the agenda for the day and went over the rules. She began by performing the stretches on

the screen by spotlighting herself and verbally counting to 10 for each exercise. Then
 they watched a warm- up music video. The video has Brittani performing the exercises

while the song dictates the instructions with pictures of the sitting modifications. The

main active activity consisted of heart related fitness cards. There were eight cards to

pick from and each card had a video of a different exercise. Each video had a “Lazy

monster” doing the exercises with a timer and music on the screen. The lesson focus was

to teach kicking. I liked how Brittani always introduced the movement and broke down

the skill beforehand so the students knew how to perform the skill when it was time for

their turn. For the check for understanding question, she had the students choose which

picture was a healthy food. I liked how she incorporated nutrition into her exercise plan.

3. The third observation was of Brittani Ikemoto's 3rd- 5th grade class. She began by stating

the expectations; to have the camera on and water nearby. She began with five stretches:

deltoid stretch, triceps, hamstrings, quad stretch, and high hands. For the fitness activity,

she had matching Valentine's Day cards that were space themed. She had students pick a

match and each card was linked to a fitness activity. I liked how she introduced each

movement for the video and slowed the video down to make it easier to follow. She then

played the space warmup video which included all of the movements from the

Valentine's Day cards. I liked how she tied the exercises to the video in the next part of

her lesson. She began working on kicking an introduced the cues as: step, swing, and

kick. I liked how she made the cue words short so the students can easily remember them.

4. The 4th observation is of Chris Ortiz’s K- 2nd grade class. Chris mentioned he has had

these particular set of students for about 6 years and that appropriate behavior was one of

their IEP goals. They began with an active warmup routine of five exercises for 30

seconds. There was a 30 second timer on the screen for the students to see and videos of
 people performing the exercises. The student teacher also had written cues on the screen

for the students to read. She had the students participate in show and tell. The students

were instructed to grab their favorite thing around the house and present it to the screen

when called upon. They earned this reward for adding up to 25 stars over the course of

their workouts. The students really enjoyed this activity.

5. This observation was of Stacy Gregow’s preschool class. The class began with a

Valentine's Day baby shark video. The video had corresponding hand gestures for each

shark relative (papa shark and mama shark with gestures). The teacher turned the screen

over to class Dojo and recorded points on the screen for students exhibiting behaviors

that were on task such as looking at the screen, participating and working hard. Following

this activity, the students performed a Valentine's Day scarf activity. The teacher made

sure the students had an item in their hand to act as a scarf. The students performed scarf

movements such as a swish, weave and crisscross. The teacher said the name of the

movement verbally, performed the action live and had the words presented on the screen

for students to read. I liked how the teacher incorporated a freedom of expression

component to the lesson.

6. In this lesson, I observed Brittani Ikemoto's K- 3 class. The lesson began with a video on

the respiratory system. The teacher asked check for understanding questions related to the

video. The students begin with warmup stretches such as deltoids, triceps, hamstrings,

quad stretch and shoulder raises. The students followed along to a Valentine's Day

themed “Among Us” fitness video. The “Among Us” characters were flying around the

screen and the students were instructed to avoid the obstacles. When a flying saucer

approached, the students were instructed to slide to avoid it. When an invader
 approached, the students were instructed to punch or kick it. When something flew at the

screen, the students were instructed to duck. The goal of this activity was to obtain three

hearts as a PBIS incentive. The students worked on kicking to end the lesson.

7. This lesson observation was of Brittani Ikemoto’s K-3rd grade class. The lesson began

with warm up stretches performed by the teacher. The lesson’s theme was a Valentine's

Day “Among Us” video. The students were instructed to run, punch, kick and duck the

obstacles on the screen. There were words presented on the screen that told the students

what movements to perform when each obstacle was presented. Their teacher explained

these concepts before starting the video to make sure the students knew the proper way to

perform them. The students worked on passing and dribbling and were shown a passing

video. I liked how the teacher ended the session by saying the words, “All done” while

signing the corresponding sign language movements.

8. This observation was of Brittani Ikemoto’s K- 3rd grade class. The students began the

lesson with a video about the cardiovascular system. The class began with static stretches

and a two-minute warm up song. I liked how the teacher introduced the movements on

camera with names associated with the movement. She gave the students lots of time to

practice the skills in the video beforehand. The students performed 10 exercises for 30

seconds with a visible timer on the screen and music playing in the background. I like

how the teacher had moving background visuals on the screen to keep the students

engaged and looking at the screen. The students played a soccer bowling game to end the

lesson. The students set up water bottles and were instructed to perform a soccer kick to

try and knock over all the water bottles. The students were very engaged in this activity.
9. This observation was Stacey Gregrow’s preschool class. The lesson began with a stop

hop and jump video. I like how the teacher used “Class Dojo” to give points on the screen

to specific students. She gave specific feedback to the students when giving points and

always used their names to capture their attention. Next, she played a “Peppa the Pig”

video on how to catch a ball. The teacher uses cues phrases like, “Can you show me two

hands,” to help the students remember the proper technique. The teacher instructed the

students to put the object to the side when they finished the activity to ensure safe

practices. The last activity was a bunny themed, “Hokey Pokey” video. The video

consisted of bunny themed “Hokey Pokey” dance such as, “Put your paws in and shake

them all about.” I liked how the teacher tried to use gender neutral nouns by substituting

the word “friends” in for students.

10. This observation was of Stacey Gregrow’s elementary class. She went over the class rules

on how to be named the “APE Star” of the day. The rules are as follows: stay at your

screen, try your best, participate in the entire lesson, and respect others by muting your

microphone. The students begin with a “Soulja Boy” warm up dance from Dance Central.

Following this, the students performed a Latino dance. I liked how the teacher reinforced

culturally responsive pedagogy by showing this video in English and Spanish. The video

had words telling students how to do the dance with verbal cues to shout them out loud.

The next video discussed the elements of dancing. The teacher stopped the video and had

the students perform the elements taught in the video, such as how to move your body

high and low. She had the students do the action on the screen by following her cue

words, “Up high and down low.” She ended the lesson by teaching the students how to

perform the Chicken Wing dance from Tiktok. I love how she incorporated a dance the
students might be familiar with into her lesson. She taught the steps in two, four counts

and then put the whole dance together to music. She had to the students practice the

dance without music first and then alongside the Tiktok dance playing on the screen. She

ended the lesson by naming the student, Gabriel the “APE Star” of the day and explained

what behaviors earned him this award. She facilitated peer engagement by having other

students congratulate came on his accomplishment. The student was extremely excited

about this because it was something he could tell his parents about.

These teachers came up with a lot of creative and innovative lessons on Zoom.

There were lots of lesson plan ideas, behavior management techniques and use of

technology I plan to incorporate into my future lesson plans.