Date: June 30, 2016
School Name: Brackendale Elementary School
School District: School District #48 Sea to Sky
Contact Name: Andrew Georgy-Embree
Contact Information (optional):
Story Title: What is Sportsmanship?
Did you receive an:
[ ] Activity Grant
[ X ] Inquiry Grant
- Tell us about your focus.Tell us about the context of your school, and why this topic was chosen (e.g. what was the need and how did you know this needed to be addressed?).
At the beginning of the year it became clear that our class needed some work with proper etiquette and gameplay within athletic activities, especially group games. There were a few students whose manner, I felt, could have improved considerably as many of them felt it was more their responsibility to point out the competitive flaws in others than to focus on their own conduct.
Secondly, I felt that my class had an interest in role play, storytelling and the technical arts. This context seemed to be a perfect environment for retelling of the stories through role plays.
- If you received an Inquiry Grant, what was your inquiry question?
Our question was simple: “What is sportsmanship?” The process began with a class brainstorm and we discussed numerous ideas (see image below).
The conversation took an interesting turn as we talk about the opposite definition of bad sportsmanship.
- What did you do? What activities did you do? What key areas of health and learning did you focus on? What tools and resources did you use? How were students involved? Who else was involved?
As mentioned, we began with a brainstorm. Many good ideas came from the students as they began to develop a better understanding from their own experiences. With the words still fresh in their minds, each was tasked with constructing his/her own definition of the word sportsmanship, which they then practiced reading then committing to memory.
“Sportsmanship is when you’re being fair and having fun at the same time, but also being respectful to others.”JH
“Good sportsmanship is working as a team with respect. And having fun without pushing or fighting.” NS
Sportsmanship is when you’re being fair and having fun at the same time, but also being respectful to others.” MS
After the definitions where inspected and returned students had to complete storyboards illustrating their stories.
After the storyboards were complete we moved to shot lists wherein students had to think about what scenes they wanted to capture.
The shot list helped students focus their efforts and directed them to the next stages. They picked a location, equipment, assembled a team then went a begun the filming process. Each student had to clearly indicate their definition in their story with a supporting activity. I supervised the filming which took a few months to complete. Once complete, students used iPads and iMovie to edit their final work before submitting it to their portfolio.
- What were the outcomes? Share evidence you gathered in evaluation/assessment. What change was evident? How did you know? What new learning occurred? How did this influence the learning environment and students’ learning? What new areas of professional learning did you explore?
In most cases, students had multiple opportunities to participate in each other’s projects. Because each student was responsible for completing a mini documentary, there were able to witness the accomplishment of a project from beginning (the idea) to end (the film). Along the way I had to interject with multiple instructional tidbits ranging from what makes a good definition to cinematic production values. Personally, I had numerous learning technical opportunities with respect to the transference of different types of video formats. The biggest challenge was transferring student video footage from the GoPro camera to the iPads for editing. After a few days, with a few voices of technical support, I was able to arrive at a solution that worked efficiently for the students.
- School Connectedness. The heart of School Connectedness is the presence of caring relationships (e.g. students can identify two adults in the school who care about them). Did this activity/inquiry contribute to school connectedness, and if so, how and in what ways?
Students came to a better understanding of the practical nature of sportsmanship within the classroom and how it played out in their daily activities. They were also able to connect these ideas to their classmates and to their parents through their portfolios. I suspect students will take these wider ideas of sportsmanshipwill continue with my students.
- What are your reflections and how can you build on your efforts? Share any reflections you have (e.g. what worked well, what you would do differently next time). What did you learn? How did this transform your teaching practice? What advice do you have for others? What’s next for you, your students and the school?
Small ideas can go a long way. I would definitely give students agency over future projects. They bring fresh ideas and can communicate in ways I might not expect. They also have the ability deliver messages that are much more project than I had anticipated. One student’ work went a bit longer than the project guidelines, but the story he told was remarkably thoughtful and considerate. Due to the nature of the video work, I would like have students placed in group to reduce the amount of time needed and ultimately to reduce the amount of work on both student and teacher. We were working on this project till just a couple days before the end of school. I would also like to spread out the video capture devices. I created a bottleneck of wait time when students were all waiting for the same resource.
I’ve always been impressed by how a seemingly small idea can balloon into such epic proportions. I think I could further expand the project but we certainly achieved the objective of learning more about sportsmanship and how it should be played out the school classroom. The advice I would offer others is to not place any constraints on project builders. Let them take the project to a large as possible without inadvertently sabotaging themselves.
Now we celebrate summer vacation!
Sportsmanship Storyboards:
Sportsmanship Documentaries:
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