Battle of the Blades

In a K-12 school, many adjustments have to made by students and teachers in order to accommodate the various activities and events.  December is Christmas concert month and so the gym is limited for PE classes as the stage is set up.  For my PE 20/30 class we would spend the month of December at the skating rink.  This course ran every second day for the entire afternoon which worked very well.  However, I am not a skilled skater by any stretch so this made me nervous.  I wanted to stay away from games of shinny as I knew the vast range of skating experience would result in exclusion and minimal learning.  I came up with a "Battle of the Blades" competition.

I would group the students into groups of 4 or 5.  Each group would have an experienced skater (usually a hockey player or figure skater), students with some experience and a student with no skating experience.  By grouping the students this way, it brought the groups to a level where everyone could be included.  Leaders would emerge and they would teach each other the skills that were required for their skating routine as well as for their lessons.  Each group was required to teach a lesson to the class.  These lessons were aligned with curricular Basic Movement Patterns and basic skating skills.  As well, this fell in nicely with Rhythmics and Dance as outlined in both the Physical Education 20 and 30 curricula.  Each day would consist of 1 class period dedicated to the student-lead lessons and 1 class period creating and practicing their Battle of the Blades program.  On the last day of school before Christmas holidays, all classes would be invited to the rink to watch these routines.  It became a tradition and exciting for the entire school!  We would put together a finale with the entire class as well as the teachers put in a skating program too!  Our school also had some very serious figures skaters and so they were invited to perform for their peers.  Afterwards, some elementary classes were invited to stay and skate with the grade 11s and 12s.

Click on the following link to see the assignment details and rubric: Battle of the Blades Assignment

I have provided a video of one group's performance.  They did very well on this assignment and incorporating the skill levels of each other.  They were creative and displayed great teamwork!

For an outline of the student-taught lessons and assessment click on the following link: Skating Peer Teaching Assignment

Each student was also required to complete a self-evaluation Peer Teaching Self-Evaluation.