First Adapted Physical Education Lab

This semester I am taking PED 356, which is Adapted Physical Education and Sport. Because I have a concentration in adapted physical education, I have already taken some classes that focus on children with disabilities and the different ways to adapt teaching to meet these needs. Although I have a good amount of knowledge on the subject and content, sitting in a classroom learning about the disabilities is much different than actually working one on one with a student with a disability. I was assigned a student who is classified as having a severe emotional disorder and I was assigned to work with her in the pool. I would say that I am a good swimmer but I do not have any experience actually teaching someone else how to swim. I was a little nervous but I spent a lot of time preparing a lesson plan for my first day. I can honestly say that the first day went really well and the student I worked with was a ton of fun! Our assignment for the first day was to assess our students on their skills so we could get a better idea of where they are at. I tried to incorporate the skill testing into games so that my student had fun and was learning at the same time. She did a great job and I was extremely excited to see that she is a good swimmer. She is full of energy and always kept me on my toes. Because she is so full of energy I know it will be important to come prepared with many games and tasks for her to work on. I am glad I got the first day jitters over with and now I focus on turning my student in to a better swimmer while she has fun at the same time! I am definitely looking forward to lab again this upcoming week.