Project Description
Many enrichment activities contain untapped areas to fuse in learning opportunities for the students. This version of flag football contains the standard game but with more learning opportunities integrated. Students participate in a sport that requires teamwork to succeed. Students reinforce their verbal and written communication skills by creating their own plays. Once teams are selected students need to plan their offensive and defensive strategies first through group discussions, then through the use of wipe boards to map out their play patterns with X's and O's. Once completed, they are asked to name their plays. The plays they create are then executed during practice before the game.
A practice period should always be provided before a game even if for only a few minutes. This allows the teams to make any changes before the game. It also extends the period of time in which the players are actively working together without any interference. Naturally this process also strongly promotes peer-to-peer relationships.
Flag football is a light contact sport. There is no tackling permitted whatsoever. A player's forward progression is stopped when the flag is pulled from their hip area. The best flags are connected by velcro to a player's belt. This class can be conducted out doors or in a gym. Student can be scorekeepers or take turns to co-referee a game with the instructor. The staff person promotes adult-to-youth relationships by encouraging teams through the process of creating plays, acknowledging moments of great team work, and by playing the game with the youth when ever possible.
Needed materials and costs:
Catalogues such as S&S Wholesale offer good Velcro based flag football equipment for around twenty dollars.
How do you know this practice is having a positive impact on students?
Some successful moments were captured via video camera. Last year's SAYO-T surveys showed a positive gain of .342 in Verbal Communication. The SAYO-S surveys showed a positive gain of 3.206 in adult relations and 2.382 in peer relations.
If applicable, describe strategies that were used to help overcome barriers you may have faced.
Competition can become a problem during many team games. This is one of life's many challenges where a lesson can be learned and form a basis for social emotional outcomes. The staff person teaching this class should be trained to embrace the disagreements that will occur during a game as a learning opportunity for the youth.
The first day of class should be spent with the students creating guidelines and expectations for the activity. The guidelines should encompass rules for safety, rules for the game (so they are clear for all of the players from the start), and agreed upon consequences for any infractions that take place during the activity. If the students are part of this process it helps to alleviate the situations that may occur later on. It also helps to have a student write the agreed expectations, guidelines, and consequences down on a large piece of paper for future reference.
Another strategy that can be a great learning experience is naming a new team captain for each time the class is held. Discussions about the expectations of good sportsmanship and the responsibilities of each player should be conducted before this occurs. Questions like 'what makes a good leader' and 'what makes a good teammate?' are great for group discussions. Student can list these traits on a piece of paper. Often players discover their best leaders are good listeners and great team players. Once this system is in place, there will be students who get to experience what it is like to be a team leader for the first time. When I taught this class I had one student who got angry with his team because they were not performing well. I brought the student to the side and asked, "What would your favorite sports star do right now?" It was a great adult to youth moment. He took a deep breath apologized to his team and continued playing and tried extremely hard to lead by example.
What factors do you think have contributed most to the success of this practice?
Making sure youth share the control of the activity from beginning to end. Creating their own plays and participating in the creation of the activity's rules and expectations greatly increases the chances of students participating in a successful experience. It is extremely important that when there are disagreements during a game that they are not ignored or simply stamped out by the teacher but rather explored and resolved by methods already created by the youth. When players can resolve these issues without teacher help it could be assessed that there has been some amazing social emotional growth.
What suggestions do you have for others regarding potential improvements?
Bring in guest speakers from the sports world, whether high school or college level, to reinforce good team play and good sportsmanship.
Calculate the angles of players' run patterns, on paper using protractors and on the field by estimating.
Set up the field as a Cartesian coordinate plane (X and Y axes). Run play patterns using math coordinates.
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