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Wednesday 28 November 2012

One great big huge giant GCSE PE project.

So the Summer Olympics, hosted in the city of London, seemed to have got the nation in a state of euphoria about sport and the legacy that it would bring.  It had moments of magic, tales of courage and stories of hard work and determination that could inspire a generation.  It also showcased the best of sport, highlighting all of the ideals that we as PE teachers want to promote with our students. From a GCSE PE teachers perspective, it was brimmed with an enormous wealth of examples, technical terminology and in depth insights into a number of the subjects that we cover in our course.  There were times that I could literally be redundant in my lessons if I simply streamed the BBC coverage into my classroom.  The endless interviews talking about diet, training programmes, training methods and motivation.  The mini documentaries that looked at the physiology, the history or the psychological effects of sport on athletes.  The keynote interviews with athletes or team managers, giving you the background lowdown on how important a role sport plays in society.  Every one of them was gripping and inspiring.  One in particular got my attention though.  Maybe it was because subconsciously knew that I had topics such as technology, science and ICT in sport to cover when I came back in September.  This one interview was the BBC interview with Dave Brailsford. 



This got me thinking that the work that cycling does could be the driver or resource that I base these three topics on.  The aim is that my class would learn all of the GCSE PE content through the sport, and in return get a huge amount of examples which they could use in their exams.  But then came this video.  This video simply summed up the emotion of the Olympics and got me thinking "If GB cycling is so successful, why don't we hear more about it outside of the Olympics".  We all know of Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendelton but how often do we see them race except for every 4 years.



Maybe because I knew that sponsorship, media and role models was after the other topics that I thought that these videos could be the basis for an amazing learning opportunity for my class.  I then decided to write up a project where the class would learn all of the topics, specific terminology, extended knowledge and real life examples, through Team GB and Team Sky's amazing cycling success.  Filled with Skype sessions with Eurosport commentators, masterclasses with local journalists, practical cycling lessons with British Cycling, a Velodrome visit, a seminar with GB regional officer and the end product of an amazing presentation evening, the next half term is shaping up to be an amazing learning experience!  Please sit back over the next few weeks and enjoy the blog posts from my class as we take on this big challenge.

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