Core observing

Sometimes as an observer I feel as if I’m a fly on the wall. In my gym class, which is segregated by girls and boys, I have noticed that the boys are much more active than the girls. They are focused during the games and participate often. The girls on the other hand, usually have to be asked more than once to get involved. This is not true everyday or even to every student, but is definitely a trend. Right now the boys are playing team hand ball and the girls are tumbling. Having the boys and girls do separate activities helps each sex to feel more comfortable with what they are doing. Although the boys are more involved in the games, the girls have a longer attention span when it comes to listening to direction and explanation. The best way I’ve seen my teacher get their attention is blow a whistle. After she has their attention she make them sit down where they are and put any type of equipment down on the ground. No middle schooler can listen and hold a ball at the same time!
During tumbling it was easy to listen in on student to student conversation. The girls were genuine in trying to help each other to become better at each skill. If one girl knew more or was more skilled, she would show the girls that were interested and then explain how she did the tumble. The teacher gave guide lines and from there it was mostly each girl working to better herself at a specific skill. The only problem I noticed was there was one girl that was very good at gymnastics. She did dominate at times and I could sense some intimidation from some of the girls that were less skilled. However, it was helpful to have this girl in the class because if my teacher couldn’t do a certain tumble, she would ask the girl in gymnastics to show the class.