Gymnastic Jumps. Like usual, you can find it at the Free Store.
What is it?
The Gymnastics Jumps handoutprovides students with a one-page digital (e.g. Seesaw) or hard-copy visual of 5 jumps students can complete in gymnastics. These different jumps might be performed off of a springboard, on the floor, or off a low bench, etc. (depending on your context and students' entry point to each jump). Students then use reflection to identify the levels of challenge they faced. Students circle whether the jump was too easy, too hard, or just right.
How can I use this?
Gymnastic Jumps can be used as an introduction for jumping in gymnastics. It can also be used near the completion of a unit with students reflecting on their learning. Depending on the students you are teaching (e.g. age, experience, etc.), this document might be completed over the course of multiple lessons (e.g. pencil jump first day and progress to other jumps in later lessons). If being used as a formative assessment, with more experienced gymnasts, you might have students complete this task during an introductory lesson. This can help you plan tasks, with the appropriate level of challenge in mind for your students, in future lessons. I would recommend having different entry points for each jump. For example, the turn jump --> some students might choose to bounce off a springboard and do a turn jump. Others might not use the springboard, some might run and jump off the springboard, some might do a 360 degree jump while others might focus on 180 or 90 degrees. Optimal challenge can motivate students to participate and perform tasks (Fletcher et al., 2021). When the level of challenge is too easy or too hard, boredom can persist and students can develop a lack of enthusiasm towards PE (Dismore & Bailey, 2011). For the sake of this task, you'll notice boredom represents too easy and "frustrated" or "sadness" for too hard. In hindsight, perhaps a more angry face would have been better (boredom was already taken!). You will also see an empty "new jump" square in the bottom right corner. This provides students with choice on a jump that they would like to refine/perform/create/explore. The student then draws or writes a the new jump they tried during the lesson or unit. Student responses might span from the well-known straddle jump to a student-created unicorn jump. Ensure you give students an opportunity to reflect on this selection to discover why this choice was made. Perhaps the answer will lead to optimal challenge... or joy.
If you are interested in furthering your reading around optimal challenge (and more!) in PE, consider investigating Meaningful Physical Education (MPE) and its approach. This book is excellent (see photo below) and you can always follow @meaningfulPE on Twitter for the latest research/thoughts around MPE.
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