Teaching Styles

Reciprocal style emphasizes social relationships, students can learn social as well as motor skills which makes this style effective with middle school students. In this style students give each other feedback. The teacher still determines the task for the students to practice and identifies the critical features for them. I would incorporate this style into a track and field lesson by making a peer assessment form for sprinting, which explains all the critical elements they are looking for. Students will get a partner and practice watching each other and giving corrective feedback to fix their partners form.
Self-check style allows students to become more self-reliant. A student will evaluate their own performance and will be able to see their own strengths and weaknesses in the skill. I would use this style of teaching when the students are familiar with a task. For example I may have students evaluate their tennis serve in a tennis unit after we have already had a lesson on tennis serving.
Practice style is the most common style used in physical education. It gives students more time to master motor skills and concepts as well as more responsibility for their own learning. The student determines the number of practice trials and often the order in which they will practice the tasks within the time the teacher allocates. I would use this style of teaching in the beginning of any unit as well as in sport skills units. This will allow me to give students more time to master motor skills. For example I would use this style in a soccer unit.
I used practice style as well as reciprocal style in my lessons at Birchland Park Middle School. I used practice style in my football lesson when the students were practicing their pass patterns . I used reciprocal style in my track and field lesson. I had the students check their partners form for sprinting in the 50 yard dash. It is very important to be able to teach in all styles. Certain styles are more effective with different units in physical education. For example in a golf unit you would want to use a command style of teaching. This will ensure the safety of students since there are long handed implements. A great physical educator will know how to teach every style and know what units each are best in. This will allow for students to have the best opportunity to learn in.