A middle school teacher with 34 students had physical fitness as the most important goal. Consequently, the main activity in a badminton unit was to play games. On the 2nd day of the unit, Teacher 'B' explained service rotation for doubles along with several rules. Then she tried to maximize playing time by having 24 students play doubles games on six courts. The extra students used their wait time to rest and rotated in as they were able.

How well did the teacher accomplish her most important goal and structure the lesson in general?

Critique

Criticism 1: The teacher had students playing games too soon in the unit. In this case, several players did not know what grip and/or what serving motion to use. Even if they had prior exposure to these basic elements on the first day or in a prior year, it was way too soon to begin playing regulation games.

Criticism 2: Having nearly one-third of the students (10) inactive is unacceptable. Class procedures should provide meaningful participation of those who wait to play. In this case, a stage provided enough room for the extra students to practice footwork or complete some predetermined fitness activity, such as sit-ups, push-ups, and/or rope jumping. If no comparable space exists, extra students could work on a badminton word game (i.e. crossword puzzle, word search), or analyze aspects of a peer's game.

Criticism 3: Playing doubles games provides a low level of activity, even for the 24 playing, relative to alternative ways to structure the lesson. Doubles games utilize only one shuttle for every four people, and students are not skilled enough to keep the shuttle moving beyond two or three hits. If activity is a priority, more exercise would result from having students work on particular skills in pairs with four players and two shuttles per court.