Yoga... Rule 76- No Excuses Play Like A Champion

It felt great to be able to teach a class without being nervous or unprepared. I worked hard on preparing and setting up for today’s lesson and it had definitely paid off. In the beginning I thought I had a great opener, "Hello my name is Mike 'The Guru' Zarcone and I will be your Yoga instructor today"- It made everyone giggle which broke the ice. Also I added a movie quote on my Rules poster.. "Rule 76- No excuses, play like a champion." Again, I thought that was a great addition because people laughed. That laughter made everyone comfortable which in turn made the lesson better. I touched on the health benefits that yoga supports and I did this by making a poster board with fill in the blanks and have the students answer them, very effective.
I started my students off with a simple Yoga Freeze Tag. Two tagger (that I selected before class so I wouldn't waste time) trying to tag other students in a given area. Once a student gets tagged, they must go to the mirror and perform two poses we completed last class. This instant activity increases the students’ heart rate and also allows them to self-assess their poses in the mirrors.
Once the instant activity was over, I had them make a circle around me and follow me through the old poses with the addition of 3 new poses (Downward Facing Dog, Leg Lift Pose, Sitting Chair pose). In my circle, I gave the options of completing harder poses for the students that were strong and flexible. Also, gave easier poses for the students that were not comfortable with stretching. Once the review was over I had the students grab a partner and have them self assess with the mirrors provided and peer assess. Also, have them make up their own sequence of poses to show the class.
Students made up some interesting poses; some were very funny and others were serious. This was a plus because that showed me they were either enjoying themselves or taking it seriously, or both. One student wanted to show the class his poses he created, very entertaining and enlightening. As you can see at the bottom of this post, the video of the student performing his modified Sun Salutation sequence. I ended my lesson with going over the cues for one of the poses we did together. I asked everyone to perform the pose as I walked around to give feedback.

While the students were creating their own sequences I walked around giving positive and corrective My Feedback. Also, I planned my lesson to incorporate as much activity as possible while giving the proper instructions for a high success rate. This is How I Managed My Time.

My Yoga Lesson Plan

Things I should have done:

• Have music playing the whole class time.
• Give a cognitive test at the end of class.

Remember, WORK HARD and TEACH ON!