This month, Playworks SLC is honoring Ryan Moore for his outstanding work at East Midvale Elementary. Ryan came into this year fresh, never having worked at Playworks before, and he’s stepped up in a big way. Both students and staff say they love Coach Moore. His recesses feature absolutely blistering games of 4-square and soccer, but the really exciting thing to watch is his class game times. We’re honoring Ryan this month for his process of reflecting on class game times and constantly improving them by tailoring the games, attention getter and transition activities to the needs of his kids. Ryan often writes up notes on how each class game time goes and then rereads those notes before planning his next session with the same class. It’s a process that’s been getting incredible results and rave reviews from teachers and students. All we can say here is keep up the spectacular results and congratulations on being our coach of the month!
What drew you to being a coach with Playworks?
Many things, but most of all, I just wanted to be a part of an organization that cared more about who they served rather than how much money can made. I wanted to belong to something that made a positive difference in the world.
What are some highlights of your program at your school?
I would like to shout out the Playworks program at my school for making a big change. I have heard from the staff that there were many conflicts at recess last year. Approximately 15 students were receiving recess tickets a day, and that has dropped drastically. Students are getting along better, encouraging one another, sporting behavior has improved, and we are currently working on taking the fear of “getting back in line” out of recess.
Could you outline your amazing approach to CGT and how you reflect on your successes and challenges to improve for the next time?
This is hard to put into words the exact process, but what I like to do is figure out what type of objectives/lessons I want to focus on. Usually I start with one game with an objective in mind and then build around that. I break it down and alter it to fit different age groups: 3rd-6th, 1st-2nd, and K. During CGT I like to bring a lot of energy as well as pause at moments to allow the students to reflect on some of the lessons they have learned. Usually a teacher or myself helps guide the reflection by ask the students a lot of questions in hope they figure it out. I find that the lessons stick better when they feel it’s their own conclusion, not what someone is just telling them. At the end of the day I sit and do some reflecting myself. I have a folder for each class where I keep notes. I write the games that were played, what worked, what didn’t, and the objectives I wanted to focus on. I finish with a quick section of notes to elaborate on my thoughts of what was successful and what was not. It gives me a good place to look back and see how I need to adjust my facilitation next time to make class game time most successful. This final reflection process is not something I do every day, but I try and do it as often as my schedule allows.
*Coach of the Month is a non-competitive award we give to our coaches to honor them for running amazing Playworks programs at each of their schools. Coach of the Month can’t be won, it can only be accepted.
