Juggling Lesson for Physical Education

Name: Scot Stephenson February 18, 2000
Unit: Juggling Lesson #1 Grade Level 5 and 6 Equipment Needed: 2 ½ gallon plastic milk jugs and 3 bean bags or balls per student
Psychomotor Objective: To develop the hand-eye coordination necessary to juggle three objects.
Cognitive Objective: To understand the simple cascade pattern and variations thereof that are used in juggling.
Affective Objective: To feel ecstatic about mastering a skill that many students will have thought was beyond their ability.

 Time Activity  Organization Skill Analysis Safety
Lesson
Intro: 2 min Teacher juggles Students sit in
  And introduces  semicircle
  Lessons  While
Students sit and watch

Fitness 5 min Students do  Students form  Proper lifting Teacher ensures that
Act:   bicep curls with line to get jugs  technique students don’t misuse
  ½ gallon milk  from central    equipment.
jugs half full of  location, then
water 3 sets of  go back to places
10 curls  for each arm

Review: none

Skills/ 3 min Teacher shows Students sit in Students practice
Drills/  students basics semi circle close observation
Practice  of juggling. Asks   of another person’s
  Questions as per   body movements.
  Narrative

Balls fly in
  Infinity pattern
  Not circle

  Right hand moves
  In circle towards
  Stomach
 
  Left hand moves
  In circle towards
  Stomach.

 3 min one ball drill Students stand in Students throw one ball Teacher ensures
    large circle with  from hand to hand in the  that students do
    Teacher in center  infinity pattern.  Not throw balls at each           other.

 5 min two ball drill ditto  Students throw two balls ditto
      Right, left. Must be
      Staggered. I.E. one, two
 5 min two ball
  alternating drill ditto  Students throw left, right ditto
      then right, left. Left, right
      Right, left, etc.

 7 min three ball ditto  Students throw a “jug” ditto
      right, left, right
      once they have 3 tosses
      complete, then 4, 5, 6. Etc
      and Voila, they’re juggling!
 
 

Scot Stephenson
February 17, 2000
PE Juggling lesson narrative

Intro:
Get in your semi-circle places and sit down.
(The whole time I talk during the intro I will be juggling, starting with simple cascade progressing to very advanced tricks. )
Hello class, today we’re going to learn something really fun. Juggling! (Class goes ,“Yea! Yea! Cool!) Now I know that many of you think that juggling is really hard and there’s no way that you can do it, but let me tell you. It’s not that hard. In fact it’s pretty easy, if you know how to start, and I’m going to show you in a few minutes, but first we’re going to do bicep exercises.
 When I say go, walk to the side, form a line and everybody take one milk jug of water back to your place. Go. (They do it. I get a milk jug.) Now the main muscle we will use for juggling is the bicep, so we’re going to start with a simple bicep curl. Hold the jug in your right hand by its handle, and lift it up. (I’m demonstrating as I’m talking.) Do that ten times, then switch to your left hand and do ten times. Then repeat that twice, so that each hand will have done how many repetitions? (Someone answers, “30”) Yes, so good to see that you’ve all learned your multiplication tables. Once you’ve done that, put your jugs back, and pick out three bean bags from the box, making sure that at least one is a different color than the other two. Then sit down in a semi-circle formation with your equipment on the ground in front of you.
 Good. Now the first thing we have to get out of your minds is the misconception that when people juggle the balls go around in a circle like this. (I demonstrate the circle pattern.) I know when you see a clown on a cartoon juggle this is what it looks like, and it is possible to juggle this way, but it is almost impossible to learn to juggle this way. Look how fast the balls are moving from my left hand to my right hand, and I’m not even looking at them. In all my years of teaching over 500 people to juggle, there has only been one person who learned this way. But don’t be discouraged, there is an easier way. (I switch from the circle to the standard cascade pattern)
 Now I want you to watch very closely what I’m doing. (I stop juggling and hold up the yellow ball-the other two balls are blue.) Watch the yellow ball. (I start to juggle the cascade pattern.) Now pretend that the yellow ball is making a yellow line as it flies through the air. What does that line look like? (Somebody will answer, “The infinity symbol” or “A figure 8 on its side”) Yes, that’s what it looks like. (I stop juggling, hold the two blue balls in my left hand and with my right hand move the yellow ball in its flight path, a little slower than normal.) So the yellow ball is moving in a path from my right hand to my left hand that looks like a figure 8. Now watch all the balls. (I start to juggle again.) What are they doing? The same thing as the yellow ball right? Right. So all the balls fly in a figure 8 pattern from hand to hand. (I stop juggling and hold up my right hand.) Now look at my right hand. Just my right hand. (I start to juggle.) What is my right hand doing? (Somebody will say, “It’s moving around in a circle towards your stomach and throwing the balls.”) Yes, that’s right. (I stop juggling and hold up my left hand.) Now look at my left hand, just my left hand. (I start to juggle.) What’s my left hand doing? (Somebody will say, “It’s doing the same thing as your right hand, but in a different direction.”) That’s  right. So now we have the basics of juggling. The balls go from your left hand to your right hand in an infinity pattern.
 Let’s start with one ball. Every body stand up and take one ball or bean bag. Now throw it up in the air and let it fall on the floor. Pick it up. Congratulations, you’ve just dropped your first ball. Get used to it. You are going to drop thousands of balls in the process of learning to juggle. I have dropped millions of balls by now. Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed about it. Don’t say, “Sorry” each time you drop a ball. You’ll lose your voice. Once again, its normal to drop balls. Now,  put a ball in your right hand. Now your right hand makes a half circle towards your stomach and throws the ball in an arch to your left hand. Your left hand makes a half circle towards your stomach and throws the ball in an arch to your right hand. Imagine that the ball is flying along that infinity symbol and you are just accompanying the ball on its trip. You should throw the ball just a little bit higher than eye level. Everybody practice that for a few minutes. (I walk around the circle, watching people and saying things like, “Good, good. That’s right. Perfect. You’re doing it” and correcting any major faults in form, such as throwing the ball in an arch pattern instead of the infinity symbol pattern. By the time I get around the circle, people should be pretty good at throwing one ball.)
 Well, everyone seems to be doing that quite well. Now we’re going to move on to two balls. If you want some more practice with one ball, watch me right now so you know what to do when you’re ready to try two. Take one ball in your left hand, and one in your right. Throw the right ball up, and then the left. Then catch the right and then the left. (I demonstrate.) So it will be throw, throw, catch, catch. Or you can say, “Right, left.” Or “One, two.” It’s very important to throw the balls one after the other, with a short pause between the throws, not at the same time like “onetwo” or “rightleft” So when should I throw the second ball? Watch me. (I demonstrate.) Right, left. One, two. Throw, throw, catch, catch. When do I throw the second ball? (Somebody will say, “When the first ball starts to come down?”) Right, I throw the second ball when the first ball stops going up and starts to come down. Does anybody happen to know the name for the point when an object stops going up and starts to come down. (Maybe somebody will say, “The apex or apogee.”) Right, you can ask your science teacher what the difference between the two is, but that is when you throw the second ball. And where do you throw it? You throw it on the inside of the arch as the first ball comes down, like this. (I demonstrate.) So everybody practice throwing, one, two. ( I go around the circle. Some people get it right away, some need me to physically hold the balls and walk them through it.)
 Okay, it looks like most of you have that down fairly well. Now we’ve been throwing right, left. Right, left. Right, left. Always the right hand first. But when we juggle with three balls we have to alternate back and forth, right? Right. So we need to practice throwing first with the right hand. Right, left. And then with the left hand. Left, right. So it will be (I demonstrate) right, left. Left, right. Right, left. Left, right. Now an easy way to do this without getting confused is to take two balls that are different colors, and chose one color that will always be thrown first. So I’ve got this yellow ball and this blue ball. I’m always going to throw the yellow ball first. Right, left. Now the yellow ball is in my left hand. Left, right. Right, left, left, right, right, left, left, right. And as you get better, you can speed up the time between throws until you always have one ball in the air at all times. When you can do this, you are only a hair’s breadth away from juggling three balls. Everybody try that. (I walk around the circle again. Hopefully by this time the people that remained with one ball when we went to step two are at the two ball stage.)
 Okay, we’re ready to try three. You’ll be glad that we spent all this time with one and then two balls, because that practice is going to make three balls a cinch. I start out with two balls in my right hand and one in my left hand. I throw the first ball from my right hand, then the ball from my left hand, now so far its just like one, two with two balls, but then when the second ball is coming down towards my right hand I throw the third ball to my left hand. So it will look like one, two, three. Try it. (Many people will actually succeed in doing three throws and three catches on the first try.) Great, you’ve just done a “jug” that is the basic step in juggling. If you didn’t catch a ball, or even dropped all three of them, that’s not a problem. What’s important is that you threw all three of them. One, two, three. One, two, three. Work on that. (I walk around the circle. Again, some people need me to hold the balls and walk through the movements with them, but most people will get the basic idea quickly.)
 Now that most of you have had at least one successful jug, or almost, what comes next. (Somebody will say, “Four”) Right, instead of one, two, three, catch, try one, two, three, four, catch. And afterthat? Five, six, seven and so on. Once you can do twenty throws without dropping, then you are ready to learn some tricks, and the fun really begins. So now you know the basic steps. What do you think you need to do now? (Somebody will say, “Practice?”) Yes, that’s right. Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice. I’ve got enough bean bags here that you can all take three home to practice with until next time. I’d like everybody to try and be able to do 20 throws without dropping by next time. If you can’t do twenty that’s okay, see how many you can do and try to improve on that.
 So, to review, who can tell me some important things to know about juggling? Right, the balls move in an infinity symbol, your hands move in circles towards your stomach, you throw the balls one after another, not all at the same time, and most importantly, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice. Next time we will start to learn a few simple tricks such as the underhand throw (demonstrate) and the overhand throw (demonstrate). Now these are fairly simple to learn, but once you know how to do them you can put them together in different combinations to do things like Null’s Mess, (demonstrate), Sun and Moon (demonstrate), Out the back door (demonstrate) and Silly Dog (demonstrate)
Also, be carefully where you juggle and what you juggle with. Don’t juggle next to your mom’s china set or by your baby brother. Don’t juggle heavy or sharp things like rocks or axes. And take my advice, unless you think you’re really good, don’t juggle eggs in the kitchen unless your dog likes them. See you next time.

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