Volleyball Lesson Plan for grades 9-12

Students as teachers

This lesson works great with block scheduling because of the extra time and gives each student a chance in a leadership position.

Equipment: Enough balls for every 2-4 students.

At least 2 nets set up.
Separate the class into 5-7 groups depending on the number of courts. There should be one more group than those needed to play. Send all but one group to "practice" at the courts. This teaching group must have enough people in it for 1-2 "teachers" per group.

The odd group will be with the teacher for approximately 15-20 minutes. The teacher teaches this group how to teach a particular skill. For example the serve: Explain how the serve is done properly, how to set up their own groups to teach this skill, how or what to say for feedback to their own groups, and what to do for practice. We go through everything with the teacher giving each a chance to critique the others and practice themselves to know how to do the skill themselves.

At the end of the 20 min. or so. Assign each "teacher" a group to teach this skill. In some cases like serving, they will need to coordinate use of the net and team teach with another group. If there is time, the teachers blend in with their groups and play in game situations.

At the end of the period or the next day, the teacher reviews all the key points of that particular skill in case the student "forgot" to mention some.

I was suprised that all my students were willing to teach others and most of them actually listened to their peers even if they thought they "knew how to play". I videotaped some of the teachers and practices for future classes.

This can also be done with other sports but I have not had the opportunity because I only taught a specific volleyball class this quarter and we just started the 4x4 block plan this year.


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