UNIT THREE: GAMES OF LOW ORGANIZATION

Hello everybody & welcome back to another exciting week of inclusive Phys Ed! This week, we're focusing on the very popular game type - Games of Low Organization (GLOs!) The main point of this game type is to maximize gameplay and stuednt participation by creating an environment that prioritizes fair play and emphasizes the importance of fitness, teamwork, and fun. Pretty cool right? GLOs focus on developing one game skill and body management skill at a time (e.g., locomotor and stability skills). Body management concepts that are a major part of GLOs inclde effort, relationship, body awareness, and spatial awareness. GLOs can be played by any age group and adapted to fit the various developmental and physical abilities of our students. Given their quick setup and high participation levels, GLOs place much less demand on students in terms of complex roles, strategies, and rules. GLOs also teach students life skills. Thses include communication and interpersonal skills, decision making and critical thinking skills, and coping and self-management skills - some pretty useful ones if you ask me! A major component of GLOs is safety. Having a discussion before each game about the safety consdierations is a major contributor to their success. Informing students of boundaries as well as appropriate behaviour to engage is will ultimately make the games as fun as they are meant to be! GLOs are a great game to use when you're looking for a quick time-filler, or even when you're trying to engage your students in more social settings. They are forced to work together in many of these games and build relationships as a result of it. These games are also beneficial in between units in our classrooms to consolidate learning by using already learned skills while also testing the waters of the skills to come in the following unit. In terms of inclusion, GLOs (in my opinion) are one of the easiest to modify because they are so simple and use so little equipment. As you'll see in the attached images, a lot of the modifications I included are similar because the structure of these games is so basic. As pre-service teachers, GLOs are a great 'back pocket plan' to have as we enter classrooms as student and supply teachers. They can work really well as icebreakers and reduce the stress of having to come up with an entire day's plan on the spot as a supply teacher. In my research, there are ENDLESS GLOs to choose from. So, even if you don't like the ones I included I can assure you there's A LOT more where that came from! Well folks, that's it for this week. Stay tuned for next tiime when we talk about one of my personal favourites, cooperative games! -H