LESSON PLAN

VU Student Teacher

Kirsten Spiteri

Lesson / Topic

Athletes and Mental Toughness

Year Level

Year 12

Number of Students

20 - 25 students

Lesson Number

Lesson 5

Lesson Duration

75 Minutes

Measurable Outcomes
Students will be able to comprehend and experience the stressors athletes endure
Students will be able to comprehend and experience mental toughness strategies athletes use
Students will be able to experience applying mental toughness strategies to practical performance
ICT / Digital Technologies
Data and information strand:
- Analyse and visualise data to create information and address complex problems, and model processes, entities and their relationships using structured data
- Analyse simple compression of data and how content data are separated from presentation

Equipment / Resources
Video cameras or phones
Stereo /Speakers
Megaphone
Basketball, Basketball Court
Role
Post it notes
Whiteboard + Markers
Meditation music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amiTLQ9V2Hc

AUSVELS Aims
VCE Psychology Unit 4
Typical characteristics of a mentally healthy person, including high levels of functioning, social and emotional well-being and resilience to life stressors
Characteristics of scientific research methodologies and techniques of primary qualitative and quantitative data collection relevant to the selected investigation: experiments, selfreports, questionnaires, interviews and/ or use of rating scales; reliability and validity of data; and minimisation of experimental bias and confounding and extraneous variables
VCE Physical Education Unit 4
Plan, implement and evaluate training programs to enhance specific fitness components
Analyse and evaluate strategies designed to enhance performance or promote recovery

Safety Considerations
Face students away from the sun in outside
If weather is cold make intro and explanation quick so they dont freeze
Make sure students are well hydrated, have had food
Make sure students are wearing sun protection
Ensure field / ground is clear from equipment, if there is pot holes put a cone to ensure students dont trip in it
Inappropriate language towards others and in general is unacceptable
Equipment is not to be thrown intentionally at other students as a form of bullying

Organisation/ Diagram
This class will take place in the hall on the basketball court where there is access to a whiteboard, sports equipment and a stereo.

Time

Activity

~5 min

Expected Learning Intentions

Explain the expected learning of the unit

Explain the expected learning of the lesson
Briefly explain the activities occurring in lesson
What is expected from the students in the
lesson

Teaching Cues / Keywords

Equipment/Resources

F / S Assessment

Stressors
Athletes
Application to practical experience
Mental Toughness strategies

Role

N/A

How well do athletes perform under stress and

anxiety?
What strategies do they use?
10 mins

Prior Knowledge

Ask students questions and create a

classroom discussion based on content they
learnt last lesson
Half the white board and title stress and
strategies on each side
Using post-it notes ask students to collect
two; on one write down what stressors they
think athletes may experience during their
sport and on the other what strategies they
may use to overcome them
Once they have written what they know they
will stick the post-it notes on the board near
the appropriate title.
Go through the answers and create a
discussion based on the answers

Post-it notes Pens

Each person needs to state two pieces of
Whiteboard
information they learnt last class
Take two post-it notes
Whiteboard markers
What kind of stress do you think athletes
experience?
What strategies do you think they use to
overcome these stressors?
Stick your answers on the appropriate side
of the board
Why do you think they experience that kind
of stress?

Formative
Assessment
/
Reflection questions;
Students will be questioned
about prior knowledge to give us
a greater understanding of the
level they are each sitting at;
who needs to be challenged and
who needs to be given more help
on the topic.

35 mins

New information

20 mins

Practical Experience of Stressors

Students will be divided into two groups; one
group will be playing basketball and the other
group will be giving negative feedback and
video taping
The basketball game will go for 5 minutes

The students who are giving negative

feedback to the players will use the
megaphones, and will direct it personally (not
using personal attacks, just general sporting
feedback) and the other students will
videotape the whole game
when the 5 minutes is up students will swap
roles, playing basketball with negative
feedback and video taping.
Once both groups have had a turn of
each role they will fill out a reflection sheet,
create a small discussion around students
answers

Two groups; one plays the sport the other

displays feedback/ records
There is to be no personal attacks !
Only general negative sporting feedback
We need to remember that this negative
feedback is not real and do not let it affect
you.

Group that plays basketball is split into two

teams
5 minutes per game
Feedback displayed can consist of;

Youre throwing stinks

Youre no good ______

Learn how to shoot

How did you feel while you were playing the
game of basketball?
Did you experience feelings of anxiety ?
stress? Loss of self esteem?
Do you think you could have performed
better?
Did you perform with 100% effort?
Were you happy with your performance?
What kind of stress did you experience?

Reflection sheet / pens

Basketball / Court
Video cameras / phones
Mega phone

Formative
Assessment
/
Reflection questions;
Students will be questioned
about knowledge on topic to
give us a greater understanding
of the level they are each sitting
at; who needs to be challenged
and
who needs to be given more
help on the topic.

15 minutes

20 mins

Strategies to manage stressors

Seat students down, in front of the white
board
Students will be briefly educated about the
different management strategies used, the
aim is for them to experience the following
While the meditation music is playing, the
teacher talks the students through the
components of mental toughness whilst the
students have their eyes closed

Mental toughness strategies;

Mental Imagery
Getting in touch with your senses

Use a mantra a statement that gets you

ready

Stereo / speakers
Meditation music https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=amiTLQ9V2
Hc
Whiteboard / markers

Letting go of mistakes/errors and forgiving

yourself

Practice Focus /blocking out all distractions

Applying New Information

Application on strategies to practical experience
Students are to get back into their groups and
repeat steps occurred at the start of the
lesson; half the group playing basketball half is
displaying negative feedback and video
recording
Students who are participating in the game
are to apply the mental toughness

Reflection sheet / pens

Same groups and same order
Basketball / Court
We are repeating the same steps as last time; Video cameras / phones
one group plays basketball while the other
Mega phone
group displays negative feedback and records
Try hard to focus and use those strategies we
practiced
Block out all distractions

Formative
Assessment
/
Reflection questions;
Students will be questioned
about knowledge on topic to give
us a greater understanding of
the level they are each sitting at;
who needs to be challenged and

strategies to focus and block out distractions

Each game goes for 5 minutes each then swap
roles
Once each group has taken turns of each
roles, the class will finish filling out the
reflection sheet
Create a discussion based around students
answers
Students will watch videos of before and
after to see if their performance improved
Create discussion based on why it did or did
not improve

~5min

Keep your eye on the prize

Forget about the mistake and move on
Use your mantra get yourself ready
Block out everything and get in touch
with your senses
How did you feel while you were playing
the game of basketball? Were you able to
block out the distractions?
Do you think you performed better than
game 1?
Watch the footage of the first and
second game
Do you think you improved individually?
Do you think as a team you improved? Did
you try to focus and use the strategies ?
Did you struggle to focus?
Who thinks they need more practice using
mental toughness?
Who is going to use this with their sport they
play?

who needs to be given more

help on the topic.

Reflection/Closure

Ask students to write in their book three

new facts they learnt in class today.

What we are learning next class

What have you learnt today that you didn't

already know?
Writing reflective notes after each class about
what you have learnt, will not only imprint the
knowledge into your minds but also you will
have notes to look back on at the end of the
unit when you need to study for your test or
SAC
Next class we will be discussing Performance
Enhancement Strategies athletes use

Formative
Assessment
/
Reflection questions;
Students will be questioned
about knowledge on topic to
give us a greater understanding
of the level they are each sitting
at; who needs to be challenged
and who needs to be given more
help on the topic.

Reflection Sheet:

Name:___________________________

Game 1:

1. How did you feel while you were playing the game of basketball?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Do you think you could have performed better?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What kind of stress did you experience?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Game 2:

1. How did you feel while you were playing the game of basketball?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Were you able to block out the distractions?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Do you think you performed better than game 1?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________