Man. This was the year that the coach in me really came out during teaching. Teaching the "whole child" really requires the educator to dive deep and understand each individual. When coaching, you realize that you can't treat all of your players the same because they have different needs. Some you can be more verbally aggressive with and others you have to have a softer demeanor with. Some need more reps of backhands and others need to work on quick release.
When teaching the whole child in my classroom, it really requires some time and patience. Some of my students need physical modifications, some need words of encouragement and others need to be challenged. When coaching, you do what it takes to win. When teaching, you try a bunch of different tactics until one sticks. It is okay to to be firm about the things you believe in: hustle, listen when spoken to and just give it all you've got. But it is also okay to be flexible. Can't workout during class today? Cool, go for a run/walk by the end of the week and send me your results. You have a tight space at home? No worries, here is a modification. Embarrassed of the background in your living room? Okay, send me a video of your workout today and only I will see it. I really enjoyed this class for a few reasons. I thought that we had some pretty raw and thought provoking conversations about the education system. 'Bout time somebody opened the door to get real about what is going on. I also got a lot of sweet little nuggets from the way Griggs ran class. Music always sets the mood. There were always creative ways to open class and check in on the well-being of us big kids. Every student likes to know what they are getting into and we always knew what to expect from class. I also liked that we wrapped up class with a "what did we learn" segment. I know a lot of us feel like the process to become an official teacher is a B, but you godda just tell yourself that you have to be here anyways, might as well get something from it. That is no disrespect to you teach. If you can't tell, I had a lot of gem moments from this course. We wish you the best.
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'Member how they use to say, "Boys. Can't live with them, can't live without them." Well, technology is the new boys. I can't say that I am thrilled about students having to be so tech savvy in order to succeed in today's age. Maybe I am old school, but I really value things like paperback books, penmanship and utilizing a dictionary.
I think we are setting our kids up for failure. After staring at a blue screen so much, our eye health is deteriorating. I want to take hand written work from students but I know that I will have a difficult time reading their work. So instead of having them practice their writing, I do the counterproductive thing and have them type it up. And good Lord Almighty, do not get me started on spell check. I believe that there are so many cool things that you can do with technology. And the resources are endless. But I think that there is such a push for digital usage that we are losing sight of basic fundamental skills. It is wild to think that the smartest people in the world have put structures in place to dumb down the greater population. I am torn. Torn between "these students are young adults, let's encourage self accountability" and "need to let mommy and daddy know what lil' dude has been up to."
I love teaching high school because young adulthood is so awesome. What I am having a tough time with this year is getting my students to buy in (primarily the ones who are zooming in from home). I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on things when my kids are literally in front of me. But if I do not even know what my student looks like, it makes it pretty hard to assess them in PE. One thing that I am going to commit to this week is creating a revolving door. I do not want to be the only one reaching out to students/parents. I want them to know that I am approachable and they can always reach out to me too. In order to achieve this, I am going to do two things. First, I will start creating more opportunities for my students to reach out to me by utilizing wellness checks (THANKS BTW, I used a version of your form and it was a hit). Secondly, I will send out an email using parent square to create awareness about me trying to find solutions to student success. You can't save them all. But when they are the one's calling out for help, it makes it a whole lot easier to get the job done. I do not feel as stumped as some of my colleagues do when it comes to making CA standards real world applicable. This is why I chose to teach Physical and Health Education. I truly do not find it hard to answer the famous question students ask, "When are we ever going to use this?" Health is wealth.
In my class, we talk about a lot of other elements beyond movement. Mind, body, spirit. There is importance in tying together Physical, Mental and Emotional Health and showing students how they piggy back off of each other. Of course they need to know the direct benefits of physical movements which are covered in the first 2 sections of our content standards: demonstration of movements and achieving different levels of physical fitness. But we also tie Standard 3 in very strongly in our curriculum: Self Responsibility, Social Interaction and Group Dynamics. Students will thrive in their direct and Global communities by practicing perseverance and social skills. For example, Standard 3.4 is all about describing enjoyment, self expression, challenge and social benefits experienced by achieving one's best in physical activities. Students need to feel that satisfaction from movement beyond just earning a grade for it. Further, Standard 3.9 pushes to recognize and evaluate the role of cooperation and positive interactions with others. If that doesn't scream REAL WORLD APPLICABLE, I'm not sure what does. Living in the 21st century is equally exciting as it is scary. After watching a video that shows that many jobs are replaceable, it makes you question how can you really contribute to a society when it feels as if robots are about to take over?
We must get with the times! Our education system was created in a time where we were trying to mold a specific type of worker. But now that we live in a much more complex world, we must create a more diverse workforce. No all knowledge is transferable. However, skills are! Collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, use of technology are just a few of these transferable skills. I love that these skills seem so to come so easily in my course. Because we play so many team sports, these important "C" skills are used time and time again. But students are also required to reflect upon their own personal growth and adapt to any situation. The ability to bounce back is emphasized a lot in my class and I do believe that that is important in life, not just class. I also believe that my students are taught the importance of physical, mental, and emotional health. And further, the way these 3 are intertwined together. If they can get a headstart on how to really take ownership and accountability for these, I will be happy with at least one thing I've done with these young individuals School is such a strange thing, ain't it? For 10 months, you wake up and get ready for the school day. You go to a handful of classes and do what the teacher asks of you. You are excused by bells and sent home to continue practicing what was done in the classroom. Routine is certainly important. But what is it that we really want our students to get out of attending school?
In my point of view, it comes down to knowledge vs. skills. Are we really trying to cram in as much content as possible? Or are we doing our best to make sure that they walk that stage with "life long skills" in their back pocket? I do not believe that we should have a one size fits all curriculum but because of our history of education, I don't see us veering from this anytime soon. So moving forward, I believe we need to establish skills and habits. In my own course, I don't shove too much vocab and assign busy work. We move our bodies, analyze, reflect, and set goals. I came from an IB school that stressed the importance of the design cycle. For PE, we used the following:
After I left that school, I still utilized these Criterion in my own curriculum. I want my students to take a step back and really analyze all 4 of those in a well-rounded thought process. I believe that there are usually 3 answers to any question that is asked. 1. Telling people what they want to hear. 2. Telling people what the truth is. 3. Telling people what you truly believe.
I am a little sparked up that this was the first question asked in our new class. My man (also a PE teacher) and I have actually been marinating on this the past few weeks. I always thought that school was to help kids become more well rounded and experiment in different fields so that they can find what sparks their interest. As I got older and progressed through the system, I began to realize that we were like little puppets in this huge production. Many classes had the same goal: to pass the test. Pass tests> get good grades> graduate> go to college> get hired> spend eternity paying off student loans> have kids> put them in the same cycle you are trying to get out of. It is like whoever is on top wants us to orderly eat out of their hands. Now this obviously is not the case with every school and every teacher, but after my short 5 years at 3 different schools, this is the norm. I could go on and on about all of the great nuggets that students get from going through the system: a basic understanding on a variety of subjects, problem solving skills, social competency, etc. But my own goal as a teacher is to motivate students to move their bodies and develop healthy habits. And shoot, if we can make some friends along the way...even better. |
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