Teaching Philosophy

As a P.E. teacher I want to rewrite the norms of teaching the class. From what I have experienced being in a secondary school for fieldwork, students are far less engaged in P.E. as compared to four years ago. Students have lost respect, care, and interest in the class and would rather sit on their phones than participate. This observation comes from one secondary school so I cannot assume that they are all like this, but as a future P.E. teacher I want to change the narrative and teach students in a way that will have them excited to come back to class the next day.

On the first day of teaching, I want to establish boundaries, expectations, and respect with my various groups of students. If we know what one another needs, the class will be that much easier to teach. All it takes is a little give and take and I am willing to give as much as I can to ensure my students leave my class feeling as though they learned something valuable while having fun. All I want is for my students to want to participate and learn something from me. I plan to do this through learning what excites my students and creating lessons that involve their interests so they will want to participate. I also plan to bring some competition into play as I feel like it brings excitement into the class and gives the activity purpose.

I want to approach teaching how I do coaching. As a coach I establish personal connections to my athletes and create an environment where they can joke around with me. If my students see me as being above them, that fun environment would be tainted. I plan to have my lessons be interactive by allowing student athletes to take on a leadership role by helping their students learn the sport they train in as well as taking my students suggestions to create collaborative lesson plans. My students will get a say in the activities they do so that they can find value in what is planned. My main objective is for my students to feel as they learned something valuable from me whether it be enjoyment of physical activities, skill improvement or something new.

When I was in high school my favourite part of P.E. class was playing games. I am an extremely competitive person so I always wanted to do my best so I could win. I wanted to be the best in every activity we did even if I have never done it before. Therefore, I want to create a competitive environment when it come to playing games. I think rewarding students for being engaged in an activity is necessary as it brings that level of fun and enjoyment into the classroom. I want every single student to feel confident enough in what I taught them so that they can let lose and compete in the games.

I will always root for an underdog no matter what and when it comes to creating an inclusive environment, I want those individuals to thrive. At the secondary school I am observing in fieldwork, there is several students that have some kind of need that requires modification in an activity. Just how I want student athletes to enjoy playing their trained sport in class I want these individuals to feel as though they can participate in class without feeling like they are a burden in anyway. Evey students matters in my class, and I want to be able to modify any skill so that they can participate. I will do this on a case-to-case bases as every student will need something different from me. If we look at it from a competition standpoint in a game of kickball, the speed of the ball can be changed to make the ball easier to kick, or first base cold be moved closer to home plate so its easier to run to the bases, or it can be the opposite and I can have the stronger athletes use there non-dominant leg to kick or have them start at home base turned around so there is an added element of skill into the action of kicking the ball as they would have to time their turn with the ball coming towards them. There are many different ways to modify activities to a student’s needs it is just dependent on if the adult facilitating the activity cares enough to do so.

Assessments in P.E. class are challenging as you cannot just give out a written exam or grade them on their skill level. I think the best way to assess students would be by a combination of self-assessments and assessments I make based on participation, and engagement. Every student will be different based on performance level so as long as they participate and show that they are trying to learn, that is all that I can ask for.

In the end students will choose if they want to participate, but if I can do as much as possible to change the norm I will be happy.