I believe the purpose of education is guiding students in the right direction to reach their full potential. I believe the three main factors that must be implemented to unlock a student’s full potential are growth, enjoyment, and preparation for adulthood. As students learn more about any subject in school, it is essential for them to grow and retain what they have learned. For my physical education classes, I want to make sure students are improving/growing in whatever activity we are doing from the beginning of the lesson to the end. Enjoyment is my second purpose of education. I believe it is my responsibility to convince students to go into every lesson, sport, or activity with an open mind. I will not pressure students to perform unreasonable tasks, but rather teach basic fundamentals so students will have basic knowledge of a variety of activities. I hope this will give them options to find a sport/exercise/activity that they truly enjoy and may pursue on their own outside of the classroom. My third and final purpose of education is preparation for adulthood. When it comes down to it no matter what the subject may be, school in general is about preparing students for the future. Holding students accountable for mistakes, teaching proper social cues, and emphasizing the importance of communication, are three ways I plan to help students prepare for adulthood. The reason I chose to go into education is strictly based on my past experiences with educators and coaches. I have seen first-hand, the impact a teacher/coach can have on a student/player. I have watched students drop out of school because of the lack of effort and disrespect a teacher had towards them. I have also seen athletes get to their dream position of playing high school basketball, and throw it all away because a coach was not in a position he should have been in. With that being said I am fully aware of the impact a teacher/coach can have on their students/players, and I hope to bring a positive one for my students/players in the future.
I plan on enacting my philosophy of education in my classroom with hands on demonstrative teaching. I believe demonstrating how specific sport movements/exercises should be done is the best way for students to learn proper movement and specific fundamentals. There will be physical assessments on how actions should be performed as well as written assessments involving rules, scoring, safety precautions etc. Students should expect a judgement free comfort area, where they can feel free to explore new physical activity and sports. I also want students to expect a variety of topics to help each student find some type of activity they enjoy doing. This is in hope that students develop a hobby or a passion for any kind of sport/physical activity. I plan to grow and develop as a teacher through trial and error as well as feedback from my students. I will also grow by exploring a variety of games/sports/exercises that I am currently not familiar with and try to educate myself to the point where I can teach it to my students. This way, I can reach students who may not be interested in any of the current lessons in my curriculum.
My expectations for my students consist of having respect, showing effort, coming into every lesson with an open mind, and encouraging classmates through success and struggles. I will help them achieve these expectations by stating it in the syllabus and having an expectation board in the gym or classroom I am in that will clearly state what is expected. I believe these are important to reach my goal of having a judge free zone for students to grow and enjoy sports/physical activity. Students will know I expect these things because it will be written out in my syllabus and these topics will be emphasized every day in class. There are a few big takeaways I hope my students gain from my class. The first is developing a hobby or a passion for some kind of sport or physical activity. This is important because it will allow students to have a healthy relationship with exercise and physical activity will not be looked at as a chore or something they do not want to do. I hope students can develop leadership skills through my class by learning how to work with others and encourage their peers through success and struggles. In conclusion this is how I plan to implement my philosophy of education in the classroom.