I was surprised when I read through all the ‘‘Physical Education Hall of Shame’’ articles. I don’t agree with some of the games in the PEHOS article. I wasn’t expected to see that there was a high likelihood for danger or injury during the games. Games such as Kickball are based on to get players out by hitting them as hard as possible with thrown a ball. Teacher with poor teaching practice and the lock of emphasis on teaching motor was the big issue. I’m wondered how is the student going to be participating and have fun during the class? I think it is important for the physical education teachers to have the knowledge of what to teach and how to teach to students in the class. It is also their responsibility to understand students’ social and emotional needs in the class.

On Tuesday, we learned about target games. There were two things I really liked from this class. One was the warm-up at the beginning before we enter the target game. The warm-up was filled with emotions, movements, imagination, and creativity. I have never done any of instant activity when I was in grade 10. This is so new to me. Another one I liked about was using the self-talk (‘‘I can do this.’’) during the games. I found the self-talk was quite useful for me. It does help me to success at the end of the game. Now I’m looking forward to participating and seeing what other groups going to do for next week.

Tuesday was our first group teach session about target games. The group teach along with the Hall of Shame article led me to reflect on the considerations physical education teachers make when creating conditions for student learning. After reading the Hall of Shame article, it made me realize how damaging a particular physical activity may be to a child’s development. Games such as Red Rover are based around humiliation and isolation of the weaker students in class. They are not meant to celebrate good sportsmanship, team work,  physical development or increase the level of physical activity in a child’s life.  Physical Education teachers have a responsibility to instill passion in children in order to continue physical activity in the future. They need to create safe but also challenging conditions for student learning which is related to the high support high challenge environment tailoring to each specific child.

Participating in Group 1’s activity was a great example of a fun, safe, inviting and active environment to learn about physical education. I enjoyed how they set different levels of difficulty in order for teams to determine what level they are comfortable with. It was an excellent way to avoid isolating the students that may struggle with the concepts of an underthrow and hand/eye coordination.  By splitting up the class into small groups we were free of the pressures to perform for the group which truly made me feel more comfortable actively participating. I started out throwing at the closer pylon but after a few trial throws, I felt ready to challenge myself from the second and third pylon points. Since starting this program, I have been struggling with the habit of overthinking our assignments. Thus, participating in Group 1’s lesson helped me grasp the idea that if you keep it simple and stick to one theme, then the teachings will be more effective. Looking forward to seeing what Group 2 has in store for us next week!

After Tuesday’s class I thought about the question, “Do I need to be an ‘expert’ to teach PE?” and although I think perhaps my answer would have previously been a yes, my thinking is changing in this area. I saw the ways that Group 1 did their team teach, as new teachers, and coming from varying backgrounds of physical education or physical literacy. The ways in which they tackled the objectives, came up with many different ideas to help us learn target games and have fun while we did it made me see that you don’t need to be an expert in PE, but perhaps just an expert teacher. To me, that means being open to learning, taking risks and overcoming challenges in order to educate learners. In my case, I am open to learning how to teach PE and I think many of us feel like it will be a stretch out of our comfort zone. As we have learned, it is entirely too common among educators to shy away from teaching PE for the very same fears many of us probably share. Seeing Group 1 dive head first in to teaching a PE lesson was really encouraging and motivating for me.

It also made me think of the many ways in which movement can be joyful, as one of our guiding questions asked. There is joy in movement and sharing those experiences of movement with others. And that idea doesn’t necessarily have to only be applied to team sports. I think we all experienced, during our target games lesson, how fun and joyful it was to learn a skill together, practice together, support one another, motivate one another and share small victories (even if it was just hitting a disc with a bean bag!). I am excited to expand my understanding of PE, as well as my students’, and to build my confidence about being qualified to teach it.

Week 2 of PE this week marked the beginning of our journey into actually being Physical Education Teachers! Great job, Group 1 – Lisa, Tina, Claire and Agnes!

I would like to discuss some of the guiding questions from the syllabus as I think about what kind of PE class I want to teach. The biggest challenge may be that we do not see ourselves as “experts” in PE, or even as very athletic or sporty – but the truth is we don’t need to be good at PE to still have fun doing it. Enthusiasm and good attitude are the most important aspects, and it may be hard to always feel confident during the class (especially if we are teaching 18 year old athletes), but it is our attitudes that will inspire the class and promote learning – more than skill.

PE teachers need to find a way to keep everyone involved. I think as we have become adults the ideas of being active and healthy have changed so that we are free to pursue activities that we are more personally interested in, and all of these activities are valued (for example, yoga, rock climbing and paddleboarding). We need to draw attention to the fact that moving around is good for our brains, bodies and stress levels. The increased awareness of physical health and mental health is also something I am very interested in learning and I want to learn more ways to keep people active, healthy and enjoying PE. I can see how much happier it makes me everyday and these are habits we need to develop in our classes.

Week 2 Reading Summary (September 23^rd, 2015)

Physical Literacy – Chp 13, PHE Canada Article

Julie Russell, Emily Warner, Gemma Galbraith

Chapter 13 – Physical Literacy

• “The overarching characteristics of a physically literate individual are that the person moves with poise, economy and confidence in a wide variety of physically challenging situations. Furthermore the individual is perceptive to reading all aspects of the physical environment, anticipating movement needs or possibilities and responding appropriately to these with intelligence and imagination.”- Margaret Whitehead on physical literacy (241)
• This is based on PHE Canada’s ‘recommendation’ that an educator has a responsibility to the development of the whole child (fitness & skill development, cognition & affect).
• Physical literacy focuses on three domains:

• Keep in mind though, fundamental movement skills are the basic building blocks of physical literacy – once a child achieves this, you can then start to work on some of the other qualities/skills.

• Physical literacy is a goal that is always in progress, one does not become physically literate and then stop, as there is no real end state
• Physical literacy encourages the inclusion of alternate activities. E.g. hiking, climbing, hula-hooping. An interdisciplinary approach can also be used to teach physical literacy (Science, math, history can be incorporated)
• What blocks physical literacy curriculum reform is assessment that focuses on the acquiring of techniques related to traditional sports. *See Case Study 2
• The Visual Assessment Chart (Figure 13.2) was used (and can be used) to help seasoned educators see learning beyond the more common dominant sport education. The four quadrants of the visual chart include: knowledge & understanding, communication, thinking & inquiry, application and are evaluated from Level 1 (function) to Level 4 (flow).

Putting Physical Literacy into Practice

• Almond and Whitehead suggest in their article that participation be rewarding for all participants and encourage a sense of self-realization and self-confidence, as one of the main tenants of physical literacy is making sure each student is valued as an individual.
• It should be noted that this competence is understood on a person-by-person basis and there is no universal definition of competency within physical literacy
• To first implement physical literacy in class, the teacher must be knowledgeable of their learners and be ready to work with young learners as an encouraging and nurturing model. Pedagogical skills are required of the teacher: Building trust with students, creating an exciting environment, promoting motivation on the subject.
• This function, form, feeling and flow is presented through multiliteracies/modalities (visual, audio, gestural, spatial), aimed at accounting for diversity and inclusion (local diversity and global connectedness mean there can be no standard) ex: movies, books, drama, social networking
• Teachers then must connect with students: generating enthusiasm, involving learners, focusing on individuals making progress
• Finally teachers must act by creating appropriate challenges, engaging their students, listening, and then encouraging the risks students are taking to step out of their comfort zones.
• We believe that valuing participation in purposeful physical pursuits, and experiencing this as important in their lives, is the way for people to develop and maintain a personal commitment to lifelong participation