I am currently teaching Health and Physical Education at the high school level. My class periods consists of 4 Physical Education classes of grades 10-12. This class is a traditional class performing individual skills and team related activities. I also have one Strength and Conditioning class that also consists of grades 10-12. This class spends much of the time in the weight room and on cardiovascular conditioning. My classes are probably 80% male students. The class size varies from 18-43 students per class. With a large number it limits what we can do.... Small ones are great... Class is conducted in a typical sized high school gymnasium and we also have the use of the school weight room which is small but has around 20 machines along with a variety of dumbbells.
To effectively engage learners with my teaching I believe that I use several different strategies. One of the first goals that I have for the students is that everyone is participating in the activity. No students are sitting out of the activity. Everyone has their own equipment for skill development and then it is used in a game activity. A second way is that all students are encouraged to perform activities at their own pace, everyone is successful. Not everyone is the best at all activities in PE, so it is important they develop and make progress everyday in class. Finally I think our department creates a positive learning environment for the students. We have several areas that we are able to have class at, small gym, large gym, weight room and even outside field areas. These options allow for a wide variety of activities along with ample space for all students in the class.
It is difficult to have students want to read or write in the physical education setting but we do also perform exit slips and several written assignments for the students dealing with the activity that we are currently on. This allows for students who are not the most skilled to express their knowledge of the activity....
Thanks
Sorry about the deleting. I was trying to put both of my posts together instead of having two posts, and now you have three from me. I think it's great that you can provide your students with such a variety of ways to stay fit and healthy. I also just listened to your voice introduction and wanted to give you a quick thank you for being a cross country coach. I coached the elementary team at Williamstown for 5 years, but stopped coaching last year to do some other things. We probably "ran" into each other at some point. :)
ReplyDeleteAs someone who teaches in a similar department at the college level, I would guess we have similar content areas that we teach in. I also try to find ways to engage students in other ways other than the participation of the activity ie reading/writing assignments so that they may contribute their abilties based on their strengths.
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