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Entry 5: Avoiding the Culture of Non-teaching

This is the FINAL comparison that I will be making between teaching in the classroom and PE settings. I pinky swear. When I was teaching history, I would need to research the topics, make the lesson plan and create engaging activities (the hard part), and create the slides. I'd estimate that it took me maybe 4 hours of work per lesson since I was getting familiar with the content. On the other hand, grade 10 fitness? Grade 9 HPE? Planning was a cakewalk in comparison. However, I noticed how easy it was to get sucked into that culture of non-teaching. When I started my practicum, the girls already made their fitness programs for resistance training days. It was very self-directed, but it felt like some days I was just supervising. I stepped in to teach form and other safety tips, but it was very laissez-faire sometimes. I will admit, I did miss the classes where the programming was made, and I'm sure that there was sufficient teaching that occurred. 

This experience made me find out ways to stay more involved during PE. Yes, there was open gameplay with pickleball and badminton, but I made sure that I reinforced the learning and skills that were practiced in the prior activities and drills. For the fitness class, I liked how my AT had a little bag of all the different bones on a piece of paper. They would pick a bone and they would have to point at its location. I also changed the structure of the class. Instead of 55 mins of weightlifting with a partner, it was 40 mins and 15 mins of my programming. I included plyometrics, HIIT, core strength, core stability, and other various circuits. However, I made sure that I taught them my thinking and intent behind each exercise. For example, HIIT was to improve anaerobic fitness and it is useful for athletes who play sports such as basketball and hockey. 

It can be very tempting to just "throw the basketballs" out there and call it a day. But I feel like I wouldn't be executing my responsibilities as a teacher. Going forward, I will need to ensure I have creative ways to keep learning present throughout PE. 

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Entry 4: Connecting with students in an HPE setting

To no surprise, a student’s enjoyment of a PE class was largely influenced by their teacher. In a social cognitive context, an individual's actions and thoughts are influenced by the behaviours of others, environmental factors, and personal experience. In the case of physical education, a student's perception of physical activity can be highly influenced by the attitudes of the teacher. “For instance, a teacher might have an upbeat attitude during PE that influences a student's perception of PE. In both scenarios, students are interpreting their PA experiences (behaviours) and their teachers’ words and actions (environmental factor) to form their perceptions of PE (personal factor)” (Murfay et al., 2022). 

While keeping this in mind, I made it a priority to make connections with my students. I know that as an educator in both a teaching and coaching context, connecting with students is a strength of mine. In my leadership class, I was able to tell stories that related to theories, have conversations with students during small group discussions, and I had more opportunities to get to know my students. I was able to learn that "Aiden" plays overwatch, likes rock music, watches anime, and wants to study film production in the classroom. But I felt like I didn't connect on that same level in a PE setting. 

I worried that I was not connecting on a personal level as much as I would have liked to. However, I realized that I did have a positive impact on them in other ways. For example, I emphasized effort and mastery over performance and results in my grade 9 HALE course. This motivational climate can foster enjoyment for students (Johnson et al., 2017). In my grade 10 girls' fitness class, I'd like to think that I did a great job of getting the girls to open up and be comfortable with me in their space. While I may not know their interests, I was able to connect with them by going on the runs with them and even doing Just Dance for Fun Fridays.

Since I knew how important it was for teachers to have a good relationship with their students, actively achieving this was a priority for me. I realized that each learning environment (classroom vs gymnasium and weight room) has unique opportunities to build relationships and that they are apples to oranges. I strongly believe in Maya Angelou's quote, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." This practicum helped me develop the confidence that I can form positive relationships with my students in all learning environments.

References

Johnson, C. E., Erwin, H. E., Kipp, L., & Beighle, A. (2017). Student perceived motivational climate, enjoyment, and physical activity in Middle School Physical Education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 36(4), 398–408. https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.2016-0172

Murfay, K., Beighle, A., Erwin, H., & Aiello, E. (2022). Examining high school student perceptions of Physical Education. European Physical Education Review, 28(3), 704–719. https://doi.org/10.1177/1356336x211072860 

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Entry 3: Fostering Social Opportunities in PE to Generate Positive Experiences

The literature demonstrated that the social aspect of physical education was a highlight for many students, as it creates fun and meaningful experiences. It allowed students to interact with new people, learn how to cooperate with others, improve their teamwork and fostered friendships (Murfay et al., 2022). The literature highlights how competitive activities can be a source of discomfort for many students. However, competitive activities with friends helped reduce negative emotions associated with the pressure to perform (Portman, 1995; Bernstein et al., 2011). One thing that I believe I excelled at when teaching a Grade 9 HALE course was having these opportunities for students to socialize within competitions and activities. 

At Mulock, at the end of each unit, they would typically have tournament days. Rather than assigning the class teams that they would have for the entire period, I wanted to try something new. I started off by allowing the students to pair up with someone that they would like to play with for the entire period. I then assigned each pair a playing card. For example, "Lucas" and "Billy" were the jack of spades, and "Farzam and "Yousef" were the 10 diamonds. Every game was 7 minutes long, and at the start of each game, I would shuffle the deck of cards and make new teams. Each pair would track how many wins they get after each round. 

My rationale was to ensure that everyone had at least one person on their team every rotation that they would be comfortable playing with. My goal was still to have them compete, but I wanted to mix up the teams so they could play with new people. This system was generally very successful. The students were able to create stronger bonds with their close friends and they were able to work with other students they typically wouldn't play with. Almost every round, there were new teams, which kept it fresh and kept the students engaged. A potential flaw was that the more-skilled students and lower-skilled students paired up among themselves. As a result, some of the games were lopsided. However, I think the fact that they played with friends and that having fun was the priority over winning, made the activity a success. 

Overall, I believe that HPE teachers need to consider how they can foster building relationships in their classes. It will positively impact the affection and motivation domains of physical literacy and hopefully influence the students into a more active lifestyle going forward. 

References:

Bernstein, E., Phillips, S. R., & Silverman, S. (2011). Attitudes and perceptions of middle school students toward competitive activities in physical education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 30(1), 69–83. https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.30.1.69

Murfay, K., Beighle, A., Erwin, H., & Aiello, E. (2022). Examining high school student perceptions of Physical Education. European Physical Education Review, 28(3), 704–719. https://doi.org/10.1177/1356336x211072860 

Portman, P. A. (1995). Who is having fun in physical education classes? experiences of sixth-grade students in elementary and Middle Schools. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 14(4), 445–453. https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.14.4.445 

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Entry 2: Establishing and Maintaining Routines and Expectations

"Teaching is an art, not a science" is a quote that stood out to me from the MT program. This helped me understand that everyone will have different approaches to teaching based on their beliefs, past experiences, and other factors. Each teacher and classroom will be unique in their routines and expectations. However, during my time at Mulock, I struggled to fit in to another teacher's classroom. My AT's routines with attendance and marking was not difficult, but it was hard for me to follow sometimes since it wasn't mine. I also recognize that following these, for lack of a better word, tedious and repetitive tasks is a weakness of mine holistically. When I have my own PE class in the future, establishing a routine that I can follow will be important.

Another notable experience was the expectations for students in a PE setting. Classroom management is very different than gymnasium managment. I recognize that I may be making up terms. Some of my favourite strategies, such as proximity, was more difficult to apply since the space is so much bigger and they are actively moving. However, I noticed that even though I had the attention of most of the students, I would have a few who would continually talk or be a source of distraction to the other kids. I know I can yell across the gym to provide instructions when its somewhat noisy, but I know that it would not be sustainable. 

Although I've talked about the differences in teaching in PE settings compared to the classroom, but many strategies are transferrable. One thing that I am proud of myself for was employing more positive reinforcement rather than punishment. In the grade 10 fitness class, three girls were habitually late. Although I was firm with them and talked about their punctuality, I also gave them positive feedback when possible. If they showed up at the bell, rather than the usual 10 mins late, I would go out of my way to acknowledge their efforts. I had a male student who would ALWAYS help with putting equipment away. I gave him some praise and affirmation in front of the class, which led to more students assisting.

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Entry 1: How I Implemented Competition in PE

According to ParticipACTION's reports throughout the years, it is apparent that we are failing Canadian youth in terms of keeping them active. As a future HPE teacher, I was thinking about how I can improve my classes backed by the literature. Throughout my K-12 experiences, I loved physical education, (PE) and I enjoyed all the competitive games we played. However, this experience clouded my judgement, as I failed to sympathize with those who disliked competitive games. As a result, it led me to research the impact of competition on student perceptions of physical education. The research helped me identify poor implementations of competition and helped organize more productive competitive games and activities. 

In my first week of practicum, our students were in a volleyball unit. I remember that when we had guests from GW Williams, they mentioned that volleyball was notorious for being a difficult sport to teach in HPE. I noticed they picked up the skills, but the competitive large-sided games with standard rules were... unproductive to put it nicely. The rallies would often result in a service ace or a missed serve. This experience demonstrated two findings from my research. Large-sided games often lead to the spotlight effect, which is increased attention on individuals during play. 

 When a player misses a service or is unable to receive the service, the entire class sees leading to embarrassment and negative emotions. During the standard game, I could feel the student's anxiety. This leads to the second finding, which is that students "like PE when I am successful" (Portman, 1995). During the game, almost nobody found success. The next time I asked my AT if we could omit service altogether, and we would start rallies with free balls instead. With this small change, we saw a massive improvement in the quality of play and an increase in enjoyment. 

I recognized that some sports, such as volleyball, are more complex and have a higher skill floor required to succeed. These sports need to be modified to account for the difference in skill to give all students opportunities to succeed. In comparison, when I organized large-sided games with handball (6 on 6), they could play with standard rules and found success. Handball, compared to volleyball, is much simpler to play, which inherently leads to more opportunities to succeed. 

These instances were first-hand experiences of the findings of my research. Skill and success are critical factors to enjoyment, and competition amplifies the need for skill and success. It helped me simplify my thought process in terms of implementing competition. I ask myself: can all students of varying skill levels find success in the competition? If so, do it. If not, modify it.

References:

ParticipACTION. (2022). PDF. 

Portman, P. A. (1995). Who is having fun in physical education classes? experiences of sixth-grade students in elementary and Middle Schools. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 14(4), 445–453. https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.14.4.445