“Great Teachers are Equal Opportunists” Chapter 8 & 9: Schmidt

The great thing about physical education is that it is simple to connect other content areas or learning and integrate them into a lesson in physical education.  In physical education we want to encourage physical activity, health, support team building concepts, skills, techniques, and knowledge in the physical education setting. Reading the two chapters gave me some great insights and reminded me of ideas that would be beneficial in a physical education setting. I really enjoyed Laurels suggestions for assessments as well as strategies that promote growth and excitement in the classroom. Most often, students enjoy doing projects or tasks that do not seem like they are learning, but in fact that strategies that were used in both chapters 8 and 9 show great support for student learning from authentic assessments and activities used.

Since physical education is primarily for movement skills I strongly believe that it is important to use other types of strategies not only to keep the learning interesting and exciting, but to also make a connection with all students and not just students that preform well on skills or fitness testing. Relating to chapter 8, history is something that is an important part of physical education. Teaching students the history of a sport or game will one, keep the interested, interested or get the uninterested interested in the history and the process of the spot becoming an official game. Bringing in pictures of sports teams early on in the making of the sport will grab many students attention. They can learn just from the photograph the types of uniforms that were worn, the equipment that was used, and the amount of protection that was worn during the sporting events or practices. Like Laurel suggested, sources of images such as the pictures, books, or postcards is a great way to spice up an activity as well as get students more interested in the subject.

Another great idea that I liked from this chapter was to bring in an artifact. For example, I could introduce a basketball unit by brining in a peach basket (small wooden fruit basket) and a soccer ball. Like Laurel suggested, I could begin by asking students what the items were and how were they used in 1891. Also I could ask how the materials transformed into what they are and how they are used today. Once students begin to process and connect their findings, they will learn more about the history of basketball for the artifacts better then they would have if I read the history of basketball off of a sheet of paper.  

From what I have seen in other physical education classes that provided students with authentic assessment was students journaling, portfolios, written projects, and event tasks. From what I have seen or experienced, I really like when students are assessed based off of what they have created to show how they have learned the materials from a specific unit. For example, the unit my students are currently working on at my placement is a jump rope unit. Rather then me going around will a task sheet to check for students posture, techniques, form and skill. I will assess students on what they have learned from the unit. The students are required to take and chose what they learned from the skills that were previously taught, and will have to create a jump rope routine to present. The idea behind this assessment is that students choose what they can do best. My students will be more successful during this assessment as well as more confident, because they are choosing what they can do best and showing me how well they can perform the skills they choose. In the end, my intention as a physical education teacher is to promote physical fitness (or an interest) in a way that students do not feel uncomfortable with the practices or assessments. It is my goal from this assessment that students will later feel more confident as well as have a skill that they can practice outside of school as an activity that will support life-long activity.