739 days... |
Throughout the last two years I have been exposed to many new ideas about education that have transformed how I think about physical education. The reading and research I have done has opened my eyes to the vast variety of approaches and models for teaching PE. The process of planning, preparing, teaching and reflecting on my practice has become a more thoughtful activity for me. How I interact with my students; knowing their needs, likes, dislikes and values with regard to PE, developing more depth, consideration, and understanding of them as people. What I value in terms of curriculum, leadership, and change in the realm of education, in my school and in my gymnasium has grown to be more inclusive, relevant, and appropriate. Ultimately what all of this learning and research has led to is a new understanding of what I need to move forward in my teaching, to be the best physical educator possible. Like everyone else in our MEd Cohort, Simon Sinek’s views of Leadership, and Michael Fullan’s views on Change have recently been at the fore in my thinking. This past year I have been influenced by reading the research of Ben Dyson on what quality education looks like, Catherine Ennis and her work with value orientations and teacher effectiveness, Scott Kretchmar’s extensive work on meaningfulness in PE on which Tim Fletcher has based his recent work in the LAMPE project (which I have read every word of…).
IMSporticus and the deep introspective questions, posts and the blog "Drowning In the Shallows", Naomi Hartl and SPARK Jarrod Robinson’s, The PEGeek focus on technology in PE, Kevin Tiller’s Phys ed review, Dr. Kymm Ballard, and many others on twitter have consistently broadened my thinking on physical education practices and curriculum. And unrelated to PE, but educational and inspiring none the less, Emma González (@Emma4Change) and her voice for change in the US. Interestingly it has been the final courses that have really brought clarity to my reflections concerning my teaching. Leadership, change and meaningful experiences in PE represent much of the content I have reflected on, read and absorbed and focused on over the past few months. What I have finally realized is that creating change in any culture is a challenging and long-term process and within my teaching practice, the culture I need to lead in change is that of the classroom environment. In order to effectively address the problem, I needed to gather information and create a new vision for my classroom. With that in mind I proceeded to address the question of meaningfulness of the physical education program. Through a variety of data collection methods (non-participant observer, student voice, and reflection) I endeavoured to understand what the students were thinking about their experiences in the gym. Would I find a correlation between their interpretation of the program and the increase in misbehaviours? Would their feelings about the PE program reflect my feelings about it? At the same time, it is important for me to understand where I am coming from as an educator and leader of change. What leadership styles do I use? Which would be best suited for this change plan? What skills do I have or need to develop? Additionally, I believe that reflecting on what I value as a physical educator is also very important to understanding what I have to do to create a change in the culture in the gymnasium. “Moral purpose means acting with the intention of making a positive difference in the lives of individuals” This Michael Fullan and shared by Stephen Berg in EDUC 533 – Dynamics of Change, speaks volumes to me. My intention is now to create and embrace meaningful experiences for the students in PE that help to alleviate the off-task behaviours. As a leader moral purpose needs to guide my decision making and I believe that my goal to make PE more meaningful for the students through the planning process fits. I have the trust of the students and am working to build on that through giving them voice in their programs, I have a fine-tuned focus I am working toward and will develop it with the students and other teachers. I must persevere through this change until it becomes my go to practice in teaching and thereby is second nature. My plan for teaching explicitly for meaningful experiences in physical education is slowly developing the coherence needed to take hold. The critical difference with this change in my practice, is my moral purpose. By discovering Meaningful PE as a "thing", I found research that spoke to my feelings, values and beliefs about PE and gave language and direction to much of what I have been doing over the years. Coherence is all about mindsets, creating a shared mindset among all the stakeholders involved. It is critical that only a small number of goals are established, with the focus on student achievement in PE. My strategy to building coherence will focus on creating an excitement over student ownership of the PE program by making it meaningful to as many students as possible as often as possible. I have begun the process and have a focused direction in which I am moving my practice. I have also started to create the collaborative culture with the students through investigating their likes, dislikes and opinions about the PE program. The next steps are deepening the learning through creating goals and shifting my practice to meet the goals. Ultimately through building coherence my hope is to create a sustained focus on improved practice, more consistency in behaviours and improved student performance in PE. Another focus with respect to change is to address the marginalization of physical education as a program in school. This begins with simple steps like getting people to use proper terminology. "Gym class" and "Gym" need to become Physical Education, PE, or Phys. Ed. Secondly, more work with the other staff to view PE not as prep time but rather as an integral aspect of the curriculum is needed. Throughout this journey I have worked at reflecting in, on and about action (or as I described it using level 1,2 and 3 reflections). I continue to take risks with my teaching, searching for the most meaningful and instructive ways to bring the information and skills alive for my students. Working with others in the PE community and my school is a critical aspect of driving the changes in culture I am hoping to achieve. Finally, my professional development has impacted my teaching and student achievement continually over the past couple years in this MED program. The connection between the quality of my teaching and the quality of the student experiences has definitely strengthened.
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