NASPE Beginner Teacher Standards

Standard 1: Scientific and Theoretical Knowledge 
Physical education teacher candidates know and apply discipline-specific scientific and theoretical concepts critical to the development of physically educated individuals.

            Understanding and knowing how the body moves and works is vital for a Physical Educator.  I have completed Anatomy 1 and 2, Motor Behavior, Biomechanics, and will be taking Exercise Physiology in the Spring 2010 semester.  These classes have introduced me to important topics like how the body moves and various factors that contribute to movement of the body.  Having an understanding in these topics will suit me students as I will be better able to explain how to perform proper movements. 

           

Standard 2: Skill-Based and Fitness-Based Competence 
Physical education teacher candidates are physically educated individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to demonstrate competent movement performance and health-enhancing fitness as delineated in NASPE's K-12 Standards

            As I continue my way through my Undergraduate work in Physical Education I continue to do well in activity classes.  I feel that it is important to know various topics and be able to explain and demonstrate them for students. For example track and field, gymnastics, and racket activates are some of the activity courses I have completed. These and the rest of my activity classes will help me know how to teach to my students.  In addition completion of Health Related fitness has helped me learn how to develop a proper workout based on results of different fitness tests.

Standard 3: Planning and Implementation. 
Physical education teacher candidates plan and implement developmentally appropriate learning experiences aligned with local, state and national standards to address the diverse needs of all students.

            During the Spring 2010 semester I will be taking Adaptive Physical Education class.  I will learn more about working with students with disabilities.  I have also had experience working with Cortland Homer After school Mentoring Program also know as CHAMP a program designed to help elementary children with home work but also improving physical and social aspects as well.  While teaching in some of my other classes I have at times had to adapt my lesson on to meet the needs for my peers who were role playing students with diverse needs.  Physical education is unique and can be taught differently to many people.  As a teacher you cannot be set on doing things one way, but rather flexible. 

Standard 4: Instructional Delivery and Management. Physical education teacher candidates use effective communication and pedagogical skills and strategies to enhance student engagement and learning.           

            To help enhance student engagement a teacher should show enthusiasm and use language that is appropriate to the students they are teaching.  If the students do not understand what you are saying or can tell you are not excited to be there then they will not be excited and thus learning will be nearly impossible and not take place. Visual aids, like the one I used in my bowling lesson (view below), are important.  Proper visual aids will help draw the attention of the learners and help give them valuable information that they can quickly look at to help them remember.  

Standard 5: Impact on Student Learning.
Physical education teacher candidates utilize assessments and reflection to foster student learning and to inform instructional decisions.

            Proper assessments are vital when determining ability or knowledge of the students.  In my Stats 434 class we spent a great deal of time on validity, reliability, and authenticity of a proper assessment. We spent the second half of the year on a group project where we team-taught a lesson.  We had to create a lesson and create an assessment both physical and cognitive.  This helped me learn to differentiate qualities between a proper assessment versus an ineffective assessment.              

Standard 6: Professionalism.
Physical Education teacher candidates demonstrate dispositions essential to becoming effective professionals.

            An important aspect of a teacher is appearance such as how you dress and the manner in which you speak.  I am always dressed in appropriate attire for my classes and when I teach.  I am also prepared when I teach and will often be thinking of what I plan to say or how to adapt when things are not going as planned.  In addition it is important to think of ways to improve lessons to better suit the students. 

I feel that I meet each of these standards and know I will continue to improve at each during my undergraduate work.  It is important to never be content with what you know or can do.  There is always room for improvement and I know I will keep pushing myself to become a better teacher.  Teaching Physical Education is what I love to do and I want change the way people view Phys Ed class and help as many as I can in doing so.  

Slide Show

Check out my slideshow created rom PED 255 Fall Semester.  
Hope you enjoy! :-)

Health Class and Physical Education Class become ONE

Health Class and Physical Education Class become ONE

Recently I was introduced to http://www.mypyramid.gov/kids/kids_game.html  a fun and educational game targeted for youngsters to help learn healthy eating habits.  The object was to fuel a space ship with enough fuel for grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, and meats/beans so it could make it to the destination planet power.  You could select different foods for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner to fill up the fuel tank.  You have to be careful not to overload the fuel tank.  Then the last part was to charge the battery by selecting 60 minutes of physical activity. 

Check out this game review

     The idea of combining health and physical education is early elementary is something that I have been considering as of lately.  I know that as a nation we have done a miserable job at fulfilling the requirements set forth in Healthy People 2010.  My girlfriend is in a two year nursing program and recently told me of a discussion that her class had suggesting that health and importance of eating properly is something that should be introduced into the public schools.  Rather than changing unhealthy lifestyles at an older age, students should learn proper eating and lifestyles at an early age.  As the children grow they can continue to keep their lifestyles and thus be more educated and more fit to make proper decisions about their health.  My idea as future Phys Ed teacher would be to combine health topics into the gymnasium.  As a result I have created a 35 minute lesson that could be used to help elementary children learn about the food pyramid but at the same time receive fitness from the physical education class itself.  I feel that this could be a very important route to take because the rate of obesity as a population as a whole and especially children have greatly increased in the recent decades.  To help slow down and ultimately decrease the number it is going to take time.  However, I feel that this niche will help my students in my district where I land a job not only as a Physical Educator but as a health educator as well. 

Take a look at my ideas below

Sample Lesson Plan

My Pyramid Game Progressions

Fruits and Vegetables Worksheet

Fruits and Vegetables Answer Key

Below are pictures of me playing the game.  To be fair I am not in my best appearance because I am still recovering from mono.

NASPE Content Standards – A physically educated person:

1. Demonstrates competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities.

     While completing my various activity course I have improved many of my motor skills that will help me when I become a Physical Educator so my students can learn easier and more efficiently if I am skilled and can properly demonstrate these skills. This semester I was able to score a 8/10 qualitative score on my forearm pass and serve.  On my set and attacking hit I was able to score a 9/10.  From the beginning of the semester I had improved on three of the four areas while remaining constant on the last.   

    

2. Demonstrates understanding of movement concepts, principles, strategies and tactics as they apply to the learning and performance of physical activities.

      During my physical education days as student in elementary or high school I had little experience with track and field.  However, I did well in track and field where displayed my ability to throw discuss, shot-put, proper sprinting and long jump form, as well as other various skills such as the hurdles and baton relay.  There were only two topics I did not receive a ten out of ten.  Hurdles I had difficulty with and recorded an 8, while in long jump I had a 9. 

 

3. Participates regularly in physical activity.

     I have always been a very active individual from a young age.  This has not stopped as I have aged.  I continue to play soccer and golf from the spring to late fall days with friends or alone.  In the winter I am a snowboard instructor at Labrador Mountain.  During the summer I work at the Cortland Youth Bureau working with children 7-14.  Keeping up with the children and all of their activities can be exhausting but very rewarding.  I also enjoy other activities such as basketball, tennis, and racquetball.   Fortunately most of these activities are ones I can continue late into life, and I plan to do just that. 

4. Achieves and maintains a health-enhancing level of physical fitness.

     When in top shape for soccer I could run 2 miles in 12 minutes.  Even when not in peak performance I can run one mile in a relatively good time around seven minutes as I did for my PED 182 Health related fitness class.  I also finished second out of about 14 students when we did our pacer test.  In addition my BMI is around 22.

5. Exhibits responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others in physical activity settings.

     I have always been a caring individual who respects others and obeys class rules.  I do not make fun of others by laughing at them when they are unable to perform a task.  After all we are all skilled in different areas.  Just because someone is unable to perform a task correctly does not mean they are unable to all skills poorly.  A student may not be able to make 7 out of 10 free throws, but they are great at dribbling and passing.  All that maters is everybody attempts everything to their best of their ability. 

6. Values physical activity for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression, and/or social interaction

            I consider myself an active healthy individual who enjoys staying in shape.  Not only does physical activity make me feel and look better it provides an opportunity to challenge myself to do better.  In addition team sports help create strong social interaction with others.  I have been playing soccer since I was young and have been a part of various teams of different ages, areas, and skill levels.  It has helped me become a better person and learn form my mistakes and mistakes of others. 

I continue to build and expand on all six standards as I continue my voyage on becoming a Physical Educator.  I love sports and being active and I hope I can spread the joy to my students when I become a teacher. 

10 hours Practical Experience

During the fall soccer season I was a member of Cortland State’s Club soccer team. This allows players who want more competition compared to intramurals or who may have used up their eligibility for varsity.  We compete and travel against other area colleges such as SUNY ESF, Syracuse University, Cornell, SUNY Oswego, and Ithaca.  Our team is coached by a student Liem O’Connell who last year suffered a season ending injury last year.  Unable to play Liem opted to be a coach for this fall’s squad.  I was fortunate to complete my 10 hours of volunteer experience helping Liem, while being a member of the team.  We would meet anywhere from two to four times a week depending on availability of fields.  Our typical weekly schedule would consist of practice on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday with games on Saturday.  During the season I was able to help introduce new drills and activities while doing minor projects like moving goals into position or off the field when we were done.  I am a defensive player who has been playing since I was four.  I feel that defense is the most important aspect of any sport.  Obviously with this background the drills and activities were focused on either improving individual defensive skills or defense as a unit.  It was difficult in the sense that because we are not a varsity team and classes and work would conflict with practices so we would have a different group of players at every practice.  This made working as a team a bit difficult but also helps players become better team players.  As a result of our hard work and strong defensive mind we gave up 1 goal or fewer in 5 out of our seven contests as we went on to win our league and end of the year tournament.