Philosophy of Physical Education

Jazlyn Vereen

- Benefits of physical education

- Key elements
- Establishing diversity and individuality

Physical education is not just rolling the balls out and having the kids do whatever they

want. Physical education is setting an example for young children to maintain a healthy lifestyle

and allowing them to have plenty of practice and opportunities to improve. Children’s brains are

like a sponge and can absorb a lot of information. The benefits of living a physically active

lifestyle improves motor skill development, provides opportunities for goal setting, making new

friends and reducing stress. Additionally, the health benefits include reduction in premature

mortality, heart disease, colon cancer, diabetes mellitus and drug and alcohol addiction.

The skill theme approach is based on developmentally appropriate principles that

recognize children have different interests, abilities and motor skills. I believe this is important

because teaching children is not a one size fits all. All children learn different and have different

learning styles. What works with one student may not work with another student. Furthermore,

movement concepts help teach students how to perform an action. Movement concepts are taught

to the primary grades before the skill themes, they are classified into three categories which are

space awareness, effort and relationships.

Being a reflective teacher is one of the most important tasks of a teacher. Not every

lesson or task is going to work with all your classes. What can work in one 4th grade class could

be completely different than another 4th grade class. There is always room for improvement and
change to a lesson or protocol. For example, when I was teaching wiffleball small games for the

first time, it took about eight modifications for it to run safely, smoothly and effectively.

Establishing and maintaining an environment for learning is vital in physical education.

First, the teacher needs to have management component so that the class runs smoothly and

effectively. This component will take care of the majority of your behavioral issues. The

managerial component enforces protocols and routines. Having a consistent routine allows the

children to know what is expected of them. The second component is instruction, which refers to

the subject matter activities that allow students to learn physical education content. This

component will include tasks, cues, challenges and feedback.

Instructional approaches are how the content is delivered to your students. There are six

different instructional approaches that range from direct to indirect teaching. Interactive teaching

is a great way for the students to learn a new specific skill. Task teaching is great for self-

assessment and independent work. I believe that peer teaching is great way to involve the

students in their learning. Students love teaching and being in charge briefly to their peers about

criteria they already know. Guided discovery’s goal is for skill learning and problem solving.

Cooperative learning involves complex sequences and basic skills while giving the students to

have group interdependence and individual responsibility. Child-designed instruction’s goal is to

improve skill learning and self-responsibility.

Teachers main concern during any physical education class is that their class is and will

remain safe. Teachers need to observe safety, on-task behavior, class movement patterns and

individual movement patterns. Teachers observe these things by positioning and knowing what

to look for. Teachers can use strategies such as back to the wall, scanning and limited selection

to observe their students.

 Assessing students helps provide the teacher with information on how their students are

learning and if the assessment is accountable. There are informal and formal assessments that

can be used. Informal assessments would be challenges and checks for understanding. I like to

incorporate checks for understanding after giving demonstrations and instructions by asking the

students to give me a thumbs up if they understand the content. There are eleven different formal

assessments: teacher observation, exit/entrance slips, student journals, homework, peer

observation, self-assessment, event tasks, videotape/digital pictures, student drawings, student

displays and portfolios. Teachers need to pay close attention if using the videotape/digital

pictures assessment because not all students have media release forms.

Physical fitness teaches young students that participating in a physically active lifestyle

has a tremendous impact on preventing diseases and having better health. Teaching dance in

physical education is a great experience to allow children to have freedom and confidence in

their movement and learn to enjoy dance. Teaching educational gymnastics in physical education

is a great way for students to learn how to maneuver their bodies effectively against the force of

gravity. The wonderful thing about gymnastics is that students do not have to perform any skill

or activity they are not comfortable with. This experience really focuses on the individual’s

ability to challenge themselves on their skill ability.

Teaching physical education is not just a job that seems fun. Positively impacting

children’s life and encouraging others to be physically active is a huge passion of mine. It does

not matter the student’s race, gender, sexual orientation or social class. All I want is for all of my

students to feel welcomed and appreciated. I would like to run my physical education program

by building relationships with students, parents, administration and the community.