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What level do you want to teach?
By Patrick | February 6, 2010
This has been a great week. I have been back subbing at the high school level, which is where I always thought I wanted to teach. I have to say, after spending time lately at the elementary and secondary levels, I may have changed my mind. Let me take a minute to give you some insight into my mind. At the elementary level, the students are a raw clump of clay which it is my job to mold. These students for the most part have very little skill and are just waiting to be taught. They also have the ability to make a game out of anything. For example, you don’t need to play a full basketball game with them, you can just as easily make a game out of who can dribble the ball the longest. By doing this you can assist in developing their skills while at the same time addressing their competitive nature.
On the other hand, there are high school students. At this level, for the most part, they just want to play games. I subbed three days last week during their basketball unit. The teacher had left a lesson plan which included some drills and then game play for the final 20 minutes of class. When I explained to the class that we had some drills to do you would have thought I asked them to throw away their cell phones. All they wanted to do was break up into teams and play a game. Well, once I finally got them on board with the drills, it was easy to see why the teacher wanted them to complete them. Many of the student’s skill were not as good as they thought they were. So the fundamental drills really helped them even though they would still to this day disagree. Of course, when they finally broke up into teams and played, they were happy as could be.
So, where do you want to teach, at the level that you can teach skills and have to modify games, or the level that you may be fought to teach skills, but can play actual games? To each their own on this decision. As for me, the jury is still out and I’m not sure I will have an answer in the near future. Now, I know some of you are asking what about the middle school students. Where do they fall in the mix? Well, to be honest, I haven’t spent that much time teaching at that level, but I am about to get experience there. I have a two-month assignment starting Monday at a middle school, so stay tuned for insight into the minds of preteens.
Topics: Physical Education | No Comments »