As both a new PE Teacher to Olympic Heights School and a new teacher in general, I’ve had more questions than answers when it comes to teaching PE to our Div 1 Students this year!
I am fortunate enough to have an experienced teaching partner with me and she has been very generous in “showing me the ropes”. However, I also wanted to add my own value to both our students and our gym, so I came up with the following idea early into the school year.
As is probably the norm in many school gyms throughout the city, we were lacking a lot of “visual learning” or “print resources” on our walls. That, combined with the fact that I wanted to assess what these young minds and bodies thought was expected of them in gym, motivated me to do the following project with all of my students.
For two days, in October, while my teaching partner was away, I brainstormed with my students on “What PE Means to You”. Hands flew up in all grades, from kindergarten to 3, with answers ranging from “It’s fun!” to “Trying new Activities” to “Doing your Best” to “Playing with Everyone”
I am fortunate enough to have an experienced teaching partner with me and she has been very generous in “showing me the ropes”. However, I also wanted to add my own value to both our students and our gym, so I came up with the following idea early into the school year.
As is probably the norm in many school gyms throughout the city, we were lacking a lot of “visual learning” or “print resources” on our walls. That, combined with the fact that I wanted to assess what these young minds and bodies thought was expected of them in gym, motivated me to do the following project with all of my students.
For two days, in October, while my teaching partner was away, I brainstormed with my students on “What PE Means to You”. Hands flew up in all grades, from kindergarten to 3, with answers ranging from “It’s fun!” to “Trying new Activities” to “Doing your Best” to “Playing with Everyone”
Little did our young charges know that at the time, I had three strategies in mind when planning and creating this project. Not only did I want to add more visual learning to our walls as well as determine what our students perceived gym class to be, but I also wanted to empower them and to have them take ownership of their learning space! I wanted to give them the opportunity and responsibility to self-assess – to be accountable for their words that are now on our walls...to understand and to believe in those words and to take ownership. After all, it was all of them who created this together!
The Poster has been completed and I was able to share it with our students only about a month ago! They were thrilled to see it looking so great – after all, it started with a bunch of their words scribbled on a white board and it is now a colourful, awesome poster complete with pictures! We refer to it frequently and they feel so proud of their great work and I am so proud of them!
The Poster has been completed and I was able to share it with our students only about a month ago! They were thrilled to see it looking so great – after all, it started with a bunch of their words scribbled on a white board and it is now a colourful, awesome poster complete with pictures! We refer to it frequently and they feel so proud of their great work and I am so proud of them!
Kim Gosselin is a Physical Education teacher at Olympic Heights School.
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