September 4th, 2012: First Day of Student Teaching

Today I felt was quite interesting in the respect that it gave me an inside look at the other side of teaching. Being a Physical Educator entails many roles. During the first day we were responsible for making sure the students fully understood the responsibility that they now had being in the Middle School. We went over with the the "Code of Conduct" for the entire school, as well as the course syllabus. The course syllabus for P.E. within the Victor School District is quite in depth, and holds the students responsible for showing each of the domains of learning(psychomotor, cognitive, and affective). What I found interesting was the grading style that is used by Victor. They start the students off with a zero in the class, this is unlike many areas which start their students with a one-hundred. At first I was not sure what to think of this type of grading, feeling it was almost a "glass half empty" approach to teaching. Soon after though it dawned on me how ingenious this method was. By the students starting with nothing it causes them to work for there grade, instead of just meandering around holding on to that initial grade of a one-hundred. I found this quite interesting and will most likely adopt this type of grading in some form. Another highlight of my day was done during my coaching placement. I have been helping my host teacher with Junior Varsity Volleyball. Volleyball I would say is my least familiar sport, but my host teacher has been quite good to me, giving me the chance to learn the sport form him, and how it should be properly taught. He is a great teacher, and is quite knowledgeable of the game. This afternoon he looked at me and gave me the practice lesson plan for the day and told me to run the opening of practice. I was quite nervous at first, but I accepted. I taught the first half of practice, and it was quite an uplifting experience. One student who is a first year volleyball athlete has been having a hard time serving the ball. He hits the ball quite timidly and his timing is somewhat off. I went over to him during one of the drills and I adjusted just a few things in a way that makes sense to me, "no volleyball lingo," and the first swing he hit the ball with perfect form. He looked at me with an astonished look, and said "Wow that's easy!" It made my day knowing I helped a student for the better, and I am looking forward to more experiences like this one.