Por Terri Clark<\/p>\n
It\u2019s fall, again.\u00a0 And here we are, back in school, again.\u00a0 It\u2019s time for a new crop of freshmen, the class of 2023, to begin their high school journey and begin their personal journeys through high school Physical Education. I have a love\/hate relationship with this time of year.\u00a0Summer\u2019s over \u2013 hate. New beginnings \u00ad\u2013 love. It\u2019s a chance to begin again, try new things, fix broken things, and welcome 240 new students to Patrick Henry Physical Education.<\/p>\n
I begin each class of a new year with what I have dubbed \u201con-boarding.\u201d\u00a0One of the most important pieces of my class\/curriculum is teaching students about my expectations. I will spend the first two weeks getting to know my students and helping them to get to know each other.\u00a0Helping them understand what learning looks like in Physical Education and how we are going to work together to accomplish that. We will spend the next 9 months together, so I figure it\u2019s best if we all learn how to work together and get along right from the start. So, on the surface it might not look like traditional Physical Education, but if you were to observe long enough you would see it\u2019s all in there: teamwork, respect, communication skills, and responsibility.\u00a0We will also spend the next nine months traversing our way through 9th grade-level Physical Education together so it goes best when we I can help them see that we\u2019re all in this together.<\/p>\n
New beginnings are always challenging in education.\u00a0But they are particularly trying when you are transitioning from one theory of learning to a new one. In my 25-plus years of teaching I have seen quite a few come and go.\u00a0But, lately, one in particular that has gotten under my skin and won\u2019t leave me is Universal Design for Learning, or U.D.L., in the education community. I\u2019m leaning into U.D.L. this year with all my teacher might. This theory keeps appearing over and over; from mentors, in my professional development, leaders in education and colleagues. I had the good fortune to attend a professional development in September where we watched a short Tedx Talk, \u201cThe Myth of Average,\u201d by Todd Rose (check it out!). For this old teacher it was one of those \u201cah-ha\u201d moments that changed everything. I\u2019m thankful for that 18 minute Tedx Talk and what it taught me about how kids might or might not learn.<\/p>\n
The idea behind this Ted Talk is that it\u2019s a myth that there is an \u201caverage\u201d student. If you take that assumption one step further expanding on the belief that there is an average student the logical conclusion is that you would teach to the \u201caverage.\u201d So, if I teach to the \u201caverage\u201d student I will reach \u201cmost\u201d of my students. Correct? No, not at all. Because, it really is an erroneous assumption that there is an \u201caverage\u201d student.\u00a0So, here I am again, at the cross-roads of \u201c Old Teacher and New Physical Education. Believing that there is an average student, one that represents most of my students is more than inaccurate, it\u2019s a belief system that will give you (and your students)\u00a0 less than average results. Knowing this once again challenges me with change. Change in the way I will approach instruction, change in\u00a0 how I assess students and it changes how I see each student as an individual.<\/p>\n
After all of it, what I was left to think through were my thoughts on students and the newly found belief that there is NO average student.\u00a0 What happens when students only have access to an \u201caverage\u201d means of accessing instruction and curriculum? Or what about instruction that does not reach them where they are on their continuum of learning? Sadly, I know the answer to that question; they are left out, left behind. That outcome produces two byproducts: students who feel like Physical Education is so basic it\u2019s not necessary, or it\u2019s so far out of their reach, \u201cwhy even try?\u201d\u00a0Neither one of those options produce a student who is physically literate and ready to assume responsibility for their own health and well being. And, I must conclude, that is the goal. That is the, \u201ccross the finish line, spike the ball, hit it out-of-the-park\u201d goal for this teacher.<\/p>\n
I will begin another year learning anew how students learn best and with the best intentions of delivering instruction that is accessible to every student while creating assessments that allow for choice in how students demonstrate learned content. I feel up for the challenge.\u00a0 Stay-tuned for updates.\u00a0 If you \u2018d like to follow our journey this year follow me on twitter @teachingthemasses.<\/p>\n
\u2014Terri Clark teaches Physical Education at Patrick Henry High School.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Terri Clark It\u2019s fall, again.\u00a0 And here we are, back in school, again.\u00a0 It\u2019s time for a new crop of freshmen, the class of 2023, to begin their high school journey and begin their personal journeys through high school Physical Education. I have a love\/hate relationship with this time of year.\u00a0Summer\u2019s over \u2013 hate. […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1096,"featured_media":231500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11558","_seopress_titles_title":"New Physical Education. Old Teacher.","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11564,11547,11558],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-features","category-mission-times-courier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1096"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}