TED 4698

Ivan Acosta
Reflection 10
This reflection focuses on the coursework I did in the last several years at UTEP. During
my time at UTEP I was exposed to coursework that was very beneficial and other course work
that was not that beneficial to my physical educator preparation. On my education journey I took
a lot of science classes, education classes, psychology classes. The most beneficial classes I took
at UTEP were Fitness programs and appraisal, biomechanics, exercise physiology, individual
games and sports, team games and sports, adventure curriculum. The classes that were less
beneficial to me were; content area literacy (RED), Statistics and measurement, and foundations
of kinesiology.
Fitness programs and appraisal was a really good course where I learned about exercise
prescriptions and how to develop and design exercise plans. Exercise physiology paved the way
to my physical educator knowledge. I learned how the body responds to exercise and chronic
adaptations to how the body adjusts to a wide range of physical exercise conditions. This will
allow me to observe and make the call on how much I can push my students in certain exercises.
Another course that really complemented my schooling was biomechanics. Biomechanics
allowed me to learn more about movement and the application of bio mechanics and physics
laws. This is very important because you need to know about torque, rotational force, vertical
force and mechanical levers in order to be able to correct students in proper mechanical
movements. This also helps in being able to correct students in other things such as projectiles
(kicking a soccer ball, pitching a baseball, shooting a free throw). These science courses along
with team games and individual games helped me put together a curriculum on what I have to
offer my future students.
Now on the other side of the coin I also took some courses that I feel that werent
beneficial to me. A course that I think was a real waste of time was content area literacy (RED).
The teacher that was teaching this course didnt teach anything at all. All I did was a thematic
unit and other insignificant work that up to this date I dont find any good use to it. Another
course I found not that relevant in my field was Statistics and measurement. On that class all we
did was learn about bell curve and outliers. Those are things that dont have an impact on PE.
The last class that was a total waste of time was foundations of kinesiology. This class was just
about the categories of kinesiology. I dont think its a necessary class, when youre doing your
basics, you should have an idea of what you want to do. Therefore, being required that you take
a class that will give you an insight on what you are planning to do is not necessary. On the
contrary, that just took a slot that could have been used to take another important class instead.

To conclude, this is the list that outlines the classes that were important as well as the
classes that I felt were not important. However, in the internship I got experiment and used what
I learned in school to figure out what works and what doesnt.