Anthony On

Professor Wasilko

PHED 226

2/14/2020

Personal Teaching Philosophy

I believe that my personal teaching philosophy is one that is catered to students, to help

them become life-long movers, and be dedicated to a life of fitness and health. I believe that

students need to learn the basic needs of physical education to lead a healthy fulfilling life. They

should know the importance of staying active and the benefits that come along with living an

active lifestyle, as well as knowing at least one life-long sport or activity they have a liking to. In

a New York Times article called Gym class Isn’t Just Fun and Games Anymore, the author

Motoko Rich, writes that “P.E. helps students learn about lifetime fitness habits” (p. 3) which

would help them learn how to lead longer, healthier, and more meaningful lives. I also believe

that students should know how to work together through teamwork and show sportsmanship and

respect in a social setting, which they can learn through physical education. Physical Education

has 3 domains, the psychomotor, cognitive, and affective/social domain. I personally think that

each learning domain are equally important, and that students need to learn skills in all three to

live a healthy active lifestyle.

One PE teaching model that is used is the skill themes teaching approach (also known as

movement education. The main objectives of this model are to provide experiences appropriate

to a child’s development level, as well as using the skill themes in its scope and sequence to help

design lessons reflecting the varying needs and levels of students over a period of years. This is
similar to my personal teaching philosophy because students learn the basic motor skills and

fundamental movements used in sports and activities at a young age which they will develop into

more specialized skills and patterns later on in life. While studying physical education at George

Mason University, we were taught about different teaching models and one that was very

emphasized in our introduction physical education course was the Skill Themes Approach. This

is the model that the Fairfax County Public School also uses. The basic movement concepts and

skill could be seen on a diagram called Graham’s Movement Analysis Wheel Studying (Graham,

p.116) which can be used to make more complex by adding movement concepts to skill themes

for different activities and sports. This helps resonate with me because I believe that students

need to learn basic fundamentals of movements that are developmentally appropriate for them.

This teaching model is more teacher-centric where the teacher decides what to teach to

students in a lesson. Lesson plans are made using the SHAPE America Grade-Level Outcomes

for K-12 Physical Education. Teachers can give extensions and accommodations by modifying

the rules and activities of a skill if it is too challenging or not challenging enough to help

promote learning and success. In this approach the teacher is the main authority in the classroom

and makes most of the decision making, even though the teacher can give suggestions where

students can choose the modifications that they believe they can perform.

A lesson using this model would have the teaching and learning tasks of this

approach/teaching model uses integration, refinement, extension, and application. An example of

this would be 4th grade students learning how to properly forearm pass a volleyball and

incorporating that skill in a small-sided game. This falls in line with the grade-level outcome of

students volleying underhand using a mature pattern, in a dynamic environment (S1.E22.4). In

this lesson, students would be introduced to the forearm pass/bump and would incorporate
different movement concepts with this skill. This includes striking in general or self-space, at

different levels (high, middle, or low) with different effort such as strong vs. light, in relationship

with objects and people such as self, or to a partner, or over a net (in the small-sided game).

While not everyone will always have a teaching philosophy that is just one specific

model, the skill themes approach/movement education model is one that has similarities to my

personal teaching philosophy. I believe students need to learn fundamental movements and skills

that are able to be incorporated into everyday life. Success in learning these would help promote

a healthy, active lifestyle that I would like all my students to adopt.

 References

Graham, G., Holt/Hale, S. A., & Parker, M. (2013). Children moving: a reflective

approach to teaching physical education. 9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Rich, M. (2013, February 19). Gym class isn't just fun and games anymore. The New

York Times. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/education/gym-class-isnt-just-fun-and-games-

anymore.html

SHAPE America. (2013). Grade-level outcomes for K-12 physical education. Reston,

VA: Author.

Skill Themes PowerPoint. Support REAL Teachers. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2022,

from https://www.supportrealteachers.org/uploads/4/6/4/4/4644123/skill_themes.pdf