Nick Culkin

PE Teaching Philosophy

Teaching Philosophy

To treat each student as their own person, emphasizing physical education as a lifetime
activity rather than a class.

My goals as a PE teaching for student learning consist of many different things. I want my
students to grow not just in a physically skilled aspect but as a person. My students will be able
to take the knowledge they learn in the classroom and translate it to real life, whether it be
relationship skills or being physically active for a lifetime. Students will be able to recognize skills
just be hearing cues, I want to put an emphasis on safety and proper techniques as well.
Students will value things such as teamwork, respect, and hard work. My students will not judge
anyone and will respect one another by all means, whether it be someone who needs a
modified task or is having trouble doing a skill my students will help one another.

I will use the teaching method of student centered; I feel as if allowing the students to make
decisions for themselves in some cases allows them to grow as a person. This method requires a
lot of trust in your students and calls for a respect factor in which the students will not try to
take advantage of the situation. With this method I will need to start off with a command
method to set the ground rules and boundaries and then ease into the student-centered
learning. The environment created in a student-centered classroom will consist of students
having a form of independence but also allows them to help one another and problem solve
together. Ultimately this style of classroom will teach students respect, independence, and will
allow them to use those skills for a lifetime to come.

Assessments contribute to my students learning by showing growth and understanding. Seeing

progress in these assessments allows me to recognize learning, I am not looking for the most
athlete I am looking to see if you understand the material and can translate what you learned
into actions. Student progress shows me they are ready to move on and also shows that my
methods of teaching are working, with progress comes knowledge obtainment which means
these students can now use these skills for a lifetime of health and fitness. Assessments such as
check for understanding and formative assessments such as skills tests will show me student
progress, I will also implement peer review and checklists to help students communication and
relationship skills.

I believe that in my classroom differences should be acknowledged in a positive light, things

such as race, culture, gender, ability etc. should be recognized. This is important because it
allows students to be themselves and express who they are. Having students share activities
from their culture or speak about traditions will allow my classroom to become a family and not
just classmates, discussing these things will allow students to find appreciation and understand
in things they may not know much about. I will have a weekly new activity, by this I mean I will
allow students to bring in a game or skill from their background and let them discuss the
significance behind the activity.
In conclusion allowing students to feel safe, respecting, and have a voice allows for them to
open up. The characteristics of my classroom will be a hard working one where all students feel
included and are a family. Doing this allows for my students to really get a grasp on not just skills
and physical education but how to be a better person, the skills they learn are not just for the
classroom, but these students will gain knowledge that will benefit them outside of the
classroom with knowledge on how to maintain a physically active lifestyle while also becoming a
better person.