Philosophy of Education Statement

The purpose of health, physical education, and sport in education
Knowledge of health, physical education, and sport contributes positively to society and education. Knowing what is healthy and how to make healthy decisions enables one to improve their quality of life. By including health in education one is empowering students to make healthy decisions that will affect their bodies and minds. Physical education on the other hand is an opportunity for students to become confident in their physical body. The physical education setting in education provides not only an opportunity to learn physical skills but also to learn social, emotional, and cognitive skills. Such skills include respecting self, others, and rules, teamwork, setting personal goals, and comprehension of academic knowledge. Sport in education also contributes to the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive wellbeing of students. By including health, physical education, and sport in education one is engaging students both mentally and physically which will empower individuals to be productive in the classroom and society.

Mission Statement
The health and physical education program will give students a knowledge and skill foundation in health, physical activity, and social aspects so that they participate in a lifetime of physical activity. Providing students with the opportunity to learn, meaningful content, and appropriate instructions students will be able to reach their full potential mentally, emotionally, socially, and physically.

Teacher’s Role in Health and Physical Education
As the teacher, I will model and guide students through learning processes by setting up challenges according to each student’s ability. I will implement a variety of teaching methods to ensure that I am reaching all learning styles. My role in the program is to be a role model and a reliable resource not only for the students but for the school and the community. It is also my job to determine if the program being implemented is working. Administering cognitive and skills tests, surveying attitudes of students, faculty and staff, and the community, do this. Results will be used to improve the program so that it meets the needs of everyone.

The teaching process in my classroom
As a teacher I will engage the mind and body. This will be done through the implementation of lessons that reinforce math, reading, science, and other areas of academia. For example, students may be working on overhand throwing while engaged in activities that require adding points, spelling words, problem solving, reading, etc. The teaching strategies that will be used through out the class are teacher-directed, reciprocal oriented, task oriented, guided discovery, problem solving, and exploration.

The Discipline Process
I believe in being proactive rather than reactive. I set expectations for the students to follow from the beginning. Rather than telling them what they cannot do I focus on giving them general expectations in which each class expands on at the beginning of the year and on a daily basis. Not only is discipline addressed through classroom expectations, I address it while writing lesson plans. During the process of developing lesson plans I always take into consideration situations that might arise and plan how to eliminate the situation before it even happens. By making the lessons challenging and fun for a variety of skill levels I am essentially reducing the chances of inappropriate behavior. However, there are still some students that test the limits of the expectations. For these students I have developed a hierarchy of steps that they progress through before being sent to the office, which is the last resort. Throughout the steps students are directed to think about and discuss their behavior and why it is considered inappropriate. Overall, discipline in my classroom strives to eliminate behavioral problems by planning lessons that keep everyone on task.