This year, I started teaching ‘Physical Education’ at an elementary school.
When you say you are teaching something, there are many things that are naturally accepted by the listener. Things like history, math, or cooking. In comparison, teaching physical education feels somewhat vague or inaccurate. If you say, “I teach soccer,” “I’m a badminton coach,” or “I teach taekwondo,” it seems like people would just naturally move on and say, “Oh, that’s right.” Doesn’t saying ‘I teach physical education’ sound the same as saying ‘I teach food’? It feels like it’s slightly out of scope. It’s an inconvenience that only the listener will feel comfortable if you make a fine adjustment by adding a word at the end.
I was a homeroom teacher at an elementary school until last year, but when I changed schools, I became a dedicated physical education teacher this year. It was a decision he had no choice but to adapt to the situation and conditions rather than arbitrarily. From a teaching perspective, dedicated physical education in elementary schools is generally unfavorable. This may be because you have to teach while breathing dust on the playground all year round, or it may be because it requires a lot of physical stamina, or it may be because it is a burden due to the nature of the subject, which requires you to control children who want to run around and play as much as they want and take care to prevent them from getting hurt. It may be possible. In elementary schools, it is common for teachers to be male or part-time teachers with secondary qualifications. As I decided to take charge of physical education, something I had never done before, I was scratching my head and thinking. What did you teach?
If you were to think of physical education class in elementary school, you might think of dodgeball or soccer with boys. The easiest way to kill an hour is to let the kids play ball. Even these days, you can’t say it doesn’t exist at all. When I was in high school, I often went through physical education classes like that. I set a goal for myself. No dodgeball for at least the first month. What’s wrong with dodgeball? I made a resolute promise to myself and pushed forward resolutely. I have kept a promise that no one made me make and have not let my children play dodgeball for two months. Instead, we taught them the games and exercises we had prepared each time and made them run around in moderation and sometimes exercise quite hard. At the same time, I realized that my own difficulties and know-how were different from when I was teaching physical education class as a homeroom teacher.
Teaching physical education. In particular, the meaning of physical education for elementary school children may be slightly different from that for adults. Physical education is an exciting time for children. If you try to meet children’s expectations, you may make the mistake of only giving them the ball every time. In fact, surprisingly, dodgeball is a game that children have different likes and dislikes about. If you make a mistake and end up having different likes and dislikes about the physical education class itself, it may become more difficult to conduct the class compared to other subjects. As a teacher, what you have to provide is not just excitement. Helping people feel the joy of moving their bodies freely, feeling a sense of accomplishment after performing difficult movements and tasks, getting people interested in exercise and not being lazy in taking care of their bodies, following the rules and being good friends with their peers. Isn’t the goal of physical education the goal of physical education, which is to educate the whole person, such as helping people communicate appropriately, getting used to using their body to their full potential, and growing healthily?
When you become preoccupied with meaning, your thoughts often develop in grandiose directions. However, I believe that even a single gesture and movement can contain meaning, and I am determined to teach physical education to children in earnest. In that respect, rather than teaching soccer or badminton, teaching physical education is exactly the right and appropriate thing to say. To be honest, I’m not good at exercising or exercising much enough to call myself an athlete in front of others. However, I often mop the gym floor alone in the afternoon after class, reflecting on what it means to teach.
After making my own fine adjustments to my physical education, why do I feel more comfortable but also more burdened? But what else can you say? I teach physical education to children.
2024-05-17 07:26:31
#Episode #Teaching #physical #education
