Last week was my first week of actual teaching for student teaching. During my first few weeks, I did a lot of observing, learning, and making sure students stay on task. I then took over full control of every P.E. class last week. Everything went really well, but I did learn a few things from it. Let's take a look:
1) You always know when students understand the game or not. Their facial expressions say it all. If they get it, they normally show excitement or joy. If they don't, then there's the "I'm so confused" look. Some are just priceless.
2) Kids get excited for P.E. It's nice not having to worry about the kids that don't want to participate, because almost every kid loves P.E. Makes my job so much easier.
3) There's a lot of whining in P.E. For part of our warm-up, we run the length of the court and back a few times. Occasionally, some kids don't run or they don't go all the way to the end. I continue to run them until they figure it out and then, of course, they whine to me. "Mr. Just, are we done yet?" "Mr. Just, when are we gonna play the game?" That's normally when I tell them what they're doing wrong, but I like to see if they can figure it out first.
4) Along with the whining, there's a lot of crying. There's not a day that goes by where a kid doesn't cry. What's really sad is that they cry over the smallest stuff. They will trip and cry. They bump into another kid and cry. We even played a type of dodgeball, using the soft, foam dodgeballs. I watched a kid get hit in the side of the face, ball going maybe 3 mph, and he cried. They'll find some toughness eventually.
5) If you come to public school, you must be potty trained, right? Well, yes, but that doesn't prevent the peeing of the pants. My kindergarten class was playing tag, when all of a sudden, a kid starts bawling. I asked him what was wrong and he yelled out, "I peed my pants!!!" Caught me completely off guard. He was sent to the bathroom, then the office to call his mom. Goodness.
6) Remember those kids that always got on your nerves because they were so athletic and absolutely hated losing? I have a few of those. One in particular needs a reality check. He is very athletic, but has to have everything his way and can't lose. Boy, oh boy, is he in for a surprise in junior high.
Those are the big things that come to mind. Even though kids can sometimes get on my nerves, I love teaching. I love watching kids mature and learn new things. I just hope someday I'll have the full experience of being an actual P.E. teacher, instead of just a student teacher. I can't wait to have that little name plate on the outside of my door that says "Mr. Just. Physical Education." Ah yes, I'm looking forward to that day.
