Demetrius Washington

Kin 4520 Personal Philosophy

The role of physical education in society is to develop the whole child physically, mentally,

and socially. The whole child approach to physical education is defined by policies, practices, and

relationships that ensure each child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. It is

important for teachers to set up an authentic learning environment for the students to meet the

components of the whole child approach. We want our students to take what they learn in the class

room and use it outside of physical education and school hours. This will allow for students to help

better themselves for a more promising and healthy future. Once we instill the behaviors we want

to see from our students, those students will all ways have something to look back on to help them

with decision making and living a healthy life style. Once the whole child is developed, we want

our students to be an example to the ones that are special and important to them. I believe that

every student in physical education should have fun and enjoy the activities while gaining

knowledge of skills and tactics resulting in future choices of lifelong activities. This will allow for

students to gain knowledge and experience that will help them meet life challenges and develop

the respect for individual differences.

A physical educated person understands and values the importance of physical education

and use the knowledge and skills they learn from activities to accomplish goals to live a healthy

lifestyle. A physical educated person thinks not on the things just for themselves, but on the things

of others. When students begin to learn the skills and knowledge needed to complete a task, they

learn to cooperate with others based off the way the environment is set up for learning. Being

physically educated relates back to the development of the whole child to where as teachers

creating opportunities and caring for the students to where they’re healthy, safe, engaged,

supported, and challenged. I can’t emphasize the importance of developing the whole enough when

it comes to physical education. My plan is to develop the whole child with the value of the learning
Demetrius Washington

Kin 4520 Personal Philosophy

process and social reconstruction. According to Jewett, Bain, & Ennis (1995) “how we learn

becomes as important as what we learn.” I value students participating in activities to where they’re

engaged while learning different skills and tactics while working well with others. This will allow

for students to have an active life outside of school while being able to connect with others. Jewett,

Bain, and Ennis (1995) also stated that “culture change is more important than social

transmission.” It is important for me as teacher to go along with the changes in the generations. I

know that my philosophy in 2018 shouldn’t be the same ten years from now due to the changes in

society, the students, and technology.

The outcome for every student in a well-conceived and implemented physical educated

program should gain competency, responsibility, and know that somebody cares for them.

According to the author, “Professional competency is the first criterion for role models” (Spencer,

1998, p. 59). It is important for teachers to learn activities that the students will enjoy. Students

are more likely to pattern the skills and tactics they learn after somebody that’s a role model to

them who understands and shows competency in the selected activities. If a teacher sets up a

learning environment to where students could gain competency, the students will take the skills

and tactics they learned from the class room and use them in activities outside of school hours.

When students become competent in anything, they will have the mind to stay active by

participating in activities they enjoy. Being responsible is just as important as being competent in

what we do. According to the author, “Researchers at the University of Oregon have conducted

studies on how participation in physical activity and sports affect children’s social and

psychological development” (Spencer, 1998, p. 61). Weiss (1982) also found that self-esteem and

perceptions of physical ability can be used as predictors of achievement behavior, motivation, and

positive affect. This will lead to students being able to make better decisions for themselves and
Demetrius Washington

Kin 4520 Personal Philosophy

make things better for the ones around them. This will lead to students caring for one another. A

teacher must show that they care for their students. Once the student fully understands that their

teacher care for them, they try to pattern their behavior after their teacher. The student will behave

in a way to please not only the teacher, but respect, help, and care for others around them.

The activities I will have for the students to participate in will be based of their decisions.

At the beginning of the school year, I will give my students the activities to choose from that will

be the activities they participate in throughout the school year. It’s going to be my job as a teacher

to provide them with the opportunity to gain competency and knowledge of the activities they

participate in. I will do my due diligence as a teacher with planning affectively, assessing, and

reflecting on myself to see if the students are meeting the standards. The type of model I’m going

to implement is going to be based off whatever grade cluster I have. If my grade cluster is k – 3the

best model for me to implement is the skills theme approach. That will allow for students to gain

competency in a variety of movement patterns and skills that will carry over into using tactics in

game-like situations. The teaching style for this grade cluster will be a direct teaching style. As I

work myself up the ladder with the grade clusters, I will implement the teaching games for

understanding model for 4 – 8. At this stage the students understand skills and movement patterns,

now it’s time for them to understand solving problems in life long activities that will help them

with staying physically active. The teaching style for this grade cluster will be guided discovery.

For the last grade cluster of 9 -12, I will implement the sports education model. The main reason

for implementing this model in high school is for the students to know how to be responsible and

work well with each other. The teaching style for this grade cluster will be exploration.
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Kin 4520 Personal Philosophy

Jewett, A. E., Bain, L.L., & Ennis, C.D. (1995). The curriculum process in physical education (2nd ed.).
Dubuque, IA: Brown and Benchmark.
Spencer, A. (1998). Physical educator: Role model or roll out the ball? Journal of Physical Education,
Recreation, and Dance, 69(6), 58-63.