Educator Interview by Joshua Merino

Audio; Image; Video Introductions to New Concepts!

jmerino23_2 — 2024-11-19 06:17:45 UTC

Mr. Johnson is a middle school physical education teacher, and he presented engaging strategies that he utilizes with his class. He noted that it is important for students to have the opportunity to be presented with the athletic concepts via the use of PowerPoint presentations at the beginning of each unit. He discussed how the visual presentation of the content provides students with an opportunity to either be introduced to the content entirely or strengthen their understanding of the content in a more formal manner.

Scaffolding

jmerino23_2 — 2024-11-19 06:22:34 UTC

Johnson noted that at the end of the introductory element of his units, he utilizes a form of scaffolding which begins with him modeling the objectives of the content. This allows students to witness an ideal exemplar of the expectations that he has for their performances.

Support for ALL students!

jmerino23_2 — 2024-11-19 06:26:58 UTC

Mr. Johnson noted that he is mindful of all of the various needs of his students, from students with disabilities to ELL students, and he makes certain that the physical education content has been curated to meet their needs in various ways. As he introduces new content, he indicates that he uses a PowerPoint presentation to display important elements of each sport. Additionally, this introductory element includes a video that provides in-depth information about the sport, fitness, or nutrition component, supporting students in better understanding the content and helping them attain important key vocabulary terms that ELL students will need to understand to achieve objective mastery. He also utilizes modeling as an element to support students who are ELLs. During his scaffolding component, he has students who are more advanced in these components engage in additional exemplars. Additionally, he made it apparent that students may have physical or health conditions that impact their ability to participate in the content. To address this, he provides additional materials to support students' needs; for example, a women's size basketball or left-handed gloves. He also provides students with alternative assignments, like sports reports, to make certain that all students can participate in the unit.

Assessments

jmerino23_2 — 2024-11-19 06:31:17 UTC

After my interview with Mr. Johnson, he indicated that assessments may appear differently in a physical education setting. He discussed how he includes formative assessments by frequently checking for understanding of the objectives throughout the unit, which provides him with an opportunity to support students in correcting any errors in their performance. His formative assessments revolve around the use of a rubric to assess whether or not students are achieving objective mastery. For example, in a unit where students are being assessed in catching a football, he utilizes a rubric of 1-Student can catch one pass; 2-Student can catch two passes, one of which they exhibit correct arm extension form; and 3-Student can catch three or more passes, all with proper arm extension form. His rubric assessments provide him with an opportunity to determine whether or not students have achieved objective mastery or a reteaching opportunity is necessary.

How do we address the gaps?

jmerino23_2 — 2024-11-19 06:33:53 UTC

Mr. Johnson noted that it is important to him that all students achieve objective mastery and that occasionally, reteaching is a necessary component in physical education; however, it does look slightly different. Johnson utilizes his assessment data to create small groups, which allow him the opportunity to work with students who may be struggling with certain elements of the unit to receive more direct support.