Professionalism

Professionalism in PE has been at question in recent years, and rightfully so. We all know about the typical PE class and "GYM Teacher" who rolls out the balls and basically acts like a babysitter for 30-60 minutes at a time. Even though I am not employed at the time, working with other educators who may think we are inferiors, I still get comments from people on campus frequently about our professionalism. I am sick and tired of those comments and the mockery. It is hard for me to calmly defend our profession but that's what we have do it. We need to calmly educate people that we are indeed professionals and take our jobs seriously and that our profession is important. It is not the public's fault that PE has been tainted by years of the typical "GYM Teacher".

Inclusion

How do we feel about inclusion? Should people with disabilities be included in PE or should they have their own adapted PE class? Does it depend on the disibility? Does it depend on the activity being performed in class that day? Do we teach our students inclusion at a young age so that they have that life skill throughout life? How far do we go to help a person with a disability if it is limiting students without disabilities?

Drawing a Line

So here is a debate that hits my heart. Where do you draw a line between your morals as a human being and what your school district determines as "inappropriate"? There has to be a point where an educator puts there foot done and disregards what is accepted and, perhaps, puts their job at risk due to something that they believe in. I would say, for must educators, we would probably bite our onges 99% of the time. But what situation would cause an educator to put their job at risk?

PE time

So...here is my issue. Obviously we all know that school districts do not provide enough PE time for their students. And, we all know that PE is on the bottom of the pole when when money is being distributed. So, what do we do. Obviously there are grants for the money issue so that is a solution to that problem. But, what are we to do about the PE time. Clearly we know that being physically healthy is just as important as being able to read, write, etc. But do we expect the school district to cut reading and speech class times down to give us more PE time? In my opinion, I think not. But I think the students need just as much time in the gym. So, again, what is to be done? Maybe school could be an hour longer. One half hour in the morning and one half hour in the after noon and everyone have PE for an hour a day. What do you think?

PE teacher testing

Being a GA at Slippery Rock I get to see how college students behave and their habits when it comes to physical activity. I think that Physical Educators should have to go through a physical that includes exercises from all 5 physical fitness categories: Cardio-vascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, body composition, and flexibility. PE teachers are some of the most hypocritical people in the world if you think about it. We expect students to perform in all of these areas but we are selves are not held accountable. Nothing bothers me more than a PE teacher who is physically unfit that expects their students to perform.

Respect and Responsibilty

I think that it is a shame the lack of responsibility and respect that students have towards life in general. I believe it is a problem among our entire nation. The problem is, how can we expect our youth to be responsible and show respect if adults do not do the same, including our countries leaders. I feel that it is the responsibility of educators to give the students an environment that helps prepare them for adulthood by installing a respectful atmosphere. Teachers must be careful not to cross a boundary, however, that would get them in trouble with the law.

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