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LEADERSHIP, LEARNING, &  PErsonal Growth

Thought of the Day: Sunday, September 6th, 2015

9/5/2015

3 Comments

 

Personal and Intellectual Engagement in Your Program

The ultimate goal of any educator who cares deeply about what they do is to ensure that all of their students are authentically engaged in the learning process. These educators understand that learning will look very different within their classes and that no two students really learn alike. 

As physical educators, we see a vast range of skills, abilities, mindsets, and levels of engagement on a daily basis in our gymnasiums. The design of the learning that takes place in our teaching space is entirely dependent upon our students themselves and needs to be engineered in a way that truly helps to sustain their levels of motivation and engagement over the long haul of the school year. At times I think that we have a tendency to jump too quickly into what we feel is important to teach without paying close enough attention to finer details related to creating a warm and nurturing environment that captures our students’ desire to learn. This blog post is a reminder to me just as much as it is for you to remember to never overlook the importance of the subtle details of our teaching and the impact that they can have on student learning. 

Getting students emotionally involved in their learning plays a powerful role in helping them to become more personally and intellectually engaged. The science clearly shows that personal and intellectual engagement deepens learning and can lead to young people taking more initiative and action in their own lives when outside the walls of their schools.

If we are to increase levels of engagement in physical education and help students to embrace being physically active for life, we must work to create a teaching environment that gets them more emotionally connected to their learning. As the world continues to change at a blindingly quick pace, physical movement is essentially being engineered out of peoples’ lives. We need only look around us each day to see countless examples of decreased physical activity in young people. 

It is essential to create and deliver learning experiences that lead to greater levels of personal and intellectual engagement in our programs. However, we can all be bogged down at times by the requirements of the curriculums in which we teach. It is understandable that there is specific content that must be taught within a certain timeframe in our programs. There can be a mountain of pressure placed upon teachers to show evidence of learning and growth and with this pressure comes a sense of urgency to get it all done, to blast content left and right at our students. This can be a disservice to our students, especially the ones who struggle with personal and intellectual engagement in physical education. 

I’m wondering what types of strategies work best to engage students on a more personal and intellectual level in physical education. I’ve included 5 questions below for you to reflect on in regards to the way in which you deliver your program as it is essential to continually think about your own practice and ways to engage your students on a deeper level in PE.  

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3 Comments
Lynn Hefele link
9/8/2015 03:08:41 pm

I totally agree! Every year my goal is to try to connect with the students more. (Trying to see the trees in the forest and finding what makes each tree grow.) Can't say I am as successful as I would like to be, which is why it is a goal every year.

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Ben Landers link
10/11/2015 03:16:30 pm

Great thoughts Andy, I agree that it is really tough to slow down but as you said I think it's the best thing to do for the kids and will increase engagement, it also helps us get to know our kids at a deeper level

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Ethiopia Gebreyesus
10/15/2015 05:00:51 am

Andy, your questions are thought provoking. One thing that helped me create emotional connection to my students own learning is the provocation that precedes the units taught. I found that huge. This is a seed that you have sawed in me as well as many other physed teachers during last summer's conference in North Carolina. Thank you.

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    KAUST Faculty, Pedagogical Coach. Presenter & Workshop Leader.IB Educator. #RunYourLife podcast host. 
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Helping Kids to Achieve Their Best
  • Welcome
  • The Aligned Leader Blog
  • Consulting and Coaching Opportunities
  • My TED X Talk
  • My Leadership Blog
  • Run Your Life Podcast Series
  • How PYP PE with Andy Has Helped Others
  • Good Teaching is L.I.F.E
  • The Sportfolio
  • Example Assessment Tasks
  • PYP Attitude Posters (printable)
  • Publications