Health and Physical Education Teaching Philosophy

You should approach this assignment as if you are already a health and physical educator and you are sharing your philosophy with your principal.  Think about your perspectives or those from others (1) (2) who might influence you.  Write as though you are writing - not as you would speak or say it. Be thoughtful, clear, and concise.  DO NOT use "I" or "me" - this should be a philosophical statement.  I KNOW (or, at least, hope) that you believe, value, will do - don't tell me that.

Use the following bulleted items as a "paragraph" guide.  This is a way to collect information and place it in a structure.  You will end up with 5 paragraphs (not long answers for each paragraph) which will collectively contain 250 words or less - this will be the total number of words for your health and physical education teaching philosophy paper.

This assignment will require that you think about what you believe about health and physical education and teaching..........................use the following structure P1 - P5 to organize your thoughts - your writing quality is also very important - then edit so you end up with no more than 250 words in total.

P 1 - (Overview) ideas, values, beliefs and attitudes - what are you general thoughts about education, life, etc. This may include ideas from your quote assignment. It sets the stage for your "discipline-focused" paragraphs 2-5 (10 pts)

P 2 - (Why) purposes - what is the purpose of health and physical education, as you believe it, why is it important, what current events lend support to it - this is the sound bite. (20 pts)

P 3 - (What) themes, approaches, content - what will you teach, what is your content, will it address the NJCCCS (now the NJSLS - New Jersey Student Learning Standards) - write content first that will then address standards - do not list the standards.... (20 pts)

P4 - (How) strategies, styles and assessment - how will you present your content so students can learn, how will you interact with the students, what, why and how will you evaluate/assess (you don't evaluate simply on dressing out and participation - you wouldn't be able to go to a math class with a pencil and simply try and get a passing grade - you shouldn't be able to do this in HPE either.) (20 pts)

P 5 - (Who) practices - what are the (e.g., Brevard County - best practices, or Granite School District - best practices), what can you do to make sure all students learn, what do you want to make sure happens in order to enhance the chance for successful learning, what will you consider so that all students are able to learn (NASPE appropriate practices) - and then close with a "summary" type sentence. (20 pts)

Bottom Line:  After thinking about your content/philosophy, you will edit your notes/draft/paragraphs and write a 250 word or less double-spaced health and physical education teaching philosophy paper.    The quality of your writing will also be evaluated (10 pts). Please send an electronic copy for the database.

The following links take you to examples of writing format - they do not necessarily conform to the current assignment requirements.
To view 4 general teaching philosophy samples, click here.
To view 4 samples from previous Rowan students click here for (1)  (2)  (3)  (4) - remember these only address PE and some use I - you need to include Health
To view 3 samples from previous Rowan students click here for (1)  (2)  (3) these include H and PE

I will look at your drafts if you send them to me more than 2 days prior to the due date - translation, I will look at them up until Tuesday, September 20...........

Submission: Please email your philosophy to me - I will print it! OR you can print it and bring it with you.

Due date: Sept 22

Total Points: 100 points
Philosophy Grading Scale
(your paper will have scores next to each paragraph and at the end - see the attached score sheet for explanation)
Here



Writing Suggestions
Comment Guide (these will appear next to a specific paragraph/section)
rework, expand, add, close
 your information is good, but you could think about reorganizing it and making it clear and concise, expand or add
redo
 you should start again - either the information is incomplete or has been stated previously or does not belong
sentence, choppy
 the content structure is either not a sentence or needs to be reworked or is choppy, without flow
fun, games, activities
 fun - talk about an engaged classroom, making learning meaningful, motivated students;    be extremely careful about using terms like games or activities that diminish the value of skill development
circled word or words
 this will focus your attention on a misspelled word or use of a term/word or a section that needs attention (see above comment guide)
gen ed
 typically in opening paragraph - this should give your general educational perspective - a broad statement, not one focused on hpe
purpose
 this will be similar to your mission statement - it should be clear and you should be able to remove it from the paper and place it on your door or share it with someone in the hall
value
 part of second paragraph that offers support and rationale for including HPE (e.g., obesity)
neg
 state your philosophy in a positive manner; don't make excuses or put down HPE
content
 you are missing content - this could refer to incomplete information for that paragraph, lack of defined hpe offerings
NJCCCS
 New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards - you can use the acronym - remember, your content/curriculum will help address the NJCCCS NOT your curriculum/content is created from......
styles, strategies
 refers to learning styles, teaching styles, teaching strategies, differentiated learning
assessment
 you should reference assessment - types (self, peer, teacher........informal and formal), domains (affective, cognitive, psychomotor), etc. - you should not be limiting your assessment to "if they participate" only - my guess is that you did not have a math class where the instructor gave you a grade simply because you "showed up."
best practices
 these include items like developmentally appropriate, equipment, max op to participate, etc - note the brochure link
not nec
 not necessary; your statement doesn't add anything to the philosophy - so eliminate or redo
tighten
 consider combining sentences; reduce the number of words; write, don't talk