NASPE Beginner Teacher Standards

As a teacher candidate it is essential that you "practice like you play". In all of the classes here at SUNY Cortland, I have been preparing myself for real teaching situations. Here is how I have been getting myself ready by meeting these standards.

Standard 1: Scientific and Theoretical Knowledge
Physical education teacher candidates know and apply discipline-specific scientific and theoretical concepts critical to the development of physically educated individuals.

This standard requires that as a teacher or teacher in training you must have knowledge of not just how to play different activities but you must know what is actually going on in the body tha tmakes it possible. Throughout my career here at Cortland I have completed courses such as Anatomy and Physiology 1 and 2, Exercise Physiology, Motor Behavior, and Motor Development. All of these classes have been focusing on how the body functions. Some have been the actual make up of the body and others are how different parts of the body work together to get things done. For example in Motor Development, a Lab was focusing on jumping and using a jump rope. The focus was on how their coordination has developed over the years and how they differ because of age. All of these classes have given me a very in depth look at how the body works and what really goes on during games and movement.

Standard 2: Skill-Based and Fitness-Based Competence
Physical education teacher candidates are physically educated individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to demonstrate competent movement performance and health-enhancing fitness as delineated in NASPE's K-12 Standards

Here at SUNY Cortland physical education teacher candidates are required to take activity classes. These activity classes are designed as an introduction on how to teach different sports. Each class is sport specific and focus' on one main sport such as basketball or a certain type of sport such as Tactical Concepts. Since beginning school I have taken somewhere around 16 credits of activity courses learning a lot of valuable information of sport strategies and the different skills of the game. Each class has a required notebook that is full of game modifications, drills, and rules that will be very helpful when planning a lesson. By completing all of these notebooks there is an invaluable amount of information that will keep classes different and fun.

Standard 3: Planning and Implementation.
Physical education teacher candidates plan and implement developmentally appropriate learning experiences aligned with local, state and national standards to address the diverse needs of all students.

Standard 3 is one standard that has become second nature because of all the work on it I have done. Preparing lesson plans are the best example of standard 3. For each class that teaching goes on in a lesson plan is required. For example here is a lesson plan I have written up on teaching a beginner cricket lesson. The lesson focus was throwing and hitting. Before this lesson cricket was a foreign game to myself which I did not know much about. Through doing research I was able to develop a lesson that was made to introduce the very basics of cricket. In the lesson plan there are drills that make learning easy and also many modifications that can make the games easier or harder.

Standard 4: Instructional Delivery and Management.
Physical education teacher candidates use effective communication and pedagogical skills and strategies to enhance student engagement and learning.

Standard 4 is important because engaging students into the lesson really makes the class a lot more fun. Being able to grab the attention of the class and keep them focused because they are having fun is important. By the way you talk to a class beings a lot to the table. If you show no enthusiasm for what you are teaching it will not get your class very far and it will make your students be less enthusiastic to participate in the class.

Standard 5: Impact on Student Learning
Physical education teacher candidates utilize assessments and reflection to foster student learning and to inform instructional decisions.

Using assessments in the classroom is becoming more and more crucial for teachers. Assessments allow teachers to really get a good feeling on the ability level of a class by having concrete data instead of having all of your observations in your head. Developing either peer assessments done by students judging another student or teacher assessments that can be done while the class is participating in games are both equally important. In my statistics and assessments class I had to develop numerous assessments that would be able to collect data on the skills of students in a lacrosse unit. Here is an example of a peer assessment and a teacher assessment that i used to collect data in a lacrosse lesson.

Standard 6: Professionalism
Physical Education teacher candidates demonstrate dispositions essential to becoming effective professionals

Professionalism is one of the most important aspects of being in a classroom. As a teacher you will be coming i contact with hundreds of people a day and you always want to make the right impression. There is an endless list of things that make up being a professional. A few aspects are being respectful to teachers, students, and administrators alike, the way you talk, the way you dress, and the way you run your lessons. I feel I have met this standard because throughout the classes I have taken I always take into consideration how I act around people that teach me and people that I teach with. I feel that acting responsibly around everyone is important because others will look at you and immediately think you are a responsible individual. I have also always been dressd appropriately for my classes when I am either engaging in activities and when I am teaching them. Heres a look at what I wear when I teach.