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Philosophy of Teaching
Its not about how hard you can hit, its about how hard you can get hit, and keep
moving forward. Nothing will ever hit you harder than life, but you have to be willing to take
the hits. That is how winning is done. This quote is from fictional movie, Rocky Balboa.
Although this quote is from a fictional movie, it has always been my greatest source of
inspiration whether it is excelling in physical fitness, my studies, becoming a teacher, and all
other aspects of life. As current and future teachers, we all need some type of extra motivational
push to come up with our own tactics to become the best teachers we can be. Through my
knowledge and experiences, I have developed a philosophy of teaching where I believe
interdisciplinary learning, teamwork, leadership, the importance of assessments, and several
other aspects of physical education cannot go unnoticed.
Teamwork and leadership are lifelong attributes that should be taught in all disciplines,
not just in physical education. I have developed a few ideas of how I can inquire fundamentals
of teamwork and leadership into my physical education classes. Cooperative tasks among
students are a great way for teachers to implement teamwork and leadership. A great way to
come up with cooperative tasks to implement teamwork and leadership is some activity with
some form of obstacle course and where the class is split into two teams. Here is an example of
a cooperative task, once the class is split into two teams, each team should be standing on a tarp
on their side of the gymnasium. The first step would be for each team to flip over the tarp
completely without stepping any feet off the tarp onto the gym floor. An activity like this
requires productive communication and the ability to work well with others. Once that is
completed, there could be various tasks for each team to complete by either working on sports
skills, locomotor skills, anything at all that promotes productive physical activity. There could

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be interdisciplinary tasks included here as well. Cooperative tasks such as that help students
learn about teamwork and leadership without them even realizing it.
Through courses I have taken at Montclair State University, I have recognized the
importance and prevalence of how physical education needs to become more interdisciplinary.
Interdisciplinary education is the idea of bringing the content knowledge of other academic, art
and science classes into the physical education atmosphere. It is a way to help students learn
academics unconsciously while engaging in other specific activities. An example of an
elementary interdisciplinary activity I did during my student teaching implemented both basic
volleyball passing skills, and basic math skills (addition and subtraction). The class will be
divided into four teams of 4 or 5 students per team (each team gets a designated corner of the
gymnasium). There will also be a pile of standard playing cards face down in the middle of the
gymnasium. Each team will have to successfully pass the volleyball within their team three
times, then run (or any loco motor movement) to the center, pick up a card, and then bring it
back to their team. Each team will record the number value of the car that was picked (students
will alternate between who gets the card for the team). The students will do this until they reach
a value of whatever number the teacher decides to use. If the team needs to subtract a number
from their total score, they will have to successfully pass the volleyball, then pick which card
they think they should take out and place it back in the center to reach the desired number value.
Through the sport module courses offered at Montclair State University, students learn
the importance and the ability of how to break down certain movement skills into sport skills
through prior, new, and present knowledge. It has become clear that a physical educator is not
required to be proficient in every sport when it comes to teaching and playing them. However,
physical educators understand how to break down those sport techniques to learn certain skills.

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Along with the teachers knowledge, it is always a great way to make the class more democratic
by allowing students of the class to assist in demonstration if the unit being covered is a sport
that student is confident in. This is also a simple example of a teacher using differentiated
instruction. Sometimes using additional demonstration can help reach the educational needs of
certain students and the teacher does not always have to be the one teaching, it is also effective
for students to learn from their peers.
Understanding abilities are different for all students in all different courses. Some
students have certain educational needs which are required to help them understand material. A
teacher differentiating his or her instruction is the idea of that teacher understanding the learning
needs of the students, and addressing those needs by educating them the best way possible. It is
quite easy to understand the concepts of differentiated instruction, but it is an ability than can
only be developed through experience, along with most other teaching tactics because teaching is
an ongoing learning process both for students and teachers. By understanding how to
differentiate instruction, teachers should take that knowledge into consideration when writing
and planning assessments for students. Assessments are absolutely vital in education because it
is the concrete way to measure learning, for students to reflect on performance, and for teachers
to reflect on their performance in regards to teaching the content properly. Physical education
classes can bring along a lot of different types of assessments. These can range from quizzes,
homework, self-assessments, peer assessments, etc. Assessments in physical education can be
psychomotor skill assessments, attitude reflecting affective assessments, and knowledge based
cognitive assessments. My personal favorite choice for affective and cognitive assessments are
entrance and exit slips. In the beginning of a unit, each student will receive a slip of anywhere
from 3-5 questions based on the content of the sport. This is a great way to understand what

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prior knowledge the students have so the teacher can differentiate his/her instruction based on the
results from the entrance slips. With exit slips, the teacher can reflect on how well he/she taught
the content of that unit. Sometimes poor grades can be a result of poor teaching, which is
something that all aspiring teachers should prepare for. To sum it up, failure happens, and it is a
great source to learn from to better teaching in the future. A strong way to inquire skill
assessments is through peer assessments/self-assessments. This gives students a sense of
independence assessing classmates in small groups, or a student assessing him/herself. For
example, if a class is working on the back hand shot in tennis, one student could be hitting the
ball, and the other could be marking down if their form was right, did they follow through, did
they make proper contact, etc. This would be made into a print out by the teacher distributed
among the students.
Through physical education, students will learn the benefits of teamwork and leadership
through simple and challenging hands on activities. Whether its working together on a sport
skill, working on an activity that requires critical thinking and problem solving, or any activity
where students need to collaborate and work together. Understanding the benefits of teamwork
and leadership can and will help students in the long run not only with physical education, not
only with school, but when it comes to tackling adversity and any other situation where rational
thinking is required to make certain choices.
All teachers are different, and all teachers have their own beliefs and philosophies to help
make them the best teachers they can be. Through my beliefs about learning abilities, teamwork,
leadership, making physical education interdisciplinary, and understanding the concepts and
benefits of learning sport skills, I hope that this foundation of a philosophy I have developed can

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only continue to grow and change for the better of my future students and for myself as a future
teacher.

Philosophy Aspects
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Interdisciplinary learning to help students both engage their minds and bodies.
Teamwork and leadership to help teach students life lessons.
Understanding the ability to break down movement into sport skills and concepts.
Being able to reach all students needs by differentiating instruction.