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Sharing My Failings

6/9/2015

3 Comments

 

I am writing this blog in response to Mel Hamanda’s blog Sharing Our Failures and @Sportacus’s response Sharing Our Failures #1.  First, I must say that I find it ironic that the rest of the world is criticizing social media for the abundance of negative comments and we in the PE world are concerned about being too positive!  What a great problem to have!

Honestly…. I love the positive vibe I get from the dedicated professionals that I have connected with on Twitter.  Before Twitter, I felt like I was alone on an island.  I was passionate about what PE should look like and only knew a handful of educators in real life who shared my passion. 

The truth be told, in my own district, I don’t share very much with my colleagues out of fear of what they will think of me.  Twitter and Voxer has saved me professionally.  I suppose I am a lot like my students, say something positive to me and I’ll work harder.  Had my initial foray into cyber socializing been filled with criticism, I would not have continued to participate in the forum; never mind aspire to create new platforms for professional development.   The back slapping “favorites” and “retweets” make me and others like me feel safe to share.

However, just like in teaching, when a valued friend gives me constructive criticism, delivered in a professional manner I am similarly motivated.  In Sharing Our Failures , Mel asks the question, “How do we go about critiquing work or offering suggestions when we don’t know the person that is sharing?” My answer: I believe we need to be very careful with the written word.  It is very difficult to understand what a person is saying when you can’t hear their intonation or see their body language.  Personally, I don’t think I would give negative feedback to a social networking colleague until they became part of my PLN.  Even then, I would probably Direct Message or Side Vox to do so.

With that said, I have been a Tweeter for over three years now and feel like Social Media is my oasis.  A place that I feel happy to have visited and rejuvenated once I have left.  I also feel that the people I connect with can help me with my failings.  So here goes….

While I am sure that I have failings in the classroom, my biggest failing is outside the gym.  At conferences, staff developments, on social media and in my own building, I am confident and prepared to advocate for my profession, but outside of my school and my program when confronted by a parent, an acquaintance, and even with other colleagues, I become insecure and rambling when standing up for my profession.  Here are some of the statements I have come up against and wish I had done a better job answering:

1.  My son is a football player; he should get a 100 in PE.  He only got a 90 because he doesn’t put any effort in. (Not my student)

2.  High school students shouldn’t have to take PE.

3. Students that play sports shouldn’t have to take PE.

4.  If my child is trying their best, they should get good grade.

Please, help me by posting answers to these questions and any other similar experiences you may have had.

Finally, thank you all for your support and virtual friendship.

Sincerely,

@lynnhefele

3 Comments
Mike Hart link
6/10/2015 12:31:34 am

I regularly hear the same questions. Here are my replies to a couple of these items.

3 - as a coach, I see the inherent values of participation in interscholastic athletics. Personally, I have experienced many lifelong benefits from my own participation in athletics. That being said, participation in athletics does not come close to meeting the learning standards set forth for physical education instruction by the state and local school boards. For example, in Virginia students will develop skills in five standards: motor skill development, the anatomical basis of movement, personal fitness planning, social development, and energy balance. While interscholastic athletes master sport-specific skills at an advanced level, this only meets a part of the prescribed learning standards. High school physical education is also geared towards lifelong fitness and wellness (per SHAPE America grade level outcomes). Many of the sports that high school students participate in do not have to potential to be lifelong activities - as a former football player and current football coach it is not something that I can do in adulthood.

4 - Just because I try hard in mathematics doesn't mean I have mastered the subject matter. Grades are tied to mastery in core areas like math and it should be no different in physical education as well. Grades in physical education class are based on mastery of the prescribed standards, benchmarks, and learning indicators. Grades are indicative of what students know, understand, and are able to do and are not indicative of level of effort.

Thank you!

Reply
Mel Hamada link
8/17/2015 10:46:34 pm

Hello Lynn, it is such a surprise to come across your own name in print somewhere - I found your blog through @imsporticus and it has been great to see that our provoking conversation has solicited others to ponder and reflect on their own practice.
I agree that to have and issue of over-positivity is great, and I do hear from others that they are very jealous of the amazing community we have on twitter. I also use this network for building with like-minded colleagues, but I am very fortunate to work with a dept that has a very similar philosophy about PE and Sport so that makes things much easier for me.
I like to think that PE is very much evolving and changing, but I still have similar hassles with these questions, and I agree with you that I wish I did a better job of advocating for PE when facing parents - but I am lucky as most parents in our school are thankful for the opportunities their kids have and they appreciate that their child's experiences are vastly different from what they did in PE - and the appreciate the changes. I do however have to explain that PE is made up of 4 areas of academic merit and to get the 100 grade you have to show that you can do all of them! As Mike has said, PE, like math or English - is not singular faceted and you must show that you have the dedication and ability to keep up with a variety of smarts to do well - and this can be hard for our athletic kids who are not interested in explaining their knowledge about the topic.
Well done for sharing your concerns here and I wonder what you are going to do this year when parents are lurking - pre-empt them with emails or blog posts about PE? Keen to know how it goes.
Thanks.

Reply
Mel link
8/17/2015 10:47:02 pm

Hello Lynn, it is such a surprise to come across your own name in print somewhere - I found your blog through @imsporticus and it has been great to see that our provoking conversation has solicited others to ponder and reflect on their own practice.
I agree that to have and issue of over-positivity is great, and I do hear from others that they are very jealous of the amazing community we have on twitter. I also use this network for building with like-minded colleagues, but I am very fortunate to work with a dept that has a very similar philosophy about PE and Sport so that makes things much easier for me.
I like to think that PE is very much evolving and changing, but I still have similar hassles with these questions, and I agree with you that I wish I did a better job of advocating for PE when facing parents - but I am lucky as most parents in our school are thankful for the opportunities their kids have and they appreciate that their child's experiences are vastly different from what they did in PE - and the appreciate the changes. I do however have to explain that PE is made up of 4 areas of academic merit and to get the 100 grade you have to show that you can do all of them! As Mike has said, PE, like math or English - is not singular faceted and you must show that you have the dedication and ability to keep up with a variety of smarts to do well - and this can be hard for our athletic kids who are not interested in explaining their knowledge about the topic.
Well done for sharing your concerns here and I wonder what you are going to do this year when parents are lurking - pre-empt them with emails or blog posts about PE? Keen to know how it goes.
Thanks.

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    Lynn Hefele is a physical education teacher int he Huntington Union Free School District in Huntington, NY.  She is also the president and founder of LEPE, Inc.

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