My main passion in life has always been sport, keeping fit and healthy and helping others achieve their fitness goals. It seemed a logical progression therefore to become a PDHPE teacher.
I thoroughly enjoy imparting my knowledge to students and witnessing them blossom through physical activities and learning how their bodies actually function. The majority of our students also have a genuine passion for health and fitness so this allows my lessons to be dynamic and key learning is supported through practical applications.
A great example of how project based learning and physical education work perfectly together has been my recent stage 6 assessment project. After three weeks of intensive theory sessions focusing on the body systems and their responses to exercise, students were asked to attend a gym session at Genesis Fitness. They were instructed to create a presentation that demonstrated their knowledge of the principles of training, the various anatomy of the body systems, the biomechanical principles being applied during exercise and how humans adapt to exercise.
Students were given the opportunity for hands-on, ‘real life’ experience by attending a personal training session in a fully functioning gym, before filming themselves in action for their assessment – a clearly narrated mini-documentary.
The results were submitted to me this morning and I was blown away by the work I received. The last time I taught this section in the UK I was limited to the classroom and students wrote an essay explaining the responses of the body systems to exercise. Through PBL, however, learning was supercharged and the outcome was exceptional.
Here are the stage 6 students in action:
Meagan Lavery says
Ny son is only in year seven, but because of what he is doing at college everyday has already learnt how important it is to look after your body from the inside out. He is alreay eating better, resting when he needs too (a big thing for him) and has stopped complaining about stretching, even developing a love for yoga…so much so we have joined a yoga class together on the weekends. Thank you IFS.