Course Expertise
Over the course of my 4 years at the university of Victoria I have taken a number of courses relevant to my teaching areas of physical education and physics. The applicable courses are outlined below:
Physical Education:
ED-D 460: Psychology of Adolescence
EDCI 431: Philosophy of Education
EPHE 141: Human Anatomy
EPHE 143: Multidisciplinary Physical Activity
EPHE 201: Qualitative Analysis of Human Movement
EPHE 241: Human Systemic Physiology
EPHE 245: Motor Learning
EPHE 246: Active Health
EPHE 250: Inclusion of Students: Special Needs
EPHE 341; Biomechanics
EPHE 344: Injury Prevention and Care
EPHE 346: Motor Development
EPEH 352:
EPHE 360: Exercise Prescription
EPHE 361: Coaching Studies
IED 373: Indigenous Education
EPHE 452: Teaching Strategy and Games
EPHE 105: Swimming
EPHE 106: Track
EPHE 107: Gymnastics
EPHE 109 Recreational Dance
EPHE 116: Badminton
EPHE 117: Tennis
EPHE 120: Basketball
EPHE 121: Soccer
EPHE 122: Volleyball
English Requirements:
Engl 135: Academic Reading and Writing
Engl 146: Introduction to Literary Genres
Math Requirements:
Math 100: Calculus I
Math 101: Calculus II
Math 200: Multi-variable Calculus
Math 201: Intro to Differential Equations
Math 204: Calculus IV
Math 211: Matrix Algebra I
Math 342: Intermediate Differential Equations
Physics:
Phys 120: Physics I
Phys 130: Physics II
Phys 215: Intro to Quantum Physics
Phys 216: Intro to Electricity and Magnetism
Phys 217: Thermodynamics
Phys 325: Optics
Phys 326: Electrodynmaics
HIST 1002: Science and Society
Game Modifications
When teaching a physical education class teachers are given outline curriculum objectives or goals to achieve over their course depending on the grade they are teaching, In order to develop skills for all of their students teachers must adapt tasks to make them achievable, and engaging for the entire class. One way to do this is through modified games.
The core goal behind a modified game is to isolate a certain skill in a sport, for example a deep shot in badminton, and work on this skill in an engaging environment. In order to make the environment engaging it is important to allow your less skilled students be successful while still challenging the more advanced students. Thinking outside the box and designing games which adapt as you play can do this for educators very effectively. By creating ever changing parameters dependent on who has the upper-hand during a contest can allow the loosing student an environment where they are designed to succeed while the leading student obtains an ever more challenging environment.
An excellent example of this is Castle game 2.0 which can be seen in the video below.
The rules of this game are simple:
1. players must hit the ball above head height
2. if a player strikes the ball and it lands in their box their box becomes smaller
3. this continues until time is up or a player strikes the ball dead centre of the overlapping corners
As you can see this game becomes more and more challenging for the player in the lead up until the final task which is extremely challenging. This provides active engagement for both the loosing and leading player throughout the duration of the game.
Sports Ed Model in Physical Education
This year I had the opportunity to co-teach 3 grade 7 physical education classes at Gordon Head middle school. My partner and I decided to teach 3 handball lessons incorporating the sports education model.
The sports education model is essentially the application of teams and competition to a school environment. Students are split into teams and earn points throughout the term ,or in our case, over 3 classes. Points are tallied and at the end of the unit a winning team is selected for most points, team spirit, most improved etc.
We had great success using this model in the middle school and it is definitely a teaching style that i will use in the future. The motivation of the students in the class increased significantly over the three classes, if given the chance to be applied over an entire unit I can only see the model being more and more effective.
The article below outlines the successes of the sports ed. model seen in the Australian school system. The results were overwhelmingly positive from both the students and teachers. Teachers reported "improved outcomes for many lower-skilled students’ social skills". The students also saw benefits from the new model stating "a strong preference for sport education over the traditional teacher-directed mode of program delivery".
These are the kind of results we saw in just three classes with our middle school group. Given the opportunity to develop and grow this model over the course of a full term would only expand the possibilities and successes seen.
Tutor Experience
My knowledge of physics, mathematics, and calculus have grown tremendously over my time at the University of Victoria. Physics has always been an interest of mine since first being exposed to it in grade 11 and I have been taking in every year since.
I wanted to be able to work on my passion for teaching and physics simultaneously and so I along with some friends of mine in the faculty of engineering decided to branch out and begin a small tutoring business called Minerva Tutoring.
Tutoring was a perfect opportunity to gain some experience in my secondary teaching field which can be rare to find.
Below is a flyer we posted in highschools around the greater Victoria area.