Heather Toohey
P.E. 9-12 Observation Assignment
On Tuesday September 10th, 2013 I had the opportunity to observe physical education
classes at East Longmeadow High School and was impressed with the physical education
equipment. When we first arrived to the school we got a tour. Most of the equipment was
familiar to me and reminded me of my high school, they had a weight room, a nice up to date
turf and track, tennis courts, big field area, multiple equipment rooms (outside and inside) and
one thing that I thought was great which my high school did not have, was an additional gym
(small gym). Also, East Longmeadow had an indoor pool. This is a great advantage to a high
school allowing students an opportunity to engage in swimming activities. It will be interesting
to see how they behave during swimming because I will be able to compare it to different age
groups with my own experiences as I had a pool in my physical education class in middle school
(grades 6-8).
Describe how students interacted with each other, teachers, and/or administrators.
First, I was very impressed with how the students interacted with each other. While I was
giving most of my attention to the sophomores I did see some rowdy behavior with the seniors in
the other class but overall, and especially in the two sophomore groups I was observing, I was
pleased to see high school students interacting well with each other and working together. The
students did not seem to be too shy around each other nor ignore each other due to any obvious
differences (gender, social status, athletic ability, etc). I also really liked how the students and
teacher interacted. The students were respectful to Mrs. Harlow, listened to her, answered her
questions before we went outside about the slide show she had asked them to review prior, they
did not argue about the day’s lesson, did not talk over her or complain about anything.
What characteristics of a high school student did you witness? Give examples.
I witnessed some growth and maturity patterns of the students I observed. When we first
walked into the gym today I could immediately tell the students on the floor doing fitness
exercises were seniors. They were bigger in size and simply just looked more confident. I
misheard someone say that this particular group of students were sophomores and seniors and I
had to ask to make sure I heard that wrong as I would have been surprised if some were
sophomores. With that being said, some of the sophomores in Mrs. Harlow’s class almost could
have passed as middle school students! Some were not fully matured physically, not as confident
and some of the young men were still pretty small and had younger features; no facial hair, a
young face, “baby fat”. Majority of the students in her class also have not fully matured with
physical activity, while I believe they worked well together they have not yet mastered some of
the soccer skills that older students probably have.
What rules, routines, and management techniques are used by your cooperating
teacher(s)?
I liked Mrs. Harlow’s teaching style and could tell this “laid back” style is a successful
routine and helps manage the students’ behavior. For example: as one student from the next class
checked in before changing into her P.E. clothes she asked Mrs. Harlow if they would be going
outside, Mrs. Harlow replied yes and the blonde, make up wearing, well dressed student sort of
sighed sarcastically and Mrs. Harlow said “get changed princess”. While I know this may sound
harsh, witnessing it was very relaxed or “super chill” as a high school student might say, she
meant it with no offense. Personally, I like this type of customer service. I call it customer
service because in the past I have worked in banking and have hands on witnessed customers
preferring when I treated them like a real person “hey what’s up, need some money for the
weekend?” versus like a robot “hello ma’am, how can I help you”. I would assume many
teachers might take the formal route, which I don’t disagree with, but students, and I would
guess especially high school students, want to be treated like real people. Mrs. Harlow joked
around, very slightly, with her students and just from seeing two 42 minute periods I can tell she
has mastered being friendly with the students but still showing them she is in charge and here to
teach them. As far as rules she says she prefers students to not bring cell phones into class
although sometimes told they can (for walking they can listen to one ear bud for music) however,
if they do bring it to class it is OK, she does not punish the students as they are a well behaved
group, she just asks that it goes in her bucket. Taking a quick look in this “bucket” it looked as
though it had an attendance list for each class, some miscellaneous gym items, and any lesson
planning material for the day. Also important is her time management techniques. Mrs. Harlow
explained that her daily routine is different for each class (i.e. 42 minute or 84 minute period).
Today I observed the students changing then checking in for attendance then reviewing any
homework questions assigned and lesson for the day then of course the activity followed by
going in to change and going straight to their next class. On her longer period classes she says
she has students check in, change, then review, then activity of the day, change for next classes,
and then regroup to review if necessary.
What units are the students participating in during this time of year? How do the
teachers determine what units the students will be involved in? How long are the
units?
Currently the 10th grade students are working on Softball and Frisbee. Mrs. Harlow is
focusing on a fitness aspect of that and used the school’s online web page as a great resource
where she asked her students to read a short power point she made prior to today’s class which
included information and a “how to” on heart rate, target heart rate, max capacity, resting heart
rate, and how to calculate pulse and different types of heart rate. I thought this was a great use of
outside sources. The units are three weeks long and although I do not know for sure how they
determine which units the students are involved in I would guess (and hope) that the school is
following curriculum and engaging in self choice programs. I will check and ask Mrs. Harlow
how units are determined. Starting September 23rd her class will be doing Track & Field and
Tennis for three weeks and then Rugby and Swimming in the pool following that. Currently the
9th graders are doing a Field Hockey and Football unit and the 12th graders are doing Tennis.
Any discipline issues? If so, how were they handled? What is the teacher’s
discipline policy?
There were no discipline issues today. I will be sure to ask Mrs. Harlow how she in
particular would handle any issues, the only thing I touched base with her on today was the use
of cellular phones. The P.E. syllabus that the students are given however does address some
discipline policy; students are graded on a point system and if rules are not followed they may
not receive full points for example, Katie from our Sprinfield class asked one of the teachers and
was told in regards to, what to wear: if students come to class wearing denim jeans they may
only receive 2 of the 4 points for that day.
What are the average class sizes? How are classes divided (i.e. by grade level, skill
level, etc)?
In particular, I spent most my time today with my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Alicia Harlow.
Mrs. Harlow teaches 10th grade this semester and she explained to me that every other week her
class schedule is different. The school runs on a block schedule with 84 minute periods but one
teacher per semester splits one of these periods in two and this semester she had the luck of the
draw and therefore every other week she has two 42 minute classes during one block of her day.
I do consider this to be lucky, she gets to vary her schedule and repeat lessons back to back and
as a student, I get to see two common types of high school schedules - I am at an advantage!
Typically each class size is around 30 students but today, which was a split schedule day, she
had about 30 students in the first 42 minute class and only 8 in the second (as some students
were away on a field trip).
What is/are your biggest concern(s) about teaching at the high school level?
My biggest concern with teaching at the high school level is balancing my “be friendly to the
students while still being in charge and in control of the class” management and communication skills. I
am close in age with these students and while I do feel as though I am very personable and easy to get
along with I want to make sure I do not cross any boundries by trying to be too friendly with the students
and make sure I remember I am a leader to them and here as their teacher.
What are you most looking forward to in regards to teaching at the high school level?
I am most looking forward to learning from the students at the high school level! The
students I observed today were very well behaved and while I of course to hope to teach them I
am also looking forward to learning from them. I am looking forward to watching students grow
physically and mentally over the short time I will be with them. I hope to learn and witness both
positives (i.e. students working together as a team) and negatives (maybe attitude towards a
teacher, a clique argument, or a student not wanting to participate) so that I can see both how to
reward and encourage students to keep up good work but also to see different ways of handling
certain situations that may come up when working with young adults.