Reflecting on my Community Service Learning Experience

My Community Service Learning (CSL) experience took place at Rockland District High School. My associate teacher was Karen Kryviak. I observed and taught Physical and Health Education (Grade 10-12), Applied Math (Grade 9), and Link Crew (Grade 12). Although Math and Link Crew are not included under my teachable subjects (Health and Physical Education and English) it was useful seeing how different teaching and learning strategies played out in different environments (e.g., the gymnasium, weight room, or outdoors versus a traditional classroom setting). Most of my responsibilities were within my teachable subject. Some of my tasks and responsibilities included leading warm-ups, cool-downs, and drills in various activities, organizing and setting up fitness circuits, managing the equipment room, classroom setup, observation of teaching styles of various teachers, implementing additions to Ms. Kryviak’s lessons, and planning and implementing the Healthy Living Strand C of the curriculum. I also had the responsibility of reaching out to alumni for the Grind. Overall, my CSL experience has been beyond enjoyable. It has been very fulfilling and rewarding. Seeing the theories learned in the classroom put into practice by myself and experienced teachers have allowed me to grasp a deeper understanding of best pedagogical practices. I have a new appreciation for the role of teachers and highly respect the effort they put in to cover the entirety of the curriculum in an engaging way. My CSL experience has allowed me to develop a relationship with students and make a positive impact in their lives which has been a truly rewarding experience. My experiences at this school, both positive and negative, have increased my technical and tactical knowledge related to teaching and have contributed to my personal growth. I think my presence in the school has made a positive impact on my associate teacher and students and vice versa.

The first few weeks of my CSL were observation and implementation of activities within Ms. Kyriak’s overall lesson. As the weeks progressed, I took more of a leadership role in the Health and Physical Education class. Some of the lesson plans or class activities I created include Becoming Critical about Fad Fitness Workouts, Real World Math, Roll of the Dice lesson Plan, Canada’s Food Guide Lesson Plan, Macronutrients and Micronutrients, Factors that Affect Healthy Decision Making, an start on a unit plan for Healthy Living Strand C of the Health and Physical Education curriculum, and an Inter-Active for Life activity with Link Crew. At the beginning of my CSL placement I committed to the guiding philosophy, make all health lessons as active as possible. Often, we see Health and Physical Education teachers preaching about movement, yet during their health lessons they resort to sedentary direct instruction methods. In my PED3190 class I was exposed to a few ways’ health lessons such as Sexual Health, Canada’s Food Guide, and Metal Health can be made active. I planned active lessons for health, but the reality was that upon implementation they would not achieve curricular learning outcomes. In an active setting, it is hard to get students to remember and consolidate specific information. For my Macronutrients and Micronutrients Lesson I resorted to a direct-instruction method of teaching but remained true to my philosophy in the end review activity which involved a live board game with test questions about macronutrients, micronutrients diets, and food labels. For the Factors that Affect Healthy Eating Decisions Lesson and the Becoming Critical about Fitness Fad Workouts Lesson, I made half of the class active and half of the class sedentary by incorporating both experiential learning and written reflection components. This seemed to achieve the best of both worlds: curricular expectations and my guiding teaching philosophy.

Additionally, I helped with extracurricular events such as the Grind (an all-day sports event that fosters community and teamwork within the school) and extra math help at lunch. The Grind fundraised enough money to buy new equipment for the school – perhaps even equipment for YOU.FO a new sport from the Netherlands. I plan to help with Foster Day which is a sports day attributed to a teacher who passed away, and also a fundraiser for a scholarship at the end of the year.

I look forward to my practicum in December. I have learned a lot about classroom management, monitoring and mitigating cellphone use in the classroom, organizing a chaotic environment (such as the gym), and assessment strategies to be accountable in Physical and Health Education. I have also been exposed to making modifications or accommodations for students with Individual Education Plans, the tensions between sharing resources across departments and allocations of funding, the impact of teacher attitudes on student engagement, and dealing with late assignments. I have seen much of the controversial methods that are discussed in my courses (e.g., physical activity as punishment, moving away from the traditional sports methods to a personal fitness plan, and sitting in squads at the commencement of a Phys. Ed. lesson) take place at RDHS and have learned that these methods work or do not work depending on your group of students. The biggest challenge I have is finding the balance between trying to control everything in a lesson and allowing students to explore. As education shifts to more collaborative, inquiry-based methods, I will have to mentally shift my perceptions and notions of common teaching practices. I hope I can inspire my practicum students (and future students) to be active-for-life and learners-for-life.