Hard Work In School

As a college student, I define hard work as doing all a person can to pass a class. I refuse to ever fail a class and in order to pass a class one must always be on top of their work, readings, assigments and pass tests. I think the most important part is passing the tests, so during test times one must be focused mentally and physically. One must devote their whole life to doing whatever it takes to pass a course or pass all courses in a semester. If it takes staying up all morning and night to get work done, or refusing to sleep, eat or go out to socialize.

As a future teacher I think a lot of students will share a lot of my views when it comes to hard work, except that I will be focusing on Physical Education & Health. In the Physical Education aspect of teaching, hard work will be defined by a student's willingness to give it their best during every class. During class students are to give their all out effort during physical activity performance. I will expect my students to always come out of my class sweating and as if they got a good workout. If that does not happen that I will feel as if students are not working hard in my class.


For students to earn different grades in my class they must have to meet certain criteria within my classroom.
To receive a(n):

A- students must be properly dressed everyday, always participate in activities, give all out effort during activities (even if they are not particularly skilled at the activity), as long as students show effort and improvement throughout the semester they shall receive an A.

B- students are properly dressed most of the times, students are absent a couple days throughout the semester, student works hard and shows exceptional skill at the activity but does not work as hard as a person less skilled

C- student is dressed properly some times, misses 4-5 classes in the semester, shows very little enthusiasm, willingness to improve or participate.

D- student is barely ever dressed, misses more than 5 classes, shows NO willingness in participation, teamwork or improvement.

Motivation and Boredom in Class

1. Identify 3 ways students go to school:
I believe the 3 most important reasons students go to school are to socialize with friends, to find a career path and a well-paying job and because they are forced to go. I think a lot of students wouldn't go to school if it did not matter where you would end up in society later in life. I believe most students understand that school will eventually lead a person to a more successful life, while some may see it as a waste of time. A lot of students want to go to school in order to be social with friends.

2- As a critical teacher, you agree with the assumption that drawing connections between your lesson and the real world is a valuable classroom strategy. How can you verify or disprove that assumption? I agree fully with this statement, I think that connecting real life issues with classroom issues is a valuable asset to classroom learning. I think I will use this mostly in my Health classes when I try to connect issues I've seen or faced in life dealing with sex, health and drugs. Connecting life issues to my subject will be an important way to connect outside world to classroom learning.

3- Question/prompt that probes reasons and evidence: Illustrate an example of making learning a "social thing" in your classroom: In my classroom I will try as hard as possible to have an open discussion, so students don't feel as if they need to raise their hands in order to speak. If a student has a point to say in the middle of me talking I will let them know that I have something important to say and they can say their point after I am done. However, I want my class to be an open discussion about every topic that is raised so students can always feel confident to speak up in class.

4- What would be an alternative to making learning a social thing in your classroom? I could have my students work by assigning them worksheets and questions. I can use intriguing questions to trigger their critical thinking. I can have them do research on a computer on a certain topic. I can also make them work on projects such as a poster or creating their own play. There are many ways of making learning in the classroom not a social gathering and still help students learn.

5- What generalizations can you make about student motivation when a teacher genuinely cares about students and their progress? I feel as if a teacher truly caress about the students then the students will respond to the teacher's motivation. When students understand that teachers care about their overall progress then they are more likely to work hard in order to succeed. I feel as if students don't think their teachers care about them then they won't care about what the teachers have to say themselves.


6- What does student motivation mean? Student motivation means a student's willingness to learn and participate in an educational setting. Student can show motivation in different ways. They can think critically and respond verbally to questions, or they can work quietly towards a project or work physically towards a physically challenged goal. Student motivation is a student putting effort towards their education and towards their success in school.

Motivation and Boredom in Class

How do I intend to create a "culture of success" with my future students?

As a future educator I plan to be a role model to my students. I want my students to be able to look at me as a positive individual that is constantly working towards the improvement of the environment. In regards to my subject area, I plan on always being a physically fit individual and always be stressing the facts why being physically fit contributes to one's overall mental and physical health. As stated in chapter 4, "[I will] remind [students] often that [I] expect [their] best" (Delpit, 64). I will always remind students that when it comes to Health & Physical Education, I expect my students to think critically about the choices they make and always try to make the positive choice (specially when it concern drugs and other negative health aspects). I will also always encourage my students to continue to work hard, because that is the only way anyone will get anywhere in life. A student explains in the book, Fires in the Bathroom, "my teacher pushes me to work instead of giving up" (Delpit, 64). I feel as if nowadays students are so motivated to perform during physical education class, so it will be up to me to always have my students ready and willing to perform. Lastly and most importantly, to create a "culture of success" in my class, whenever I am teaching a new subject, I will always stress on why it is important for my students to learn this subject and always relate it back to life, and physical education & health.

5 Reasons Bloom's Taxonomy are Useful in Physical Education & Health

Bloom's Taxonomy gives students in depth choice of words to help them to critically think about the activities they are conducting. It gives students guidance towards achieving a goal. The different verbs used in Bloom's Taxonomy leads students towards the desired path that the teacher would like them to go. Bloom's Taxonomy allows for a teacher to be able to get an understanding towards the student's competence towards a certain area or question. The choice of verbs used in Bloom's Taxonomy are straight forward and require the students to get a deep understanding to their meaning in order to accomplish a task. Some of the verbs used in the Bloom's Taxonomy Hierarchy related to Physical Education include: Judge, Critique, Justify, Demonstrate, Design, Compare and many more. All these words can be used in a Physical Education & Health class. They require a student to think critically and some require a student to use their body in performance. Overall, Bloom's Taxonomy is a great way to see how well a student can perform when given questions or statements using these verbs, which require them to think critically.