Semester 2 is only a week away and I have just returned to my office after a week's leave. Great to catch up and play with the kids and take them away from home on a couple of day trips.
Unforutnately in the back of my mind were a couple of work related issues including my promotion application, my teaching in this unit (have I got enough content? will the students like the way it has been developed? is there enough research-led teaching? will the students be able to take things practically out of it?). Many many questions that I have. I will have to revisit the unit in the next day or so to see whether what I did before my leave is how I really wanted the unit to end up.
Luckily I have a great colleague that is working in the on campus unit, someone that I can trust, have discussions with and talk through the issues of the unit. Someone that I trust immensely in this labour of love that I call teaching. This support is a must for the development of great teaching and great learning. But I am truly concerned about how off campus students will react.
I was reading John Loughran's new book bit-by-bit over coffee and when I had some down time on leave. The sections that were most interesting were on professional learning of teachers - there was one section that talked of a teacher that undertook a self-study and realised that there were problems in the way he allowed student learning to take place. Implications for physical educators - do we really know what takes place in the learning of our students through movement? How do we then prepare teacher educators? More tensions more concerns!!! [A big siggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!]
But it also gave me a great feeling that what can occur in physical education must occur through teachers changing the way they teach. They must have ownership, they must take some responsibility. Self-study is the way of the future.
How can I teach and encourage off-campus students to pursue such a line of thinking....
Enough for now - talk soon, Trent.
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