Philosophy
Philosophy of Assessment
Some type of Assessment should be present in every subject and every class. Physical Education is no different. There are skills the students need to learn, so they need to be assessed on how they perform them. To perform well in certain sports you have to perform skills in a specific way or order. To throw a spiral in football is not as easy as just telling a student to do it. You have to break it into pieces, beginning with a task as easy as which foot to step with. To get the end result you want as a teacher you have to assess the process.
The goal of assessing in physical education is to get an end result. I believe there are two major areas for assessments in physical education. First is written assessments for rules and strategies. Next is an assessment of how well the students perform the components of a skill or a whole skill. I believe the goal of creating these assessments in physical education is to give the students the knowledge and skill set they will need to pick up any one of our units and be physically active for the rest of their life. If a student can’t perform the skill or understand the sport they are set up for failure and a future dislike of physical activities.
I think some confusion comes from trying to create a standards based assessment alone. The standards are a great tool to follow, they also allow a teacher to know what they should teach to the students at a certain age or level. However I feel there are many other factors that go in to being successful in a certain sport or unit. Students need to find their own way to be successful in one or more of these physical activities. It is the teacher or coaches decision to determine what they desire to assess. Overall assessment has to be done in physical education but it can’t always be the same for every student.
Some type of Assessment should be present in every subject and every class. Physical Education is no different. There are skills the students need to learn, so they need to be assessed on how they perform them. To perform well in certain sports you have to perform skills in a specific way or order. To throw a spiral in football is not as easy as just telling a student to do it. You have to break it into pieces, beginning with a task as easy as which foot to step with. To get the end result you want as a teacher you have to assess the process.
The goal of assessing in physical education is to get an end result. I believe there are two major areas for assessments in physical education. First is written assessments for rules and strategies. Next is an assessment of how well the students perform the components of a skill or a whole skill. I believe the goal of creating these assessments in physical education is to give the students the knowledge and skill set they will need to pick up any one of our units and be physically active for the rest of their life. If a student can’t perform the skill or understand the sport they are set up for failure and a future dislike of physical activities.
I think some confusion comes from trying to create a standards based assessment alone. The standards are a great tool to follow, they also allow a teacher to know what they should teach to the students at a certain age or level. However I feel there are many other factors that go in to being successful in a certain sport or unit. Students need to find their own way to be successful in one or more of these physical activities. It is the teacher or coaches decision to determine what they desire to assess. Overall assessment has to be done in physical education but it can’t always be the same for every student.