I Love November

One of my favorite months is here! I love the trees changing colors, the rain coming back with a vengeance, and the thought that Turkey Day is just around the corner.

It's also a nice time to be a PE teacher. Students have settled into their classrooms and all of the introductions are out of the way. Here at Ridgecrest it also means that fitness testing is over or at least very close to being over. This means we can finally move on to new skill development and tons of success oriented activities.

For the month of November we are going to begin our annual unit on Basketball. As I have loved basketball throughout my life, I have a hard time teaching just basketball skills so I combine the skills with games to keep the kids moving. The basic skills of the game are important and I don't believe that there is any better way to learn the game then by getting on a team and getting into a game situation. As a PE teacher though, I know my students come from all different backgrounds and experiences. Some students have a great wealth of knowledge for the game and some have had very limited exposure to it. As a result, I try to blend my teaching to allow each student to be successful and motivated. It's sort of like our classroom teachers and how they need to challenge their gifted math students so they don't get bored. I need to do the same for our gifted basketball players so that they are intrigued by my class as well as the new students who are learning to dribble and shoot for the first time.

For some students this can be a tough thing to swallow. Students want to compete. Students want to show what they can do. I work hard to allow these students to use this chance to help others. As I tell all of my classes, everyone can be a great teacher.

Well, that's it for now. Just one question for you all.

Is there anyone out there?

Thanks,

Allyn Woods