My name is A.J. Bixler, I am the oldest of 6 children and always had a passion for teaching and helping others. This stems from helping teach my younger siblings growing up and other children around us. One of my greatest passions is sports and physical activity. I have always been a fairly competitive person wanted to do my best and raise the level of those around me to their highest level as well. This is the reason I decided to pursue a dual major in physical education, and health education. I have always found the dynamic of a team to be an exciting experience. The challenge of taking several individuals, with different skills and strengths, and piecing them together to produce an efficient unit able to work together toward a common goal is fun. In addition to sports and physical activity, I also enjoy watching movies and reading books. I feel growing your mind is just as important to overall health and strengthening the body. If you not willing to put in the effort on all fronts you are letting yourself down. To me physical education and health is about trying to make yourself better one day at a time. It is showing yourself you care about your body and mind and want to extend you life, in the form of healthy choices such as being physically active, proper nutrition, and staying away from harmful substances, in order to continue enjoying living your life. It is a personal choice to do the right things and I just want to help people understand the significance of the choices they are making.
Growing up in a small town in Wyoming didn't provide much excitement for a young boy. Due to this I have to find my own excitement. My friends and I would ride our bikes all around looking for adventures. when We weren't in school we would spend most of our time until the sun set outside playing games. Even though I was a small child for my age as a pre-pubescent youth I wanted to prove I could hang with the other children and be competitive. I played little league baseball, junior football, and went swimming at the pool. The excitement of sports help pass the time for me in an enjoyable and healthy setting.
My current definition of literacy is a proficient understanding and/or ability in a specified area. In terms of health and physical education, i feel this relates in the form of knowing what choices and actions are health and execution of those choices, and competency of skills in various areas that help you to achieve higher goals. I feel even within the fields of health and P.E. you can have various levels of literacy dependent on the setting.
Thanks for a great first posting! I liked how you associate physical education with life skills, such as working together as a team and persevering. I know this following statement will sound cheesy, but whenever I watch the Olympics, I truly am inspired on different levels and I come away with a desire to improve my own life. For instance, one thing that inspires me is that even professional athletes fail, but they still keep on going and become the best in the world. One of my favorite quotes for a long time was Michael Jordan's quote: "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." I wonder how you as a PE teacher can really encourage your students to take these inspirational lessons from sports and apply them to their own personal lives. (If you are interested in that approach to PE; I don't know if you are.) Maybe one of your "texts" for your text set could be a compilation of inspirational sports quotes. (Just brainstorming ideas here; don't take me up on this idea if you don't like it.)
ReplyDeleteThanks again for a great first posting. I look forward to reading more of your ideas as the semester progresses.