‘Miss I can’t lead the warm up… I don’t
want to... they don’t listen…’ these are just a couple of examples of things I have
heard whenever I have asked girls to lead warm up. At the start of the year,
these were standard excuses which I accepted. In retrospect, I had not yet
developed strategies to empower the students. I didn't know how to.
Around December time, something
changed, I was no longer accepting this mediocrity. Instead, started to go through
my register; let students know a week in advance that they will be delivering a
short quick warm up the next week. Eventually I found that the students were
suddenly motivated and looked forward to display their leadership skills, because
of self-gratification that came with being empowered. To be pushed out of their
comfort zones. To be praised. To achieve. To feel good!
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The Year 9 girls at the 3v3 Basketball initiative launch at Nottingham Wildcats Arena. This was a great
event!
Giving away my authority has been a
challenge in itself. I know as teachers we love the control however, we need to
recognise that control does not mean that the students are learning more. When giving
away the control, it allows students to learn important life skills in a
somewhat safe environment. Yes Jane did the warm up, not everyone listened to
her but she persevered with it and towards the end, she had developed
strategies which made everyone listened. She was able to make responsible
decision making by not ‘doing it because everyone will not listen’. To step
back and watch the growth, for me, that is a great win.
As a PE teacher I find empowering
students is controllable. I recently trialled the Sport Education strategy. I start
with different roles such as kit manager, warm up coach, referee and skill coaches
and this worked brilliantly. The students were able to showcase their abilities
as leaders and they fully immersed themselves within their roles. In fact, I even
had one student who came up to me to tell me how one of their team members were
not taking their role seriously.
To conclude, teachers need to provide students the structure they need to
thrive and grow socially as well as emotionally and allow them to be self-aware
of their strengths and weaknesses. Because once they are aware of this, real
work can begin to on that journey of empowerment rather than overpowering
students.
Just a quick update, I have secured a
new job which I start after Easter. In the last three weeks of my latest post
and I am really enjoying the environments and atmosphere of the school. The
Year 7 girls won the Nottinghamshire Schools Futsal Tournament and the Year 9 girls
have just attended England Basketball 3v3 launch event which was great to see
on International Women’s Day. Oh and my tutor won the best tutor last half
term. #ItIsTheLittleThingsInLife
