7. Admit it

No choice but to take responsibility for my mistakes. Yes, I was once a teacher who believed in the traditional approach of 'I teach, you learn.' My students were simply present and I took ownership of their education. If some students struggled to keep up, I saw it as their problem rather than mine. My class wanted to include as many students as possible, but I did not make any changes to better suit the needs of my students because there was something to teach. I only provided one opportunity each semester for students to offer feedback and make suggestions, which resulted in students who were uninterested or unengaged feeling bored and indifferent. As a typical teacher in Korea, I stoop at the front and my students waited, even though I tried to have a closer relationship with them.

I have always aspired to be a professional PE teacher. To me, PE teaching is not just a job that provides a break or a release of energy, but a crucial role in a school that imparts valuable life lessons. I take pride in my subject, regardless of any criticism that it is just a gym class. I believe that a great PE class requires hard work and study from teachers, and I actively seek out opportunities to improve and enhance my teaching through professional communities. Unfortunately, this seems I was too seized in a sense of inferiority.

It's a real shame that I have to acknowledge my faults. There is much that needs to be improved, but one thing is clear, the content I wanted to teach seems more important than my students. No matter how crucial the information is in my subject, it cannot be effectively conveyed unless it is relevant to their experiences and lives. I cannot connect the dots for them; both the effort and the credit must come from the students themselves. They should not be treated as passive recipients who need to be spoon-fed.

The next step is to re-examine the recurring question: What does PE aim to teach? If physical competencies or skills are in the purpose, don't they require a certain level of proficiency? If not, knowledge is the one? or SEL?