Happy

German Gymnastics

 

So today I had a real treat. In Germany, teachers are required to be licensed in more than one subject area. One of the history teachers invited me to observe a class in his other expertise, and it was one that is definitely out of my typical comfort zone. As I entered their gym, I was immensely curious about how a German P.E. class would compare to those in the U.S., but considered this observation as an intriguing novelty. What I discovered was a reminder that fantastic teaching transcends the subject and stems from a genuine relationship with the students.

 

Observing a lesson where students are sourcing documents or building arguments based upon research grants me context for what I am watching, meaning I can grasp the basics of the lesson and have a feel for what students are excelling at and struggling with. For P.E., my only experience stems from my own days as an overweight, asthmatic youth trying to survive the class and my more recent foray into fitness as an adult. So it was with great amusement that I watched the horde of 6th graders running laps and warming up basically the same way we did in my boot camp classes back in NC. After the warm up, things got very interesting.

 

The lesson was focused on gymnastics, something that I had never seen in a gym class in all my days. It was great fun to watch the young students swinging, jumping, doing shoulder stands, and flipping at the various stations. What was even more enjoyable was observing the interactions between student and teacher. Like his history lessons, this teacher preferred to run a student centered class. He demonstrated the stations, and let them decide what they would want to practice. He was always nearby to offer encouragement or correction, but let them make their own choices. Just as I get filled with glee when a student triumphs over a particularly tricky text, this teacher grinned from ear to ear when a usually withdrawn young man lifted himself up on the bars and his classmates gathered round to support him.

 

Although I have no clue if the students were successful in perfecting their forms while practicing on their parallel bars, it was obvious that this was a class culture where it was ok to try. The students were not paralyzed by the fear of failure, and they felt emboldened to push limits and take risks. Witnessing the confidence and rapport made me miss my own students back in NC. It also makes me look forward to developing this sense of community in my own classroom, though probably with a lot less flipping.