P.E. in Japan is awesome!

I just watched a 研究授業 (kenkyuu jugyou), a special observation lesson where a teacher-in-training taught a class.  It was a P.E. class, and it was so cool!  I had never in my two years here actually watched an entire P.E. class, and now I have an example of great physical education.  I wish my gym classes had been like the ones they have here in Japan.

Okay, lemme 'splain.

First, a little context.  As I've seen, gym classes are generally split up by gender so only girls have classes with girls and boys with boys.  Also, P.E. is a serious class here treated like any other class, and P.E. teachers get a lot of respect.  Often, P.E. teachers are the ones who are given the role of disciplinarian and are seen as moral role models for all the students.  They usually are super involved in students' lives and scold them when they act out whether or not it's during their class and praise them for the good they do, again, whether or not it's during their class.  It's really nice.  And, I feel like students here are very well-rounded since they are educated in the basic subjects, a foreign language, physical education, music and art, and morality.  Very "Renaissance Man" or polymath.  I think it's an ideal we humans should really all strive for.

Anyways, so the lesson I went to.


It was a boys' lesson, and they all assembled in the gym (about 34 students).  A few of us teachers, the principal, and vice-principal went to watch the teacher-in-training, and, of course, the actual P.E. teacher was there as back-up too.  The class started as all classes do in a Japanese school.  The kids stood up and greeted the teacher with proper posture and form.  Then they were instructed to run around the gym with class leaders leading the running chant.  Then the class leaders helped run the stretches.  Man, these students are actually pretty independent and can run a class by themselves.  Classroom expectations and rules are set so solidly here that there isn't room for kids to fool around or not know what they're supposed to be doing.

Then the teacher summarized what they have been learning about volleyball and passed out large papers to small groups to draw out what court formation they'd like to try.  Then each group presented their formation and explained why.  Then they all looked at their TEXTBOOKS to see formations and proper forms and steps for receiving.  Oh my god!  They had textbooks!!  I never had a textbook for gym class!  I never learned the proper rules for ANY sport, never mind actual formations and forms and terminology.  That's so amazing!  I think we really should learn how to play popular sports properly and have TEXTBOOKS to refer to and study with in the U.S.  Wow!  I was so impressed.

The kids then put their books away and got into their four groups to practice receiving, tossing, and catching in turns on two courts in a standard formation.  The teacher used a whistle to call attention for when to start or end or point out something a majority of the students might not be getting.  Otherwise, the kids generally managed themselves and made sure everyone got proper turns and chances to practice and cheered each other on and were supportive and helpful.  There was a lot of peer teaching in addition to the teacher's guidance and supervision.  All the transitions between activities and teacher directions were so smooth.  It was awesome.  The students were so well-behaved and positive and were legitimately having fun learning to play volleyball.

The teacher then stopped them and asked them to critique each other and give constructive feedback on their techniques in their small groups.  Then the teacher gave some advice and asked them to make their groups again and actually play volleyball in those previously chosen formations from earlier.  He gave them time to review their drawings and choose who would be where.  Then they had time to play in teams and keep score.  When time was up, they got back in their small groups to review and give constructive feedback again.  Then each group had to present what they learned about their formations and how to make any game play better for next time.  The teacher then assigned some tiny homework assignment that would review what they practiced today and would require the students to write down their thoughts on what they felt was good or bad about the lesson, and he even negotiated with the kids about whether it'd be better to have it done by tomorrow or the following day.  The kids said they could do it easily since they already talked about it in class and could have it done by tomorrow.  The teacher listened to them and went with what they wanted to do.

It was so smooth and amazing.  The teacher in me was so pleased!  I thought about how nice it was that the lesson began with a quick physical warm up and review of the previous lesson, had lots of group work and peer-to-peer teaching, used visual supplements via the textbook, had nicely timed activities, adhered to the lesson timing, and ended with a nice meaningful wrap-up.  I know, I know.  I'm geeking out here about education, but, seriously, it was so nice to see such a well-executed and full-circle lesson.  I was impressed.  And although I am an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher, there were things I learned and things I was reminded about.

I realize that I don't every really connect lessons at the beginning with the previous lesson or wrap-up lessons with student feedback on my and their own performance.  My instructions are definitely not as clear, and I realize that I don't utilize the small group strategy as much as I could.  For some of these, I have no control, but for some of these, I could implement better teaching methods than what I currently use.  I feel a bit rejuvenated and hopeful again about teaching.  As an assistant, there are so many things out of my control and so many things I must do just because I'm told to even if I believe them to be bad teaching practices.  However, there are small places in the lessons I teach where I can improve, so I'm excited to try to be a better teacher where and when I can.

Thanks for reading this super nerdy post, y'all.  :P