In July of 2024, I walked out of the Principal’s office at the local high school with my heart filled with joy. I just had an amazing interview for a physical education teaching position and they offered me the job on the spot. I was beyond excited for this new career path and felt extremely proud of myself.
I had just received my degree and it wasn’t in education, so my teaching license route looked different. I would be doing my student teaching at the same time as I was doing my first year of teaching. The education I would be receiving through the licensing program was on curriculum planning, classroom management, assessments and so forth. That means, I was going into my first year of teaching without a clue on how to actually do it. However, I had homeschooled two kids at that point and worked in daycares previously, so I had a basic idea.
Because of my licensing process, I was going to need to start 6 weeks into the school year. Much of the licensing process was waiting for documents to process, so I took that time to learn as much as I could about curriculum planning.
I reached out to my direct supervisor and asked for the emails of the two other girls’ PE Teachers I would be working with in order to try and plan my lessons to be similar to theirs. However, despite my efforts to connect with these other Teachers and understand their curriculum, my emails went unanswered. I later discovered exactly why they wouldn’t respond to my curriculum inquiries, but I just figured they were very busy and I didn’t want to bother them.
Walking into the school on my first day, I was nervous, but felt better knowing the long-term substitute that was in my class would work with me through my first week before they left and I took over. However, the Principal changed those plans and let me know that morning I would just be going straight into my classes with no transition or training.
My stomach about dropped out of my body because, let me remind you, I was teaching high school students. Teenages. And this was one of the largest schools in our district with over 3,500 students. My rosters showed over 200 students divided between 6 classes. Each of my classes had between 30-45 teenage students and I hardly knew what I was doing.
Despite all that, I dove in headfirst and never looked back. Although I was required to have documented lesson plans for my student teaching, I actually found them extremely helpful and would have done them regardless. I was observed eight times throughout my year, but honestly never noticed they were even there with my class. My classes were structured and I was effective with my classroom management techniques. I received feedback from the observations and was constantly growing. I would hear from the boys’ PE teachers all the time about how great a teacher I was and it was really encouraging.
Not long into my start, I realized why the other teachers hadn’t emailed me back about their curriculum and it was because they did not use any. For the most part, the students in the other PE classes would sit along the walls of the gym each day and play on their phones. There were basketballs and volleyballs made available and some students would regularly play. However, the vast majority were not active at all. Occasionally, the classes would occupy the track/football field and some would play or walk the track while most sat around. Regardless of the progression throughout the year, each day was basically the same in the other PE classes. The only time lessons were conducted was during the mandatory supervisor observations they scheduled intermittently throughout the year. It was glorified babysitting.
Now, I took my job very seriously. I believe physical education is one of the most important classes in high school. Hear me out: You may never write an essay or need to use trigonometry again once you graduate, but you will ALWAYS need to know how to maintain your health and fitness. I focused on making fitness accessible for my students as well as helping them understand self-assessment and goal setting. Instead of teaching about sports these students would never play again, I centered my lessons on different ways they can be physically active. We did, of course, cover the most popular sports, and I even introduced them to ones they had never heard of or participated in. However, my biggest goal for my students was for them to know as many ways as possible to maintain their health and fitness AFTER high school.
Along with the job of teaching my classes, part of being a Teacher means staff development and training meetings. Although I was excited to collaborate with other Teachers, I often felt excluded during these trainings. As a PE Teacher, I did not need to learn how to use technology in my classroom or how to use AI to grade essays. Many of the training had nothing to do with my subject and solely focused on the core subjects (math, science, English,and social studies). This was frustrating for me, but I was determined to use these techniques regardless. I was every bit of the Teacher these other Teachers were and I was dead set on proving that to myself.
We learned about advanced college techniques to facilitate discussions between the students and I decided to use some of them with my second-year PE students. While the other PE teachers stood around distracted on their own phones, I was conducting Socratic Seminars with my students regarding how habits impact our goal achievement. While other PE Teachers distanced themselves from me, I kept showing up for my students and TAUGHT them every day. And while the Administration continued to look the other way when I complained, I continued to be the difference believing the students deserved better.
I quickly learned that the Administration did not care about PE. It was there to meet state standards, but just on paper. Not far into the school year, I could have stopped caring too and stooped to the level of the other Teachers without anyone batting an eye. I could have collected the easiest paycheck and just cruised through that year only teaching when I was observed.
But I’m not that kind of Teacher.
I believed the students deserved to be educated on how they can maintain their health and fitness beyond high school and I taught them with my whole heart. This was so huge for me because for too long, I felt lost in who I was. I lacked confidence and would often change what I was doing to fit-in with others. However, applying for this job was my declaration of confidence that I can make a difference and I each day I proved that to myself.
Sometimes taking the easy route isn’t the path we need to be on.
Sometimes in life, we have to choose to take the hard road. Not to prove ourselves to others, but to prove to ourselves that it is okay to be different than others.
Day in and day out, I showed up. Not just for my students, though they were my driving force, but I also showed up for myself. And when I sat in those trainings, I felt like one of the other Teachers. Many people talked to me about the district-wide issue with the PE program and how the PE Teachers are viewed as glorified babysitters. I understand why that is and it saddens me that those PE Teachers accept that. However, I was not a babysitter. I taught every day and went above and beyond for my students.
People are going to think what they want about my work as a PE Teacher, but I know what I put into that job and I know what it took to do that. This job taught me how important confidence in yourself is. It taught me how to show up for myself as well as others. But most importantly, teaching taught me to finally see myself for who I am. I am a Teacher with high standards with a great deal of passion. I change lives.
Be true to who you are regardless of what others are doing around you. Because, at the end of the day, your confidence will come from within when you can be proud of you first.