After watching Trevor Mackenzie’s recorded seminar all I can say is WOW! He had an incredible energy and passion that was intensely captivating. I would love to see what he is like within his classroom and observe all it all firsthand. What really resonated with me during his conversation with our class was when he spoke about learner identity and the impact that teachers have, whether they know it or not. In his experience, he shared that his experience in math was impacted by the narrative his teacher placed on him, and still remembers how that teacher made him feel to this day. This was devastating to here, and even more so to know that students everywhere are having similar experiences. Words are so powerful and listening to Trevor further instilled the notion that we must always be aware of who we are talking to and what we are saying. In my perspective, as educators our role is first and foremost to support. And in this supporting role, we must empower our students with our words and through the relationships we create with them to build them up.

            Something that I found really thought provoking from his talk was being aware of our personal biases as we enter the world of teaching. To paraphrase Trevor, he stated that within our teaching experiences we are susceptible to trying to recreate our experiences as students where we found success and enjoyment, especially in our methods of assessment. So, as teacher candidates we must ask ourselves, what are my biases? Because what I experienced as a student that was fulfilling does not necessarily align with what my future students will want or need.

Trevor proposed a question along the lines of “How can we adjust our assessment methods to adaptable and agile in a system that is rigid and dehumanizing at its core?”. That is such a crucial thing to consider because like what Trevor discussed, the dynamic between teacher and students is sometimes more important than the course content. How do we create relationships with our students a more consistent practice amongst all teachers? How do we ensure our students feel seen, and that their learning is valued and genuinely cared about? And ultimately, how do we demonstrate humanity in our teaching?

            The last point I want to speak to is the concept of student agency. Trevor spent a significant amount of time addressing inquiry-based learning and creating accountable students, and it got me thinking about what that looks like in Physical and Health Education (PHE). In my experience within PE, our course was highly centralized around the sport education model, and typically the sports that our teachers felt comfortable teaching. An inquiry-based model in PHE might look like more student choice. Something I have discussed in my PHE methods course is the idea of giving students surveys where they can select from an extensive list of sports, active living activities, and games. This gives the students more choice in what they get to learn and explore within their PHE course. Another awesome inquiry-based learning opportunity that I have witnessed at my Wednesday practicum day was in a Community Recreation course. Within this class the students were assigned a group project where they had to create a new game to teach the class. They were given certain parameters for the game as well as the teaching process but were given total agency over developing their activity.  They had complete access to the PHE equipment and spaces (main gym, small gym, fields, track, etc.). I go to witness the planning phase as well as the final lessons which was an incredibly powerful thing to observe. Overall, the students displayed passion and a genuine interest in creating their own games and how they wanted to teach their peers. I would love to do a project like this within my future teaching practice, I think it would be an incredible way to incorporate guided inquiry and more student agency within the realm of PHE.