Master's Degree Program Highlights
The graduate program in health in physical education at Longwood University has offered me opportunities to engage in a variety of learning experiences. I have been a licensed teacher for 4 years in the state of Virginia and wanted to advance my career. Building on my undergraduate and teacher licensure courses, I began the program in June of 2019 with the intention of completing the program in three semesters as a full-time student.
I began the program in the summer of 2019 with a course in Supervision and Evaluation of Instruction and Instructional Programs. This course gave me insight to the structure of educator evaluations, requirements from the Virginia Department of Education and how to effectively evaluate programs. This was my first introduction into educational leadership and the requirements of such a role. Since this course took place during the summer break from school, I was able to prepare for the upcoming school year by creating evaluation rubrics for my teacher assistants that I shared with them at the beginning of the school year.
The remainder of the summer included Research Design and Community Health Program Planning, Implementation and Evaluation. Both courses were outside of my daily teaching parameters and helped me push my learning limits. During Research Design, I learned the structure behind an effective research project and created a proposal for a research project. I have shared this research proposal with my building and district level supervisors who have expressed interest in helping me secure funding in order to fully test my hypothesis. Community Health Program Planning, Implementation and Evaluation provided me with extensive knowledge on the purpose and structures behind programs aimed at improving community health. This proved to be a foundational course for a large portion of the remainder of the program.
The fall semester included a return to full-time teaching and a full-time course load three classes - Foundations of Instruction in Learning Theory, Curriculum Instruction in Physical Education and Curriculum Instruction in Health Education. These three courses offered real-world applications to my current and future teaching positions. In both curriculum courses I created curriculum, goals, objectives, lesson plans and assessments that could be used in elementary and secondary education. Foundations of Instruction in Learning Theory taught me how to effectively teach a variety of learners. Understanding the psychology of teaching, learning styles, motivations, and developmental stages helped me create more in depth curriculum in the other two classes that semester and offered me insights into how to adapt to a new special education model that my school undertook in 2019-2020 school year.
In the final semester of the program I have continued to gain knowledge in Principles of Coaching and Developing Leadership in Health and Physical Education, while getting the opportunity to put my learning to work through an Internship in Community Health and the development of a professional portfolio. The coaching course offered training on listening and communication skills as a coach, mental training skills to help athletes control their motivation and energy, and goal setting skills. Developing Leadership in Health and Physical Education built on several of the topics from the Supervision and Evaluation Course. During this course I was able to directly participate in the legislative process by attending the Fund our Future Education Rally in Richmond in January. During this time I met with several state representatives to share the needs of educators and students from my district and around the state. My internship involved helping a local youth fitness initiative, the Starting Strides program from J&A Racing. During this internship I have helped the program increase physical activity for youth in low-income families while creating a plan to improve the program by assessing their target population, determining their needs, connecting their population with a program that effectively addresses those needs. I have completed my program with the creation of a digital portfolio that documents and highlights what I have learned through the Master's in Health and Physical Education program at Longwood University and the expertise that I have to offer having completed it.