Kinesiology Pedagogy Service
The two KHS Learning Communities are as follows:
Kinesiology, Level 1 students: Open to any student who is majoring in Kinesiology.
Coordinator: John Wirth
(313) 933-7972
johnwirth@wayne.edu
Learning Community for Professional Preparation in Kinesiology - Education
This LC is for students who want to major in Physical Education. It is linked to KIN 4440 (Teaching Method in Elementary PE 1) and KIN 3550 (Motor Learning in Control) for the Fall semester and KIN 4450 (Teaching Method in Elementary PE II) and Kin 4460 (Teaching Method in Secondary PE) for the Winter semester. The Michigan Test for Teacher Certification (MTTC) is a mandatory testing program and a requirement for teacher certification in Michigan
Open to any student who wants to major in Physical Education and has not yet successfully completed the MTTC.
Coordinator: Bo Shen
(313) 577-5828
boshen@wayne.edu
Our Learning Communities (LC) program has operating for three successful years. There are two groups and all students in the Kinesiology, Health and Sports Administra-tion programs are welcome to attend any of the events. A primary purpose of Learning Communities is to encourage socialization and communication between students and faculty. This is especially true in an urban university such as Wayne State.
This past academic year, we organized three theme-related workshops that included career development, preparation for Michigan Test for Teacher Certification (MTTC), and subject knowledge review. Our peer mentors offer support and have worked closely with the students participating in the LC program. Based on surveys and verbal feedback, students had very positive attitudes and satisfaction with the mentor and the series of workshops.
In order to make the LC more effective, we are planning to create a website where video clips, PowerPoint slides, and notes from the workshops can be obtained at the convenience of our students. Moreover, our peer mentors will offer office hours and online conference time to better serve our students.
We are continually improving our LC program. For example, as well as MTTC related workshops, we will design other professional development workshops such as common issues in teaching physical education, resume writing, and employment searching strategies. The Teacher Preparation and Development Learning Community plans its programs specifically for pedagogy students, preparing them for the job market and the state certification test.
Sandra Sovey was a senior and the peer mentor for this past year. She had weekly office hours to help students with class work or state test questions. There were also workshop sessions in which Doug Curry, Qin Lai, Suzanna Dillon and Amy Tischler answered class-related questions for the MTTC. Practicing physical education teachers, Brenda Crane from Harper Woods and Don Smith, retired from Detroit Public Schools, presented lessons on classroom management and teaching methods for stunts and tumbling.
Feedback has been positive but we hope to reach more students this next year. We’ll develop a website so that students can view video clips, Power Point slides and work-shop notes at their own convenience.
There will be much more interaction with the Kinesiology Learning Community too. Pedagogy students will be invited to join a Learning Community on the first day of class and get a Kinesiology tee shirt. Homecoming will also be a big feasting social event this year.
We look forward to a new year of social action and professional development. Tim Solden will lead the way as the new peer mentor this year.
Kinesiology Learning Community
The KHS Learning Community reaches out to Kinesiology, Health and Exercise Science students. It welcomes any students in the Kinesiology, Health or Sport Studies programs. Chanterius Brock, Rodney Puis and Robert Wozniak were the peer mentors this past year. They met with students on a weekly basis.
The KHS Learning Communities program coordinated a guest speaker appearance by Wayne State professor, Dr. Cynthia Bir. Dr. Bir gave a lecture to LC members entitled "Biomechanics and the Science behind FOX SPORTS"television show "SPORTS SCIENCE". Dr Bir is the resident sport scientist on the Emmy Award winning show Sport Science on the Fox Sports network. Dr. Bir is an associate professor in Biomedical Engineering Department and currently working on research which includes sports im-pact injury assessment and ballistic impact testing.
There were an estimated 40 students and faculty in attendance to hear Dr. Bir’s lecture. She openly shared her current research at Wayne State in addition to her experiences with the television show Sports Science. This lecture was part of the Kinesiology LC’s lecture series.
In the coming year the KHS Learning Community will be led by peer mentors: Debora Correa, Prijasha Patel, Brandon Poliquin, as well as Chanterius, Rodney and Robert. They will be leading interest groups such as coaching, studying for anatomy/physiology , conditioning and MTTC testing throughout the year.
We look forward to continuing these valuable series and hope to open the lectures to include the entire Wayne State community.