My Classes Are In Full Swing!

We are already about to finish up our first unit. This is the last week of soccer. I know I will have some very heart-broken students when I tell them we are switching to American football. You may be thinking, in the U.S. most students would be thrilled to be starting an American football unit, but here that is not always the case. Many of my students who grew up in Europe love football, and by football I mean soccer. If you are confused, welcome to my daily life when my European students ask me if we are learning more about "football."

In class I have been trying to do more than just help them work on skills to be successful at soccer. From an athletic standpoint, we are also working on moving to open space when on offense, and how to get around defenders. From a logic standpoint, we are working on how to include different strategies into the game for older students. And morally, we are taking a look at sportsmanship and respect, why we need it, and how to apply it to all aspects of our lives. We have had many conversations (especially me and my competitive eighth grade boys) about what it means to be in a community that is full of grace and love, like our school, and how we can apply those core values our school has to our physical education classes. We have gone from yelling at each other about whose hand touched the ball to going up to someone on the other team to tell them that they are doing a nice job. I am very excited to see how my students continue to grow in their understanding and life applications of this word "sportsmanship."

Praises:

1. I was able to have a few one on one conversations with students and talk to them about God. 
2. I am starting to develop friendships with the other staff members.
3. I am leaning toward making a decision about which church to go to and it will be nice to not have to travel to different ones each week. 

Prayer Requests: 

1. I have one student who is really struggling. He does not have a relationship with the Lord and he is struggling at home and in the classroom. Please pray for him. 
2. Pray for my students who are struggling to show responsibility in class. There are a few who are not changing and therefore losing points. I really want them to succeed in my class!