Brady Conroy – Physical Education Internship

My name is Brady and I am a physical education intern at Garden Spot Middle School. When I first started this internship, I didn’t know what to expect because I had just finished an Internship at Brecknock Elementary which is a whole different age group. On my first day, I was shown by my mentor, Kathy Burke, what my jobs were going to be and really what to expect. In the first few weeks, I took attendance and was really trying to learn the names of the students and get to know them as much as I could. When I had gotten to know the students, I started to play with them in their activities and really get to know each one of them personally.

For my daily routine in the gym, I always started the day by taking attendance and then playing with the students in their warm-up activity. Next on Mondays and Wednesdays, I would run the exercise stations. The students would start at the first station that they were assigned to and then after 45 seconds of doing that exercise, I would blow my whistle to let them know that it was time to switch.

The second part of my internship consisted of being in the classroom in health class.  I always took attendance and then I passed out some papers and graded some when Mrs. Burke asked me to. I was given the privilege to hear some amazing speakers that came in for the health side of the class that talked about drug safety, CPR, and diseases.

My biggest project for this Internship is a banner that is posted on a bulletin board showing what sports are offered at Garden Spot so that the students can get more involved not just in gym class but in extracurricular activities. Overall, I learned a great deal at this Internship even though it was cut short. I learned how to communicate with middle school-aged students as well as getting to understand how to teach in a classroom and handle the classroom side of a gym class. This experience wasn’t just for a Physical Education teacher but also a health teacher and that has given me a perspective on what other teachers do in the classroom. This Internship has shown me that I like the older groups of students and could really see myself pursuing this as a career.