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The Complete Guide to Becoming A Recreation and Fitness Studies Teacher, Postsecondary
What you'll really do, earn, and need to break in as a college-level recreation and fitness studies teacher — with honest numbers and a clear yes-or-no decision framework.
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Does a Recreation and Fitness Studies Teacher, Postsecondary Actually Do?
Imagine you've just been hired as a recreation and fitness studies instructor at a mid-sized state university. Your contract says "teaching faculty," which sounds straightforward, but the first week reveals that the title covers far more than standing in front of a lecture hall three times a week. You're expected to teach, yes, but you're also expected to advise students, maintain lab equipment, coordinate internships, attend department meetings, serve on college-wide committees, and, depending on your institution, produce research that gets published in peer-reviewed journals. This chapter walks you through what that actually looks like — day by day, semester by semester, student by student.
The Core: Teaching (and More Teaching)
Most recreation and fitness studies professors carry a teaching load of three to five courses per semester, depending on whether their college emphasizes teaching or research. At a community college, you might teach five sections — for example, three sections of "Introduction to Exercise and Sport Science" (a survey class with 50 students each), one section of "Recreation Programming for Diverse Populations" (a 25-person upper-division course), and one "Beginning Weight Training" activity course that meets Monday and Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. At a research university, the load might shrink to two or three courses, but that release comes with an unstated expectation: you'll generate publishable research in your "spare" time.
The teaching itself is rarely just lecture. In a typical undergraduate program, recreation and fitness studies