ERIC EJ945718: The New Phys Ed.: Dodgeball Is Passe; Schools Are Teaching Lifelong Fitness

2011·0.92 MB·English

by  ERIC

13 for 13-Year-Olds
THE NEW PHYS ED.
9
Respect the genres. class lesson or 20 minutes of guided up on, I don’t trust my memory. I think
reading.” Because I can read the body of my rounds as mini-conferences. For
When I had my own classroom, my
language, I can hear the voice and get example, if a student is struggling to
library was organized by genre. I did not
a sense of where that child is emotion- write, I’ll take the pen and say, “Tell me
use the Dewey decimal system because
ally. I can make a connection by find- what you want to say.” And I write. And
I’ve found that teens want to go right
ing as many positives as I can in that then I’ll say, “You’ve got such good ideas.
to the genre that they love, whether it’s
child’s work to get them to open up. I Can you put two more down for me?”
realistic fiction or mysteries. That’s
always ask the kids, “Tell me why. Why I always try to stay aware of the need Dodgeball is passé; schools are teaching lifelong fitness. By Ron Schachter
not a bad thing. A knowledge of genre
was that hard for you? Why didn’t you to build their self-confidence and self-
helps readers navigate text because you
do your homework?” They have good esteem. It’s fragile at this age.
know what to expect. With folktales,
answers. Sometimes they say, “I dunno,”
for example, you know to expect a and I say, “I’ll try again tomorrow 12Have kids share I
moral or lesson. In addition, genre helps
because I think you really do know.” My recommendations
with writing. So often I hear teachers t’s not unusual for kids to
tell kids, “Write a short story,” but the conference table is apart from the class- with one another. bike or skateboard before
room, so it’s very private.
students don’t know how a short story Every month, my students share a book school and then count
works. When you teach genre, it’s like 11 of their choice with the entire class. down the minutes until
Get rid of your
having a road map for writing. Students It takes two or three minutes, so if they get to play video
desk.
can follow the road map they’ve gotten you have 30 kids, you take two class games after school. But what
from the mentor text, and then bring The last five years that I taught, I took periods. It’s worthwhile because peer would you think of including
themselves into it and take those won- the desk out of my classroom so I never recommendations are so motivating. skateboarding or Wii in the
derful detours that make it unique. sat. I believe it’s my responsibility to I also have a wall covered with con- school day?
walk around the classroom, making struction paper, and if students love a That’s just what a growing
10
Meet one on one. observations and taking notes. I carry book and want to recommend it, they number of physical educa-
I always tell teachers, “Five a clipboard with sticky notes, because can record the title and author on the tion teachers are doing, in
minutes of one on one is worth a whole if I see something that I need to follow wall, write a few words, and sign their an attempt to make exercise
names. And kids can go and read the more engaging—and life-
board for suggestions. Finally, when I long—for elementary and
bring new books into my classroom, I middle school students. A
book-talk them and put them in a very new generation of P.E. classes
visible place. I might say, “Joshua, this is introducing youngsters to
book is for you. It’s all about World War everything from step aerobics
II. You’re a World War II buff. Read it and yoga to inline skating and
and then pass it on to somebody else.” mountain biking.
It’s all about respecting students’ tastes, Experts agree that these
giving them choice, and helping them to approaches to exercise pro-
develop a personal reading life. vide an attractive alternative
Bring the World
to team sports and stay with
13
Don’t ask kids to do students long after they leave
of Art into Your
things you wouldn’t school. “The newer physical
Classroom do yourself. education, which you will see
1/3 Square Left
more and more of in schools,
I always tell teachers, “Think of your-
focuses on personal chal-
Learn more about self. Would you want to write a sum-
lenges rather than team com-
what the Museum mary of every chapter you read for inde- petition,” explains Stephen
pendent reading at night?” Absolutely
has to offer teachers Cone, a professor of health
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children for life, not just for our class- OLEIL/ that students can take with
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The Merry Jesters, 1906, by Henri Rousseau (Philadelphia Museum of Art: who really can give you the answers.
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950-134-176)
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The New P.E.
g
that students should be able a hundred percent really take in the classroom. At French
to take with them what they to it,” he says, adding that Road Elementary School in
n have learned in P.E. “We have the “exergaming” program Brighton, New York, most of
a fitness center that—in my has even reached students’ the teachers lead their class-
opinion—rivals what you homes. “I’ve had parents es in yoga breaks throughout
i
would find in a local gym,” come in and say, ‘We’re think- the day. Those teachers have
d
Gartner says, adding that ing about getting one.’ That’s received a three-hour, after-
students can choose from not just extending the physi- school training from a certi-
r weight machines, treadmills, cal activity of the kid, but fied yoga instructor.
exercise bikes, and stair who knows, maybe the parent French Road assistant
a climbers. They can also take will get more active.” principal Carolyn Rabidoux,
aerobic dance classes. who introduced the yoga-
Stretch Breaks
o Gartner offers a telling in-the-classroom initiative
measure of the program’s There’s also the growing three years ago, also provides
success. “In the past, if you conviction in some schools materials from Indiana-based
b
didn’t want to do P.E., you that physical activity belongs YogaKids International,
forgot your clothes,” he
e observes. “We have almost a
zero rate of that.”
t Exercise on TV
a While advanced gym equip-
ment can be costly, some
schools are finding less
k
expensive ways to deliver
ing his classes in a different purchasing equipment and conventional units Chiesa 21-speed mountain bikes, as lifelong physical education.
S direction. “I’m trying to get materials from Colorado- teaches. “I ask them, ‘On a well as three years’ worth At Alamo Elementary School
away from team sports,” he based Skate Pass, which scale of one to ten, of all the of replacement parts, with in Otsego, Michigan, Kyle
says. “When these kids get offers a curriculum covering things you do in gym, which $14,000 provided through Uramkin’s classes have taken
older, they’re not likely to everything from learning how do you like best?’ and the grants and fundraisers. the electronic route by mak-
play team sports. I’m assum- to fall to turning correctly skating always gets a nine or ”We were trying to make ing use of Wii Sports and Wii
ing they’ll quit.” and even hosts a certification ten,” she says. “They’re doing our program most beneficial Fitness activities.
volleyball, and jumping jacks That won’t be the case, program for teachers. something to increase their to students as adults,” says These interactive video
is taking place as the fitness Coleman figures, with the aerobic capacity, and they Gartner. “The statistics show games allow users to par-
P.E. on Wheels
of today’s youngsters, along individual sports—inline don’t even realize it. They’re that only two percent of ticipate in sports by moving
with a looming obesity crisis, skating, ice skating, and Coleman’s not the only getting a great workout.” adults past the age of thirty- their arms, legs, and bod-
has become a central concern skateboarding, among teacher putting kids on a roll. Even though inline skat- five participate in competi- ies in simulated tennis and
for educators and parents. them—that he’s added to the At Benjamin Franklin Middle ing is not as popular as it tive sports. If you’re teaching bowling matches, aerobics
curriculum. “Ninety-five per- School in Teaneck, New was when she started the something that’s irrelevant, sessions, and fitness courses.
Solo Sports
cent of our kids have never Jersey, physical education program, Chiesa remains what’s the point?” Uramkin usually sets up four
Craig Coleman, who teaches touched a skateboard before,” teacher Carol Ann Chiesa convinced that it has staying Gartner teaches the basics or five stations featuring dif-
physical education at Hayes Coleman says. “But they’ve introduced inline skating to power. “It’s a lifetime sport,” of gear shifting, as well as ferent sports, through which
Elementary School in Fridley, picked it up really well.” her students 14 years ago. she says. “They have the bicycle safety and respect for the 25 students in his physi-
Minnesota, is one educator For the past three years, With a $10,000 grant from basics now, and as they get the outdoor environments cal education classes rotate. Rock
who appreciates the changing the school’s third and fourth the National Association older, they won’t be afraid to through which his students He projects the interactive
PH
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side of school.” grip the gym floor without The school’s 300 fifth and much on the future as the AY/G HN A lenging trails surrounding it. out, Uramkin notes, and
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The New P.E.
including cards that show different yoga go over, consult a card, and assume a to get them on the same page and look-
positions. “A teacher can pull out a pose pose. “It gives them a positive way of ing at me before we move on.”
to help children focus, get energy, or just focusing instead of yelling out or acting That transition can be as simple as
Schools to
relax,” explains Rabidoux, who has also out,” Rabidoux says. Liu calling out, “Give me a five.” In
created a series of online videos in which Fifth-grade French Road teacher Lara response, students raise their arms
French Road teachers and their yoga Liu says she uses yoga with her students releasing one finger at a time as they
instructor demonstrate those poses. regularly. “It energizes them after lunch take a long breath, and do the reverse as
Some classrooms even have a yoga and helps them focus before tests,” she they breathe out. One of their favorites,
the Rescue
station, where individual students can says. “I also use it as a transition piece, Liu continues, is called the Volcano, in
which they place their palms together at
their chest, breathe in deeply, and then
“explode” as they exhale, raising their
hands over their heads then returning
them to their sides.
Educators are finding ways to make the
Good Results
lives of poor students and their families
Educators who’ve taken advantage of
the new P.E. are more than happy with better every day. By Samantha Cleaver
the results. “Kids are really incorpo-
rating yoga into who they are,” says
W A student
Rabidoux, who tells the story of one
receives a
student recently stuck in an elevator hen Theresa Kiger arrived director of Alignment Nashville, which check-up at a
during a visit to New York City. While at Roy Clark Elementary unites community services with public Children’s Aid
the adults surrounding her were starting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as schools, “and kids have a lot of issues. Society school.
to panic, the youngster took some yoga the assistant principal in Teachers have to take care of kids who
breaths to calm herself down. 2001, she met teachers who need a lot, in addition
“More teachers are recognizing that were paying students’ electric bills. In to being their teacher.”
students cannot sit for very long and are December, the hallways were jammed A community
putting in short movement breaks,” adds with teacher-bought gifts, from hand- school’s doors are
Dental work is
Theresa Cone, an assistant professor of me-down bikes to new mattresses. open nights, week-
part of the routine
health and exercise science at Rowan “Teachers understood that basic needs ends, and summers at Children’s Aid
University, who together with her hus- had to be met,” says Kiger, “but there for meals, classes, and Society schools.
band, Stephen, has coauthored several was no way to take care of those needs... enrichment programs.
books on new approaches to physical and teach math and reading.” In 2002, Students who have a
education. “I had one student teacher Kiger took over as principal and began headache or tooth-
who convinced the entire school to stop O to re-envision how the school could ache may be referred
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the student teacher delivered instruc- HA a lounge into a health clinic. A full-time families may pick
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students loved it.” O Now, a community service coordinator school to attend adult
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circling arms, reaching up and down, D S Schools connecting families with is to impact student achievement. “As
marching forward and backward—can N’S AI community services isn’t a new idea. a partner,” says Jane Quinn, director
be practiced in any classroom by stu- DRE John Dewey and Jane Addams had that of the Children’s Aid Society’s National
dents standing next to their desks. She CHIL vision a century ago. Recently, as mod- Center for Community Schools, “we
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a one-minute activity break every day. DLE) Neighborhoods) in Multnomah County, Since 1999, community schools have
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MI
The results will be pleasantly surpris- D Oregon, redefine that connection, more expanded to 49 states and Washington,
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problem solving, and creativity.” HOT cated,” says Sydney Rogers, executive reforms around the community school
P
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INSTRUCTOR SUMMER 2011 INSTRUCTOR SUMMER 2011
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