EDITORIAL
Celebrating
What’s Good in Physical Education
 Despite
too frequent news about PE program and position
cuts (some in this month's News column), there's
much to celebrate about what's happening in
physical education. The start of spring is
a good time to do it.
This month's national convention promises
to set a new direction for our profession.
Voting delegates will be asked to approve
the reorganization of AAHPERD. And as anyone
who has been involved with our national professional
association knows, it's urgent we decide where
we want to go and plan accordingly. Events
are changing way too fast in our schools and
the world around us to be indecisive.
I'm excited that we'll have another chance
to discuss future directions for physical
education at this
year's PE 2020 Forum in Charlotte. Last
year's convention cancellation was a huge
disappointment. This year's forum will use
the popular TED presentation format: Short
presentations by individuals chosen to challenge
us to think futuristically, with time to allow
audience discussion. Join us if you can make
it, and if not look for news updates following
the convention.
One of the PE 2020 organizers and presenters
is Tahoma (WA) high school teacher Tracy
Krause. Tracy is a former national teacher
of the year, and was last year's NFL teacher
of the year. High school physical education
is frequently criticized. But in places, it
is going great. Tahoma High School is one
of those places.
Read an interview
with Tracy in this month's pelinks4u,
and learn more about the innovative way he
has teamed with a language arts teacher and
a science teacher to create an "Outdoor
Academy." Far too often our efforts to
integrate physical education with other curriculum
areas seem to me to be contrived and trivial.
Not at Tahoma High School. Students in the
Outdoor Academy meet rigorous academic expectations,
and perform exceptionally well on state tests.
It's a great example of a high school physical
education program that is well respected in
the school and local community.
We should also celebrate and be thankful
for the support of others outside of our profession.
An article entitled "Giving PE the Respect
it Deserves" is included this month.
It was written by Helen Durkin, a Vice President
with the International Health, Racquet, &
Sports Club Association (IHRSA). Not only
did Helen write persuasively about the value
of school physical education, but she also
got her article published in THE HILL'S
Congress Blog, putting it at the forefront
of legislative attention.
Finally, everyone who values health and physical
education should also be grateful to Sen.
Tom Udall (D-NM) who has introduced to the
new Congress the "Promoting Health
as Youth Skills in Classrooms and Life (PHYSICAL)
Act." You may remember that under
"No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) health
and physical education were excluded as "core
subjects" in the school curriculum. The
PHYSICAL Act proposes to make health and physical
education core subjects, thereby protecting
the areas from program and position cuts.
You can do your part to advocate for the
PHYSICAL Act by contacting your Washington
representatives and asking them to support
this legislation. Find more information here.
AAHPERD also has an Advocacy Legislative Action
Center with more information
and links to contact your legislator.
Steve
Jefferies, publisher pelinks4u
|
