abcteach directory - Book report forms, bulletin board trims, name tags, desk tags, flash cards, memory book, calendars, bookmarks, word walls, certificates...tons of stuff!

Classroom Helpers - forms, calendars, passes, bulletin boards, and so much more. It's all free!

Link Families to Learning - 25 Quick Ideas for Communicating the Curriculum. Want to keep parents positive and enthusiastic about schools? Make sure families are informed in a variety of ways about what their children are learning throughout the school year.

Principals' Top 10 Practices to Improve School-Family Partnerships - a "top ten" list of family-school partnership practices that principals say really works for them:

Ten Things Teachers Wish Parents Would Do-Ten Things Parents Wish Teachers Would Do. A list really worth looking through.

continued from previous column.

In an article written by Mowling, Brock, Eiler, and Rudisill (2004), the authors identify six barriers to motivation, and also provide tips on how to alleviate these barriers. One barrier is intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is related to the student's view of themselves, and their performance. In an interview with elementary students, the authors found that the students disliked exercise, and associated exercise with not having fun. The students said that they enjoyed classes when they were able to play games and run around. The authors provide suggestions to aid in eliminating this barrier:

	Design lesson plans that would be meaningful to the students. Give students explanation of what they are learning, and how it applies to life outside of school.
	Design activities that will challenge all students.
	Design activities that have specific goals.
	Allow students to feel like they have control over their own learning.
	Provide students with alternative tasks, thus allowing them to make choices.
	Allow students to assess their own progress.
	Helpful websites for fostering intrinsic motivation in students are PE Central and this article entitled 'Physical Activity and Intrinsic Motivation.' (p. 41).

Also associated with intrinsic motivation is the fact that students tend to compare their own performance against their classmates performance, which can lead to the belief that being good, or not good, in motor skills is an inherent and permanent trait. However, with practice a students motor skills will improve. Physical educators are encouraged to dispel the myth that being good, or not, is a permanent trait (Rink, 2004). Rink (2004) provides five themes that educators can add as part of the curriculum, which are as follows:

	How do people get better at motor skills?
	What is good performance?
	What stages do individuals pass through to become proficient at motor skills?
	What kind of practices facilitates learning?
	Will learning one motor skill help a person learn another motor skill? (p. 32)

One thing that Rake mentions, that I believe to be essential, is to make students feel comfortable being a beginner. At times, it has been my experience to want to be as good as a professional player, or to be as good as my friends in trying something for the first time. And then, I am often disappointed with my performance.

Rink (2004) suggests educators describe the characteristics of being a beginner, provide information on the reasons why some students may be better than others, and information on how someone can improve their performance. Doing this can allow a student to view their performance realistically, or assuage their feelings if they do not perform as well as they'd hoped to.

In relation to the varying levels of performance among a classroom full of students, the idea of including students in the activity decision making process was talked about in one article. Chatopius & Emmanuel (2003) did a study in Athens with fifth and sixth graders on the Mosston and Ashworth (2002) spectrum of teaching styles. They focused in on the style E objective, where students were included in the decision making process of activities. This focus allowed varying of levels of difficulty for a task, and students would evaluate their own performance. Since this had never been done before in a classroom, the authors wanted to observe difficulties that might arise, and how they would be handled.

At first, students stayed in groups, and then the groups started to compete against each other. Because of this adjustments were made, such as emphasizing individual decisions, and hanging charts to remind students of their roles.

At the end of four weeks, students started to make independent decisions, not as a group, and were willing to try different levels before making their final decision. The authors state that, "Accomplishing the goals of the inclusion style requires making sure students know their role expectations, and above all, providing them with opportunities to live up to their expectations (p.38)."

Whether you're creating activities that have meaning to students outside of the classroom environment, or whether you're dispelling myths on motor skill performance, motivation can be fostered through information and support provided by educators. You have the power to influence a student's perception and enthusiasm about physical education classes, now, and in the future.

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