CONFERENCE/WORKSHOP CALENDAR

One of the most worrisome responsibilities for preservice and beginning teachers is classroom management.  Classroom management is more difficult when the lesson includes children learning through movement, rather than seated in assigned chairs in the classroom.  Often well-meaning educators will shy away from active learning for fear of losing control of the class. These techniques are taught to preservice classroom teachers during one (two hour) class session in their physical education methods course, using active learning techniques in the gymnasium.  They are subsequently reinforced during peer teaching and all other lessons that involve active learning.  By the end of the course students feel much more comfortable managing students during active learning experiences and, therefore, are more likely to use active learning techniques to enhance learning in their future classrooms.  A previous editorial listed important topics to be covered in the methods course for preservice elementary classroom teachers, with the assurance that each would be covered in subsequent editorials.   This editorial will discuss a few techniques that help educators minimize off-task behavior in a physical activity setting.  Some of the most important techniques are listed below. 1.       Set specific boundaries that children must stay within while moving.  These boundaries must be set far enough away from walls and other obstacles to ensure safety. 2.       Use a consistent signal for STOP.  One sharp blast on my whistle always means stop immediately.  All equipment goes on the ground to avoid the temptation of playing with the equipment while the teacher is talking.  In addition, young children have a specific place for their hands since they often have trouble keeping their hands to themselves. 3.       Begin instructions with a phrase similar to, ìwhen I say GO ... [then give brief instructions] ... GO.î  This encourages children to listen to all of the instructions before beginning the task. 4.       Use developmentally appropriate methods to form groups. 5.       Have equipment placed safely, yet easily accessible, to minimize time spent getting and putting away equipment. 6.       Consistently move to be in position to monitor ALL children in the class.  This is often termed ìback-to-the-wall.î 7.       ìProximity controlî is an effective method of reminding students to stay on task.  This is accomplished by moving to a location near students that are off-task or are likely to become off-task. 8.       Point out students that are doing the task correctly through the use of ìpositive pinpointing.î  Students that are off-task will often modify their behavior to more closely represent the behavior being pinpointed. continued in next column

Money Machine grades 1-2   Purpose of Event: To practice locomotor movements while recognizing different colors and practicing various math skills. Prerequisites: recognize colors, math skills, locomotor movements  Materials Needed: One hula hoop for each group (3-4 students), 30-40 bean bags  Physical activity: Locomotor skills Brief Description of Activity:  Students use various locomotor skills to travel while collecting beanbags.  Children calculate the monetary worth of the beanbags collected.

Walk the Tightrope grades 3-5   Purpose of Event:  To have students work on their estimation skills while enhancing their balancing skills. Materials Needed:  1 rope and 1 hoop per child (may be different sizes), 1 yardstick per child, 1 pencil per child Physical Activity:  Balancing Brief Description of Activity:  Students measure rope and hoop using various methods, then compare the measurements.

Pac Man Chomps Again grades 1-3 Purpose of Event:  Students should be able to reason mathematically (i.e. identify greater and lesser numbers) and solve small problems concerning mathematical comparisons. Prerequisites:  Familiarity with the counting numbers.  Recognition of number groupings.  Practice with different locomotor skills, dodging, and fleeing. Materials Needed:  Fifty (50) 4"x6" index cards with > (greater than) and  < (less than) equations. Brief Description of Activity:  Students practice the concepts of > (greater than) and < (less than) using different size groups of students.  Next, they play a variation of freeze tag to practice these concepts.

"I've had smarter people around me all my life, but I haven't run into one yet that can outwork me.  And if they can't outwork you, then smarts aren't going to do them much good.  That's just the way it is.  And if you believe that and live by it, you'd be surprised at how much fun you can have." Woody Hayes ~

continued from previous column

9.       Limit ìwait time.î  All children need to be actively involved in the activity.  No one should be eliminated, and forced to watch and wait others learn.

10.   Plan activities that are developmentally appropriate for ALL children in the class.  This often entails modifications for children at different ability levels.

11.   Minimize competition.  Maximize cooperation.

There are many other techniques used by effective educators.  What classroom management techniques do you find especially effective in active learning situations?  Feedback from the previous editorial was wonderful.  Please continue to send comments and suggestions to me at: smcghie@semo.edu.  Thank-you.

Shaunna McGhie

Section Editor

Pulsating grades 3-5   Purpose of Event:  To show students how activity and lack of activity has an effect on a persons' heart rate. Prerequisites:  Students need instruction and practice in taking and recording their pulse rate. Materials Needed:  A clock, handout, pencil for each child, CD/tape player, and a variety of music that has different tempo (i.e., slow, relaxing music to lively, fast paced tunes). Physical Activity:  Locomotor skills. Brief Description of Activity:  Students move at a variety of intensities to help them understand that their heart rate speeds up and slows down in conjunction with their current level of activity.

Hustle to Where I Live grades K-2   Purpose of Event:  Students will practice locomotor skills while identifying the habitats of a variety of animals. Prerequisites:  Children must first learn different types of habitats (ocean, forest, meadow, pond, desert, jungle, very cold places, etc.) and the animals that can be found in each.  Children should also know the characteristics of the animals, as well as how they move.  Children also need to be familiar with the different types of locomotor skills that will be used. Materials Needed:  Large space, two to three sets of posters with different habitats pictured on them. Physical Activity:  Locomotor skills. Brief Description of Activity:  Children move, using a variety of locomotor skills, to a habitat appropriate for the named animal.

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	David Kahan
	Cindy Kuhrasch
	Shaunna McGhie
	Lynette Overby

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