Just into 2006, and I find myself grieving that our educational system not only focuses on test taking, but disregards the bodies taking the tests. Physical education as a step-child only indicates that the powers that “be” believe that academic skills pave the way to a healthy productive life alone.

How ridiculous! Provide for the mind yet forget the body housing it.

When physical education is not valued, we share blame. We have teachers who work to coach and forget their main objective - reaching the regular kids. We have students who are turned off by our approach, our curriculum, the need to dress in haste, bullying in the locker rooms and during competition. We give fitness tests, get results, and don’t share them. Worst of all, we don’t use what we know to convince our boards, administrators, PTAs and students that physical activity is important to one’s overall health (and yes, happiness) and that without gym, most kids would never get it. Well, who’d listen if the argument comes from the very teacher who has half his class sitting out, walking the track, or otherwise disengaged (a frequent occurrence in my district of “excellence”)?

The truth is that many of us do our job, and do it well, but shy away from politics. Busy with teaching and coaching, we have limited energy to fight the big fight, the fight that is a win-win for all - a national push to reinstitute daily physical education. In concert with heart healthy month and the new year, I advocate doing otherwise. Get involved, but do it right! Be cautious.

Remember, I am the “kid” who wrote TOO DANGEROUS TO TEACH. I lived it and know from experience that you can be right, but still lose the fight if you take it on alone. It takes a village. The push has to come from the public as well as professionals, but it is the professionals who must make use of the bully pulpit. For the New Year, for the sake of healthy hearts, I beg you, get political. Put your heart into moving the boards of Ed and PTAs, and get our kid’s hearts working vigorously - daily.

Remember, we are responsible for ALL kids, not just athletes or kids showing up after school for one sport or another. We, of all people, should not forget that what we do goes beyond recreation and social contact. Our goal is having kids move, enjoyably (to get their hearts working in ways that are sorely needed for their health and fitness) so that as graduates, they still want to.

Let us lead. Start by making sure classes are active from unset to close. Then push the kids (not literally, please) to move, daily, with or without us and encourage their parents to see that they do. Then lobby Boards of Education and PTAs. Get them to acknowledge the health risks faced when kids prefer sitting at computers to playing on the streets, and get them to reinstate daily PE so that vigorous movement is a part of the daily educational routine. After all, moving is the HEART HEALTHY thing to do.

Isobel Kleinman
Secondary Section Editor

Moderate Physical activity makes a heart stronger.

A thirteen member panel of health leaders concluded, as reported in the June, 2005 Journal of Pediatrics, that children need 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily.

While Jane Brody’s article What’s Good for the Heart is Good for the Head speaks to dementia and Alzheimer’s, one must expect that the issues raised and studied would apply to the brain no matter what age.

Blood Pressure Rates On Rise Again in U.S. is putting more people at risk for heart attack, strokes and kidney failure. Obesity is a huge contributing factor.

In Heart Disease: The Focus Narrows we learn that a mother worries about the subtler menace that threatens her children, heart disease. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of adults. Failure to deal with obesity in children is a clear prelude to it.

Pediatricians Urged to Step Up Fight Against Obesity: Alicia Ault reports that physicians urge that children have at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a day. Inactivity is a major cause of coronary heart disease.

The government recognizes that behaviors that lead to obesity in adults are established during childhood, and that no matter what age regular physical activity should be incorporated into daily life.

Regular physical activity helps your heart. This article from Health Plus speaks to the benefits of aerobic activity and how to set up a program.

The Center for Health Care and Health Care in Schools has a wealth of information.

Dispensing Junk: How school vending undermines efforts to feed children well. See also School vending rated as junk, School Vending Machines: Health vs. Profits.

Vending machines don't make kids fat - As someone who has followed the debate over the connections between school vending machines and childhood obesity in Washington and other states, I am concerned about the rush toward simplistic solutions that have very little impact on this very complex problem. Read the rest...

Consider this for Healthy Heart month and

	do it for the kids who are tired of the same old thing.
	do it because kids need to move the whole period.
	do it because kids should learn to move to rhythms.

You need a good sound system and the willingness to try something that might not be your strong suite. Aerobic dance is loved by most girls, and most kids love moving to popular music. They even love a smattering of folk dance thrown in. The educational goals are tons of activity, gaining some social skills, and understanding the concept of aerobic movement and cardiovascular fitness.

DAY 1
	Step 1 - choose a rigorous folk dance, teach it, have the kids do it, and include it in the aerobic dance routine you are starting to build.
	Step 2 - get a song you like that is about 5 minutes, create a simple abdominal/thigh routine (i.e. 8 crunches, 8 right leg lifts up, 8 left leg lifts up, 8 more abdominals, 8 other types of abdominals, 8 R leg lifts back, 8 left leg lifts back, repeat from the beginning until the music if over).
	Step 3 - teach a novelty dance to a modern rhythm (i.e., Saturday Night Fever Walk, Pata Pata, Electric Slide, etc.) as a cool down or warm-up. Decide once you’ve built more of your routine.

DAY 2
	Step 4 - Begin with the novelty dance by reviewing the steps. Dance it through.
	Step 5 - Teach a dance to a popular song with an energetic beat. Choose the music and movement by matching instructions to different musical phrases (usually 8 to 16 beats) using basic locomotion (i.e.: run forward 16 steps, run backward 16 steps, hop in a CCW circle 8 beats, jump in place 8 beats, repeat until the music is over. Don’t forget the arms.
	Step 6 - with music, do the abdominal exercise you taught the day before.
	Step 7 - review and do to music the rigorous folk dance you taught the day before.
	Step 8 - teach a cool down routine which has students doing essential stretches. Make sure they stretch properly, and hold each position at least 16 beats. At the end of day 2 you will have your students dancing 3 routines, doing one set of abdominal/thigh exercises and stretching as they cool down.

DAY 3
	Step 9 - Teach a second moderate novelty dance.
	Step 10 - Teach a vigorous dance to something the kids love listening to. Otherwise, go into your folk dance books and look for something easy but vigorous (Hora, Savila Se Bela Loza, a Polka). Review and do what you have time for, ending with the cool down. Take home the music, copy it to one tape, start with the favorite slow novelty dance, then something fast, then something else fast, then the abdominal routine, then something moderate, then the last slow novelty dance, then the stretching routine. The music should carry you from the beginning to the end of the class.

DAY 4: Until the last week of the unit let the music play as the kids come from the locker room. Music will be the driving force of the lesson.

THE LAST WEEK - introduce cardiovascular concepts. For more assistance see the fitness unit in Complete Physical Education Plans for Grades 7-12.

In the Know Zone - In The Know Zone is a one-stop resource for information on substance abuse, sexual and mental health issues. As an online extension of Syndistar's researched-based In The Know line of pamphlets and videotapes, this website offers in-depth information, additional images and an interactive knowledge quiz on each topic.

Hostile Hallways: Bullying, Teasing, and Sexual Harassment in School: Four of five students - boys and girls - report that they have experienced some type of sexual harassment in school, despite a greater awareness of school policies dealing with the issue, according to a new report, Hostile Hallways: Bullying, Teasing, and Sexual Harassment in School by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation.

Read the rest of this article, download the 60 page report, and also download the action guide to help students, parents, and educators stop sexual harassment in school. (PDF - both downloads are at the bottom of the article)

When 'digital bullying' goes too far - Read about news ways to bully that we didn't have to go through as a kid, or probably haven't even considered the opportunities available now. Read also Protect Your Child from a Cyber Bully. This information is also good if you want to see if your child is BEING a Cyber Bully. See also Cyber Bullying: No Muscles Needed.

by Diane Johnson
Iditarod Education Director
605 228 6071
djohnson@iditarod.com

What does the sport of golf have to do with dogsled, mushing, Iditarod, and Alaska? EVERYTHING, if you ask Physical Education Instructor and Golf Coach, Terrie Hanke. Terrie is the 2006 Wells Fargo Teacher on the Trail™ and will be traveling the Iditarod Trail during this year’s Iditarod, which begins March 4, 2006 in Anchorage, Alaska, and concludes when the last musher crosses the finish line in Nome.

Follow Terrie’s teaching adventure at www.iditarod.com, where Terrie maintains a section of the website, devoted to integrating the race in a thematic approach to teaching and learning.

Terrie developed a unique way to integrate The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race® into her coaching and physical education classes at North High School in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, by addressing the character traits students and athletes must develop to be successful. Since Terrie is the girls golf coach, she focused on the traits the athletes needed to develop and build upon, to be successful during their golf season.

These traits, such as effort, initiative, determination, responsibility and respect, were compared to the mushers and dogs, demonstrating that the golfers and Iditarod athletes use those common traits as they set goals, plan, and work towards goal achievement. It doesn’t matter if it is golfing or mushing, or any other sport, project, or educational classroom experiences. Everyone needs those same traits to be on a successful trail of achievement.

Each year, the Iditarod Education Committee chooses a Wells Fargo Teacher on the Trail™. Interested educators can locate the application on Iditarod’s website. Selected finalists travel to Alaska prior to the race to be involved in an extensive interview process that involves, not only a personal interview and demonstration of teaching skills for educators at Iditarod’s Teacher Workshop, but also a hands on activity that requires the participants to use their observation skills and create a technology based presentation to demonstrate their abilities in technology.

It was this interview process that led physical education instructor, Terrie Hanke from the golf course, gymnasium, and the high school classrooms, to the Iditarod Trail.

Like the high school athletes and students Terrie instructs, Terrie is in training for this teaching adventure. Throughout the school year, Terrie continues her teaching and coaching in her own community, but also maintains a dedicated section of the web site where she shares lesson ideas for physical education, and all other curriculum areas applicable to elementary and secondary classrooms.

Once the race begins, Terrie will be sharing her online diary on the web site as she travels Iditarod’s Tail during the race with the Iditarod Air Force pilots. She will be spending time at checkpoints, experiencing the race up close and personal as a race volunteer and teacher, and recording those observations, as well as providing additional ideas for classroom use.

“Terrie exemplifies what teaching is all about because she is dedicated to providing lessons that are truly standards driven, and empower students to make educational strides. She is committed to good, sound, teaching practices, and serves as someone you can really admire because she is the kind of teacher that really is making a difference.

She not only teaches, but she reaches students and athletes through her unique approaches to coaching. She is an impressive, hardworking educator that is about ready to trade the golf and tennis shoes for Arctic footwear, as she leaves her boot prints on Iditarod’s Trail as an educator making a difference,” said Diane Johnson, Iditarod’s Education Director.

Wells Fargo Bank, Alaska, sponsors The Wells Fargo Teacher on the Trail™ project. View their Hands on Banking program for students to learn more about helping students be successful.

Educational conferences are held in Alaska in June and right before for the start of the race. Attendees at the conference have the benefit of learning about Iditarod as they participate in a variety of activities and sessions, including fieldtrips to musher kennels and speakers.

This year, Iditarod musher and author, Gary Paulsen will be speaking at the conference, as will Iditarod Champion Mitch Seavey and Iditarod’s Chief Veterinarian, Dr. Stuart Nelson. Terrie will be speaking at the conference, as will educators and experts in integrating the race and themes about Alaska, into content standards.

Educators at the conference are provided with instruction on best practices of teaching, information on brain research, key components of integrated thematic instruction, and tips on lesson design. Learn more about the conference and other educational opportunities.

Iditarod is an incredible race to follow and learn about, and in thousands and thousands of classrooms around the world, it is a tool, a vehicle of instruction. 2006 Wells Fargo Teacher on the Trail, Terrie Hanke, is an instructional leader dressed in Arctic gear and ready for a teaching adventure of a lifetime as she shares her teaching knowledge and instructional ideas. Follow Terrie as she shares the race at www.iditarod.com.