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| October 15, 2001, Vol. 3, No.19 |  |
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| October 15, 2001, Vol. 3, No.19 | |
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Issues of Health |
Check out the September 11th Health and Fitness article, "Protecting the Knees of Athletic Girls Long Before the Whistle Blows" in the New York Times. It talks about a physical therapist's efforts to train his nine year old so she doesn't fall prey to the ACL injuries which plagued young women with the advent of organized sports. It's up to 50,000 each year, highest among girls, and most often in the 15-25 age category. "Women who participate in sports are two to eight times as susceptible to injuring" the ACL than their male counterparts and it cost an annual $250 million in rehab which won't disappear unless we do things differently. A simple screening test examines kids landing from a jump off a
box. Mr. Ross trains school athletes in the Cincinnati area, focusing
on jumping and landing correctly, getting correctly, the strength
balance between the quadriceps and hamstrings and the weak and strong
leg and includes balancing exercise.
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| Assessment |
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Being positive about the call for standards and need to access performance requires the right attitude and strategy. It is imperative to get a heads up on how to access and important to look at the need, not as a nuisance, but as beneficial. Spelling out expectations early has benefits. Once the learning steps are identified, teachers and students can clearly grasp what is involved in physical productivity. And the ability to look for achievement, broken down progressively, gives teachers an objective basis for figuring grades. More than that, it improves teaching skills. Teachers become alert to the small signs of progress. Such awareness fosters true appreciation and allows honest reinforcement which is imperative for most students who often do not appreciate their own gains. Most students only know how to measure their achievement by results. Honest teachers delight in their progressive accomplishment ultimately creates higher levels of student satisfaction. Some think formulating performance expectations early in a unit is like putting the cart before the horse. I agreed until I hit a brick wall during my eighteenth year teaching and was in need of a tool to get my kids involved again. In "Grading, A Powerful Teaching Tool," published in the May/June, 1997 issue of JOHPER, the need and virtues of creating lists of reachable goals are chronicled. Suffice it to say, at the high school, what was not accomplished with coaching, humoring, pleading and cajoling, was, once lists of achievable goals were posted with a formula for grading. Skills rubrics which have since replaced those lists, are needed for each unit and each level to keep expectations for each age group reasonable and progressive. I suggest you make yours early or, use mine available in Complete
Physical Education Plans for Grades 7-12. If you get your own copy,
you can pull up the rubrics (and lessons and charts) and edit them
to your needs. The book is available at www. |
| Fighting Obesity |
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It's a given. Exercise is good and a necessary partner in successful diets. But to read about a 3 year old whose weight topped 130 pounds, (New York Times Magazine, July 8th, 2001), and we realize, obesity is not just a lack of exercise and foolish eating. The problem is sometimes a lot larger than behavioral. Nevertheless, there are students we can help. I think back to a seventh grader who weighed in at 300 lbs and didn't relish jumping jacks, sit-ups and competitive sports. But boy could she dance. And she would without stopping until the music ended. The rest of the day, she found her way to the café, searching for a little snack. Did you know, dieters reach for less at mealtimes if meals are preceded by exercise? (Exercise raises the blood sugar level and diminishes the immediate appetite for an hour.) Could we physical educators try to get obese students scheduled for gym before lunch, encourage that they also exercise before dinner and give them a daily program they can enjoy? |
| Contribute YOUR Ideas |
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