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CELEBRATING THE PERFECT PE STORM!
by Dr. Clive
Hickson & Brent
Bradford
The time
has come to celebrate one of the most
inspirational core subjects in our schools
- Physical Education! In regard to health
and wellness, no other subject has the
potential for such long-lasting effects
on students’ futures. It is time
to step back from our busy lives and
reflect on how we help students live
healthy, active lifestyles by doing
our part in the perfect
PE storm.
Defining
the Perfect PE Storm…The
perfect PE storm
is when knowledgeable and skilled physical
educators bring their passion of teaching
physical education to students who are
willing learners.
First a big
THANK YOU to those of you who have done
your part in creating the perfect
PE storm. Educating students to
live healthy, active lifestyles takes
much work and dedication in the gymnasium
and in the delivery of lessons.
We want to
acknowledge wonderful teachers of physical
education for many things, such things
as being a positive role model, planning
quality programs, producing developmentally
appropriate lessons, using a variety
of approaches to reach all students,
being developers of the whole child,
providing activities for all students,
and implementing daily physical education
experiences. This is quite the exhaustive
list and you deserve credit! Let's look
at each of these issues separately…
Being
a Positive Role Model: We would
like to acknowledge all of you who are
positive role models of health and wellness
in the gymnasium. It is because of you
that students are able to see what physical
education and leading a healthy, active
lifestyle is all about. You dress the
part, eat healthy snacks, and are active
both in and out of school - you walk
the talk! The non-verbal messages that
you send to students can positively
impact the student perceptions of the
learning experiences you provide (Bradford
& Hickson, 2010, Hickson & Bradford,
2011). Give yourselves a pat
on the back next time you wear a pair
of runners to teach in the gymnasium,
and when you eat a healthy snack in
front of students!
Planning
Quality Programs: Those of
you who provide quality physical education
programming by spending considerable
amounts of time planning, in order to
design lessons that fulfill the needs
of all students, deserve a round of
applause! We would like to tip our hats
to those of you who make consistent
efforts in order to ensure there is
teaching and learning happening during
physical education lessons. You endeavour
to create physically educated students
(Hickson, 2003).
Also, a really
big "WAY TO GO!" to all of
you who have found ways to schedule
physical education early on in the school
day rather than always during the last
block. Thank you for understanding that
vigorous aerobic exercise improves such
things as short-term memory, and that
mental focus and concentration levels
in young children improve significantly
after engaging in structured physical
activity (Caterino
& Polak, 1999). It is wonderful
to see physical education being scheduled
at a time when students can gain the
most benefit!
Producing
Developmentally Appropriate Programs:
Congratulations to those of
you who plan developmentally appropriate
physical education programs. Students
benefit from your programs which provide
them opportunities to work at their
own individual levels. Give yourselves
a pat on the back when you see them
progress successfully on to more complex
and difficult movement activities. You
are helping to change their lives in
a positive manner!
Using
a Variety of Teaching Approaches to
reach all Students: A great
deal of praise needs to be given to
those of you who find a way to reach
students. You recognize that not all
students learn the same way, and that
teachers need to adjust their teaching
to suit the learning needs of the students.
Your willingness to consider a variety
of teaching approaches in your lesson
delivery helps to provide student success.
For example, student creativity and
confidence can be enhanced by your willingness
to step away from the more traditional
teaching approaches by using a less
teacher-centered approach. Well done
for recognizing this, and keep altering
your teaching to meet the needs of your
students!
Developing
the Whole Child: A big shout
goes out to those of you who, on a daily
basis, work hard to develop "whole
children!" Physical education helps
to provide an important balance in the
school curriculum. Much of a child's
time in school is spent on left brain
activity. However, physical education
(along with art and music) involves
the right hemisphere of the brain. It
is imperative that we acknowledge the
teachers who are developing the whole
child by providing students with opportunities
to use both hemispheres of the brain!
So, well done and keep it going as it
is vital that we help to develop creative
thinkers and movers for the 21st century!
Implementing
Daily Physical Education: Your
students are the ones who are truly
benefiting from daily physical education
programs. When you see them playing
soccer, hockey, football, baseball,
track and field, etc. after school or
during the weekends, please be assured
that you had something to do with enhancing
their levels of self-efficacy. By promoting
daily physical education, you are allowing
students to become one step closer to
living healthy, active lifestyles! You
have to be commended for your efforts
of providing students with opportunities
to improve their basic fundamental motor
skills, and by providing valuable experiences
that can spur a child into a life of
physical activity.
Promoting
Activities for All Students: We
would be amiss if we did not congratulate
those of you who promote extracurricular
activities for all students. Providing
all students with opportunities to be
active outside of class time sends important
messages to students when it comes to
being physically active. When most of
the staff is eating their lunch in the
staffroom, you are in the gymnasium
making sure students are engaged in
some form of physical activity (e.g.,
yoga, floor hockey, running). We know
and appreciate that this is not always
easy, especially during a busy and difficult
week; however, you still find a way
to give what precious time you have
to students! Thank you for treating
the teaching profession not as a job,
but a passion. Simply, you help to change
lives! Now go get in there, pick up
a stick or grab a mat and participate
with them! You know you want to!
As you continue
to be wonderful teachers of physical
education, you need to know that you
have done your part in creating the
perfect PE storm. We believe
that when you do your part students
will begin to fulfill their part. That
is worth celebrating! When the perfect
PE storm occurs, there is teaching
and learning happening! That is what
it truly takes to physically educate
students in today's schools. Thank you
for helping to create the perfect
PE storm in your schools and your
children!
References
Bradford, B. & Hickson, C. (2010).
What we wear: Does it matter?
Poster session presented at: American
Alliance for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation and Dance Annual Convention;
2010 March 17 – 20; Indianapolis,
IN.
Caterino, M. & Polak, E. (1999).
Effects of two types of activity on
the performance of second-, third-,
and fourth-grade students on a test
of concentration. Perceptual &
Motor Skills. 89(1). 245-248.
Hickson, C. (2003). Putting education
back into P.E. International Journal
of Learning. Vol. 10.
Hickson C. & Bradford, B. (2011).
Healthy, active messages: What are we
telling our students? pelinks4u website.
http://pelinks4u.jasonbuckboyer.com/articles/hick_brad_1210.htm
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