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WHY TEACH HEART HEALTHY ONLY IN FEBRUARY?
by Tom
Winiecki
 February
always seems to be some kind of "heart
health month." I mean, it does
make sense, with the tie into Valentine's
Day and all. My question is, "Why
limit it to just one month a year?"
Most all of us do some
kind of fitness testing; usually both
in the fall and spring of each school
year. That way you can show your students
that all the work they've done all year
in your classes pays off in terms of
improved fitness. You may also even
be able to compare past year's results
with individual kids. You let them see
how they continue to improve across
the years. This is all great stuff!
I once knew a PE teacher
who made sure to do some kind of aerobic
work for roughly a month before fitness
tests were given. The inference seemed
to be that he needed to do aerobic work
during that month, because he wasn't
doing it all along. To me that didn't
make much sense. He seemed to be "teaching
to the test" in its truest sense.
He said that he had to prepare his kids
for the 9:00 run. He said that "not
preparing them wouldn't be fair to his
students."
Well, I can see his logic
to a point. My reasoning is "why
wait for the month before the test to
begin training?" Why not incorporate
aerobic training all year? Seems like
pretty fair reasoning, don't you think?
To not incorporate aerobic training
all year seems to be the real
"unfair to the students!"
Teaching fitness shouldn't
be limited to a specific part of the
year. I would like to see traditional
"fitness units" be a thing
of the past as well. Let me explain
my reasoning.
I think that this type
of instruction does have its place.
We do run something like a 'fitness
unit' every year right before Thanksgiving.
We call it "hugging and handshaking
muscles." We set up stations designed
to target the upper body muscles. We
do this to "prepare" students
for Thanksgiving Day when they see Grandma
and Grandpa. Of course, the first thing
that children want to do when they see
Grandma and Grandpa is to give them
a big hug. So, we take a week or so
dealing with specific upper body muscles.
This helps prepare them to give grandma
or grandpa the strongest hug or handshake
they have ever received! We also take
a few weeks to have all of our kids
record their heart rates, and to transfer
their data to a spreadsheet that produces
a personalized graph for them.
While this instruction
may be specific to their arms, shoulders,
or hearts, the concepts behind it all
is not new to them. They have learned
from the first day of school that "tired
muscles today equals stronger muscles
tomorrow." We are just reinforcing
that previous concept (feeling tired
from exercise) in a new context (Thanksgiving
Day).
 Also,
look to constantly teach the concept
of a "target heart rate."
Train your older kids how to take and
count their pulse, and show them how
to manually take their pulse on their
chest, neck, or wrist. Teach them to
count their heart beats for six seconds
and add a “0” to that number
to get beats per minute. Show your younger
students how to locate their heart on
their chest and feel if it is going
slow, medium, or fast. Do this from
the very first day of school!
Now take this concept
and incorporate it into all activities
you teach during the year. You may be
in a phase of the year where you are
covering "striking with a long
handled implement." Once you go
over dribbling a puck with a hockey
stick, add fitness to your instruction.
Ask students to dribble through general
space, controlling the puck at a speed
that will get their heart into the target
range. Now the emphasis is on doing
an activity for fitness sake. While
they are still working to learn how
to control a puck, fitness has now been
added to the equation. It no longer
has to be limited to the first 5-10
minutes of class in a "warm-up"
setting. It is now part of the entire
lesson.
You may be involved in
a large group game of some sort. During
different parts of the activity just
stop the game. Have everyone take their
pulse. For your older kids, if they
"hit the target," tell them
that they must have been playing the
game the right way (aerobically). For
your younger kids, have them immediately
stop and check their hearts. If it's
"fast," that's good! Tell
them "that a fast heart today means
a stronger heart tomorrow!" Fitness
doesn't need to be taught as a separate
"unit." Fitness shouldn't
be taught separately. It should be infused
into everything you teach all year long.
At the end of each class,
check for "sweat trophies."
These are drops of sweat on the side
of the face or on their backs. The most
valuable one is the one that drips off
the end of your nose! Turn "getting
sweaty" from something that may
be thought of as "gross" into
something that they want to be! Remind
students that "a sweaty face today
equals stronger muscles (and stronger
heart) tomorrow!"
Let's go back to my original
example of a teacher "preparing"
his students for an aerobic test. What
is the "best" way to prepare
our kids for this test, or more importantly,
for all of their time away from
the physical education class? Does
preparing mean to concentrate
your fitness instruction in a two week
unit, or to emphasize it right before
a fitness test?
Ask yourself this question:
If our effectiveness as a teacher was
judged on our students' performance
on an aerobic test, would we only teach
this information for a few weeks each
year? Of course not! We would make sure
to teach and re-teach this information
all year. We would make sure that all
of our students were moderately-to-vigorously
active for a sustained period of time
in every one of our classes. We would
make sure that we teach them why this
is important to them, and how improved
fitness relates to their daily lives.
You will put aerobic
fitness into a context they can relate
to. You'll show students that they'll
get stronger and faster. You'll teach
them that they will last longer outside
at recess before having to stop because
they got too tired, or not have to stop
at all. You will teach students that
they will pay better attention in their
other classroom, and will be able to
learn more academically because exercising
will get their brains better equipped
to learn. In other words, you will help
make fitness something that they understand
and something important to them.
Fitness will help them
to do what they want to do!
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