Category: Elementary School

Within this category, essays and articles focus on effectively teaching children in the pre-school and elementary grades. It’s a great place to find teaching tips and get advice from experienced practitioners.

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Making the Physical Education Environment Handicap Accessible

This article presents some of the main guidelines mandated by the Architecture Barrier Act 1968 (ABA) and American with Disabilities Act 1990 (ADA), as well as suggestions to make the physical education environment compliant with the laws. These laws work together to help ensure buildings are readily accessible and services are readily achievable.

Between 1968-2008 amendments were made to improve the law’s ability to meet the unique needs of people with disabilities. However, following the “letter of the law” and the “intent” of the law is not the same. Accessibility is more than ramps, parking spaces, and dimensions of restrooms. Accessibility also impacts equipment, playing fields, pathways, programs, and polices that all contribute to the environment promoting equal access. We encourage all physical educators to go beyond what is legally required and make real changes that allow all students with disabilities full access and enjoyment in physical education.

When thinking about accessibility it’s important ask yourself, “Can a student who uses a wheelchair, access and participate in the activity?” If a students who uses a wheelchair either manual or battery powered can participate successfully, then the environment should be appropriate for all levels of disability. However, if the answer is “No,” then your program or services are not readily achievable and accessible to all.

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Rethinking Physical Education Programs with Common Core State Standards in Mind

More and more states are adopting the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) while the student population, in the United States, is rapidly becoming more diverse. The CCSS aim to prepare students for College and Career Readiness (CCR). As the new direction of today’s educational reform, CCR is defined as the preparation of high school graduates to enter college courses and/or workforce-training programs (Mills, 2012) successfully. The CCSS intend to set consistent expectations for all students across states. Individual districts or schools however, are still responsible for designing content, instructional strategies and assessments in order to meet these expectations.

Literacy and mathematical skills are a primary focus of the CCSS and technical subjects -physical education and art – are expected to support and promote such skills. Thus, the CCSS evoke the need for a more cross-disciplinary educational approach requiring more explicit instructions regarding reading, writing, speaking, listening as well as critical thinking and problem solving skills, by all educators. In other words, infusing the above components into physical education programs is no longer a choice but rather a requirement.

Commonly, most high-quality physical education programs do provide opportunities for students to develop motor, cognitive and social skills (Sibley & Etnier 2003; Etnier et al., 1997) along with problem solving, collaboration and communication skills. The expectation implicit in CCSS however, of physical education promoting and supporting mathematics and literacy, puts a greater challenge upon PE programs. Already many physical educators are battling to keep larger size classes of students appropriately engaged in health-enhancing levels of physical activity.

This article points out how a high-quality physical education programs could -if it is not doing so already – promote and support CCR and meet CCSS. With the implementation of commonly used methods and approaches, and the willingness to re-think physical education programs with a multidisciplinary lens, the CCSS could be an attainable challenge.

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Addressing the Activity Gap

Most teachers I know are always looking for ways to improve their practice so they can better serve their students. We strive to develop more effective assessments, more engaging lessons, better classroom management techniques, stronger interpersonal relationships, the list goes on endlessly.

When I reflect on my own teaching and try to answer the question “How can I better serve my students?” I find myself challenged with a related question, “Where should I strive to have most impact?” Should it be in the gym and on the fields, or on the streets and in the yards?

I have always been a firm believer that a strong physical education program (among many things) serves as the foundation for a healthy life, but wonder whether my teaching reflects this. It is easy to say that PE can provide the foundation for healthy living, it is even cliché to a degree, but I still wonder, “Am I truly teaching all of my students how to do it?”

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What I Learned Today!

You can always teach an old dog new tricks and I for one, (sigh,… Am I really becoming an old dog?), love to continuously learn both personally and professionally. “Life is a great school” is one of my mantras and just the other day while teaching, I had one of those “ah-ha” moments and it has changed how I plan to move forward with my teaching.

Now, for many of you this might be obvious, but for some reason I had never asked my students the simple question, “What did you learn today?” Now, I always ask some basic questions at the closure of my lessons, such as, “Who can tell me what strategy you used in the game today?” or “What was this activity really about?” or “Who do you think was a good leader in your group and why?”

Although I always get a few raised hands and hear some great responses, the other day I had a class that kept looking at me kind of quizzically as I fired off my questions until I finally asked, “What did you learn about today?” So many hands shot up and answers came flying out of their mouths! “I learned how to work with my group,” “I learned how to help solve a problem,” “I learned how to balance my (pool) noodle.” I was thrilled! This simple yet very specific question personalized the answer from each student.

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Now that the New Year’s Resolutions have Come and Gone…What’s Your Line?

By now, many of our New Year’s resolutions have come and gone. Good intentions don’t have the best track record when it comes to longevity. Well meaning ideas don’t always last. That being said, what is it that we can do to keep our students and us motivated for the long haul?

Most of us work hard to present physical activity to our kids in ways that connect with them. Ultimately, we want our kids to take ownership of their own fitness and to find the best way that they can use it to be healthy and productive people, no matter their age. But teaching them to how to motivate themselves can sometimes be challenging.

Few teachers don’t have “go-to sayings” that they fall back on in their classes. These expressions speak to the heart of our programs. Goodness knows that if you are looking for these, a quick Google search will overwhelm you with options. However, rather than risk asking you to do something like that, I’ve found a few phrases that have stood the test of time for me no matter what I happen to be teaching at the time. See what you think.

The first is a staple of mine that I introduce to my students on the very first day every September:

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Healthy Hearts Lead to 50 Million Strong Kids!

(This essay was originally published on SHAPE America’s member Exchange [February, 2016] and is reprinted with permission.)

February is Heart Month. Time again for America’s physical educators and health educators to celebrate the value of what we do best: keeping kids healthy.  In our increasingly sedentary and fast-food-focused world, cardiovascular disease remains the nation’s leading cause of death. It’s estimated close to 1 million lives are lost annually, which represents about one of every 2.5 US deaths. None of us remain untouched.

Because many of these deaths are the result of poor lifestyle choices they are often preventable. Inactivity, poor nutrition and tobacco use are chief among the causes, which makes the work of health and physical educators top among the solutions.

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Striving to be a Superhero Physical Education Teacher

What would the perfect physical education teacher do? Have you ever asked yourself this question? Who do you picture when you think of the perfect teacher? Perhaps like me you picture someone made up of a combination of all the great teachers you’ve ever met, all wrapped up into one incredible superhero package?

Superhero cape

Years ago, I fleetingly believed I was on top of the teaching game, perhaps even on my way toward superhero status, until I humbly learned the benchmark I was measuring myself against was outdated and missing major components. My students liked me and they loved physical education, I had very few discipline issues, and when they joined other elementary school students in middle school they showed themselves to be competent athletes. All these factors led me to believe I was doing an outstanding job. What burst my bubble? What brought me to my current realization that I will never “arrive” and will always have room for improvement?

My first ah-ha moment came when I started National Board Certification. As I began studying the teaching standards and planning how I would demonstrate competency in each standard, I realized that a quality physical education program consisted of much more than I was doing. This launched a major reflecting and growing process. I hadn’t understood how high the bar was set. I was astonished that teachers were actually capable of not just accomplishing but mastering each of the standards.

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