This category focuses on how to effectively teach middle school, junior high school, and high schoolers. Learn more about how best to connect with and instruct students who are transitioning from childhood to adulthood, and how to motivate them to be physically active and make healthy lifestyle choices.
With the rise in obesity and sedentary rates, and subsequent chronic conditions, it seems imperative, now, perhaps more than ever before, that we encourage children and adolescents to be physically active. But, what if a lack of interest stems from fear of injury?
While ACL injuries disproportionately affect female athletes, accounting for 69% of serious knee injuries when compared to their male counterparts (Gomez, DeLee, & Farney, 1996), the latter is certainly not excluded from this injury pathology. As practitioners, our role is not limited to performance improvement, we must also be able to identify, provide, and prevent potential injuries. Running faster and jumping higher should no longer be the hub of engagement in physical activity. Alternatively, in order to cultivate lifelong movers, we should be training proper movement strategies. Thus, reducing the risk of injury, the associated fear, and consequently increasing the longevity of a physically active lifestyle.
Education continues to evolve offering students an assortment of opportunities to earn college credit while still attending high school. In the state of Idaho, the Fast Forward Program provides students attending public schools access to $4,125.00 to help pay for dual/concurrent enrollment credits, Advanced Placement College Board, and Professional Technical Education exams and overload course fees. Dual/concurrent enrollment is a collaborative partnership between higher education and high schools to provide college courses for high school students. The high school instructors are pre-approved by the college/university academic departments to deliver college-level courses.
A fundamental component of this partnership is that the courses dually taught are closely aligned while still allowing some academic freedom between instructors. From our learned experience, this process can be tedious, drawn out, and complicated. Therefore, we offer the following strategies for success in navigating the dual credit program.
Do you remember Show and Tell events when you were in elementary school? More than likely you brought a special object to school and showed your classmates how it worked or what was unique about it. Maybe you explained a bit of history about your particular item or why it was important to you.
From an educational standpoint, the purpose of Show and Tell was to help children developed their public speaking skills. The concept of Show and Tell can be also be applied to teaching and coaching when using demonstrations during a lesson or practice. There has been a wealth of motor learning research over the years on the use and value of demonstrations (show) and verbal instructions (tell) to facilitate learning a new task (Magill and Anderson, 2017; Schmidt and Lee, 2014; SHAPE America 2014; Wulf, 2013). When embracing the Social Learning Theory framework, demonstrating a skill or task creates a mental image that students can identify with as they attempt to reproduce the movement or activity (Magill & Anderson, 2017). The concept, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” emphasizes the importance of demonstrating skill techniques and activities when teaching and coaching. Adding verbal instruction, along with a demonstration, further helps students assimilate the task being taught.
It has been my experience that teacher preparation candidates find it much easier to use verbal explanations than demonstrations during instruction. In fact, they are really good at telling. Students in teacher/coach preparation programs often have acquired a high level of content knowledge, especially in those sports or activities they have played. As such, they tend to explain everything they know when teaching a skill. The overload of information provided becomes too much for learners to effectively process and remember. Plus, excessive talking during the explanation takes up too much time within a lesson or practice and reduces the amount of time available for practice and play opportunities.
Getting and keeping school kids motivated in physical education is not the easiest task. Particularly for novice physical education teachers, that might seem to be “mission impossible.” Kids come to school carrying different cultures, different backgrounds, and different beliefs. Some kids are athletic, whereas others don’t like playing sports or participating in physical activities. Some of them enjoy competitive sports and others feel uncomfortable getting physical, for several reasons (Grieser et. all., 2006).
The Theory of Self-Determination (Deci & Ryan, 2000), which states that behavior is self-determined or voluntary, includes three types of motivation: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation (Moreno-Murcia, González-Cutre, & Chillón, 2009). One of the challenges for a physical education teacher is to be able to distinguish between the three types of motivation. This is an important factor as it helps the teacher identify the students’ motives in physical education. Extrinsic motivation derives from getting an external reward, such as a trophy, a certificate, a trip, or a social reward such as recognition, praise, a given title, and so on. The intrinsic motivation arises from within an individual and can be identified as participating in an activity because it is satisfying the person; the internal drive toward a particular behavior. Amotivation, the lowest level of self-determination, refers to the absence of the first two types (intrinsic or extrinsic motivation) representing a total lack of self-determination (Deci & Ryan, 2000). That is, amotivation represents this category of students who are not willing to participate in class for any reason. Understanding what best motivates the students, requires awareness of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation that regulate students’ behavior.
High school governing associations have academic success rules or guidelines for athlete participation. Some schools design even tougher academic rules for participation beyond what state organizations suggest. When I was a head football coach, our school’s eligibility rules were steeper compared to the state high school association guidelines. The rules did not affect a lot of our players at the time, but for one learning and emotionally disabled special education student, it was always a barrier for him to play. This was a sad situation because football was the sport he loved even though he was not a very good player; he just wanted to play in any position and at any time during practices or games.
One year, prior to our first contest, the weekly eligibility list came out and “Casey” was failing multiple classes (even with accommodations). My hunch was that a “cause and effect” was the real culprit for “Casey” losing participation. For example, when he knew he earned some failing grades on assignments and understood it would affect his participation, he’d simply give up trying in that course and think “football is over for me.” Being a young head coach and teacher unfamiliar with special education, IEPs (Individual Education Plans), and specific disabilities, I did not know what to do for this student-athlete. I decided to meet with his special education teacher and learn more about IEPs, LD (learning disability), and ED (emotional disability) designations.
“Take your passion and make it happen” are lyrics from the song Flashdance. As corny as it sounds, it’s those lyrics that continue to drive my PE curriculum forward. Fourteen years ago I introduced yoga into a cross-training class. The students embraced the activity so much they asked me to develop a class. The following year it became a semester-long elective course and a few years later became a year long elective course. My students have been involved in the development and direction of this course from the beginning, embracing the content fully. So, let me take you on a journey. If you use your imagination you’ll see it through the eyes of my students. Hopefully, you can begin to understand how my students truly connect with themselves; body, mind, and spirit.
The first quarter builds the foundation. My yoga classroom is a kaleidoscope of diversity. All are welcome and encouraged. We begin by learning the basic skills. Yoga “boot camp” teaches breathing basics, sun salutations (a standard yoga warm-up recognized world-wide), how to use a heart rate monitor, equipment care, and more. Students learn the class expectations and how to work as a team. Each class begins with baby steps, physically and mentally, intended to create a safe, efficient, and fun classroom for all.
Through the physical skills of yoga the students begin their journey of self-discovery. Students discover their strengths and recognize their weaknesses while a non-competitive atmosphere is encouraged. This might sound easy enough, but if a student believes, “I’m not strong,” “I’ve never been athletic,” “I can’t…” or is too busy comparing themselves to others it becomes hard. This is where their self- journey (or personal assignment) begins. Others will have the physical strength but lack the mental discipline or endurance to be conscious of their body positioning and breathing patterns and their journey begins here. Through reflection and goal setting the foundation is set for a uniquely personal experiential experience. I emphasize to my students that what your mind believes you can do and what your body says it can do are often two different things: The goal is to reach a level of confidence to believe you CAN do it.
I grew up a three-sport athlete, but I always had a love of outdoor recreation – especially rafting, mountain biking, and snowboarding. Unfortunately, with a limited income and the time constraints associated with being a college student, it was hard to get away for extended periods of time to do these activities.
Photo Credit: Santeri Viinamäki
When I first played disc golf, I was surprised to find out how inexpensive the game was. Then I was amazed at how much it was like one of my favorite games – golf. All of my favorite aspects of golf were present in disc golf, such as frustration tolerance, scoring, physical exertion, social engagement, appreciation for nature, and etiquette. As time passed, I became fully entranced by the game and decided to pursue a doctorate studying the elusive counter-culture of disc golf.
Photo Credit: Crosslap (pixabay.com)
While disc golf may be a relatively unfamiliar sport to the general public, the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) estimates 500,000 people play it annually, and as many as eight to twelve million people have played disc golf at some point in their lives (PDGA, 2018). Although research on disc golf is limited, public disc golf courses are perpetually full of recreation enthusiasts, leading me to wonder, “Why didn’t I hear about this game sooner?” and “Why wasn’t this taught in physical education classes?”
Photo credit: Kevin Morrow
There are few sports where people can remain competitive well into old age, but disc golf is a sport where players, such as the 2016 Master’s World Champion, John E. McCray (48 years old), can compete and win against younger athletes (Latitude 64, 2020). Like golf, disc golf is a sport for people of nearly all physical and cognitive abilities and is considered a low-impact lifetime leisure activity (Tuten & Conkell, 1999) that is typically free to play, since over 90% of courses exist in public parks (Oldakowski & McEwen, 2013). Disc golf can be played by a single person for independent mastery or played as a competitive multiple-participant sport where players attempt to score lower (fewer strokes) than their fellow competitors.
