Category: Middle & High School

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.

Follow this category. New to RSS?

Caring for Space

It has become wildly apparent that neglect leads to destruction.  The planet, the houseless, bodies, trauma, young people.  ( I could add the elderly or just ‘people’ there as well, but older people tend to have and want to keep, and don’t want upheaval to complicate things.  They also typically don’t have the energy.)  When I returned from my two-month leave, the storage closet and mat room were in shambles.  Two of my female students told me how they organized the equipment closet for me, then found it a mess the next day.  They cleaned it again and found it a mess again.  As I listened to their story, I playfully asked, “And then what happened?”  We just gave up.  I smiled, thanked them for their efforts, and said, “Welcome to [Physical] Education.”

May-2022-PlayAllMay-www.ActiveSchoolsUS.org_

I get to school early, at least an hour before our directed 7:30 am start time.  I need time for myself, to move and notice the left conditions of things.  The starting point is never the same.  Not with my body, not with the environment.  There is a system of inspections that takes place.  We make continuous, sincere checks on that which we care about.  What is the current condition, what resources do we have to either solve or investigate the problem, and what conflicts are at play for maintaining order and ownership?

Read More

Athletic Performance Training: Common Barriers with Program Implementation within High Schools Systems

football_duel_ball_footballers_fielder_opponents_football_pitch_sport-806021.jpg!d

In 2017-2018 the CDC estimated childhood obesity in youth ages 2-19 years old to be at 19.3% with a continued upward trajectory. Physical education, training, and sports participation are crucial now more than ever to help mitigate long-term health conditions, orthopedic injury, and mental health. Often student-athletes will enter into training programs with large deficiencies in basic motor control, strength, and overall health. Therefore, many school systems and workplaces are looking for qualified professionals to help implement physical education and training programs for youth physical development.

POWER BW_EPS (3)_1 copy

In North Dakota, Bismark Sanford POWER has been fortunate enough to be a resource for many schools and athletic programs.  We work with school administrators to implement long-term athletic development programs for student-athletes to have the opportunity to learn skills to help them excel in school, sport, and develop lifelong habits under the guidance of credentialed professionals. Sanford POWER is a long-term athlete development program that implements the most current research-backed training methodologies in strength, power, speed, agility, and energy system development to help develop robust student-athletes that are more resilient to injury. We work with all populations—youth, collegiate, professional, adult, and tactical—to help develop lifelong skills and the ability for individuals to gain confidence in a positive, high-energy environment.

Read More

Hard Questions About Teaching Physical Education

What is Physical Education’s Purpose?

I am neither a philosopher nor a sociologist, but the four rationales I commonly hear for physical education are:

Physical education has intrinsic value
Here physical education is valued as a fundamental form of human behavior -play, for its ability to create what in its simplest form might be described as the joy of moving. Play either as childhood play (e.g., spontaneous and invented games) or as organized and formal adult play (e.g., sports, dance, yoga). If physical education is rationalized in terms of intrinsic value the primary outcomes for teaching become turning kids on to moving, or what Siedentop (1980) called approach tendencies towards physical education, that is, a student’s willingness to engage in the content. This willingness is the result of a history of positive experiences with the content of physical education. Such a history requires that students are competent performers in the content. This can be contrasted with roll-out-the-ball approaches that cannot sustain joy-of-movement as an outcome because students fail to become competent.

Y_Ties_Banner_2

(Editor’s Note: Originally published in PHE America April 1, 2014)

Read More

A Student/Athlete-Centered Approach to Endurance Coaching and Literacy Teaching

teach_education_school_class_teaching-1376042.jpg!d

I (Dan) have been a literacy teacher and endurance coach (cross country, nordic skiing, and track and field) for over a decade, and a lifelong student and endurance athlete most of my life. Teaching and coaching, beyond raising my family, has been one of the absolute highlights of my life. From inspiring kids to read and developing their confidence as writers, to helping people become lifelong runners, skiers, and active people fills me with a sense of pride.

Y_Ties_Banner_2In the early part of my career, I viewed these roles as separate entities in which knowledge would be gained by studying my craft in these specific areas. In fact, these professional roles have informed my philosophy of teaching and coaching in ways that are truly remarkable and supported by what I would describe as parallel research. Over the years I have observed that the following realities apply to both my teaching of literacy and coaching of endurance athletes:

  • Teach/Coach the Person First
  • Our Purpose Has to Be Deeper Than Winning/Grades
  • Our Words Matter
  • Practice Matters
  • We Need to Be Responsive to The Topic of Anxiety
  • This Work Is a Marathon and Not a Sprint
Read More

Universal Design for Learning in Physical Education

Picture2

UDL is a way of thinking and acting that may change the way you approach student learning. Rather than thinking a student needs to change, UDL looks at the learning environment. Consider what within the environment is a barrier to learning. Is it that space itself? Is it the equipment you are using? Perhaps it is the way the students are expected to learn. The learning environment can include other barriers such as the goals of the class, the way assessments are conducted, or the way the students are organized. See below for a diagram that outlines an ecological analysis of the learning environment (Haywood & Getchell, 2019). When considering implementing UDL in the classroom, it is important to look at the following elements.

Screen Shot 2021-08-20 at 3.59.06 PM

UDL provides a framework for implementing strategies to reduce barriers to student learning. The main way to do this is to create a learning environment where students have what they need to flexibly meet the learning goals. When developing and planning your lesson, think about the students, the classroom environment, and the task you are teaching.

Read More

Language Matters in the Gymnasium

sports_hall_multi_purpose_hall_gym_sprung_floor_tags_devices_handball_goal_grassroots_sport-1377638.jpg!d

Toasting the new year offers physical education teachers the chance to rethink, reframe, and reteach. Thinking back over the last six months, have your classes been meaningful? Are your students learning? Did students’ faces light up like lightbulbs when they suddenly “got it?” That spark is part of the magic of teaching and learning.

Thoughtful physical education teachers strive for movement literacy, which requires student thinking, moving, and feeling. The acquisition of motor skills, physical fitness, core knowledge, personal and social development, and joy results from concise teacher language and communication (both verbal and nonverbal). Strauss & Feiz (2014) write that “Discourse is the social and cognitive process of putting the world into words, of transforming our perceptions, experiences, emotions, understandings, and desires into a common medium …” (p.1). The words teachers select, the images they create, and the frames students and teachers construct, matter in the classroom. Our words create our world, and as teachers, they create our student’s learning environment.

Y_Ties_Banner_2

Read More

The Value of an Intramural Program for High School Students

floorball_duel_match_judge_ball_clubs_movement_competition-774270.jpg!d

As an educator for close to ten years, I (Collin) have coached many sub-varsity teams and for various and real reasons, some student-athletes get less playing time than others by being pushed out or leaving varsity athletics for a variety of reasons including lack of talent and team size restrictions. I am sure this happens all over the country in every sport setting. By adding high school intramurals to the extracurricular options, students will get opportunities to use their athletic skills and build on social skills in a less competitive and fun environment.

Y_Ties_Banner_2

Intramural sports in high schools can greatly benefit students, as well as the school. The implementation of high school intramurals is meant to be an additional extracurricular option for non-varsity players and/or “non-athletes” (those that are not out for a school sport). Removing varsity players from the intramural program levels the playing field for other athletes and helps students with little or no experience feel more comfortable when participating. With that, I believe in giving students the chance to create teams, organize gameplay, and be part of activities that they can enjoy for the rest of their life. Being part of a team helps participates grow in confidence, team building/bonding, self-esteem, and provides health benefits. With intramural sports, students can be tasked with creating their own teams and problem solving without a teacher or coach always mediating and controlling the situations.

Read More