Get HyPE: Using Wordle for Teacher Reflection

As part of the teacher evaluation process in my school district, students are administered mid-year client surveys (student perception surveys) in specific classes. The surveys are a combination of free-response and quantitative (Likert scale) questions. Students complete the surveys online with a proctor, and the process takes about five minutes.

According to Hanover Research, “student surveys are a reliable measure of teacher effectiveness,” and “student ratings [are] significantly more accurate in predicting student achievement than teacher’s self-ratings, principal ratings, and principal summative ratings.” What our students have to say about our teaching is incredibly valuable. They see (and hear) it all.

How can we effectively sort through our students’ comments so they help us improve our teaching practice? Where do we begin? Do we focus on the negative comments, the things we might change or improve, or the positive comments, the things we already do well?

I met with my supervising principal last week to discuss my survey results. He explained that many teachers dwell on the negative comments and have trouble looking past them. He came up with an idea to help the teachers he advises focus on the positive things their students said about them. Using Wordle, he created a word cloud with all of the responses to the question, “I learn best when my teacher.” and printed it out in color.

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Finding Our Superpowers

At my school we are having a SUPER year and I need to personally thank SHAPE America Past-President Dolly Lambdin for it. I had the pleasure of meeting Dolly at the Southern District Convention in 2015.

For several years I’ve been writing fictional stories to introduce physical education units and I showed Dolly the teacher resources I’ve created called Literature Enhanced Physical Education. Dolly suggested that I write a children’s book with Physical Education teachers as super heroes. Dolly rattled off all the wonderful things that PE teachers do for children. I was truly interested in the venture and flattered that she thought I could write this important story. The only problem was that I didn’t think I could do it! It wasn’t that I didn’t agree that PE teachers could be super heroes to children; I just wasn’t feeling much myself like a super hero.

(Source: https://sparketh.com/blog/creating-everyday-gives-you-superpowers)

Each year, I set goals for myself at the beginning of the year and reflect upon them at the end. For the last 3 years, I’ve had the same goal: To try to connect better with my students. At the end of each year, despite progress I always feel that I can do better. Like many other PE teachers across the country, we can have up to 70 students in the gym at one time. My focus over the years has always been to get children moving. I intermittently stop to teach skills, share knowledge and reinforce social norms, then get students moving again. But I struggle to connect with each child personally, and if I don’t make a personal connection I question, “Can I really ever become a super hero?” This year I was again going to try.

The first week of school, I explained to our 4th graders that the whole year would be dedicated to finding our super powers. We discussed how everyone has physical activities they enjoy and do well, as well as other activities that they are not so good at and need to practice. In physical education I was going to help them find their physical, social and cognitive super powers so that they could develop skills that would keep them healthy for the rest of their lives.

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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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Principles and Axioms for Effectively Coaching Skills and Strategies

Last April (2015) I authored an article, “Principles and Axioms for Effective Coaching of Fitness and Conditioning.” This article is a second installment of coaching axioms regarding the teaching of skills and technique. The objective of this article is to share some of these basic principles for teaching motor skills, with the ulterior motive of making you think deeply about how you are coaching your particular sport. I consider the below axioms to be self-evident and, quite frankly, common sense. Furthermore, they follow well-researched and professionally accepted methods of teaching sports skills.

These axioms are all about getting the most out of your teaching and having your athletes learn their skills better, faster, and with greater retention. Like last year’s article, they are presented to you axiomatically so that you can see and relate to them in simple terms.

“The more times an athlete does a skill, the better he or she will be at it”
This axiom was first taught to me by one of my college physical education professors. Simply put, “The more you do it, the better you will be at it.” This is even true if one learns a skill with slightly incorrect technique. An athlete who incorrectly performs a skill such as shooting a basketball or hitting a golf ball will become adequately competent at this skill if he has practiced it thousands of times. You see this all the time at the middle and high school levels.

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Psychological Skills Training: Communication, Part II

Continuing our Psychological Skills Training series in pelinks4u, Part II of Communication (See October 2015 for Part I) is written to assist coaches in improving their skills or can be used as an in-service with a group of coaches.

Attentive Listening

Listening skills are critical for good communication. It is important to assess listening skills prior to helping athletes and coaches build more effective methods of listening. The “Listening Skills Test” will be completed by each athlete and coach. Then the athlete or coach will request input on his or her listening behaviors from a friend or family member.

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