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Moreen Ferdie
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Preparing
for the New School Year
I recently asked Carole Brady how she
prepares for a new school year. Carole
teaches grades Kindergarten to 6th grade
at Lafe Nelson School (one of 3 elementary
schools) in Safford. She has taught
for 17 years, & has held numerous
positions on AZAHPERD's board. Some
of these positions are Vice-President
of Recreation, Vice-President of Girls
and Women's Sports, Chair of Elementary
Physical Education, President, Communication
Director, and Executive Secretary. She
also is on the Gila Valley Recreation
Committee.
Prior to her students coming back to
school, Carole works on the layout of
her curriculum for the year, browses
through professional literature looking
for new ideas, and looks for practical
and useful assessment tools. She also
writes a letter to parents to be sent
home the first day the students come
to PE. In addition, she spends time
putting up a bulletin board to catch
the student's eye when they walk in
the door. This year's bulletin board
will highlight the Olympics, while last
year's board was dedicated to protecting
the body from the sun. Something there
is a lot of here in Arizona. |
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Once class lists become available she
reviews them and notes previously known
medical conditions. (Within the first
day or two of school Carole requests that
the nurse provides her with a complete
medical list.) As she looks through class
lists she also looks at the make-up of
the class. Are there students who tend
to be shy or withdrawn? Are there students
who are developmentally slower? Are there
combinations of students that could become
a potential behavioral concern? Carole
also goes slowly through each name and
tries to recall the face of each child.
This helps her to prepare mentally for
the first week of school.
The night before school starts she
also mentally rehearses her lesson plan
to make sure she is well prepared and
has not forgotten anything which might
affect the efficiency and effectiveness
of her lesson. Also, prior to school
starting, she dialogues with her technology
people in regard to preparing individual
cards for the before-school and lunchtime
walking program for two elementary schools.
Walking the Dogs (school mascot is the
bulldogs) is her walking program. This
program began as a lunchtime program
aimed at providing an alternative activity
for students. It has helped improve
student discipline, as well as increased
the students' physical activity. So
far since the implementation of this
program students have walked and jogged
over 80,600 miles. It has had good results.
In this past year alone two students
walked over 300 miles. It is also offered
to parents & teachers. Four classroom
teachers have amassed over 300 miles,
over 200 miles, and two over 100 miles,
respectively.
During Carole's first few lessons classroom
rules and protocols are taught. She
feels these lessons are critical in
setting the tone for student expectations
for the entire year.
She welcomes students, and introduces
herself when students arrive on the
first day of class outside the PE door.
She uses both a gym and her outside
space. First class starts off in the
gym. The students then come inside,
where she does a quick run through of
names to begin the process of putting
names to faces. After the first class,
she then has her student leaders report
absent peers when they arrive at her
class. Student leaders are chosen by
her, as are the students who model activities.
She usually asks for volunteers, and
those who raise their hand. She tries
to pick out those whose hands she normally
doesn't see raised.
Carole told me "It's always exciting
to see a child gain self-confidence
to the point of being willing to risk
volunteering to model an activity or
be a student leader." Sometimes
she goes up to students and chats with
them before she needs someone to model
an activity, and asks them if they would
feel comfortable showing the class a
skill. Sometimes she chooses leaders
who are modeling responsible behavior.
When she does this, she emphasizes Hellison's
Levels of Responsibility and points
out her Levels of Responsibility posters
on the wall.
Carole's objective for the day is then
reviewed with her students. She teaches
the students how to assume the "freeze"
position. The "freeze" position
is where the student puts their hands
on their knees, eyes on the teacher,
and has a quiet voice. As she says,
it's basically "stop, look, and
listen." Carole also goes over
with the students how to move into varying
sized groups. She then plays locomotor
movements, Whistle Mixer, and/or Back-to-Back,
so the students can practice stopping
quickly or being able to form a particular
sized group. All of her activities that
she teaches place an emphasis on safety
and space awareness. Also, during her
first lesson general class rules are
discussed. As the first class draws
to a conclusion her students participate
in some sort of closure activity. Before
they leave this first day expectations
for exiting the class are discussed.
For her second lesson, Carole begins
with a quick warm up (Introductory Activity)
followed by a physical fitness activity.
Hellison's
Levels of Responsibility are then
discussed, and then activities surrounding
that. She then does an activity about
day-to-day physical education situations.
One way she does this activity is by
having groups of approximately 4 students.
After the conclusion of a specified
locomotor skill, one student selected
by each group goes and selects a card.
These cards are index cards with a situation
written on it and are scattered around
the gym. There are also boxes with Level
0,1,2,3, and 4 placed around the perimeter
of the gym. The group then discusses
the appropriate Level of Responsibility
and places the card in the appropriate
container. She has them do several locomotor
skills, and after each skill a different
student in the group goes and selects
a card. She does the different locomotor
skills enough times to give each student
a chance to retrieve a card. She then
reviews classroom protocol and what
was practiced during this lesson. Towards
the end of this second class she plays
an enjoyable activity so everyone leaves
excited to have participated in physical
education class.
Carole's third lesson reflects a typical
four-part lesson, which includes an
Introductory Activity, Fitness Development,
Lesson Focus, and Game Activity. Equipment
is used for the lesson focus. She then
teaches her students the expectations
for both retrieving and returning equipment
appropriately. Her next lesson will
focus on the use of adventure activities.
Adventure activities vary according
to age levels. Some activities K-2 students
play are: People
to People, Swimmy,
Musical Pairs, and Marshmallow
River. Her third and fourth graders
do Captain's Calling, Lemonade, and
Frogger. Her fifth and sixth graders
enjoy challenges, so she plays Moonball,
Group Juggling, Blob Tag, TP Shuffle,
Trolleys and the Whale Watch.
All these activities are played throughout
the year, not necessarily at the beginning.
Carole likes to start with adventure
activities that center around assisting
her students in getting to know each
other and also assisting in building
a sense of community. During this lesson
she incorporates discussion on rules
that are important to each particular
class (Full Value Contract). Even though
class rules were previously discussed
this gives a chance for her students
to voice rules they personally think
are important for working in a group.
These ideas are discussed, agreed upon,
and written down. Her students then
sign this contract and it serves as
a class guide for expected behaviors.
Carole's future lessons will cover specific
cooperative skills, such as respect,
cooperation, compassion, etc.
Carole feels that the beginning of
the year is an important time to not
only set expectations, but to begin
to build a sense of community. These
first few lessons provide guidelines
and steppingstones for managing her
classroom and creating a respectful
environment. These protocols are practiced
and reviewed, as needed, throughout
the year.
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