|
You probably have your own issues,
and they might be totally different
than mine, but these would be my issues
(if I was still teaching):
We
must deal with the reality that most
kids are not doing enough physical activity
on their own. They are engrossed in
either their computers or TVs and don't
go out to play. Perhaps they aren't
physically active because they are involved
in positive things, or they are turned
off to physical activity for a variety
of other reasons. It may be activity
has become too taxing for them in their
current physical condition. It may be
they have had horrible psycho-social
experiences "playing" and
want to avoid it. It may be they are
so isolated that the things they might
enjoy - such as a team sport - aren't
a social possibility when they are home
and have no transportation to get where
the kids their age play.
We must find ways to combat the positive
and negative reasons for their activity
avoidance. Our first goal should be
to set a positive example about time
and find a way to use theirs in the
gym wisely. Once our students are inside
our facility, we should have plans to
keep them active from the first to the
last minute. We should develop teaching
methods that limit our sound bites and
facilitate their participation. We must
develop units of activity that end in
an emotional crescendo that has all
the kids loving what they thought they
would not when the unit started.
We must acknowledge obesity is a growing
problem for a great percentage of our
population, and afflicted children will
have a totally different cardio-vascular
response to physical activity. This
is because their additional weight taxes
their body more than it does someone
who is fit and slim. We must also acknowledge
that while dietary and nutritional habits
contribute mightily to this problem,
so does inactivity. Once again, we must
get our kids happily engaged in activity
so they will choose to be active when
they are free, not only because being
active is "good for them"
but also because it is a pleasure and
something they actually enjoy.
Many
of us must reject our current mind sets,
and be prepared to offer activities
to our students that we ourselves may
not feel comfortable teaching. Whether
or not we teach co-ed classes, or offer
programs to students of the opposite
sex, we all must acknowledge gender
preferences are not as clear cut as
they once were. More guys will dance
(witness the popularity of Dancing with
the Stars), and more girls will wrestle
and play football. We should open up
these activities to all genders without
assuming which gender will enjoy them.
Taking
responsibility for ourselves and the
people we care about is a key to life-long
happiness and success. Rather than making
all the decisions, watering down our
rules, assuming our kids cannot deal
with regulations, or pandering to students
and their parents who would rather avoid
taking responsibility, we should create
as many opportunities for leadership
and responsibility as possible.
Most
physical education programs include
lots of activities, each with definite
skills, each of which necessitate fairly
uniform body mechanics, and each of
which follow prescribed rules and have
set guidelines. The opportunity for
the creative child to move in novel
and individual ways is lacking in the
physical education milieu. We should
include creative movement in our programs.
Our
colleagues have their hands full teaching
academic subjects because kids are way
behind in their 3 Rs. We can and should
try to help by finding ways to reinforce
what they are trying to teach. Don't
get me wrong. Our goal is keeping our
kids physical and enjoying their physicality.
But, we can help them understand fractions
a little better by asking them to divide
their team in two, add everyone's basket
to get a team score, tell students to
squeeze into half the space they were
using before, etc. We can teach them
laws of momentum, the nature of gravity,
how flying objects travel in a parabola
curve, and more. We can expose kids
to statistical concepts by teaching
them what average means, what a norm
is, what frequency is, and what a normal
bell curve means. We can introduce cultural
and historical facts. We can discuss
ethics and philosophy when we guide
behaviors. We can help students understand
the democratic process by using it in
class. Some of these ideas can be built
right into your lessons. Some will occur
to you while you are on your feet, teaching.
Disciplinary
problems are real and sometime too difficult
for a teacher to handle alone. Frankly,
sometimes even a call to the parents
is not all that useful. When students
are resistant to correction, you may
need the resources of your department
and of your school administration to
set them right. If the problem is more
widespread than the occasional child,
you and your colleagues should pinpoint
the cause, create a departmental response,
and brainstorm responses that include
a positive approach that aims to involve
the kids and make them so involved that
they are too engaged for discipline
to become such a problem.
|
