PROFESSIONAL NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS IN A STRANGE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

written by Isobel Kleinman - http://isobelkleinman.com/

Seeing All American, an off-Broadway show about Daddy's little girl getting to be a starting quarterback, reminded me of how far women have come and how effective Title IX has been. How else would a play about a female quarterback find a New York City stage and command a New York City audience? If only Physical Education has come that far.

The daily mandate for Physical Education has gone the way of the dinosaur. It is sad that today's students do not have what I did growing up - physical education every day. I was a baby boomer. Classes were crowded. But every day, I looked forward to the forty five minutes where I could move and learn something new that made moving even more fun. With all the attention to education, is this how we improve it? Is it an improvement to ignore evidence that says we need to get kids moving? Is it intelligent to ignore research that confirms the positive impact of activity on the physical, psychological, and social well-being of us all? Could it be possible that what seemed wrongly thought out about physical education years ago is actually worse now?

Personally, I tried to make an impact in my school district. I was an influential union leader who the district saw as a role model teacher, yet I found that no amount of wrangling could come up with the kind of changes that many of us believed should be made. As it turned out, all I got for my efforts was an amazing story that I felt compelled to write about (TOO DANGEROUS TO TEACH) and a lot of political backlash.

Reality suggests that we have two choices. We could cry about the negatives or we can look into what we can change. Please don't think that I am trying to invoke images of political rallies where the word change brought expectations that have since been dashed. This is more personal. This is something you can do on your own. Call it professional New Year’s Resolutions.

Where do we begin? The most convenient, but not the easiest place to start is within us. We need to be proper role models, teachers that kids respect and look up to if we hope to motivate them to learn to be what they are not. When we can do that, the joy of teaching will not be far behind no matter how aggravating the conditions we work under are, or the mounting political pressures we face. Remember, it is easier to get someone to do what they fear or don't think they will like doing, if we do what we ask of them too and are someone they look up to.

What are we asking? We want kids to be healthy and fit. We want them to be active and enthusiastic. We want them to not only co-exist, but to work together with their classmates, showing sensitivity toward their feelings and a desire to help if that is what is needed. We want them to learn. The question is, "Are we what we want them to be"?

Are we fit? Are we active? We test students' skinfolds, but do we keep ours at appropriate levels? Is our weight under control, our blood pressure average, our flexibility in appropriate ranges, and our attire neat and clean? Are we emotionally invested in our students and in what we teach? Do we approach each day enthusiastically? Are we committed to the idea that we too should keep learning? Have we made the gym a place where kids can communicate, learn to take charge and feel part of the group? If affirmative answers are hard to come by, it is time for change.

Get healthy again. It is important for you and for the vitality of your classes. Break routines that feel monotonous. You don't want to be dragging in class simply because you are bored to death. Do something new. It will be uplifting. It will demand your attention. It will get your enthusiasm back. It is an emotional necessity! So yes, be exemplary, but CHANGE. You will not only feel better, but you will feel the fun of teaching again. Better yet, if you can pump up your emotions and your energy, your classes will catch your enthusiasm!

Change for the student – How can we help students resolve to be different? Here are suggestions that I know work because even in my classes of fifty, I was able to do it. Could I reach everyone on every day? Well no, and that is why smaller classes are important, but I did reach them and it made a huge difference.

First, set a positive tone in your teaching environment. Smile when you catch the eyes of your students. It doesn't take much - just a smile - but the rewards are plentiful. Then, because you are eager to get everyone moving, have the equipment out and available for those ready for activity as soon as they dress. This way, they can warm-up and practice without sitting down again. If you are doing dance, leave the music on. If you are playing any kind of sport, leave the equipment out. There are few activities that you must guard against students doing in a "free play" kind of environment, so don't worry.

In fact, if you want to develop terrific rapport, join in. If your students are practicing catch, or if they're kicking a ball around or even dancing to the music, join them. Better yet, pick a student to warm-up with who needs more of your patience and coaching then they can get from a classmate or in the middle of the formal part of class, and practice with them. Sometimes that little bit of extra attention, a chance for a few more repetitions, your patience and encouragement will give them the desire to keep working at it and then, once they see some accomplishment, they will have the confidence and desire to make the effort to catch up to the group.

Find a way to take attendance without wasting time. After all, students are asked to dress for activity. Class time is very limited. If they dress to play, they should spend most of their time doing just that, not sitting in floor-spots waiting for stragglers and waiting for the formalities to end. Attendance procedures should allow the class to do something physically useful while attendance is being taken. Once you know the names and faces of all of your students, once you have groups broken down into assigned teams, you can even take attendance while they are playing, noting who entered late or is unprepared while the class is warming-up.

Make every student feel that they are missed when they are not in class, and that they are needed. How? Once the formal part of class begins, make sure your planning gives each student a role to fill during every lesson, one that makes their absence felt. If they are in a badminton unit, they should have a partner to practice with. Once the fundamental skills are learned, they and their partner should have an opponent and a court assigned to them. If they are playing basketball, they should have a position on offense and on defense. If they are playing field hockey or soccer, they also should have a field position; know what it is and what their fundamental team responsibility is.

If you want to set the right tone, this is a way to start. If some of the ideas seem far-fetched, or too much like a dreamer straight out of their ivory tower, or too dangerous or totally impossible, read the three introductory chapters of COMPLETE PHYSICAL EDUCATION PLANS FOR GRADES 5-12. There you will find an explanation, the rationale and plenty of examples, of how well it worked for me when I was teaching in a public junior-senior high school where crowding kids into classes was the norm rather than the exception. Furthermore, if you find that developing lessons that get kids moving from the onset, and that create a daily situation where their attendance and participation is desired not just by you or them, but by their classmates too, and is too difficult to do on your own, follow the lessons in COMPLETE PHYSICAL EDUCATION PLANS FOR GRADES 5-12 and see for yourself how it can be done.

I certainly hope that 2012 started off well for you, and that the rest of the year only gets better in every way.

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