| Author |
Message |
Lindsay Kaye Seiler (Lindsay)
New member
Username: Lindsay
Post Number: 1
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, October 09, 2005 - 11:07 am: |       |
How do you get the student who is a wallflower to participate in gym class? (Everybody has had at least one student in PE who will refuse to participate). What are some good activities that gets all students to participate? |
Kristen Dittmer (Kris1136)
New member
Username: Kris1136
Post Number: 1
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 7:15 pm: | |
Have you tried simple ice breaker activities. Try playing little games that are not competive. A lot of ice breaker games are based on learning each other's names. Maybe that would make the wallflower students more comfortable. |
Anthony Uccellini (Apu0458)
Junior Member
Username: Apu0458
Post Number: 3
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 09, 2005 - 8:22 pm: | |
I would try a wide variety of different game types, ice breakers, or i would add participation points into your grading. I would also think about trying music if you haven't already done that. Or if you have heart rate monitors or pedometers. good luck |
Ryan Curl (Ryan_curl)
Junior Member
Username: Ryan_curl
Post Number: 4
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 3:52 pm: | |
I agree that the non-participating students need to start off with gaes/activities that are not competitive based, rather, use ice breakers (learning names, movement patterns, etc.). If that does not help, definately adding participation points into the grading might get the student(s) more involved. |
Lee Przygocki (Leeburg24)
New member
Username: Leeburg24
Post Number: 1
Registered: 3-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 9:28 am: | |
I would have to agree with what everyone has said above. You might want to try just having the students do activities that are age appropriate and that they will find fun. Do not focus on any thing that is competitive. Keep it simple and fun. I would also do what Ryan said, to add participation points. Maybe you might want to try talking to the student to see why they are not participating, that could help to clear up the problem. You could be amazed of how honest students can be. |
Estee Adery (Ejadery1)
Junior Member
Username: Ejadery1
Post Number: 5
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 6:47 pm: | |
Sometimes, I have students like that become my "helper." --almost like a coach. He or she will walk around making sure that the other students are using proper form, being fair, showing good sportsmanship (etc.). This has worked very well for me. The "wallflower" now feels important and has a special role. One would have to be careful with this technique though to make sure it isn't re-occuring. So far so good with me. Other times I pair the student with one that will help him/her out. However, there are times when students just "check out" and sometimes, depdending on the student, I have come to understand that it is ok. I used to think that EVERYONE had to be active the entire time. This is ideal, but at the elementary level, students need to sit down, at times for a minute or so , get a drink of water, then they are back in the fun. I would deal with each "wallflower" in a different way, for each student is different. |
Matthew Mills (Mattm1980)
Junior Member
Username: Mattm1980
Post Number: 5
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 5:49 am: | |
I agree with Estee, I find that the students who do not want to participate can often be encouraged to join in in a different way, such as a helper. Unfortunately there will always be someone who does not want to participate and as a one off occasion I don't worry about it too much. When the student doesn't participate on a reoccurring basis however then something needs to be done. Talking to the student and finding out why they do not want to join in can be useful although there is not always time for this!! |
steve acree (Stephenpe)
Junior Member
Username: Stephenpe
Post Number: 7
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 4:46 am: | |
When I have kids that balk or ask if they HAVE to do it I ask them "did you tell your classroom teacher you didn't want to do reading or math this morning"
When they say they cannot run the lap I ask for the
Dr's note or note from home. WHen they tell me their new shoes or clothes cannot get dirty I tell them I bet their family has a washing machine. I have heard it all and refuse to debate it. I do check and see if a kid is really sick or hurting though. |
Jim Clairmont (2talll)
Junior Member
Username: 2talll
Post Number: 6
Registered: 3-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 9:46 am: | |
For the rare cases when I get a child that doesn't want to participate, they get a choice- they can do what the rest of the class is doing or they can sit in time-out and take the consequence that the home-room teacher will give them for time-out (usually missing recess). That'll get them going 99% of the time.
Of course, at the beginning of the year I try to elimiate the possibily of children not wanting to participate by allowing the children to choose what they will be doing. For example, I know some girls don't like basketball and some boys don't like gymnastics so I do those two units together. I have gymnastics set up on one side of the gym and basketball activities set up on the other side. That way the children that tend to "not like gym" have the feeling that they get to choose.
I had a case recently where we were doing mini-olympic events (dribbling, shooting, hula-hoops, gymnastics and Jump rope) where the children had to choose what events they trained for and competed in but it was their responsibility to be in AT LEAST one event. Closing ceremonies come around and out of 700 children only a handful failed to compete in at least one event. I had 10 times as many compete in ALL 5 events! The ones that did not compete in any without a legit reason (a couple had been out sick for a while and their teachers and the nurse were supposed to tell me but they didn't)were not allowed to participate in the closing ceremonies where we had scooter and big red bouncy ball races to go along with the medal ceremonies (awards for competing).
Only two had the nerve to get mad at me and one said he was going to tell his father. I know his father rather well and I told the child to go ahead and tell his father. I then asked him if his father would be mad at me for following through after telling him for 3 weeks he needed to compete in an event or at him for not doing what he was supposed to and actually teasing other children who were trying the different events. Needless to say I didn't hear anything from his father. |
