Today’s P.E. class left me very impassioned.  Reading about how far P.E. curriculum has come over the past several decades, and then learning of its current redevelopment to include more “health” education (rather than solely “physical”) gets me excited, because I believe the future of P.E. has great potential.

To be specific, knowing that one of the foundational objectives of P.E. is to teach children how to live healthy, active lifestyles, and understanding the current context of remarkable childhood obesity and inactivity, I hope for greater integration of nutrition into P.E. curriculum.

Considering my own journey towards a healthier lifestyle–though I have always been physically active–my unhealthy habits stemed from ignorance in regards to nutrition/body sciences.  I had to learn outside of school about how blood sugar and fibre work, to read ingredients, and understand how to fuel my body and prepare my own foods so that I would have the energy to support my activities.

Many kids are addicted to candy and processed foods, things that will take away their ability to focus in school, or keep up in gym class.  Moreover, in the same bed as obescity lie eating disorders like anorexia and bulemia.  All of these issues stem at a young age, and can not be overcome without strong nutrition education.

Though there are some whispers of “nutrition” in class readings thus far, it seems movement is currently the dominant focus of P.E. class.  I believe teaching movement skills is essential in education and don’t want to take away from that.  I simply mean to say that there are multiple keystones to healthly living.  Perhaps future curricular models will further reflect that.

I think it’s really comforting to know that many of us were in the same boat with our experiences with PE. Just like many, I have had my share of negative feelings towards PE while going to school, which was why as soon as PE became optional in grade 10; I decided to take dance instead. My problems revolved around many of the social issues that are often associated with PE. These include the practices that humiliate students for their abilities. For instance, the process of “trying out” for sports doesn’t really create equal opportunity to participate regardless of ability. I remember a list of names was posted on a wall indicating all the people who had made it on the team, and I remember how embarrassed I felt when my name wasn’t on that list. Not being able to participate because I wasn’t good enough took a huge toll on my self-esteem and self-confidence.

However, I am so excited to be moving forward with teaching PE while this steady shift has been taking place in health and physical education classes with more and more educators adopting a broader, more balanced approach to health and physical education as a reflection of the new curriculum. I believe careful planning by educators is needed in order to structure programs to promote the development of social values within sports. I believe all students should be encouraged to participate in a wide variety of physical activities, such as sports, dance, and fitness to learn which ones they enjoy most and thus create a commitment to active living throughout their lives.

Today I had a sudden realization when Steve briefly talked about ‘free play’ and ‘risky play’ today. At first I was having nostalgic moments of me as a kid doing pretty reckless activities (for a kid anyways) and wondering why wouldn’t anybody just want to have freedom to play. Then it hit me when I started to look at this approach from another standpoint. Looking at this from a lifeguard and first aid point of view, where I’m taught to be paranoid about all injuries and think safety first at all times, I began to see why P.E. has been on the decline. Yes there is also technology that affects it but if you think about all the other subjects in the curriculum, they can be taught with minimum risk and teachers feel more in control when they are in the classroom. In contrast with P.E., students are allowed to run wild and free in a space that the teachers are not 100% accustomed to.

There is a very familiar saying, ‘prevent it before it happens.’ In a sense, maybe some teachers do not want to deal with students getting injured because it could cause a lot of concerns from the parents. So the best way they can minimize injuries is to decrease P.E. time. However this is just my random thought so feel free to let me know what you guys think!

A large number of people can attest to the fact that I was a ball of nerves this morning, but thanks to the collaborative effort of my group members and everyone in the cohort, I feel that our group teach went well!

During the initial planning stages, my group and I had considered a number of concerns that could potentially crop up during our lesson. For instance: how many people per team for the game of 21? This wasn’t just a matter of making sure we had enough equipment, but we also wanted to make sure that everyone was having a frequent opportunity to participate versus having to stand off to the side just to wait their turn—an unfortunate characteristic found in some Hall of Shame games.

We had some potential activities planned in the circumstance that we did have to do large groups, but it just so happened that we didn’t have to mobilize these plans. As with any lesson though, I think it’s incredibly important to have the ability to adapt and switch things around as needed. Had the weather taken an unexpected turn for the worse this morning, we could have just as easily done the activities inside instead of outside—we were open to do some readjusting if the situation ever called for it.

I’m definitely looking forward to all the group teach presentations to follow! I have no doubt that you’ll all be fantastic, and I’m ready and willing to participate and learn!