Diversity within Physical Education

Diversity within any education system is critical to understand. Diversity is the important structure that encourages people to be different and to love those differences. Within the Physical Education structure diversity is critical due to several reasons: physical disabilities,  socio-economic, gender, and religion. The main theme of diversity within the PE classroom is inclusion. Inclusion is the central notion that will remove negative stereotypes to create a safe place for all students.

Diversity in relation to physical disabilities has a painful history. Throughout the past people with disabilities have been victimized and ostracized from society. This history is the prime example to why it is important to create an inclusive and safe learning environment. Socio-economic diversity is clear within the public school system. Depending on the location of the school there can be students from a drastic different economic standing. This can lead to problems in the PE classroom if the students can not afford the equipment. Equal opportunities for all students is critical. Gender plays a large role within diversity for PE classroom due to the fact of preconceived society expectations for the genders. Females are viewed as weak compared to males, which creates discrimination within the class. Religion creates added diversity within the classroom. Students may abstain from certain activities due to their religious belief and it is important that educators are flexible to these needs.

Inclusion. The most important solution to creating a safe and diverse classroom. All students should feel safe and welcome no matter their diversity. Diversity should be seen as a strength within the classroom culture.

Lesson Reflection for Week 8

This week was the dance lesson that Cheryl, Jessica, Rebecca, and I. I found the project of creating a dance lesson both fun and difficult. As someone who loves to dance but also experiences the nervousness of performing improv, I knew it was going to be a challenge to stand in front of the class and teach this lesson. Overall, I believe that things went well!

For our opening activity we did a popcorn activity! This is such as simple, fun activity that I believe students at a variety of ages would appreciate. However, I was thinking, what if you really hate to dance? I wonder if, when this activity would be done in the older grades, would there be students who don’t want to participate for fear of being judged? This game would require a classroom culture that is inclusive and supportive of others so that no one feels nervous to perform their own dance moves with the class.

For our main activity we chose to teach “Watch Me” to the entire group. We did this first by teaching different animal moves and the chorus moves in a fun game. This part of the activity did not go as well as I would have hoped. For next time, I would like to modify this game so that the participants are not running towards each other while doing the actions because I feel that it provided the risk of students being hurt if they were to run into each other. Besides this setback, I really enjoyed the energy everyone brought to the dance off and I believe I would be capable of teaching this lesson. Not only that, I feel that the lesson would be easily modified for a variety of different age groups.

Lastly, standing in a circle for stretching was a great idea that I stole from the gymnastic group before us. I thought this was a great idea and way more appropriate than just standing in front of the group because it allows the teacher to see everyone’s eyes and make sure that everyone is performing the movements. By stretching in a big circle, there is a less chance that someone shorter will miss out on the stretching movement because they don’t want to participate or because they can’t see what is happening at the front of the gym.

Reflection – Michelle Parker

This week was my group’s turn to teach. We taught track and field, specifically sprinting. I think our lesson went well, my instant activity was short, fun and engaging. The class enjoyed the warm up as well. We did dynamic stretching to music and it turned into a dance party. I think these ideas really transfer to the classroom as students really enjoy doing things this way. I also felt that my discussion group for the reading summary went really well. We had a great discussion and I almost did not get through everything I needed to for the summary. I felt that the reading was really engaging for us to discuss and we were all in the same mindset for it.

Our planning was difficult. We ended up changing our lesson plan quite significantly as we had planned way to much. However it came together in the end which was great. We ended up changing our track relay the morning of. We realized that the track was bigger then we were thinking in our heads and needed to modify the game so there was not as much running involved. We wanted to make the game enjoyable for people who are not runners and we felt this modification was important for that.

I felt the group was really engaged and I was not expecting this! I felt people were not excited when they heard what we were doing but the attitude really changed as we got into the activities. I think we managed to make running fun!

Week 9 reflection – 3 Guiding Questions – Cheryl B

How do I plan, participate in, and advocate for School Based Physical Activity?
-Ensure that PE classes for my students are well-planned so each student is moving for much of the class.
-Take body breaks.
-Take my class outside often for intercurricular learning.
-Help to plan and run intramural activities.
-Share ideas for active learning with other teachers.

How do I support lifelong learning in health and physical education?
-Expose students to opportunities to participate in a variety of well planned activities, including bringing in other skilled people to teach and lead activities.
-Ask questions about students’ goals for their lives, find out what they already enjoy and what they enjoy about it, get students to suggest and lead activities and connect with people in the community to encourage healthy activity and living.

What is DPA and how is it different from PE?
DPA is daily physical activity. DPA extends past the PE class to involve activity both in and out of school, and beyond the gym and field at school. For some students, this includes extracurricular and interscholastic activities. It could also include playground time and activity breaks in the non-PE classroom time. In some provinces, adequate DPA time is mandated during the school day.

Movement Journal Week 8

When I heard that we were going to do track and field outside I was a bit worried because it has been very cold lately. However, once we went outside I had so much fun laughing during the warm-up activity. I also liked the rabbit and rooster game. The game trained us to pay attention because many people kept forgetting whether they were a rabbit or a rooster. They also taught us skills on how to run and the proper posture for running. I think my favorite activity would be the marching/sprinting relay. I noticed that a lot of teams were tired of marching and just resorted to walking afterwards. It would’ve been great if they added more explicit instructions. For example, blowing the whistle as a signal for people to alternate from marching and skipping every 2 minutes. I haven’t run in a while and it was fun to just do a short sprint. I also realized that we have lot of great runners in our class.

Team Teach Reflection-Dance and Technology

This week our group taught on the topic of dance and technology. I have taken quite a few dance lessons while growing up, where I had to follow a choreographed set of moves; however, being on the other end of the receiver is really a different experience. Originally, I was familiar with the Cha Cha slide however I had never danced the moves myself, so I first taught the sequence to myself. After a couple times of practicing I was successfully able to master all of the moves easily and of course listening to the lyrics helped a lot. However, when I tried to break down the sequence into individual steps, and teach it without the music to the class, it became quite a complex task, as it was easy to miss simple steps throughout the sequence or confuse the order of the moves at times. Therefore I had known the sequence as a whole, but following a top down approach in my head wasn’t always easy. I now have a different appreciation of my dance teachers who always showed patience when they taught and made it seem so effortless. Overall, I am proud of my team and for all of our efforts. This week’s topic also included technology, and my first reaction to the thought of incorporating technology into physical education was negative. When I thought about technology I thought about convenience and laziness. Physical education is supposed to make you move, break a sweat, go outdoors, and be social. After reading the chapter, I have realized there are a lot of great apps and devices that educators could incorporate into PE, but I still don’t entirely agree with them all and by no means can any of them replace any aspect of PE. Although I am open to including technology as a supplemental tool to reinforce ideas, for example Edmodo can be used in addition to PE activities to carry on conversations and discussions about physical education, but technology such as online games that promote physical activity should never replace PE. Even management apps such as team shake or scorekeepers are all great, however I think those are experiences that children need to engage in themselves to learn these skills. Finally, physical literacy encompasses social, emotional, and physical development, and all of these can’t be achieved through the mere use of technology.

Movement Journal November 18

Hey everyone! It was great to be back in PE after two weeks of practicum and also interesting to partake in this week’s group teach. I really enjoyed the individual activities planned for this week, as it was quite new for me to experience these in a PE setting. During my time in elementary and high school, we never had the opportunity to do guided dance or yoga, and I really enjoyed it. Dance units were always routines practiced and presented in groups, or partner dances such as swing dancing, which generally made me feel somewhat conscious and uncomfortable. However, these sorts of individual activities would be great for students who do not like being watched or being the centre of attention in PE class, as everyone is participating together, but the students are not really observing one another. Also, it was great to see how the group integrated heart rate monitoring into their activities, but I would have liked to see more discussion of what different resting heart rates indicate, or what heart rate we should expect to have after completing each activity (just to have a point of comparison).

On another note, I think this week’s group teach could tie in well to our readings, especially with regards to “culturally relevant physical education.” For instance, Sheena’s dance section incorporated reggaeton music. Dance could be used in PE as a way to validate other cultural traditions, as students could partake in various different types of dances, or dances to music from other traditions. As well, the individual activities could various forms of exercise or stretches from other parts of the world, which would work well within the textbook’s context for diversity that discussed adapting PE for race and for new immigrant students.

GROUP B/ WEEK 8- REFLECTION

On Tuesday, the Group Teach did their lesson on technology and dance with the class. I think they did really well with their lesson; especially, great job of scaffolding our skills. They really got us moving around! I was sweating after the lesson was done. I also think that you guys all did give the clear instructions and it was easy to follow through. I liked how you guys give us some time to practice the movements as a whole class before we get together with our small group. I do enjoyed and have fun during the activity. Even though I’m not good at dancing or a dancer, I know I can just do my best. I think the main point is to go there and have FUN with the class! I know nowadays in most of the elementary schools, the students only got 30 minutes for their P.E. class. Personally, I think 30 minutes of P.E. is very short and is not enough for the students in a day. I think as a teacher, we should come up with some physical activities for students to do in the classroom as much as we can. The teachers can also integrate their iPads with their physical education and health courses and bring it to the class. For instance, they can set up the YouTube dance tutorials or go noodle routines activities in the class. The teacher can ask his or her students do those activities just at their classroom, and then they don’t have to worry about finding the place in the school. Overall, well done group!

 

PE inspirational quotes; Week 9, Nov 18.

Some inspirational PE quotes to help guide your class.

  • “You don’t stop playing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop playing!!!”
  • “The game is never more important than the people you play with.”   Debra Demaline Maxted
  • “It’s not about winning and losing, it’s about how you play the game.”
  • “If you can’t play FAIR…then don’t play!!!”
  • “Every winner was once a beginner”
  • “If at first you don’t succeed, try something harder.”
  • “Blessed are the flexible for they are never bent out of shape”   Bill Stainbrook
  • “Each child comes to school with a dream, do we help them to realize it or destroy it?”   James Anderson
  • “If you had FUN, then you won!”
  • Share…it shows you care”
  • “The mind is like a parachute: it works much better when it’s open.”
  • “Be cool…Play in School!!!”
  • “PE is Powerful Education”
  • “Exercise and recreation are as necessary as reading.  I will rather say more necessary, because health is worth more than learning.”   Thomas Jefferson
  • “Seven Days without exercise makes one WEAK!!!”
  • “There is no better exercise for strengthening the heart than reaching down and lifting up another.”
  • “If you don’t take care of your body, where will you live?”
  • “Those who think they have no time for exercise will eventually have to make time for ILLNESS”  Edward Stanley
  • “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”  Steve Bartkowski (Former NFL Quarterback)
  • “Intelligence and skill can only function at the peak of their capacity when the body is healthy and strong.”  John F. Kennedy

http://www.nhsd.org/page/336

Movement Journal for Week 9 (Nov 20th): Amanda Santos

It was so great to be back in PE class. I never really was a fan of track but I was into field. However, this class made me change my mind and helped me to understand some ways to make running fun. Thank you very much Devon, Michelle, Megan & Jen for a great concept and class! The main activity was my favorite and it made me want to run more! I could see myself using that exact lesson plan for my practicum class. The group did an amazing job and made us work hard, I was super tired after!

The chapters this week were very interesting and the talk about disability and inclusion in PE class intrigued me the most. It is so hard to include every child, as every child’s interests are different, so adapting a lesson of PE in track and/or field is a challenge in itself. As we are learning, classrooms are a safe space and PE class is no different no matter where you are. As teachers, we must try to make our lessons as accessible as possible and include all types of learners. The main activity was a great example of that, for the most part you were either walking or skipping, or even doing a light jog. When it came time to sprint, it was short, and the concept made it fun. The movement skills and techniques involved were useful and helped with the main activity.

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