Blog Post #13

Create an Assignment
My specialty will be Physical Education. My assignment is to answer this question: What are the best strategies for helping kids succeed in P.E.?Check out these links
>P.E. Central's List of Best Practices
>The Physical Educator

Firstly, I would like to make clear what it means to me to "succeed" in P.E. I believe that when a student succeeds in P.E. they have learned new motor skills, learned new sports skills, and have gained a new understanding and appreciation for healthy and active living. Not all children are alike; everyone comes from a different home that has already influenced their ideas on being healthy. When I become a P.E. teacher I want to make sure I focus a little bit on every child to try and make a difference in their lives. The two links I have included are great sources for current and future P.E. teachers. They both provide helpful ideas/strategies/lessons/tips, communication between professionals, and much more.

So, back to my question. There are many ways to get kids involved in Physical Education, but what are the best ways to do so? On P.E. Central's website they have a list of submitted ideas to be voted "Best Practice;" all of them are great but I picked out a few to focus on. Achieving Lifetime Physical Activity (ALPhA) looks like a great program to get students really involved in creating a healthy lifestyle. The goal of this program is to have students, and their families, set monthly goals throughout the school year. The students will be able to show their families what they learn in class, and incorporate those skills into their goals. To motivate students even more, the teacher who submitted this ideas also included the use of tokens, or rewards, to give every month that the child met their goal. The next idea is called "Sid Shuffle," and it is to be conducted as a whole school assembly. The "Sid Shuffle" can be seen on this video, the video that will be shown at the assembly. I believe that when an activity like this involves the whole school all the students are very excited to learn and participate, and also be excited about P.E. The third and last idea I found to focus on is a Healthy Field Day; I think a favorite for all students. Field days can be extremely fun and educational. Speakers would come and talk to the kids, and different stations/games would be set up to tell kids about nutrition, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, sports opportunities, and anything else the P.E. teacher could think of. Hosting a field day is such an awesome way to get students to participate and understand the importance of health and physical activity. I love all of these ideas because I think I could actually use them as a way to help my future students succeed in my P.E. class. I think by giving the students something to look forward to, such as a field day or assembly, would get them more interested in P.E. all around.

I hope you all liked my idea for this assignment, I sure did enjoy exploring my options. :)