February 6th, 2010
Receiving credit for physical education through ROTC or marching band has been a hot topic in California lately.
Here is an interesting article from the Orlando Sentinel on opting out of physical education. Just the title alone caught my attention. It is titled “Tens of thousands of Florida kids opt out of gym class.” It reminds me of when a student asks me if we have gym today. My response is usually something like this, “No, we have physical education class today. The gym is a building.”
Opting out of physical education seems like a backward trend. Lets hope these students get good jobs some day. They’ll need some money to hire personal trainers when they find they don’t have the tools to stay healthy and fit.
A colleague of mine once had the following quote in a PowerPoint. It makes so much sense.
“In the great work of education, our physical condition, if not the first step in point of importance, is the first order of time. On the broad band and firm foundation of health alone, can the loftiest and most enduring structure of intellect be reared.” — Horace Mann
Tags: Opting out of PE, physical education
Posted in Health-care reform, Miscellaneous, Policy | No Comments »
January 3rd, 2010
By John Kruse
Here’s an article a friend recommended on exercise and feeling gloomy. Seems like good reading for the middle of winter.
Read this book review by Jen Mettler for more on exercise and the brain.
Tags: exercise, John Ratey, mental health, Spark
Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »
December 31st, 2009
By John Kruse
It seems like I keep hearing stories from physical education teachers and their knee issues. Here’s an interesting article about exercise and knees.
Click here for article.
Tags: Knees, running, Sports Medicine, Teachers
Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »
December 26th, 2009
The FitMet BMI calculator has been fixed. The CDC growth charts now appear as a PDF file that you can print. It is best to run the calculator from either the Firefox or Google Chrome web browsers.
FitMet is looking to improve on this simple calculator. Please feel free to leave a comment here if you have a suggestion.
Thanks to the participants at Project NorthReach who discovered the broken links.
Tags: BMI calculator, Body Mass Index, boys vs girls, CDC BMI growth charts, Firefox, Google Chrome, Google Gadget, physical education, Technology, web browsers
Posted in Body Composition, Miscellaneous, Technology | No Comments »
November 21st, 2009
Congratulations to FitMet contributor Jennifer Mettler. She received word yesterday that she has achieved National Board Certification in physical education.
National Board Certification certificate areas, which are based on the NBPTS standards, are designed to help candidates demonstrate the knowledge, skills, dispositions and commitments of accomplished teachers.
This is the second major achievement for Jennifer this year. In July, she was awareded the Southern District CAPHERD Teacher of the Year award.
Posted in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »
November 9th, 2009
It has been brought to our attention that the FitMet Body Bass Index Calculator is currently not working on the both Safari and Microsoft Explore web browsers. Currently, the calculator does work with Firefox. Also, the Centers for Disease Control links for the male and female BMI growth charts are broken as well. We will find the new links for the CDC Growth charts and fix both problems. FitMet apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused you in you classrooms.
Please check in periodically. We will let you know when these issues have been resolved.
Posted in Body Composition, Fitness Testing, Miscellaneous, Poduct Reviews, Technology | No Comments »
October 19th, 2009
By Matthew Bassett
http://www.anatomyarcade.com/
While looking at the NASPE November toolbox for physical education teachers, I found a web site that has games and videos for kids about human anatomy. I started looking around and playing some of the games they have on their web site. You can pick different systems of the body. Each section has a wide variety of activities that can be used to review or learn content about these systems. They have activities like word searches, crossword puzzles, matching games and videos about the body systems.
After looking around, I realized that these games can be used for physical education classes. I started thinking about third grade, California content standard 4.11. Students are required to name and locate the major muscles of the body. This web site could be a great tool for students to review and memorize the major muscles of the body. It could also be helpful to teach other grade levels on topics like how the muscles move the bones to help us to be physically active. You could have lessons on how the cardiovascular system and the respiratory system both contribute to exercise.
Disclaimer:
The site is free but the biggest drawback is that it has a lot of ads. The ads help pay for the site so you will see video ads before starting the games. You will also see ads selling specific items all around the web site. I found a few ads that may not be suitable for students. You can purchase a site license for the games and this will allow you to download the games without any ads.
The site itself may be a little complicated for younger students. I think third graders would be the best age to start students working on this web page. Personally, will not use the free site since the ads are questionable. I guess I will add another grant proposal to my to-do list.
Posted in Miscellaneous, elementary physical education | No Comments »
October 17th, 2009
By John Kruse
I’ve recently advocated that more quality physical education can help in the prevention of excessive health care costs. Today, I found an interview with Newt Gingrich. In it, he explains the importance of physical education, nutrition and physical activity in attempting to curb health care costs.
Q: What should be the approach on health care?
A: I think you need a totally new approach. I think you need to start with the individual, you’ve got to focus on individual responsibility, on wellness, on early testing, on learning to manage chronic diseases. You have to focus on fundamental change.
We just got into a little argument in upstate New York on a school district that was going to block kids from riding their bicycle or walking (to school.) We wrote a letter and got in the middle of it and said this is exactly wrong, you want kids to walk to school, you want kids to ride their bikes to school. You want to have K through 12 physical education, you want to rethink the school lunch program and the school breakfast program so that it’s good food for diabetics.
Then you have to look at the delivery systems. You have two hospitals (in Wheeling.) You need to apply the Toyota production system model, the work of Drucker … the best systems in America are just amazingly effective and much less expensive. We have to move to that. We can’t afford to pay unnecessarily because we have to be able to compete with China and India and you cannot do that if you start out every morning with a multi-billion dollar burden.
Read the rest of the interview here. Unfortuntely, the above quote is the extent of the interview having to do with physical education and health care. In any case, its good to see a politician advocating for what we do.
Tags: health care costs, physical education, prevention
Posted in Health-care reform, Policy | 1 Comment »
October 16th, 2009
By Matthew Basset
Fifth Grade California Content Standard 1.1
“Perform simple small-group balance stunts by distributing weight and base of support.”
Developing this standard has been difficult since it can be very dangerous and a difficult concept for students to understand. The premise behind the standard is to have a group of students perform a pyramid by distributing weight and base of support. At first glance, you can have your students set up a pyramid and check to see if they have good balance and move on from the standard quite quickly. This, however, is not going to help students understand the base of support or distributing weight.
This year I tried to get students more involved. First, we had to discuss the importance of a base of support. A wider base typically has better balance. We also talked about distributing weight so that one (or two) people didn’t have to take the brunt of the weight. I used a basic combative game to help make the connection. I had students face a partner and place their hands together out in front. Their feet are next to each other and they challenge each other to push their hands (only) to a point where one person had to take a step (lost the challenge). Then I directed them to place their feet shoulder width apart and take the same challenge. Which was easier to keep your balance? Then I directed them to take one foot and place it a little in front of the other. Which, of the three, was easiest to keep your balance? The goal was to get the students to see that the base of support could affect the balance of the activity.
After students understood the importance of a base of support we talk about the distribution of weight. We discussed how placing the weight on two locations makes it easier to support than just one location. Three locations are better than two locations, etc.
Finally, the class is ready to start their own small group balance stunts. I use groups of 7-8 people. Each group is handed a worksheet where they place their names (for tracking purposes). The class is directed to come up with five different group balances that share the weight distribution differently each time and also shows different bases of support. My goal is to see different types of pyramids than a typical three level (or four) pyramid. The students are required to make a diagram of the base of support and where each student in the group is going to stand. This process moves into a second class period where students are given extra time to practice balancing skills. After a few scary falls, I’ve decided to tell my students that they cannot go above two levels in a pyramid. This makes them have to work a little harder to come up with different ideas. I also talk about how they can make a pyramid that isn’t in a straight line.
During their assessments, students in each group perform at the same time. This allows me to see how well the groups have prepared but it doesn’t allow a group to get some extra time practicing while another group is performing. The groups who work together are definitely better prepared for this approach at the assessment. I have even had one group who has practiced so much that they were able to get into every one of their group balances in less than four seconds.
Other Connections:
This is a great lesson/unit that will allow connections to over arching standard 5. I constantly have to reinforce the importance of working together (5.5.3) and why it is important to stay safe (5.5.4). I have a few students who are doing all of the planning and not listening to others. I also have to reinforce the importance of allowing everyone to contribute their ideas (5.5.5) and to work with each other to accomplish their goals (5.5.7). The groups who struggle start to work closer together when I discuss the importance of everyone sharing ideas in the group. With a little work next year, my goal is to get students to understand the social concepts while participating in this standard (5.1.1). This way they reinforce the social skills that I’m looking for in class while they are working on a motor skill.
Tags: balance stunts, content knowledge, elementary physical education, Lesson Ideas, pedagogy, physical education, physical education content standards
Posted in Lesson Ideas, Matthew Bassett, Miscellaneous, Standards | No Comments »
October 15th, 2009
By Matthew Basset
Third Grade Standard 1.2
“Perform an inverted balance (tripod) by evenly distributing weight on body parts.”
I was very fortunate to learn some of the basic gymnastics balances and stunts while in college. For most people, we never learn how to perform some of these stunts and we are now expected to teach them because of standards. Here is a way to teach the students about performing a tripod.
- Set the stage. Explain the importance of helping other students (spotting) and that a good helper will help prevent an injury to another student. This is possibly the most important step since you want students to work in partners where one is performing the skill and another is spotting the performer.
- Technique. The performer’s hands must be placed on the gymnastics mat about shoulder width apart. I usually find that having them rotate their hands inward at about a 45-degree angle will help with the balance later. When the person is upside down their forearm should be perpendicular to the ground or it will require them to use a lot of upper body strength to keep them upright. If the forearm is perpendicular the radius and ulna bones will balance the weight for the tripod.
- Head Position. This is possibly the most important part for the balance. The head must be placed in front of the hands to create a triangle. The triangle has to be an appropriate size, too small or too large will make the balance difficult to accomplish. The head must be placed on the mat at the hairline. If a student places their weight on top of the head they will feel like rolling over. If a student places their weight on their forehead it can cause them to feel neck pain. Both of these are not acceptable. You will need to constantly check to see if the students are placing their hairline on the mat to create the best balance.
- Knees. After the hands and the head are in place, the performer should move their knees up toward the hands. This will allow them to lift and not have to stretch too far. Lift one leg up so that the arm (elbow to shoulder) and the thigh cross each other to form an X. This will help the balance of the performer. If the arm and thigh are running parallel, the section that balances will be much smaller and harder to control. After the first leg is up than the second leg should be lifted into place using the same crossing pattern. Some students may find it successful to jump into place but I find that I want better control so I ask them to lift one leg at a time.
- Examples. I usually perform the skill for my class to show them what a tripod looks like. This is a great opportunity to explain that if an “old guy” like me can perform a tripod that everyone in class can perform a tripod. Now is the time that I explain the importance of helping (spotting) a performer. I ask a student to come up and demonstrate a tripod. Many of my students have taken gymnastics classes before. This allows me a chance to show the spotting technique to help a student with the balance and to help them avoid rolling over.
Tags: content knowledge, gymnastics, pedagogy, physical activity, Standards, tripod
Posted in Lesson Ideas, Matthew Bassett, Miscellaneous | No Comments »