I was reading Spark today and I found this interesting...
"Less than 3% of adults over the age of 24 stay in shape through playing team sports."
This is interesting to me because in physical education we teach a lot of team sports, when in all actuality, our kids won't be using them as their primary means of exercise in their mid-twenties and beyond. I think it is important to expose our students to these activities, but I think we need to do a better job of incorporating the fitness aspect into all activities. Grade them on effort, instead of skill. Herein lies the heart rate monitors.To be continued...
I've never really thought about it, but if I consider the activities my friends are involved in to stay in shape, only 1 comes to mind that is a part of a team. The rest of us walk or run, do yoga, lift weights etc. I love the idea of kids being exposed to the idea that there are lots of different ways to stay active, even if sports isn't an interest for them.
ReplyDeleteI wonder, though, if adults could learn something from younger kids. I would say I enjoyed being active a lot more when I was a part of a team. I was being active with a purpose beyond just staying in shape. We were working toward something and enjoying time with each other.
I think there is a tricky balance you are working to strike with your students. Both team sports and other activities are valuable and have their place.
I agree with Erin and that you need to have a balance between team and individual sports. I think the biggest component of team sports (this is cheesy, but) is TEAMWORK. Getting along with each other is such an important life skill that I think really makes sense to kids through sports/physical education. I would agree with the statistic and I am over 24 and play on one team sport (softball). Most of my friends just work out in gyms etc. Sounds like an interesting book!
ReplyDeleteI also like the point you bring up, Ashley, about effort and skill. Our society puts such a high emphasis on innate skills in team sports (i.e., "that kids got talent"), when I feel that the more individualized sports (i.e., track and field or cross country) foster a connection between personal effort and success; maybe this is why team sports are played less over the age of 24 (as their "talent" ceases to perform) and people continue on with the more effort driven activities (they have seen personal results from them).
ReplyDeleteLike Ted mentioned, however; that "team" and cooperative aspect is key; being successfull with a team is a huuuuuge skill to develop (and probably easiest to practice when playing a game).
Great find! I definitely have never used the skills I learned in Phy. Ed. through team sports. I only did one sport after middle school till after college and it was tough to transition to enjoy things like pilates and lifting. It would be nice to see more of those fitness skills in the standards.I remember getting graded poorly in things like softball and floor hockey but I could do more pull ups, sit up and push ups than all the boys until Jr. High. Effort counts for sure! I put zero effort in because I knew I was bad at it, but if I knew I was graded on effort I would have tried!
ReplyDeleteI can definitely relate to the struggle to stay focused on "What do I want my students to remember in 10, 20, or 30 years?" I think you make an excellent point about effort... Not every child is going to excel in every skill in phy ed or in music, but it's so important that they walk away from our classes feeling like these things are approachable! (You would never want one of your students to shy away from physical activity as an adult because they're "no good at it," just as I would never want one of my students to stand quietly while everyone around them is singing because they're afraid it won't be perfect.) I think I'm going to try to re-focus some of my teaching on that point after reading your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI too, loved playing sports growing up and especially being on a team! I met most of and still remain friends with my former/current teammates. I learned so much about being a team player, yet doing my part by practicing extra and training to make both my team and myself better.
ReplyDeleteI also struggle with not grading on skill because I believe that kids that have a higher skill level should be rewarded. When you think of students in your classroom, the better readers, English students, kids that excel in math and science earn better grades. For some reason I think for Physical Education this is such a touchy subject and parents would flip a lid if their son/daughters grades dropped because of their lack of skill. Then there is the element of time and we only see our students for specials 4 times in a 10 day cycle. If a student has not been exposed to a certain skill outside of PE, how are they going to show improvement in that area and have enough practice to (ideally)"master" that specific skill?
Any thoughts?