kristin+gantz


 * ***ecord of Assignments**
 * Name of Student:** Kristin Gantz



toc

** Pre-Adolescence **

** W : What you want to know (curiosities) **
Insert your inquiry questions 1. If there are so many positive effects when middle childhood students have recess and physical education multiple times a week, why have schools systems in the United States cut down on physical activity?

How do teachers balance the physical activities the students need with learning in the classroom? How are teachers incorporating physical activities in their lessons? //Decline// of //Physical Education// in //School// Curriculums - Rowan

** L : What you learned **
[Directions: First we will formulate RAR prompts for the four categories listed below (physical cognitive, emotional, and social). These prompts should relate back to your three curiosities listed above. Technologically speaking, add widget anchors here for easier reading, then delete instructions in the brackets]
 * 1) Physical
 * 2) Cognitive
 * 3) Emotional
 * 4) Social

** 1. Physical **

 * R (Review):**
 * Physical activity supports
 * health
 * sense of self-worth
 * cognitive skills
 * social skills
 * cooperation
 * leadership
 * followership
 * US schools have cut back on physical activity such as gym class and recess to focus more on academic instruction. Only 15% of US elementary and middle schools provide students with physical education three times a week.


 * A (Apply):**
 * It is proven with over a century of data and experiments that children learn better and participate more in the classroom after recess than before. Children have a lot of energy and need time to be able to let some of that energy out which helps them focus more in the classroom. Not only does recess and physical activity help students perform better in school, it is healthy for them too. Because schools are decreasing their physical education and recess time, only 42% of boys and 11% of girls are active enough for good health, which means engaging in physical activity for an hour or more a day.

Elementary and middle schools should absolutely provide students with physical education. Students overall perform better in every aspect of their education. They also increase their social skills. Because of these benefits I plan include physical education in my lesson plan for middle school students. I could incorporate review games and lessons with having the students move around and even go outside.
 * R (Reflect)**

** A. Site details: **

 * Name of site: Our Lady of Perpetual Help
 * Link to site: @http://olphsaints.org/school/sport/sport.html
 * Contact person: Carla Gantz

__** B. Describe your setting **__
The site of my observations is at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help school's gym. This gym is fairly big and has the ability to have two volleyball courts set up at the same time. This makes it easier for the volleyball players to get as many touches on the ball and can stay active the whole time. I can walk around anywhere in the gym to observe, and sometimes I step in and help my mom perform activities.

In the school, the gym is located on the left side. the school is two stories but if you walk in the building the office is to the left and the gym is to the right. The classes are down the hallway both downstairs and upstairs to the right. This makes it easy for the team who practices right after school because they do not have to go far.

__** C. Describe what you did at the site (free-write/journal formatting) **__
My first visit in observing the fifth grade girls volleyball team at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) was October 18th 2013. I observed by sitting on the sidelines and watching the girls practice. This visit was a total of 2.5 hours.
 * __1st visit:__**

I have a lot of experience with volleyball which is why I think this observation site is perfect for me. I not only played 4th through 8th grade at OLPH, but I also played all four years in high school. This makes it easy for me to compare and contrast not only these girls from when I was their age, but also I can compare and contrast these girls to an older age level. When I observed the girls on the sidelines I noticed a lot of energy. Their practice time was right after school from 2:30pm to 5pm. They have been cooped up inside all day (especially because it was raining), so this volleyball practice was a perfect time for them to release some energy. A couple of times through out this first hour and a half, it took the coach a couple of tries to get the girls to be quiet when she was trying to explain the instructions. Compared to high school, that would definitely not happen. The girls maturity level is obviously lower than high school girls. the coach ran a lot of drills including serving, bumping, setting, and spiking. Again, obviously the girls are not as physically and emotionally developed as the high school girls. Physically, the girls were just able to get the ball over the net. Emotionally, there was one player that when she missed her serve, she would start to cry. It seemed that she thought it was the end of the world every time she missed. She not only did this with missing her serves, but also missing her spikes. Cognitively, the girls are still developing as well. The goal of volleyball is for your team to get three hits when the ball comes on your side, ending in a spike that puts the ball on the ground on the other teams side. High school girls understand and complete this task for the most part. I remember that when I was in about 7th or 8th grade I started fully understand this concept, even if I wasn't quite able to physically complete it yet. These 5th grade girls have not quite grasped the concept that you should have three hits not just one when they send the ball over the net. Although I observed the coach tell them at least 15 times in this one practice, they are still hitting the ball once over the net.

__**2nd Visit**__ My second visit in observing the fifth grade girls volleyball team at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) was October 19th 2013. On this visit, I helped the coach with her practice in helping her run the drills. This visit was a total of 2.5 hours.

While I helped the coach with practice, I noticed that the girls were very loud and hovered me a lot. I guess because I was a "new" person they got very excited and asked me a lot of questions, and wanted me to help them. A couple of the girls fought over who I was going to try to help first. I also got the opportunity to ask the fifth grade girls questions during their water breaks. They told me that they get one hour break from school work everyday. At 11:15 they are released to go play outside on recess, from 11:30-12 they are called to eat lunch, and then from 12-12:15 they play outside again. I asked them what kind of games and activities they play outside and most of them said the same things which were, dodge ball, swinging, tether ball, or four square. They informed me that they play with all of their friends on recess including the friends they have that are not in their class. I asked them if they played with the boys at all and they said that the boys sometimes chased them or they play boys versus girls basketball. I also asked when they think they pay attention the most in class, before or after recess, and they said after because they aren't thinking about playing outside anymore like they were before recess. They also told me that eating lunch helps them focus because again, they aren't focused on being hungry. I asked if they would like to have another session of recess during the school day and they all screamed yes. They said they would like recess in the morning as well.

__**Conclusion**__

In conclusion to observing these fifth graders, I think physical activity is definitely important to students. Although one hour a day of recess is better than some schools, I still think they need more. Recess helps students concentrate on their school work when they get in after recess, and it also helps them socially. The students are able to interact with other students that are not in their class.

** Physical **
Physical activity in the classroom promotes being healthy. Studies today show that students are spending less time being active and more time using the new technology that is constantly coming out. Physically, students need to be active because it will help them later on in their adult years. Studies have shown that the more students are active when they are young, the more active and healthy they will be when older. One huge benefit of implementing physical activity into the classroom is healthier and more physically fit children.

** Cognitive **
When students engage in physical education and recess, they not only mature socially and physically but also cognitively. Recess is a great way for students to use their imagination. Some examples are when students make up their own games or when they play make believe with other students. Many students like to play make believe which includes house and/or school. There are many benefits to make believe. Students who play make believe and use their imagination with other students tend to be more social. They are also seen more socially competent by their teachers. Their creativity in the classroom also increases which helps them with their school work.

** Emotional **
Physical Education can increase students self esteem. Individual differences in self-esteem become increasingly stable and positive relationships among self-esteem, valuing of various activities, and success at those activities emerge and strengthen. Self-esteem rises for the majority of young people, who feel especially good about their peer relationships and athletic capabilities. Rapid gains in emotional self-regulation occur in middle childhood. As children engage in social comparison and care more about peer approval, they must learn to manage negative emotion that threatens their self-esteem.

** Social **
====Physical Education helps children's social development skills necessary for them getting along with others. In research, students engagement in peer conversation and games during recess increased. Recess and Physical Education is one of the few remaining contexts to devoted to child-organized games that provide practice in vital social skills. These social skills that improve due partly to Physical Education are==== cooperation, leadership, followership, and inhibition of aggression.

** Revisiting Your Curiosities **
The government and the individual school systems have cut back on recess and physical education because of time and money. There is just not enough time in the school day to teach students everything they need to know for the standardized tests. The schools are also trying to cut back on money so they physical education teachers are only hired for a couple days a week.
 * W : What you want to know (curiosities) **


 * 1.** How are teachers incorporating physical activities in their lessons?

Since the government and school districts are cutting back on physical activity, it is now the teachers job to make sure students are getting the recommended amount per day. There are many ways a teach can implement physical activity into their classroom, it just takes a little planning. Teachers can utilize their surroundings by either going outside or staying in the classroom. For my project, I had my peers write on my poster ways that they thought teachers could implement physical activity into the classroom. My project was to make future teachers aware of this problem and to have them think of ways they could change it. A couple of things that were written are: 1. jump roping while spelling a word, naming the presidents, naming the states, etc. 2. using a map of the US on the blacktop to learn the states 3. simply incorporating stations in the classroom 4. doing an egg drop in science 5. having students act out different thing i.e. solid, liquid, gas for science

There are an unlimited number of things that teachers can do to keep students active in their classroom. If teachers add physical activity into their lesson plans students will not only benefit physically, but socially, emotionally and cognitively as well.

=__Article 1:__= Torill Larsen, Oddrun Samdal, Hege Tjomsland, (2013) "Physical activity in schools: A qualitative case study of eight Norwegian schools’ experiences with the implementation of a national policy", Health Education, Vol. 113 Iss: 1, pp.52 - 63

Over the years numerous policies, programs and interventions have been undertaken to increase students’ participation in physical activity in school. A case study of eight schools participating in the Norwegian project “Physical activity and healthy school meals” was conducted. Findings show that all schools managed to ensure extra time for physical activity, varying from 20 to 45 minutes per day. None managed, however, to fulfill the recommendation of 60 minutes daily. Factors promoting the implementation were related to formalization and anchoring in terms of policy plans and establishment of a project group, while factors hindering the implementation were related to lack of competence and confidence among teachers and lack of allocated time from school leaders.The identification of factors influencing implementation efforts aiming at enhancing physical activity can help practitioners to address such barriers and thus contribute to better implementation of physical activities in schools

These studies show that students are not getting the amount of time for physical activity a day as they should be. A big factor for this is not having a lot of time. There is so much information that teachers need to teach their students so they can't take an hour out of every day for their students to play. For my inquiry question, I think one way teachers can deal with this, is by giving their students activities to do so they can be physical and learning at the same time. An example might be during a science class, have them do experiments outside. Also, for history, if there is a map drawn on the black top on the playground, have the students move the state that you call out.

= = =__Article 2:__= “Physical education and physical activity: results from the School Health Policies and Programs Study” 2006 by Lee, Sarah M; Burgeson, Charlene R; Fulton, Janet E; Spain, Christine G For this study, physical activity included physical education, recess, intramurals, interscholastic sports, and walk and bike to school initiatives. This study is conducted every six years with elementary, middle, and high schools. This article also describes the policies and programs in the United States. Most states and districts had adopted a policy stating that schools will teach physical education; however, few schools provided daily physical education. Additionally, many states, districts, and schools allowed students to be exempt from participating in physical education. Most schools provided some opportunities for students to be physically active outside physical education. Staff development for physical education was offered by states and districts, but physical education teachers generally did not receive staff development on a variety of important topics. To enhance physical education and physical activity in schools, a comprehensive approach at the state, district, school, and classroom levels is necessary. Policies, practices, and comprehensive staff development at the state and district levels might enable schools to improve opportunities for students to become physically active adults.

These studies show that schools are not getting enough physical education daily even though their policies state that they will. Many schools believe that physical education and activity is important but do not want to put in the efforts to make it happen such as they do not want to spend the time or the money. This relates to my question because it is obviously up to the teachers to help the students become physically active. If the schools do not want to provide physical education, teachers need to provide some sort of physical activity for their students. Some examples of these that I thought of through this article was walking. A lot of schools like to take field trips and a good way to provide physical activity is to have the students walk to the destination if the distance is permitting. Another thing is, teachers should promote after school activities to their students. Some students might not be aware that some organizations are offered after school, so a good way to get them involved physically is just to simply tell them about them.

=__Article 3:__= “Rethinking Middle School Physical Education: Combining Lifetime Leisure Activities and Sport Education to Encourage Physical Activity” by Mohr, Derek J; Townsend, J. Scott; Pritchard, Tony

Physical education represents an area of the middle school curriculum that has the potential to impact adolescents' developing knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors in positive and meaningful ways that may endure across the lifespan. Despite the well-documented benefits of engaging in regular physical activity, it appears that many physical education programs are not adequately promoting physical activity and health-related fitness among young people. The authors suggest that specific solutions to this problem for middle school physical education require a shift in thinking about what is typically taught (content) and how that content is typically taught (instructional methods) during students' adolescent years. The purpose of this article is to describe a double faceted approach to rethinking middle school physical education, one that involves changes to the content and instructional methods. This approach has the potential to enhance the number of individuals participating in regular physical activity during the adolescent years and throughout adulthood. The research is clear that the onset of physical inactivity appears during adolescence and throughout adulthood people are becoming increasingly sedentary. This is a legitimate public health concern and physical education can play a role in altering this unfortunate problem. Accordingly, a noble and primary goal of physical education is NASPE content standard three: A physically educated person participates regularly in physical activity. If our profession is to achieve this goal however, it is important that we rethink not only what we teach during the middle school years, but how we teach during this time as well. By providing middle school students with opportunities to learn lifetime leisure activities that are both reasonable and developmentally appropriate and teaching these activities well using appropriate instructional models such as sport education, we are promoting the development of physically active lifestyles that persist over a lifetime.

To rethink how to teach students is a difficult task to do for teachers sometimes. But it is the only way to keep up to date on the way that will help them learn the best. The first thing teachers must ask themselves is if this activity is relevant? The next thing to ask themselves is will the students benefit from this activity? Yes, physical activity is important, but teachers need to be cautious of how they implement it in their lesson plans. The better activities to use in lesson plans are ones that students will gain skills so they can use them on later in life. These are termed lifetime leisure activities. Teachers may also be limited on what activities they can conduct due to space. When teachers implement physical activities in their classrooms, they also need to be contentious of the group of students they have. Girls are different than boys, so if a teacher had them play football the whole time, not everyone would enjoy and benefit from it. According to this article, the best way to implement physical activity into the classroom is to constantly mix up the activities. The students will get a chance to find out what they like and what they are good at. If they find something that they do not like, they will not have to worry because they know they will switch activities shortly. This is termed the multi-activity approach. An example of this is when teachers do stations. Different stations for the same lesson could be the students could use the computer, go to the library and find books, do a hands on experiment, do a review, a short quiz, or even playing a game. Their are many things teachers can do, but the key thing is to always have an open mind and to always ask if it would benefit their students.

= = =__Article 4:__= “European Physical Education Review”, ISSN 1356-336X, 02/2012, Volume 18, Issue 1, pp. 78 - 96 ...’ heart rates were monitored during physical education lessons. The target rate was set between 70 and 85... group contingency, physical education, CHILDREN, HEALTH, GOOD BEHAVIOR GAME

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a dependent group contingency on eighth-grade students’ heart rates. Participants were 18 male and female students. A multi element research design was used to examine the intervention effects. The intervention consisted of: (a) teacher explanation about effort; (b) students’ suggestions to increase effort; (c) a chart posting the target heart rate zones goals; and (d) teacher prompts to remind students about their effort. Participants’ heart rates were monitored during physical education lessons. The target rate was set between 70 and 85% of the participant’s estimated maximum heart rate. The results show that participants increased their time in and above target heart rate zone from 42.1% in baseline to 62.9% during intervention. Therefore, we can conclude that the intervention was successful to increase the exercise intensity during physical education lessons.

This study proves that students benefit from physical activity. Lately, our society has gotten very protective of children, and parents don't want their children to play too hard because they could "hurt" themselves. Also, obesity and asthma have become a problem. This study suggest that it is a good thing if we push our students to the next level because they benefit from it. Doing physical activities during school could help our nation with obesity. This study also suggests that giving our students goals will help them rise to the occasion. As teachers, we need to be the students' motivators. Teaching the students about physical education seems to work in increasing their efforts. The teacher told them why it was important, what they could do to improve, charts so they had a visual, and prompts that constantly reminded them. This may be a lot of work, but this study proved that by doing these things the students bot only increased their effort in physical activity, but their school work as well. Physical activity has such a huge impact on a students school work positively.

=Power Point=