We All Want to Feel Important!

Yesterday I began a unit in cooperative activities. After many years of teaching Project Adventure style lessons, I should not be surprised at the power of cooperative education, yet I am..... My fourth grade students were playing a game in which "donations" of particular pieces of equipment were necessary if all classmates were going to remain in the game. So this required students giving up something to another classmate, without anything in return, except a "thank you". I was amazed at the ease of the "donations"! Students loved the game and played it easily and with great joy! At the end of many of our cooperative activities, I ask students to share how a particular event made them feel. At the end of this game I asked students how they felt when someone "donated" to them. The responses included "good" and "happy", but one response in particular surprised me. One student responded "important". Upon further discussion, we all agreed that when a classmate "donated" to them, they felt as if they were important enough to the game to be included! We all want to feel important.......the ability to make this happen is truly the power of cooperative education!

Professional Development Anyone?

I am very fortunate to have spent the past three days at the NYSAHPERD Conference. Not only did I have the opportunity to present two different sessions, but I also had an amazing opportunity to learn from some of the best teachers in our state as well as the future professionals presenting for the first time! NYSAHPERD put together a top-notch conference complete with sessions available for all levels of Physical Education, Health, Recreation, and Dance. I learned a new style of dance called Urban Strolling, and I learned how to use a dollar store to create some great lessons and learning experiences for our students! In fairness, my district and my director is very supportive of professional development opportunities, so I have been able to attend this conference as well as several others during the past five years, but that has not always been the case.....there were many years during which I did not have the opportunity to attend any professional conferences or workshops because support for these ventures was non-existent. During those years, it was possible to become stale and redundant without the chance to learn about new ideas and lessons. While I tried my best to continue to update my program, it was quite a struggle. I remember how excited I was at the first opportunity to attend a one-day workshop after approximately ten years of not going anywhere. As a direct result of attending local, state-wide, and regional conferences during the past five years I have been able to add technology, yoga, DDR, speedstacking, and much more to my program! In addition, each year I return from these conferences energized and ready to try new things! The bottom line is that whether you are a first year teacher or a veteran teacher the value of professional development is beyond compare. The professional contacts that I have made and the wonderful teachers that I have met have enriched my career and my life.....I am truly grateful for these opportunities....

How do you find your way? GPS or a Map?

This past week, I began to teach my younger students lessons on pathways - straight, curved, and zig-zag. Now, I have been teaching for quite some time and I have continually updated my lessons over the years. I like to add new lessons and equipment to keep my program current, but there are some lessons that are timeless....or so I thought...... This particular lesson about pathways begins with a simple enough question to help students think about how they get from one place to another. I begin the lesson with the following question: "When Mom and Dad are taking you on a trip in the car and your family has not been there before, how do Mom and Dad find their way without getting lost? In past years, the answer has been unanimously "a map". Usually, I will have a map with me at the ready and we then discuss what the lines on the map represent, and how they can be straight, curved, or zig-zag. The lesson then progresses to students moving in those pathways in various ways, etc. This year however, for the very first time, the answer given by my students, many as young as 5 years old, was "A GPS"! I should not have been surprised, since I include many kinds of technology in my program, and I have the opportunity to present on the topic of technology at state and regional conferences, but somehow this answer caught me by surprise! Of course, some students had no idea what a GPS was, and I was able to recover from my surprise and explain that a GPS is really just like a map on a screen! Students were satisfied with this response and we continued to complete the timeless (well, maybe not) lesson on pathways. How do you find your way?

2009 STACK UP!

I am pleased to announce that we will be participating in the 2009 WSSA STACK UP! on November 12, 2009! This is an event to attempt to break the current Guinness Book of World Records for the most people sport stacking in multiple locations in a single day! Students at North Park will participate in 30 minute blocks and sport stack away! Look for pictures of this event on my website: http://www.hydeparkschools.org/NPE/pe.html

We are getting ready to STACK UP!

Exercise US!

Recently, my school had the opportunity to participate in the inaugural Exercise US, held on October 1, 2009. This project was started by Len Saunders, of Project ACES, and created a "Wave" of exercise across the United States begining at 8:00 am on the East Coast and ending at 3:00 on the West Coast. It was wonderful to be a part of such a wonderful project! Our entire school - 360+ students and adults - danced and exercised in the gymnasium (a little crowded but the weather did not cooperate that day!). The smiles on all - students and teachers alike -proved that exercise is fun and worth doing! I am fortunate to be in a building that supports these school-wide fitness initiatives. In fact, when we have "Fitness Fridays" our teachers prefer to participate as a school rather than individually as classes! I applaud Len Saunders and all the work he has done over the years to increase awareness of the need for exercise for all! Pictures of our participation can be found on my website at : http://www.hydeparkschools.org/NPE/exercise09.html

We are looking forward to next year's Exercise US!

The First Day of School!

Today I enjoyed the first day of school! I say enjoyed, because it was a truly enjoyable day filled with smiles, warm greetings from students and parents alike, and a flurry of learning and activity! During our teacher meetings yesterday, one of our administrators asked us to converse with a colleague regarding the answer to the following question: "What causes you to be optimistic about public education?" I consider myself an optimistic person so it was not difficult for me to come up with some ideas. While there were certainly many answers to this question being discussed at the meeting, my colleagues and I decided that one cause of our optimism is the quality of the people we work with. My colleagues are dedicated professionals that believe in the power and value of education and I am proud to work with them each and every day. I am equally optimistic about public education because of the wonderful children that arrive at our school eager and ready to learn and their parents that support our programs. In the past few weeks as I was preparing for school to open, I witnessed many parents and children arrive at school to drop off supplies, visit classrooms and teachers, and speak with office staff or the principal. Parents and children alike were so very excited and could not wait for school to begin. One student came to visit me in the gymnasium with his mom. He walked confidently across the floor with a great big smile and a "Hi". He could not contain his excitement about the start of school! What a terrific way to start the year! Today we experience the promise of a new year, new opportunities, new experiences and new accomplishments. If you experienced the first day today at my school, you could not help but be excited and optimistic too!

The Value of Yoga

Today's fast-paced society causes stress for everyone, even children. In my school, we have a wonderful opportunity to offer Yoga as an activity for our students. When the students entered the gymnasium this week and saw the yoga mats on the floor many exclaimed "Yeah! we are doing yoga!" The benefits of yoga include balance, strength, concentration, focus, and relaxation. Our students reap those benefits when they participate in yoga activities in Physical Education class. How many of us would love a chance to turn the lights off, lay down, and let go of all of our daily stress by listening to soft music and relaxing? When I observe my students enjoy all of the yoga activities and then relax at the end, I can't help but think that this type of activity would benefit them more often than I can provide in PE. Several students fall asleep during the brief relaxation period at the end of class, and many would stay longer if time allowed. At the end of one yoga session, one student said "I wish I could stay here all day!" When it's time to put shoes on and get ready to go, many students lag behind to enjoy the time to relax. I asked my primary students to "Wiggle your fingers if you would like to have the chance to do yoga again." Guess what? There was not a finger that wasn't wiggling in the gym!

For The Love of Dance!

Dance can be joyful, fun, exhilarating, and exhausting.....and sometimes in PE it can be all of those things in addition to frustrating and anxiety producing for both students and teachers. During my years here at North Park teaching dance, I have experienced the full range of all of those emotions and reactions to dance. A few years ago, however, I began to see a positive change in how my students reacted to and enjoyed dance. I think that this change has been due to a variety of factors. First, I had a wonderful opportunity to have a folk dance group come to my school and teach my students "Community Dance". This group, Homespun Dance, taught me that dance should be enjoyed as a community and that partners don't always matter. Next, I began to teach the dances that they taught my students and myself and I approached dance in a different way. I allowed students to choose their own partners not based on gender, but on friendship and companionship. This, in and of itself, took the pressure of partner-based dances off of students and myself. Finally, I began to frame the dance unit in terms of the expectation of respect for every person in the room. At the beginning of my dance unit students are taught what respect looks likes, feels like, and sounds like and students are required to self-assess their behavior at the end of each class. As a result of these changes, students enjoy dance more than ever before. This was pointed out to me especially today, when a third grade boy was excited to begin dance and reminded me of a dance that he had done the previous year. He and the class were so excited at the memory of this particular dance, they asked if they could do it again today and show another adult in the room who had not seen the dance performed before. I could not have been happier to allow the students to dance this dance again! It took only a few minutes of cues to remind the students the particulars of the dance. They performed the dance eagerly and there were smiles all around! My dance unit today includes a variety of dances, both popular dances and folk dances, line dances and circle dances, partner dances and scatter dances. Students of every grade level enjoy these activities and my hope is that they will look back on these dances in later years and remember their experience with a smile on their face and that they will continue to have a love of dance!

Student/Teacher Jump Show

Yesterday we held our annual Student/Teacher Jump Show. This show is a celebration of everyone's hard work for our Jump Rope for Heart event which was held in February to raise money for the American Heart Association and to educate students as to the need for exercise and healthy living for heart health. During this Jump Show event, students and teachers alike perform various jump rope tricks for the rest of the school. This year, I asked a few students from each grade level to show the jump rope skills that they had practiced and mastered. The crowd went wild! Students from kindergarten through grade 5 jumped up a storm! At the end of the show, teachers took the stage. For quite some time we had been practicing our skills as well. Many of our teachers jumped together in a single long turning rope. We had four adults jumping in one rope at one time! Additionally, we were determined to master the double dutch jumping. With practice and determination, we did! Several of our teachers, including our principal, jumped the double dutch! Other teachers performed Chinese Jump Rope Tricks, and our school famous "Rope in Rope" trick. Our students showed their appreciation of our performance with cheers and applause! For me, this show tied together the need for community service, perseverance, determination, and school spirit. I was amazed that not one student - not even the kindergarten students - hesitated to come up in front of the entire school and jump. All of our students cheered and applauded for everyone! That, in and of itself, shows me, and I hope others, what a supportive environment our school has created. I could not have been more proud of our students, our faculty, and our school community. This was an occasion to step back and take stock of the wonderful opportunity we have as teachers to touch lives, create change, and make a difference.

Welcome to my blog!

Hi everyone, Welcome to my blog! This is my first blog attempt! I love technology so I thought I would give this a try! My purpose in doing this blog is to post information regarding my Physical Education program and my thoughts and philosophies regarding Physical Education in general. I have been teaching Elementary Physical Education for 25 years and I guess I feel like at this point in my career I have something to offer to those who want to listen and to those who are also involved in Physical Education. Hope you find this blog interesting and helpful!