Physical Education

After a few nonconsecutive observations, I have come to several conclusions about the way Mr. M, as a representation of the H School, approaches Physical Education.

The class itself operates like a well-oiled machine.  Children come in and immediately stand in a line at the edge of the basketball court.  From this line they are given instructions – today’s was to warm up by playing a tag version for the duration of a song played over speakers.  When the music ends, or when the beginning activity ends, the children reconvene, seated on the inner circle of the basketball court.  They have a stretching routine that they can perform with fair autonomy.  They stretch with arms extended to one foot for a count of 15 and then clap before switching to the other foot, and so on with other stretches in a similar fashion.  When this is done, Mr. M gives a run down of the agenda for the rest of class.  They will train or perform some form of sustained physical activity and if completed they will have “bonus time”.  Today’s training was a fitness test run they have prepared for.  It’s a cooperative beanbag run, in which the class is split into pairs.  The class was given a water break before and after.  One partner is the helper, the other the runner.  The runner is given a beanbag from the helper, and runs across the length of the gymnasium to drop the bag in a bucket on the other end, and then runs back to receive another bean bag.  This can go on for up to 26 reps, or until the timer goes off.  The partners switch, and their scores are recorded (i.e. child a. ran x reps).  After everyone has completed the activity, they return to the center circle to vote on the activities for their reward of bonus time.  They have the option of a whole group game or small activity choice.  Today the children ultimately voted for the choice of which small game to play, and soccer, basketball, and Frisbee were played for the remainder of the duration of class.  At the end of class, the students again line up on a sideline, and before they leave the gym they tap a smiley face decal on the wall or a frowny face to signify how they felt about class that day.

Within this class structure, Mr. M’s approach to phys. Ed. is one that I feel is an accurate representation of the school as a whole: inclusive and attune to the needs of the whole child.  To an onlooker it may not appear outwardly evident, but there is a strong emphasis on conflict resolution and cooperation, two facets of sport that build confidence, self-sufficiency, and social skills.  I had the pleasure of speaking to Mr. M and viewing his social skills curriculum.  When small, non-emergency conflicts arise the children have been instructed from the beginning of the school year to follow a plan.  Non-emergency conflicts that kids can solve without the use of an adult are situations like frustration after being bumped into by accident.  The plan is as follows.  When the conflict arises, you (the child) are expected to immediately turn to the other player and address the issue with a peace talk.  A peace talk takes place at a desk on the sidelines of the gym.  The children have been given words and phrases to use to effectively communicate in a peace talk.  It might go something like this:

            Child A: Can we have a peace talk?

            Child B (option 1): Yes.

The children then sit together at the desk and without yelling, use a phrase like:

            Child A: When you did x, I felt…

Or             Child A: Did you know when you did x…

From here they discuss the issue, apologize, and shake hands.

Another possible scenario is:

            Children A: Can we have a peace talk?

            Child B (option 2): No!

If the second player is still angry, or not ready in any way, they don’t have to engage in a peace talk at that moment.  They can instead choose to sit at the desk and cool off until they are ready, but eventually they do have talk to the other person.  Mr. M said that the trajectory of this exercise in communication and conflict resolution is that eventually children’s flexibility increases; as more of these conflicts arise the less interested children are in interrupting their gym time to talk.  Instead, they begin better picking their battles, forgiving each other quicker and with more ease.  I feel like my own personal experience with P.E. teachers as a child was in stark contradiction to this.  Instead of having an opportunity to solve my own problems in a communicative way with other children, I remember time-outs and teacher-oriented lectures.  Mr. M’s method is straightforward, gives children a routine, and ultimately makes differences in their behavior.  Sports can be a perfect time to play out conflict in a healthy way, and this conflict resolution technique just seems really effective and reinforcing.  Furthermore, Mr. M is a model himself, an example of compassion and teamwork.  When children in my classroom have gotten in trouble with bullying and bossing others around, Mr. M has taken them into his classes with younger children and given them a platform to work on positive leadership and being a team player.  When talking with me, a pre-service teacher, he readily shared his books and resources on teaching school aged children.  In terms of physical education itself, I have seen various posters and displays on the body and healthy choices in and around the gym and I have no doubt in his abilities or the potential for all gym teachers to be teachers in a rounded sense of the word.