Sunday, October 28, 2018

PHYSICAL LITERACY : Childhood Nostalgia

*This post was originally written for Human 2.0 the day after Halloween*

Last night, as I was sitting down in my Lambie costume handing out sugarless treats to children and playing the Star Wars theme song to every Jedi I saw, I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic about my childhood. I started thinking about all of the activities we now take for granted that helped develop our physical literacy.

I was lucky enough to grow up on a military base called Borden. Borden had everything a child needed to kill time from sunup to sundown. Borden is really the place that I developed most of my physical literacy. It had 1000’s of climbable trees. I developed my body strength by climbing those trees, inventing obstacle courses and jumping off them to learn naturally how to absorb shock. Our skin became rugged because of the tree bark. It didn’t matter, we had fun. It only really hurt when we showered afterwards.

My leg strength definitely came from all the biking I did. My friends and I had a biking gang and would ride all over the base. We’d go into the woods and mountain bike. There was a huge hill in the forest that we all had a hard time climbing but once we got it, we felt very accomplished and confident. Feeling confident plays a critical role in developing your physical literacy. We’d bike to our school’s playground and use the monkey bars, play Sandman, try to climb the soccer posts.

We kept developing our leg strength and our cardiovascular system during winter. We’d grab our GT Snow Racer, the one with Brett Hull on the box, walk to the forest, find a hill, slide down and walk back up. We would slide down for hours which meant we walked up for hours. Once we got bored, we’d slide back down and try to bump each other off our GT’s. We’d walk back up and repeat. Our legs felt sore afterwards. We all went home to eat lunch and promised to meet up immediately after to play street hockey. We would play street hockey until it was time to eat.

I could go on and on about all of the activities I use to do that helped my physical literacy. I hope you’re reading this article and that you’re nodding your head in agreement because you had a similar type of childhood. If so, let’s bring back free play. Free play is the best way to develop our children’s physical literacy. The more they play, the more confident they will become. The more confident they will become, the more open they will become to try new activities. If your child doesn’t like to play because he prefers his iPad, the solution to that problem is simple; you must become his role model. Chances are that if your child sees you playing outside, they will to. Eventually, they won’t need you anymore and they will go out and play by themselves or with their friends.

Remember to have fun:
-          Climb those monkey bars
-          Buy yourself a skateboard and enjoy the road
-          Play street hockey
-          Organize a pickup soccer game
-          Keep your balance on the sidewalk curb

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Do you give homework Twitter poll

This was my most successful poll yet. Over 200 people participated. Thank you! Participants had three choices this time.

1) Yes I give homework (daily or weekly).
2) Yes, but... (for those that only assign reading, incomplete class work and etc)
3) No! #ditchhw

I voted option #2. I usually give homework when there's incomplete class work. I give enough time to my students to complete the work. They have enough time to come see me and ask questions. On top of that, I e-mail the questions and answers to parents so that they feel more comfortable helping out.

Another type of homework that is assigned in my class is studying for a test. Students will know of an evaluation one week in advance. How much they study is up to them and their parents. I'll also give time in the classroom to study as well.

The last type of homework ''given'' are projects. I like to give different types of projects during the school year. I give enough time to complete the projects in the classroom (weeks, months, whatever is necessary to create something worthwhile). However, sometimes students like to work on the projects at home. This happens quite often because I think the projects are fun and interesting.

Now, here are the results of the Twitter poll:



Participants had interesting things to say:









I don't think there's a right or wrong way to do things. There are so many ways to teach. As long as you are true to your values and your schools' values and as long as you have your students' well-being at heart, you can't go wrong. Of course, that is just my opinion.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Would you rather...specialists and generalists in #physed

I recently Tweeted a poll (that I unfortunately deleted by mistake). I asked the following question:

Would you rather your students have physical education 2-3 times a week with a specialist or 4-5 times a week with a generalist?

Stats:
135 participants voted
80% voted for the first option (2-3 times a week with a specialist)
20% voted for the second option (4-5 times a week with a generalist)

Interesting conversations ensued:







Full disclosure, I voted for generalists 4-5 times a week. The vote is based on my personal experience of having taught as a ''generalist''. I taught my grade 5 students the following subjects: French, mathematics, social studies, sciences, arts and physical education (4 times a week). My 1st specialist taught a combined class of physical education and health. My second specialist taught one class of music and my third specialist taught English twice a week. As a generalist, I was able to find holes in the gymnasium schedule and pencil in my classroom. This allowed me to get them in the gymnasium 4-5 times a week. When we didn't have access to the gymnasium we would have our physical education class outside. I also didn't like them to move for 60 minutes and then sit for the rest of the day. I added lots of movement opportunities in the classroom. We have to be careful to not create a generation of actively sedentary students.



The reality is that we need our students to have physical education and movement opportunities every day and that won't happen with physed specialists only. Both the physical education and generalist teacher need to combine forces in order to make sure our students move enough throughout the day.

Learn to move.
Move to learn.






Friday, March 30, 2018

Multi-Sport Approach

I really enjoyed reading an article from the Ottawa Citizen last week featuring Dr. Chris Raynor about the importance of movement. As a physical education teacher, I see it all the time. I get to teach good soccer players or good hockey players but unfortunately, not always great movers. Some students are great with their feet or others are great on the ice but they have a hard time playing other sports or lack the core muscles to push and pull objects. In the last few years, the effect of early sport specialization has become more and more apparent in our young athletes.


A few years ago, I read a really great article about Jordan Spieth, a multi-sport athlete, and Tiger Woods, a prime example of an early sport specialization athlete. After reading this article, I decided to make a list of famous multi-sport athletes. The list includes historical sporting figures such as Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan and others. Even The Great One, thinks ’’it's really important for kids to play other sports - whether it's indoor lacrosse or soccer or baseball. I think what that does is two things. One, each sport helps the other sport. And then I think taking time off in the off-season (...) really rejuvenates kids ’’. If It’s good enough for Wayne Gretzky, why can’t it be enough proof that the multi-sport approach works? Well, there are many answers to that question. However, the one reason that I’ve heard the most is that parents in Ottawa get told that their child won’t make the top team if they don’t participate in the winter soccer program or the summer hockey season. Of course parents aren’t made out of money so they might not have the means to sign up for a second sport.


The problem when we have athletes specializing in one sport for 10-12 months a year is that they won’t be developing their physical literacy to their fullest potential. Take a look at the diagram below. I’m not sure there’s a single sport that currently exists that will help develop the ABCs of movement, the fundamental movement skills AND the basic human movements. That’s why athletes need to play multiple sports. Also, as I’ve previously stated in another blog post on Human 2.0’s website, children also need free time to explore and play in order to develop their physical literacy.



All of that being said, there are some great things being done in the community. For example, in Cochrane, children can now sign up for a multi-sport league. Children get to experience 10 different sports in 10 months. If you’re interested, this video explains further. Also, I’ve recently participated in a round table discussion with True Sport. They are planning on creating a similar multi-sport league in Ottawa for young children. These children will be 6 and 7 years old. The different sports will be taught by community coaches and instructors. Once they’ve tried a dozen sports through the True Sport Multi-Sport Program, they can then choose 2-3 of them that they really enjoyed. If children play multiple sports, participate in a wide variety of physical activities during P.E. and play freely outside they will become great movers and subsequently, healthier. In the end, having healthy children is what all parents, teachers, coaches and trainers want.


Other Resources:


Active for Life - The Multi-Sport Advantage
http://activeforlife.com/multisportadvantage/


Changing the Game Project - Is it Wise to Specialize? http://changingthegameproject.com/is-it-wise-to-specialize/


Sport for Life - Long-Term Athlete Development Stages
http://sportforlife.ca/qualitysport/stages/