Getting Ready for the New School Year

written by Isobel Kleinman, author of Too Dangerous to Teach

Between the BIG health issue of the times - obesity - and the tragic results of young people taking the lives of others, our mission in physical education gets more important every day. Why us, you ask?

Physical education is the truest social environment - other than lunch - in school. It is the one place where a course of action can improve both physical and emotional health. So, while you enjoy the freedom that summer brings, while you are doing something uplifting and renewing, please take the time to understand the impact you have on both these issues. Follow with me as I repeat some of the things I have written about in other articles that can be the start of a strategy to confront both of these difficult issues in a positive way.

Questions worth asking at the end of every school year:

• Are our kids enjoying their time with us? If not, why?
• Do kids prefer to sit out? If so, why and what can we do about it?
• Should we re-evaluate the dress code, how we deal with it, how we explain the reason for it or should we modify it?
• Are there problems in the locker room and how can we eliminate them?
• How should we respond to poor sportsmanship, bad language and bullying?
• Why is it important to develop and promote student leadership?
• How can we make our curriculum respond to the issues of the day?

Solutions

You need to be consistent and so must your colleagues. The best way to get there is to draw up a student contract that includes expectations for attendance, preparation, participation, excuses (medical or parental) and grading policy, and have the entire department agree to its terms. Post it on the web, distribute it in a summer mailing, go over it the first day of school, and have your students bring it home so that the parents see it. To make sure that they do, have the parents sign it and keep a file of signed contracts.

More importantly, after dealing with the organizational issues, is that we all think about the issues the kids' have and find ways to help solve them or at least empathize with them. These were my students' issues:

They hate having so little time to dress.

Neither I, nor you, have much control of the bell schedule - leaving us with the question, "should we rethink the dress code for gym?" It seems that many old reasons for the dress code have changed over time, which makes me wonder if we should drop it. Here is my rationale for changing the code:

Most kids wear clean sports clothes to school and shower or bath at home regularly, so the hygiene needs we quoted many years earlier with fervor are no longer valid. It may be enough to require that students store a change of clothes at school in the event that they get hit with a muddy ball, or slip on the turf, or tear their clothes, or have a sweaty day that makes them want to change at the end of class.

They like to learn, but they also want to have fun.

It makes no sense to call us teachers if we just drop-out the balls and let the kids play. Kids, adults, everyone, needs to feel competent to enjoy activity and want to participate in it. On the other hand, a teacher simply teaching skills and having the class practice them gets boring. Imagine dancing with no music, doing drills with no game as a follow-up, or teaching game strategies with no opponents. Skills and strategies should be learned and practiced, but each class should use what is learned in context so that the activity becomes fun.

They don't like feeling belittled or intimidated by classmates (or teachers), or even by themselves, which occurs when they have unrealistic expectations of themselves.

Unrealistic expectations are damaging no matter who has them. We teachers have to appreciate the progress that kids make, and be publically supportive about each and every progression they succeed at. With teacher affirmation, classmate affirmation will follow. Cheering the scorer is a no-brainer, but how about cheering the player who slowed down an opponent even if they couldn’t get the ball away, or forced an opponent to rush and make an error, or someone who saw an open man and made a pass? How about teaching kids to know and appreciate the good stuff that is part of team play; how about recognizing good movement (smooth, balanced, flowing, and quiet) rather than only applauding the most difficult of moves?

Spot the friendless kids and work with them even more! Listen to what they have to say. Make them feel as if they have you on their side. Encourage them to blossom. If any discourse smacks of discourteous communication or physical abuse, STOP IT!

Some students want more than game play and competing.

Not all kids are competitive or want to confront opponents. Some are esthetic and would enjoy moving without the competitive component. Units of instruction that could appeal to those students are: dance, gymnastics, and synchronized swimming. A complete curriculum should also include self-testing activities such as rock climbing, skiing, cross country, track and field, weight lifting, swimming, and fitness. These activities de-emphasize competition and make sure that the curriculum has something for everyone, which every good physical education program should aspire to.

Students need a sense of self-worth.

On a personal note, I have to admit that the most fun I had as a teacher, and my greatest joy, was convincing kids that even though they were not great athletes, they were needed and capable of making a contribution to their team. It wasn't easy. It required building a program with progressions, discussions of positioning, giving everyone their own job within a team, teaching them how they inter-relate on the field, and then loudly and publically applauding them for doing what had been taught. Since not all kids like sports, I knew they would find their place during dance or gymnastics.

With public appreciation, those same kids were won over. Once they were appreciated for their strengths, they would run into gym, convinced that they could learn anything and enjoy it all. Actually, I am getting the chills writing this because it is making me remember the hardest core of the anti-gym kids who had fantastic turnarounds mid-way through the year and became some of my best students. It was a great feeling for me, but more than that was that their sense of self-worth shot up and gave them something they will have for the rest of their lives.

They wanted to feel important to classmates and their teacher.

Students will feel important if they feel needed; if they get a happy reaction when they arrive; if there is something a little special about how you relate to them. So, make an effort to notice them, look happy to see them, and show they were missed when they were absent. Another great way to make them feel important is to give them responsibility, and help them rise to the occasion.

Students don't like to be told to hurry and then have to wait once they get to gym.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, once you have taught your kids how to care for the equipment, and what to do with it when you blow the whistle, give them access to equipment the minute they come to class. If you have been teaching dance, have the music on to practice things they learned in prior lessons. Leave the equipment out so they can use it when they come in. The very worst policy I know of is having the kids wait for everyone to show up. They should be moving all throughout the gym period. That starts with them using the stuff you taught them to use before you formally begin class.

Create a Good Emotional Environment in Class

Think about your responses to the typical negative things kids do, and instead of doing the usual (giving zeros, detention, calling home, removing kids from activity and/or class) come up with unique ways to turn the situation around. Do not tolerate bullying, bad sportsmanship, foul language or unsafe behavior. Stop the student from playing until he or she apologizes to you and the class.

Here are some suggestion for working with the kids who are getting under your skin.

• Try using praise when you're not angry; then build on that relationship.
• Admit to needing help, and put them in charge of something.
• Conspire with their parents to withhold Xmas or birthday presents, or allowances, if they don't turn around.
• When behavior is unacceptable and occurs repeatedly, ask the student write what occurred and what they could have and should have done.
• Ask your colleagues for suggestions, listening to them as they share the ploys they use for changing bad situations.

In conclusion, attack the kids' personal problems of our time - obesity and disconnectedness. As President Clinton said in a recent speech, "If you have no heart, you are not human." So let us address the heart issues. Yes, we have to remember that we want to use every minute to keep our kids moving - but moving happily. Getting that done might mean spending some of the summer thinking about how to make the mechanical/administrative part of class more fluid so that it doesn't detract from the objective - moving - and how to attack the problem of the disconnected, disenchanted kid.

So think ahead, plan ahead, and reach for what is best for education and our students.

Thanks . . .and a very happy summer to all of you.

Isobel Kleinman

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