Men - Women - Coed

Title IX helped create wonderful opportunities for women in sports, but along with the good has come some bad. For one thing, like it or not, sex has entered the classroom: in modeling, in expectations, in power plays, and in harassment. - An HBO documentary called "Playing the Field" takes a look at another side of the issue of sports and sex. It aired the first time in December. Watch for it again. - On December 15, 2000, The New York Times discussed how HBO handled "Playing the Field". It left us all working with sport, some food for thought. It is perhaps time for physical educators to examine how the presence of both sexes in one class has affected curriculum, district hiring practices, student performance, class effort, sexual attitudes, general behavior, role modeling, and self esteem.

Role Models

Sports figures can be held up as heroes when they do something we'd like others to do: When the President of a University can cite an athlete for academic accomplishment. When a guy making 16 million dollars a year feels he needs an education and goes for it. When the President of LSU can joke, "I'd like to thank Mr. O'Neal for dramatically increasing the starting salary of this graduating class." - the man he is talking about is Saquille O'Neil; a hero. He could be your student's hero too, if you mentioned him in class. As educators we should thank Shaq for reminding whoever learns that he recieved a diploma for completing college, that the game is not everything. Saquille O'Neal not only stands tall on the basketball court, he stands tall in life. In a cap and gown, he spoke to his graduating class and the world saying, "For people who think money and fame are important, they are only a small piece of the pie. You need an education to feel secure...I can get a real job now."

Maximizing The Learning Experience I don't know about you, but my kids could have used gym everyday for an hour, but just had it alternating days for forty two minutes. That included dressing time. What this means is conflicting goals and circumstances: little time, a desire to give classes a great learning experience and their need for fun too. What to do? Use the first ten minutes the students are on the gym floor wisely. First, leave the equipment out so that kids coming out of the locker room can use it instantly. I call this Free Play, others might call it Instant Activity. Whatever you call it, leaving equipment available before the formal start of class maximizes the opportunity to play and practice what you've already taught without students worrying about game scores, or that others are looking on. That's because each is doing their own thing. If there is enough equipment available, it cuts down on misbehavior in the locker room and on the gym floor. Students want to move. They are tired of sitting around in the classroom. Give them the chance.... immediately and they will be productive. Second, instead of doing standard warm-up exercises, try turning warm-ups into an opportunity to have the class practice movement patterns that they will be using later. I call this "mimetics" because student mime an action without equipment. This is basketball season. Why don't you start by having kids use a shooting arm motion, and wrist snap toward a target you make up...a spot on a wall, or a word in a banner. Do it five or so times. Then add whatever footwork and body position they'll need for successful shooting. Practice five or six times before adding anything else. Then add a jump. For younger kids, you might want them jumping to shoot. For the older ones you might introduce the jump shot by having them jump and when in the air, make believe their shooting. Each time, repeat the action five or six times. You can go on to a jump shot without the ball or even how to turn - jump - shoot. You can teach fundamentals of rebounding too... jump, reach up and pull the imaginary ball down. By using mimetic, each improvement they need to make can be drilled, in unison, without the ball and you have started the learning process and refined it without the worry of the kids getting negative feedback. You can teach - in warm-ups - as much as your imagination allows you. See Complete Physical Education Plans for Grades 7-12 for more ideas on how to use mimetics to help kids learn new skills.

Secondary Health Teaching Ideas

Medically Excused Kids Can they funtion in class? Yes, and here are some ways how: - Give them a whistle, have them learn the rules along with the rest of the class, and teach them to officiate. - Ask them to keep score, stats, or coach a team. - Have them create a rules sheet, basketball bulletin board, or a "play" that they teach the class. - Have them research the best way to recover from their medical problem, and what exercise they could do until they are fully back to health.

If you have ideas, comments, letters to share, or questions about particular topics, please email one of the following Secondary PE Section Editors:

	Jon Poole
	Bane McCracken
	Darla Castelli
	Lori Dunn
	Mary Trettevik
	Isobel Kleinman

Need Basketball Information? A great search engine for finding information is Looksmart.com . There you can find: High School Basketball, with news, guides, recruiting information, state by state results, and developmental programs.You can also find information on Women's Basketball. For college results, programs, eligibility, recruiting, and reporting, see NCAA Basketball.net You probably should review this before suggesting it to your class, but there is a recent video out called "Love and Basketball" that might be worth a look. Check out what teachers Craige McKenna and Deborah Reedy are doing at Dalton Intermediate School in Radford, Virginia. This site includes over 25 video clips you can view with free software such as Windows Media Player and/or Real Player. Making a Difference Check out this site of Lois Mauch from Fargo, North Dakota. I have the pleasure of knowing Lois, and to me at least, she exemplifies a secondary physical educator making a difference in the lives of her students.

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Facilities & Equipment

Best Practices This link directs you to PE Central's Best Practices Program which is intended to help share some of the exciting things teachers do to enhance physical education programs.

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