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Physical and Health Education in Canada
Integrated Approaches for Elementary Teachers
Edited by Joe Barrett and Carol Scaini
264 Pages
Physical and Health Education in Canada: Integrated Approaches for Elementary Teachers is a comprehensive text for Canadian teacher candidates preparing for responsibilities associated with physical and health education teaching in the elementary grades (K through 8). The book also serves as a practical reference for in-service elementary teachers responsible for physical and health education.
Editors Joe Barrett and Carol Scaini called upon a distinguished group of physical and health education teacher educators, researchers, and field leaders from across Canada’s provinces and territories to provide expertise for this book. These contributors have synthesized the relevant research on physical and health education teaching, as well as strategies rooted in decades of practical experience, to provide valuable insights from a variety of perspectives.
Integrated and Evidence-Based Approach
Physical and Health Education in Canada offers a comprehensive collection of integrated approaches informed by evidence and designed to support emerging and established physical and health education pedagogies. It includes the following features:
• Learning outcomes at the beginning of each chapter to help readers focus on the primary concepts
• Discussion questions at the end of each chapter that help students reflect on and apply the content they have learned
• Voices From the Field sidebars that provide examples of activities and approaches that work for the teachers, describe why those approaches work, and connect theory to practice
Organization of the Text
Physical and Health Education in Canada is organized into three parts. Part I offers insights on health and physical literacy, long-range planning, promoting safe practices, and inclusion and diversity issues. Part II examines the keys to teaching health education, offering recommendations for health education teachers and outlining a comprehensive school health plan that incorporates contemporary topics such as mental health and wellness. Part III presents numerous strategies and considerations, including team building activities, movement skills and concepts, the Teaching Games for Understanding approach, game design, and curricular integration.
Useful Resources
The book comes with a presentation package available to course adopters that includes key concepts and illustrations from the book. It also offers a web resource with activities, examples, and templates that in-service teachers can use in their efforts to organize and deliver quality physical and health education experiences. The activities range in level from kindergarten through grade 8 and focus on a wide range of topics, including team building, functional fitness, and indigenous games. These web resource materials are laid out in easy-to-use templates that can be used as they are or customized to suit your situation.
Whether you are a new physical and health educator, a generalist teacher seeking proven practices, or a seasoned specialist pursuing variety in your approach to physical and health education programming, the materials in the text and the web resource will help you organize and deliver informed, evidence-based, and effective physical and health educaation teaching experiences for your students.
Part I. Preparing to Teach Physical and Health Education
Chapter 1. A Sociocultural Perspective on Teaching Health and Physical Literacy
Teresa Socha and Erin Cameron
What Is Health Literacy?
What Is Physical Literacy?
Health in the Context of Physical Literacy
Common Practices and Alternatives
Infusing HPE Curriculum With a Sociocultural Perspective
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 2. Long-Range Planning
Joe Barrett and Daniel B. Robinson
Definitions and Meaning
Long-Range Planning
Backward Design model
Step 1: Identifying Provincial or Territorial Learning Outcomes
Step 2: Considering the Scope of the PE Program
Step 3: Sequencing Potential Unit Topics Across the Calendar
Step 4: Planning Unit Overviews
Step 5: Considering the Culminating Unit Task
Step 6: Selecting an Evaluation Tool
Step 7: Determining Criteria for Success
Step 8: Calculating Teaching Time
Step 9: Reviewing the Unit and Incorporating Outcomes
Step 10: Completing Daily Info
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 3. Promoting Safe Practices
Greg Rickwood
Space and Facilities
Equipment
Safety Rules
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 4. Including Everyone
Carol Scaini and Jeannine Bush
Instructional Supports
Teaching Methods and Instructional Strategies
Modifying the Environment and Equipment
Building Partnerships
Modifying Games and Sports
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 5. Addressing Diversity
Erin Cameron
Creating Sociocultural Connections
Social Justice Education
Addressing Diversity: Becoming Aware of the Water
Race and Ethnicity
Disability
Gender
Body Size
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 6. Infusing Indigenous Games and Perspectives Within HPE
Mary Courchene, Blair Robillard, Amy Carpenter, and Joannie Halas
Creating a New Narrative for Turtle Island
Mino’ Pimatisiwin: Living a Balanced Life
Teaching Active Life and Learning
Playing It Forward With Games and Activities: The Original Intent of Play
The Circle We All Share as a Way of Being
Affirming Indigenous Pathways to Health and Wellness
Balancing the Four Directions: Mino’ Pimatisiwin as Formative Assessment
Summary
Voices From the Field
Part II. Teaching Health Education
Chapter 7. Recommendations for Quality Health Education Teaching
Joe Barrett, Chunlei Lu, and Jillian Janzen
Why Do We Teach Health Education in Our Schools?
Relationship Between Health Literacy and School Health Education
Improving Health Literacy
Recommendations to Support Quality Health Education
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 8. Promoting Positive Mental Health
Susan Rodger
Developing Mental Health Literacy
Understanding Mental Health and Resilience
Understanding Resilience
Noticing Student Mental Health and Behaviour
Helping Students Manage Stress
Adverse Effects on Well-Being
Normalizing Mental Health Discussion
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 9. Comprehensive School Health
Rebecca Lloyd, Joanne G. de Montigny, and Jessica Whitley
What Is Comprehensive School Health?
World Health Organization
Joint Consortium for School Health
Physical and Health Education Canada
Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child
Becoming a Champion of CSH: Forming a Community of Practice
Creating Partnerships Between Schools and Communities
Becoming a Champion of CSH: A Mindfulness Example
Creating Ongoing Opportunities to Promote CSH
Concluding Exercise
Summary
Voices From the Field
Part III. Teaching Physical Education
Chapter 10. Teaching Team Building Activities
Carol Scaini and Catherine Casey
Organizing Teams
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 11. Teaching Movement Skills and Concepts
Helena Baert and Matthew Madden
Movement Education
Motor Development and Learning
Phases and Stages of Motor Development
Movement Skill Posters
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 12. Teaching Games Using a TGfU Approach
Nathan Hall and Brian Lewis
Defining Games in Physical Education
Strategies for Selecting and Designing Games in Physical Education
Teaching Games for Understanding
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 13. Incorporating Activities for Functional Fitness
Brian Justin
Starting With Why
Components of Physical Fitness
Implementing Physical Fitness Activities
Fitness Variables
Focused Fitness Qualities by Age
Guide to Using Activities
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 14. Designing Games
Carol Scaini and Catherine Casey
Designing Cooperative Games
Designing Tag Games
Designing Games Through TGfU
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 15. A Wellness Approach to Teaching Physical Education
Michelle Kilborn and Kim Hertlein
Rethinking Physical Education
A Wellness Way of Being a Teacher
Mindfulness
Interconnectedness: Kindness and Compassion
Balance
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 16. Education for Sustainability and Well-Being
Thomas Falkenberg, Michael Link, and Catherine Casey
Physical Well-Being in Complex Systems
Appreciation for the Natural Environment
Guide to Using Activities
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 17. Curricular Integration
Carol Scaini and Carolyn Evans
What Does It Mean to Integrate?
Potential Benefits of Integration in Health and Physical Education
Integrating Academic Subjects Into Physical Activities
Integrating Physical Activity Into Academic Subjects
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 18. Taking Physical Education Outside
Andrew Foran
Three Teachers in the Outdoors
Scope and Benefits of Outdoor Education
Planning and Preparation
Planning Phase
Site Assessment
Preparing Students
At-a-Glance Checklist
Student Medical Form
Assessing and Managing Risk
Equipment and Instructional Resource Checks
Managing Groups Outside
Locations
Activities
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 19. Teaching Dance and Movement Education
Michelle Hillier
Why Teach Dance?
Who Can Teach Dance?
What Does Dance Look Like in HPE?
1. Move It
2. Learn It
3. Live It
Summary
Voices From the Field
Chapter 20. Enhancing Teaching With Technology
Camille Rutherford
Tech-Enabled HPE
Aligning HPE With 21st-Century Competencies
Collaboration
Creativity
Communication
Critical Thinking
Citizenship
Summary
Voices From the Field
Joe Barrett, EdD, is an associate professor in the department of teacher education at Brock University in Ontario. His research and service duties revolve around school health policy and health and physical education pedagogy. At Brock University, Dr. Barrett teaches a number of elementary and secondary undergraduate courses that focus on physical and health education curriculum and instruction, as well as graduate courses focused on physical and health education policy and curricula using problem-based learning pedagogies. He has served as the Ontario representative on the Physical and Health Education (PHE) Canada Board of Directors (2013-2015) and as co-chair (2010-2012) and chair (2012-2013) of the PHE Canada Research Council. He served a two-year term as the co-chair (2017-2019) of the PHE Canada National Research Forum.
Carol Scaini, MEd, is an instructor in the department of teacher education at Tyndale University College in Ontario and is an experienced health and physical education teacher with the Peel District School Board. At Tyndale University College, she teaches the physical and health education course for both primary/junior and junior/intermediate teacher candidates. She is well known in the field of health and physical education (HPE): She serves on a number of HPE committees, has taught HPE additional qualification courses at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, and has authored several health and physical education resources. She has earned numerous teaching awards, including the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence, the Ontario Teacher of the Year award, the Dr. Andy Anderson Young Professional Award from PHE Canada, the Ontario Association for the Support of Physical and Health Educators (OASPHE) Recognition Award and Advocacy Award, and an Award of Distinction from the Peel District School Board.
Helping Students Manage Stress
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation).
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation). These responses are linked to survival in the most basic sense - if we perceive danger, our built-in alarm system activates to protect us. This system often creates particular behaviours referred to in the common phrase "fight, flight, or freeze."
The stress response (which we often refer to simply as stress) occurs whenever we are faced with a challenge or change in our environment that demands our adaptation. The challenge, or stressor, may be a school or social situation, a sport competition, a touch, a threat, or anything that pressures us to adapt. The specifics of how we interpret danger - and feel stress - vary from person to person; overall, however, the stress response is simply the brain's signal to the body, and to itself, that adaptation is needed. Everyone experiences the stress response every single day. In the vast majority of situations, it is low in intensity, transient, and helpful.
Children are observant, and they learn how to interpret their own stress response by watching others. If they are told that what they are feeling is helpful - that the body signals they are experiencing are helping them prepare to perform well - then they tend to do well. In such cases, they focus on learning or on applying the skills necessary to succeed in the given situation. When they are successful, the stress response dissipates. Moreover, they remember what they did to adapt, and now they have embedded a skill and thus become more resilient. Because they remember what they did to solve the problem, they can apply that strategy in the future.
Instead of saying to a student, "You look depressed," you might say, "I'm noticing that your energy is really low today. What's going on?"
If, on the other hand, children are told that what they are feeling is harmful and negative, then they may spend much of their time trying to shut down the stress response or avoid the situation eliciting it. Both of these outcomes lead to poor adaptation and decreased resilience. Thus we must realize that we have a key role to play in helping students learn to handle stress constructively.
In order to do so, we must avoid confusing the daily stress that helps us grow, develop, and adapt with the type of stress that can lead to problems and be difficult to overcome independently. Not all stress is the same, yet people often forget the huge differences between various kinds of stress. As a result, they often confuse normal and helpful everyday stress with toxic stress - that is, the acute stress that protects us from danger. This confusion may help explain why many educators view stress as bad, when in fact most stress is healthy and even necessary for human growth and development. The following descriptions summarize three types of stress response: positive, tolerable, and toxic (Harvard Center for the Developing Child, n.d.).
- Positive stress response is a normal and essential part of healthy development. It is characterized by brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in hormone levels. A positive stress response might be triggered, for example, by the following situations.
- In childhood: receiving an immunization shot, meeting a new caregiver
- In adolescence: writing examinations, going to a new school, failing a grade, not making the team, giving a public lecture, performing on stage, asking someone for a date, going to a party with unfamiliar people
- For new teachers: meeting students' parents, writing report cards, getting to know colleagues
- Tolerable stress response activates the body's alert systems to a greater degree than positive stress response as a result of more severe, longer-lasting difficulties - for example, a natural disaster, a frightening injury, or the loss of a loved one. If the activation is time limited and buffered by relationships with adults who help the child adapt, then the brain and other organs recover from what might otherwise be damaging effects. Here are some examples.
- For students: moving to a new home and school, being diagnosed with a chronic disease (e.g., diabetes, asthma), losing a grandparent or parent
- For teachers: ending an intimate relationship, moving to an unfamiliar place to begin a career, being reassigned at the last minute and needing to rebuild lesson plans and resources
- Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, or prolonged adversity - such as unsafe housing, hunger, physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, substance abuse or mental illness in a caregiver, exposure to violence, or economic hardship - without adequate adult support. This kind of prolonged activation of the stress response systems can disrupt the development of brain architecture and other organ systems. It can also increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment well into the adult years.
You may have heard the saying, "Be kind; everyone is fighting a hard battle." Being kind means really looking at our students, seeing what might underlie their behaviour, considering how their personal wellness or context might influence how they react in a particular situation, and - as the caring adult - creating a safe space in which they can develop their sense of self.
This perspective is particularly important when reflecting on how we think children and youth (and we and our peers) "should" handle stress. Do you have a student who is very anxious about "getting into trouble"? Perhaps the student has experienced maltreatment at the hands of caregivers in response to transgressions. Depending on the child's age and coping style, this anxiety may manifest in the form of noncompliance ("defiance"), being anxious to please ("goody-two-shoes"), or being withdrawn ("bored" or "not motivated"). Do you have a student who is focused on getting high marks and other positive evaluations? Again, depending on age and history, such students may present as being overly focused on meeting your criteria ("needy" or "demanding"), helpless ("lacking confidence"), or distracted ("needing to focus" or "apply themselves").
How does this overview of stress fit with what you have been taught? How does it challenge common beliefs suggesting that normal and everyday stress is bad, that we should protect children from it, or that there may be things over which we have no control that influence how a person copes with stress?
Instead of being silent when a student says, "That guy is crazy" or "She is nuts," respond to what you are hearing: "I am hearing some language that worries me. Let's take a minute and talk about this."
Here are some strategies to keep in mind when helping students develop the necessary skills to cope with stress:
- When possible, give students choices regarding assessments. A student who experiences performance-related anxiety is likely to be negatively influenced by the anxiety (which does not mean that he or she doesn't know or can't do it).
- Consider different ways in which students can contribute to others' learning. Are they too nervous to demonstrate the skill in front of the class? Then have them record others doing so. Are they overwhelmed by the expectation? Then talk with them about it and guide them to reasonable alternatives for demonstrating their learning. This is not about giving students a way out; it is about giving them a way in.
- Start small and focus on building their capacity. We all benefit from opportunities to learn, practice, and receive constructive feedback.
- Explore simple ways to build a sense of mastery in your classroom - for example, using jigsaw or cooperative learning.
And here are some individual factors to consider:
- Does the student possess the necessary skills to complete the task? Some students may need coaching or extra practice.
- Is the person naturally more open or more resistant to new experiences? Some students may need encouragement and time to explore new experiences.
- Is the person generally more anxious or less anxious? For students who tend to be more anxious about life in general, being reminded of times when they coped effectively with anxiety can help them generalize the relevant skills to new situations.
- Is the task simple, clearly explained, and well resourced (e.g., in terms of time, materials, and support)? It can be helpful to break a large task into smaller steps, provide tools (e.g., an outline) and reminders (e.g., posters or instruction sheets), and check in frequently.
Remember also that children often mirror an important adult's response to an unexpected or unpleasant situation. If, upon seeing a child fall down and bang a knee, we swoop in to help, then we transmit the message that the fall was a catastrophe and the child or youth is incapable of handling it. Instead, we can make eye contact and check in: "Hey [Name], you took quite a tumble. Are you ready to go back in [to the game or class activity], or do you need to sit out for a few minutes?" In this way, we send the message that we noticed the event and are letting the student choose the next step because he or she can.
Infusing HPE with a Sociocultural Perspective
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation.
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation. Think back to your own school experiences in physical education. What is your story? Is it one of glory and enjoyment, or of shame and exclusion, or of indifference? How might this question be answered by some of your classmates? If your own experience of physical education was (thankfully) free from public shaming, consider the following tweets: "PE doesn't stand for physical education, it stands for public embarrassment" (Popik, 2013, n.p.). "PE is 5% exercise and 95% embarrassment" (Common White Girl, 2014, n.p.). What are some other forms of exclusion found in schools?
Another way to get at the question is to consider what image comes to mind when you think of a physical education teacher, or of physical education students. A teacher's dress code, norms, and routines - along with curriculum content and instructional activities - all affect students' participation and, ultimately, their overall physical education experience. With that power in mind, let's explore some often-unquestioned practices in physical education and look at alternatives for your own practice.
For instance, have you ever wondered why some teachers have students sit in "squads" as soon as they enter the gym, while the teacher stands in front of the class? Though some educators view this approach as an effective strategy for classroom management and grouping, it stems from physical education's roots in military training and its early focus on calisthenics and physical training. In other words, it provides a means for maintaining order in the gymnasium. What hidden messages might this practice deliver to students? For one thing, the use of squads positions the teacher as an all-powerful figure who makes all decisions and leaves little if any room for choice by students. Thus it does not fit with a sociocultural approach to teaching that seeks to fully engage students in their learning.
What alternatives exist? When gathering students together after an activity, one possibility is to invite them to sit in a circle and then seat yourself among them, as part of the circle. Indeed, in some Indigenous cultures, the circle symbolizes equality and interconnection among all things - "all peoples, all animals, all spirits, all perspectives" (chapter 6). Thus the physical arrangement of the circle is important and requires that everyone be able to see every face without having to lean forward. You might also ask your students why they think you have chosen to use a circle. Then stand up and ask them how they feel now as compared with when you were sitting with them. Notice whether students seem to detect a shift in the balance of power in the teacher - student relationship. Chapter 6 describes the circular world view and how talking circles can be used to give each member an opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and questions - in other words, to be valued.
Another common practice in physical education that we have come to take for granted is the use of a whistle to get students' attention. Think back to your early physical education days. Did your gym teacher use a whistle? If so, how did you feel when you heard it blow? Did it evoke a feeling of obedience, lack of control, nervousness? Have you ever questioned its use? Emitting 100 decibels or more with each blow, a whistle can produce a sound as loud as a motorcycle or rock concert. Used in excess, it can even damage hearing, and for some students it conjures up the image of a drill sergeant in boot camp. It may also evoke feelings of anxiety or even shame based on previous negative experiences in physical education.
One alternative practice is to use your voice to communicate through words such as stop, hold, look, listen. You can teach the children what each instruction means: stop what you are doing, hold the equipment you are using, look at the person speaking, and listen for instructions or feedback. Students can practice following these instructions in a game-like activity. This is only one alternative; no doubt you can come up with others!
In another common practice, in health classrooms, students are often required to sit and be quiet during an entire lesson. Here again, think back to your own early days, this time in health education rather than physical education. Did you sit while learning about health? If so, did you learn the names and parts of the human body? Did they have much relevance to your life as a student? As Halas and Kentel (2008) have questioned, "Do we consider how painful it can be when we hold young people back from the movement their bodies crave, particularly in schools?" (p. 214). This question is especially poignant when applied to students who are learning about health.
Despite growing support for health education, research has shown that health in schools continues to be taught in ways that are outdated, didactic, and reductionist (Begoray, Wharf-Higgins, & MacDonald, 2009; Lu & McLean, 2011). In other words, whereas physical education is movement oriented, health education continues to be taught in a teacher-centred and physically inactive manner. What can we change to make health education experiential, active, and fun? For example, rather than simply teaching dry facts about specific body parts - say, the human heart - perhaps students could embody the cardiovascular system, thus learning by acting out how it works. In another example, rather than just learning about food groups and the Canada Food Guide, perhaps students could also involvetheir bodies in completing tasks that help them remember the learning. For example, first- to third-grade students could work alone or in pairs to retrieve various food cards that are placed on the perimeter of a large circle at the centre of the gym or field. They would travel to the perimeter of the playing area and place the card in the correct designated food group (e.g., fruit, vegetable, root vegetable, tuber vegetable, grain products, meat and eggs, legumes, dairy, nuts and seeds) location (e.g., a hula-hoop). While traveling, students could explore various locomotor skills and movement concepts at the same time. As the old saying goes, "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll learn."
What makes for a successful game?
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that.
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that. The success of a game depends on a great many factors, ranging from students' moods to curricular outcomes. There are, however, a few essential considerations that must be satisfied in order for a game to be considered successful as part of a physical education lesson. These essentials hold true for all games - competitive and cooperative, small sided and large sided, teacher driven and student created.
The first essential is that the game must be educational; more specifically, it must help all students develop knowledge or skills related to a specific curricular outcome. Merely getting students physically active is not enough. Many physical educators believe that a class is successful if the students are "happy and busy" (i.e., having fun and being active) and being "good" (i.e., behaving well) (Placek, 1983; Henninger & Coleman, 2008). Certainly, these things are desirable, but if a game is not educational - that is, if students are not learning anything - then we would suggest that it cannot in good conscience be considered successful by a teacher who believes in delivering a physical education program.
The second essential is for the game to have clearly defined rules that are not too hard for students to follow and that help create equal opportunity for all players. If students are unsure how a game should be played, this uncertainty immediately undercuts its potential for success. Specifically, game flow may be disrupted by frequent stops due to rule infractions, and students may be less engaged in the activity because they don't fully understand what they are - and are not - allowed to do. As a result, games with demanding rules are often problematic at the elementary school level. For example, it would nearly impossible to play a full game of either Canadian or American football with elementary school students; there are simply far too many rules for students to remember and understand. Even at the secondary school level, teachers typically use a modified version (e.g., flag football) or a small-sided version with simplified rules. Of course, problems can also arise if a game has too few rules. For example, safety issues could be problematic for a modified game of floor hockey where the only rule provided is that a goal will be counted when the ball enters the opposing team's net. Keeping sticks down and body contact, for example, should also be addressed.
The final essential is that the game should be enjoyable and high in "playability" (Casey & Hastie, 2011).Although the need for fun is unsurprising, students' perceptions of it can be affected by a variety of factors, many of which are hard for a teacher to control. That said, one factor that is sure to influence a game's level of fun is playability. Students typically want games to feature a balance between offense and defense; even more important, they prefer games that allow for success. For example, in elementary school, volleyball typically lacks playability because it requires very specific skills that are too advanced for most of the students. Therefore, in order to make the game successful with these students, teachers need to find ways to improve its playability - for example, using a beach ball instead of a traditional volleyball. This simple modification gives students more time to set up and make contact with the ball, thus increasing the average length of rallies and increasing students' ability to succeed in playing the game. Essentially, then, this modification makes the game playable!
Helping Students Manage Stress
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation).
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation). These responses are linked to survival in the most basic sense - if we perceive danger, our built-in alarm system activates to protect us. This system often creates particular behaviours referred to in the common phrase "fight, flight, or freeze."
The stress response (which we often refer to simply as stress) occurs whenever we are faced with a challenge or change in our environment that demands our adaptation. The challenge, or stressor, may be a school or social situation, a sport competition, a touch, a threat, or anything that pressures us to adapt. The specifics of how we interpret danger - and feel stress - vary from person to person; overall, however, the stress response is simply the brain's signal to the body, and to itself, that adaptation is needed. Everyone experiences the stress response every single day. In the vast majority of situations, it is low in intensity, transient, and helpful.
Children are observant, and they learn how to interpret their own stress response by watching others. If they are told that what they are feeling is helpful - that the body signals they are experiencing are helping them prepare to perform well - then they tend to do well. In such cases, they focus on learning or on applying the skills necessary to succeed in the given situation. When they are successful, the stress response dissipates. Moreover, they remember what they did to adapt, and now they have embedded a skill and thus become more resilient. Because they remember what they did to solve the problem, they can apply that strategy in the future.
Instead of saying to a student, "You look depressed," you might say, "I'm noticing that your energy is really low today. What's going on?"
If, on the other hand, children are told that what they are feeling is harmful and negative, then they may spend much of their time trying to shut down the stress response or avoid the situation eliciting it. Both of these outcomes lead to poor adaptation and decreased resilience. Thus we must realize that we have a key role to play in helping students learn to handle stress constructively.
In order to do so, we must avoid confusing the daily stress that helps us grow, develop, and adapt with the type of stress that can lead to problems and be difficult to overcome independently. Not all stress is the same, yet people often forget the huge differences between various kinds of stress. As a result, they often confuse normal and helpful everyday stress with toxic stress - that is, the acute stress that protects us from danger. This confusion may help explain why many educators view stress as bad, when in fact most stress is healthy and even necessary for human growth and development. The following descriptions summarize three types of stress response: positive, tolerable, and toxic (Harvard Center for the Developing Child, n.d.).
- Positive stress response is a normal and essential part of healthy development. It is characterized by brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in hormone levels. A positive stress response might be triggered, for example, by the following situations.
- In childhood: receiving an immunization shot, meeting a new caregiver
- In adolescence: writing examinations, going to a new school, failing a grade, not making the team, giving a public lecture, performing on stage, asking someone for a date, going to a party with unfamiliar people
- For new teachers: meeting students' parents, writing report cards, getting to know colleagues
- Tolerable stress response activates the body's alert systems to a greater degree than positive stress response as a result of more severe, longer-lasting difficulties - for example, a natural disaster, a frightening injury, or the loss of a loved one. If the activation is time limited and buffered by relationships with adults who help the child adapt, then the brain and other organs recover from what might otherwise be damaging effects. Here are some examples.
- For students: moving to a new home and school, being diagnosed with a chronic disease (e.g., diabetes, asthma), losing a grandparent or parent
- For teachers: ending an intimate relationship, moving to an unfamiliar place to begin a career, being reassigned at the last minute and needing to rebuild lesson plans and resources
- Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, or prolonged adversity - such as unsafe housing, hunger, physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, substance abuse or mental illness in a caregiver, exposure to violence, or economic hardship - without adequate adult support. This kind of prolonged activation of the stress response systems can disrupt the development of brain architecture and other organ systems. It can also increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment well into the adult years.
You may have heard the saying, "Be kind; everyone is fighting a hard battle." Being kind means really looking at our students, seeing what might underlie their behaviour, considering how their personal wellness or context might influence how they react in a particular situation, and - as the caring adult - creating a safe space in which they can develop their sense of self.
This perspective is particularly important when reflecting on how we think children and youth (and we and our peers) "should" handle stress. Do you have a student who is very anxious about "getting into trouble"? Perhaps the student has experienced maltreatment at the hands of caregivers in response to transgressions. Depending on the child's age and coping style, this anxiety may manifest in the form of noncompliance ("defiance"), being anxious to please ("goody-two-shoes"), or being withdrawn ("bored" or "not motivated"). Do you have a student who is focused on getting high marks and other positive evaluations? Again, depending on age and history, such students may present as being overly focused on meeting your criteria ("needy" or "demanding"), helpless ("lacking confidence"), or distracted ("needing to focus" or "apply themselves").
How does this overview of stress fit with what you have been taught? How does it challenge common beliefs suggesting that normal and everyday stress is bad, that we should protect children from it, or that there may be things over which we have no control that influence how a person copes with stress?
Instead of being silent when a student says, "That guy is crazy" or "She is nuts," respond to what you are hearing: "I am hearing some language that worries me. Let's take a minute and talk about this."
Here are some strategies to keep in mind when helping students develop the necessary skills to cope with stress:
- When possible, give students choices regarding assessments. A student who experiences performance-related anxiety is likely to be negatively influenced by the anxiety (which does not mean that he or she doesn't know or can't do it).
- Consider different ways in which students can contribute to others' learning. Are they too nervous to demonstrate the skill in front of the class? Then have them record others doing so. Are they overwhelmed by the expectation? Then talk with them about it and guide them to reasonable alternatives for demonstrating their learning. This is not about giving students a way out; it is about giving them a way in.
- Start small and focus on building their capacity. We all benefit from opportunities to learn, practice, and receive constructive feedback.
- Explore simple ways to build a sense of mastery in your classroom - for example, using jigsaw or cooperative learning.
And here are some individual factors to consider:
- Does the student possess the necessary skills to complete the task? Some students may need coaching or extra practice.
- Is the person naturally more open or more resistant to new experiences? Some students may need encouragement and time to explore new experiences.
- Is the person generally more anxious or less anxious? For students who tend to be more anxious about life in general, being reminded of times when they coped effectively with anxiety can help them generalize the relevant skills to new situations.
- Is the task simple, clearly explained, and well resourced (e.g., in terms of time, materials, and support)? It can be helpful to break a large task into smaller steps, provide tools (e.g., an outline) and reminders (e.g., posters or instruction sheets), and check in frequently.
Remember also that children often mirror an important adult's response to an unexpected or unpleasant situation. If, upon seeing a child fall down and bang a knee, we swoop in to help, then we transmit the message that the fall was a catastrophe and the child or youth is incapable of handling it. Instead, we can make eye contact and check in: "Hey [Name], you took quite a tumble. Are you ready to go back in [to the game or class activity], or do you need to sit out for a few minutes?" In this way, we send the message that we noticed the event and are letting the student choose the next step because he or she can.
Infusing HPE with a Sociocultural Perspective
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation.
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation. Think back to your own school experiences in physical education. What is your story? Is it one of glory and enjoyment, or of shame and exclusion, or of indifference? How might this question be answered by some of your classmates? If your own experience of physical education was (thankfully) free from public shaming, consider the following tweets: "PE doesn't stand for physical education, it stands for public embarrassment" (Popik, 2013, n.p.). "PE is 5% exercise and 95% embarrassment" (Common White Girl, 2014, n.p.). What are some other forms of exclusion found in schools?
Another way to get at the question is to consider what image comes to mind when you think of a physical education teacher, or of physical education students. A teacher's dress code, norms, and routines - along with curriculum content and instructional activities - all affect students' participation and, ultimately, their overall physical education experience. With that power in mind, let's explore some often-unquestioned practices in physical education and look at alternatives for your own practice.
For instance, have you ever wondered why some teachers have students sit in "squads" as soon as they enter the gym, while the teacher stands in front of the class? Though some educators view this approach as an effective strategy for classroom management and grouping, it stems from physical education's roots in military training and its early focus on calisthenics and physical training. In other words, it provides a means for maintaining order in the gymnasium. What hidden messages might this practice deliver to students? For one thing, the use of squads positions the teacher as an all-powerful figure who makes all decisions and leaves little if any room for choice by students. Thus it does not fit with a sociocultural approach to teaching that seeks to fully engage students in their learning.
What alternatives exist? When gathering students together after an activity, one possibility is to invite them to sit in a circle and then seat yourself among them, as part of the circle. Indeed, in some Indigenous cultures, the circle symbolizes equality and interconnection among all things - "all peoples, all animals, all spirits, all perspectives" (chapter 6). Thus the physical arrangement of the circle is important and requires that everyone be able to see every face without having to lean forward. You might also ask your students why they think you have chosen to use a circle. Then stand up and ask them how they feel now as compared with when you were sitting with them. Notice whether students seem to detect a shift in the balance of power in the teacher - student relationship. Chapter 6 describes the circular world view and how talking circles can be used to give each member an opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and questions - in other words, to be valued.
Another common practice in physical education that we have come to take for granted is the use of a whistle to get students' attention. Think back to your early physical education days. Did your gym teacher use a whistle? If so, how did you feel when you heard it blow? Did it evoke a feeling of obedience, lack of control, nervousness? Have you ever questioned its use? Emitting 100 decibels or more with each blow, a whistle can produce a sound as loud as a motorcycle or rock concert. Used in excess, it can even damage hearing, and for some students it conjures up the image of a drill sergeant in boot camp. It may also evoke feelings of anxiety or even shame based on previous negative experiences in physical education.
One alternative practice is to use your voice to communicate through words such as stop, hold, look, listen. You can teach the children what each instruction means: stop what you are doing, hold the equipment you are using, look at the person speaking, and listen for instructions or feedback. Students can practice following these instructions in a game-like activity. This is only one alternative; no doubt you can come up with others!
In another common practice, in health classrooms, students are often required to sit and be quiet during an entire lesson. Here again, think back to your own early days, this time in health education rather than physical education. Did you sit while learning about health? If so, did you learn the names and parts of the human body? Did they have much relevance to your life as a student? As Halas and Kentel (2008) have questioned, "Do we consider how painful it can be when we hold young people back from the movement their bodies crave, particularly in schools?" (p. 214). This question is especially poignant when applied to students who are learning about health.
Despite growing support for health education, research has shown that health in schools continues to be taught in ways that are outdated, didactic, and reductionist (Begoray, Wharf-Higgins, & MacDonald, 2009; Lu & McLean, 2011). In other words, whereas physical education is movement oriented, health education continues to be taught in a teacher-centred and physically inactive manner. What can we change to make health education experiential, active, and fun? For example, rather than simply teaching dry facts about specific body parts - say, the human heart - perhaps students could embody the cardiovascular system, thus learning by acting out how it works. In another example, rather than just learning about food groups and the Canada Food Guide, perhaps students could also involvetheir bodies in completing tasks that help them remember the learning. For example, first- to third-grade students could work alone or in pairs to retrieve various food cards that are placed on the perimeter of a large circle at the centre of the gym or field. They would travel to the perimeter of the playing area and place the card in the correct designated food group (e.g., fruit, vegetable, root vegetable, tuber vegetable, grain products, meat and eggs, legumes, dairy, nuts and seeds) location (e.g., a hula-hoop). While traveling, students could explore various locomotor skills and movement concepts at the same time. As the old saying goes, "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll learn."
What makes for a successful game?
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that.
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that. The success of a game depends on a great many factors, ranging from students' moods to curricular outcomes. There are, however, a few essential considerations that must be satisfied in order for a game to be considered successful as part of a physical education lesson. These essentials hold true for all games - competitive and cooperative, small sided and large sided, teacher driven and student created.
The first essential is that the game must be educational; more specifically, it must help all students develop knowledge or skills related to a specific curricular outcome. Merely getting students physically active is not enough. Many physical educators believe that a class is successful if the students are "happy and busy" (i.e., having fun and being active) and being "good" (i.e., behaving well) (Placek, 1983; Henninger & Coleman, 2008). Certainly, these things are desirable, but if a game is not educational - that is, if students are not learning anything - then we would suggest that it cannot in good conscience be considered successful by a teacher who believes in delivering a physical education program.
The second essential is for the game to have clearly defined rules that are not too hard for students to follow and that help create equal opportunity for all players. If students are unsure how a game should be played, this uncertainty immediately undercuts its potential for success. Specifically, game flow may be disrupted by frequent stops due to rule infractions, and students may be less engaged in the activity because they don't fully understand what they are - and are not - allowed to do. As a result, games with demanding rules are often problematic at the elementary school level. For example, it would nearly impossible to play a full game of either Canadian or American football with elementary school students; there are simply far too many rules for students to remember and understand. Even at the secondary school level, teachers typically use a modified version (e.g., flag football) or a small-sided version with simplified rules. Of course, problems can also arise if a game has too few rules. For example, safety issues could be problematic for a modified game of floor hockey where the only rule provided is that a goal will be counted when the ball enters the opposing team's net. Keeping sticks down and body contact, for example, should also be addressed.
The final essential is that the game should be enjoyable and high in "playability" (Casey & Hastie, 2011).Although the need for fun is unsurprising, students' perceptions of it can be affected by a variety of factors, many of which are hard for a teacher to control. That said, one factor that is sure to influence a game's level of fun is playability. Students typically want games to feature a balance between offense and defense; even more important, they prefer games that allow for success. For example, in elementary school, volleyball typically lacks playability because it requires very specific skills that are too advanced for most of the students. Therefore, in order to make the game successful with these students, teachers need to find ways to improve its playability - for example, using a beach ball instead of a traditional volleyball. This simple modification gives students more time to set up and make contact with the ball, thus increasing the average length of rallies and increasing students' ability to succeed in playing the game. Essentially, then, this modification makes the game playable!
Helping Students Manage Stress
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation).
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation). These responses are linked to survival in the most basic sense - if we perceive danger, our built-in alarm system activates to protect us. This system often creates particular behaviours referred to in the common phrase "fight, flight, or freeze."
The stress response (which we often refer to simply as stress) occurs whenever we are faced with a challenge or change in our environment that demands our adaptation. The challenge, or stressor, may be a school or social situation, a sport competition, a touch, a threat, or anything that pressures us to adapt. The specifics of how we interpret danger - and feel stress - vary from person to person; overall, however, the stress response is simply the brain's signal to the body, and to itself, that adaptation is needed. Everyone experiences the stress response every single day. In the vast majority of situations, it is low in intensity, transient, and helpful.
Children are observant, and they learn how to interpret their own stress response by watching others. If they are told that what they are feeling is helpful - that the body signals they are experiencing are helping them prepare to perform well - then they tend to do well. In such cases, they focus on learning or on applying the skills necessary to succeed in the given situation. When they are successful, the stress response dissipates. Moreover, they remember what they did to adapt, and now they have embedded a skill and thus become more resilient. Because they remember what they did to solve the problem, they can apply that strategy in the future.
Instead of saying to a student, "You look depressed," you might say, "I'm noticing that your energy is really low today. What's going on?"
If, on the other hand, children are told that what they are feeling is harmful and negative, then they may spend much of their time trying to shut down the stress response or avoid the situation eliciting it. Both of these outcomes lead to poor adaptation and decreased resilience. Thus we must realize that we have a key role to play in helping students learn to handle stress constructively.
In order to do so, we must avoid confusing the daily stress that helps us grow, develop, and adapt with the type of stress that can lead to problems and be difficult to overcome independently. Not all stress is the same, yet people often forget the huge differences between various kinds of stress. As a result, they often confuse normal and helpful everyday stress with toxic stress - that is, the acute stress that protects us from danger. This confusion may help explain why many educators view stress as bad, when in fact most stress is healthy and even necessary for human growth and development. The following descriptions summarize three types of stress response: positive, tolerable, and toxic (Harvard Center for the Developing Child, n.d.).
- Positive stress response is a normal and essential part of healthy development. It is characterized by brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in hormone levels. A positive stress response might be triggered, for example, by the following situations.
- In childhood: receiving an immunization shot, meeting a new caregiver
- In adolescence: writing examinations, going to a new school, failing a grade, not making the team, giving a public lecture, performing on stage, asking someone for a date, going to a party with unfamiliar people
- For new teachers: meeting students' parents, writing report cards, getting to know colleagues
- Tolerable stress response activates the body's alert systems to a greater degree than positive stress response as a result of more severe, longer-lasting difficulties - for example, a natural disaster, a frightening injury, or the loss of a loved one. If the activation is time limited and buffered by relationships with adults who help the child adapt, then the brain and other organs recover from what might otherwise be damaging effects. Here are some examples.
- For students: moving to a new home and school, being diagnosed with a chronic disease (e.g., diabetes, asthma), losing a grandparent or parent
- For teachers: ending an intimate relationship, moving to an unfamiliar place to begin a career, being reassigned at the last minute and needing to rebuild lesson plans and resources
- Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, or prolonged adversity - such as unsafe housing, hunger, physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, substance abuse or mental illness in a caregiver, exposure to violence, or economic hardship - without adequate adult support. This kind of prolonged activation of the stress response systems can disrupt the development of brain architecture and other organ systems. It can also increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment well into the adult years.
You may have heard the saying, "Be kind; everyone is fighting a hard battle." Being kind means really looking at our students, seeing what might underlie their behaviour, considering how their personal wellness or context might influence how they react in a particular situation, and - as the caring adult - creating a safe space in which they can develop their sense of self.
This perspective is particularly important when reflecting on how we think children and youth (and we and our peers) "should" handle stress. Do you have a student who is very anxious about "getting into trouble"? Perhaps the student has experienced maltreatment at the hands of caregivers in response to transgressions. Depending on the child's age and coping style, this anxiety may manifest in the form of noncompliance ("defiance"), being anxious to please ("goody-two-shoes"), or being withdrawn ("bored" or "not motivated"). Do you have a student who is focused on getting high marks and other positive evaluations? Again, depending on age and history, such students may present as being overly focused on meeting your criteria ("needy" or "demanding"), helpless ("lacking confidence"), or distracted ("needing to focus" or "apply themselves").
How does this overview of stress fit with what you have been taught? How does it challenge common beliefs suggesting that normal and everyday stress is bad, that we should protect children from it, or that there may be things over which we have no control that influence how a person copes with stress?
Instead of being silent when a student says, "That guy is crazy" or "She is nuts," respond to what you are hearing: "I am hearing some language that worries me. Let's take a minute and talk about this."
Here are some strategies to keep in mind when helping students develop the necessary skills to cope with stress:
- When possible, give students choices regarding assessments. A student who experiences performance-related anxiety is likely to be negatively influenced by the anxiety (which does not mean that he or she doesn't know or can't do it).
- Consider different ways in which students can contribute to others' learning. Are they too nervous to demonstrate the skill in front of the class? Then have them record others doing so. Are they overwhelmed by the expectation? Then talk with them about it and guide them to reasonable alternatives for demonstrating their learning. This is not about giving students a way out; it is about giving them a way in.
- Start small and focus on building their capacity. We all benefit from opportunities to learn, practice, and receive constructive feedback.
- Explore simple ways to build a sense of mastery in your classroom - for example, using jigsaw or cooperative learning.
And here are some individual factors to consider:
- Does the student possess the necessary skills to complete the task? Some students may need coaching or extra practice.
- Is the person naturally more open or more resistant to new experiences? Some students may need encouragement and time to explore new experiences.
- Is the person generally more anxious or less anxious? For students who tend to be more anxious about life in general, being reminded of times when they coped effectively with anxiety can help them generalize the relevant skills to new situations.
- Is the task simple, clearly explained, and well resourced (e.g., in terms of time, materials, and support)? It can be helpful to break a large task into smaller steps, provide tools (e.g., an outline) and reminders (e.g., posters or instruction sheets), and check in frequently.
Remember also that children often mirror an important adult's response to an unexpected or unpleasant situation. If, upon seeing a child fall down and bang a knee, we swoop in to help, then we transmit the message that the fall was a catastrophe and the child or youth is incapable of handling it. Instead, we can make eye contact and check in: "Hey [Name], you took quite a tumble. Are you ready to go back in [to the game or class activity], or do you need to sit out for a few minutes?" In this way, we send the message that we noticed the event and are letting the student choose the next step because he or she can.
Infusing HPE with a Sociocultural Perspective
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation.
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation. Think back to your own school experiences in physical education. What is your story? Is it one of glory and enjoyment, or of shame and exclusion, or of indifference? How might this question be answered by some of your classmates? If your own experience of physical education was (thankfully) free from public shaming, consider the following tweets: "PE doesn't stand for physical education, it stands for public embarrassment" (Popik, 2013, n.p.). "PE is 5% exercise and 95% embarrassment" (Common White Girl, 2014, n.p.). What are some other forms of exclusion found in schools?
Another way to get at the question is to consider what image comes to mind when you think of a physical education teacher, or of physical education students. A teacher's dress code, norms, and routines - along with curriculum content and instructional activities - all affect students' participation and, ultimately, their overall physical education experience. With that power in mind, let's explore some often-unquestioned practices in physical education and look at alternatives for your own practice.
For instance, have you ever wondered why some teachers have students sit in "squads" as soon as they enter the gym, while the teacher stands in front of the class? Though some educators view this approach as an effective strategy for classroom management and grouping, it stems from physical education's roots in military training and its early focus on calisthenics and physical training. In other words, it provides a means for maintaining order in the gymnasium. What hidden messages might this practice deliver to students? For one thing, the use of squads positions the teacher as an all-powerful figure who makes all decisions and leaves little if any room for choice by students. Thus it does not fit with a sociocultural approach to teaching that seeks to fully engage students in their learning.
What alternatives exist? When gathering students together after an activity, one possibility is to invite them to sit in a circle and then seat yourself among them, as part of the circle. Indeed, in some Indigenous cultures, the circle symbolizes equality and interconnection among all things - "all peoples, all animals, all spirits, all perspectives" (chapter 6). Thus the physical arrangement of the circle is important and requires that everyone be able to see every face without having to lean forward. You might also ask your students why they think you have chosen to use a circle. Then stand up and ask them how they feel now as compared with when you were sitting with them. Notice whether students seem to detect a shift in the balance of power in the teacher - student relationship. Chapter 6 describes the circular world view and how talking circles can be used to give each member an opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and questions - in other words, to be valued.
Another common practice in physical education that we have come to take for granted is the use of a whistle to get students' attention. Think back to your early physical education days. Did your gym teacher use a whistle? If so, how did you feel when you heard it blow? Did it evoke a feeling of obedience, lack of control, nervousness? Have you ever questioned its use? Emitting 100 decibels or more with each blow, a whistle can produce a sound as loud as a motorcycle or rock concert. Used in excess, it can even damage hearing, and for some students it conjures up the image of a drill sergeant in boot camp. It may also evoke feelings of anxiety or even shame based on previous negative experiences in physical education.
One alternative practice is to use your voice to communicate through words such as stop, hold, look, listen. You can teach the children what each instruction means: stop what you are doing, hold the equipment you are using, look at the person speaking, and listen for instructions or feedback. Students can practice following these instructions in a game-like activity. This is only one alternative; no doubt you can come up with others!
In another common practice, in health classrooms, students are often required to sit and be quiet during an entire lesson. Here again, think back to your own early days, this time in health education rather than physical education. Did you sit while learning about health? If so, did you learn the names and parts of the human body? Did they have much relevance to your life as a student? As Halas and Kentel (2008) have questioned, "Do we consider how painful it can be when we hold young people back from the movement their bodies crave, particularly in schools?" (p. 214). This question is especially poignant when applied to students who are learning about health.
Despite growing support for health education, research has shown that health in schools continues to be taught in ways that are outdated, didactic, and reductionist (Begoray, Wharf-Higgins, & MacDonald, 2009; Lu & McLean, 2011). In other words, whereas physical education is movement oriented, health education continues to be taught in a teacher-centred and physically inactive manner. What can we change to make health education experiential, active, and fun? For example, rather than simply teaching dry facts about specific body parts - say, the human heart - perhaps students could embody the cardiovascular system, thus learning by acting out how it works. In another example, rather than just learning about food groups and the Canada Food Guide, perhaps students could also involvetheir bodies in completing tasks that help them remember the learning. For example, first- to third-grade students could work alone or in pairs to retrieve various food cards that are placed on the perimeter of a large circle at the centre of the gym or field. They would travel to the perimeter of the playing area and place the card in the correct designated food group (e.g., fruit, vegetable, root vegetable, tuber vegetable, grain products, meat and eggs, legumes, dairy, nuts and seeds) location (e.g., a hula-hoop). While traveling, students could explore various locomotor skills and movement concepts at the same time. As the old saying goes, "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll learn."
What makes for a successful game?
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that.
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that. The success of a game depends on a great many factors, ranging from students' moods to curricular outcomes. There are, however, a few essential considerations that must be satisfied in order for a game to be considered successful as part of a physical education lesson. These essentials hold true for all games - competitive and cooperative, small sided and large sided, teacher driven and student created.
The first essential is that the game must be educational; more specifically, it must help all students develop knowledge or skills related to a specific curricular outcome. Merely getting students physically active is not enough. Many physical educators believe that a class is successful if the students are "happy and busy" (i.e., having fun and being active) and being "good" (i.e., behaving well) (Placek, 1983; Henninger & Coleman, 2008). Certainly, these things are desirable, but if a game is not educational - that is, if students are not learning anything - then we would suggest that it cannot in good conscience be considered successful by a teacher who believes in delivering a physical education program.
The second essential is for the game to have clearly defined rules that are not too hard for students to follow and that help create equal opportunity for all players. If students are unsure how a game should be played, this uncertainty immediately undercuts its potential for success. Specifically, game flow may be disrupted by frequent stops due to rule infractions, and students may be less engaged in the activity because they don't fully understand what they are - and are not - allowed to do. As a result, games with demanding rules are often problematic at the elementary school level. For example, it would nearly impossible to play a full game of either Canadian or American football with elementary school students; there are simply far too many rules for students to remember and understand. Even at the secondary school level, teachers typically use a modified version (e.g., flag football) or a small-sided version with simplified rules. Of course, problems can also arise if a game has too few rules. For example, safety issues could be problematic for a modified game of floor hockey where the only rule provided is that a goal will be counted when the ball enters the opposing team's net. Keeping sticks down and body contact, for example, should also be addressed.
The final essential is that the game should be enjoyable and high in "playability" (Casey & Hastie, 2011).Although the need for fun is unsurprising, students' perceptions of it can be affected by a variety of factors, many of which are hard for a teacher to control. That said, one factor that is sure to influence a game's level of fun is playability. Students typically want games to feature a balance between offense and defense; even more important, they prefer games that allow for success. For example, in elementary school, volleyball typically lacks playability because it requires very specific skills that are too advanced for most of the students. Therefore, in order to make the game successful with these students, teachers need to find ways to improve its playability - for example, using a beach ball instead of a traditional volleyball. This simple modification gives students more time to set up and make contact with the ball, thus increasing the average length of rallies and increasing students' ability to succeed in playing the game. Essentially, then, this modification makes the game playable!
Helping Students Manage Stress
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation).
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation). These responses are linked to survival in the most basic sense - if we perceive danger, our built-in alarm system activates to protect us. This system often creates particular behaviours referred to in the common phrase "fight, flight, or freeze."
The stress response (which we often refer to simply as stress) occurs whenever we are faced with a challenge or change in our environment that demands our adaptation. The challenge, or stressor, may be a school or social situation, a sport competition, a touch, a threat, or anything that pressures us to adapt. The specifics of how we interpret danger - and feel stress - vary from person to person; overall, however, the stress response is simply the brain's signal to the body, and to itself, that adaptation is needed. Everyone experiences the stress response every single day. In the vast majority of situations, it is low in intensity, transient, and helpful.
Children are observant, and they learn how to interpret their own stress response by watching others. If they are told that what they are feeling is helpful - that the body signals they are experiencing are helping them prepare to perform well - then they tend to do well. In such cases, they focus on learning or on applying the skills necessary to succeed in the given situation. When they are successful, the stress response dissipates. Moreover, they remember what they did to adapt, and now they have embedded a skill and thus become more resilient. Because they remember what they did to solve the problem, they can apply that strategy in the future.
Instead of saying to a student, "You look depressed," you might say, "I'm noticing that your energy is really low today. What's going on?"
If, on the other hand, children are told that what they are feeling is harmful and negative, then they may spend much of their time trying to shut down the stress response or avoid the situation eliciting it. Both of these outcomes lead to poor adaptation and decreased resilience. Thus we must realize that we have a key role to play in helping students learn to handle stress constructively.
In order to do so, we must avoid confusing the daily stress that helps us grow, develop, and adapt with the type of stress that can lead to problems and be difficult to overcome independently. Not all stress is the same, yet people often forget the huge differences between various kinds of stress. As a result, they often confuse normal and helpful everyday stress with toxic stress - that is, the acute stress that protects us from danger. This confusion may help explain why many educators view stress as bad, when in fact most stress is healthy and even necessary for human growth and development. The following descriptions summarize three types of stress response: positive, tolerable, and toxic (Harvard Center for the Developing Child, n.d.).
- Positive stress response is a normal and essential part of healthy development. It is characterized by brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in hormone levels. A positive stress response might be triggered, for example, by the following situations.
- In childhood: receiving an immunization shot, meeting a new caregiver
- In adolescence: writing examinations, going to a new school, failing a grade, not making the team, giving a public lecture, performing on stage, asking someone for a date, going to a party with unfamiliar people
- For new teachers: meeting students' parents, writing report cards, getting to know colleagues
- Tolerable stress response activates the body's alert systems to a greater degree than positive stress response as a result of more severe, longer-lasting difficulties - for example, a natural disaster, a frightening injury, or the loss of a loved one. If the activation is time limited and buffered by relationships with adults who help the child adapt, then the brain and other organs recover from what might otherwise be damaging effects. Here are some examples.
- For students: moving to a new home and school, being diagnosed with a chronic disease (e.g., diabetes, asthma), losing a grandparent or parent
- For teachers: ending an intimate relationship, moving to an unfamiliar place to begin a career, being reassigned at the last minute and needing to rebuild lesson plans and resources
- Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, or prolonged adversity - such as unsafe housing, hunger, physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, substance abuse or mental illness in a caregiver, exposure to violence, or economic hardship - without adequate adult support. This kind of prolonged activation of the stress response systems can disrupt the development of brain architecture and other organ systems. It can also increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment well into the adult years.
You may have heard the saying, "Be kind; everyone is fighting a hard battle." Being kind means really looking at our students, seeing what might underlie their behaviour, considering how their personal wellness or context might influence how they react in a particular situation, and - as the caring adult - creating a safe space in which they can develop their sense of self.
This perspective is particularly important when reflecting on how we think children and youth (and we and our peers) "should" handle stress. Do you have a student who is very anxious about "getting into trouble"? Perhaps the student has experienced maltreatment at the hands of caregivers in response to transgressions. Depending on the child's age and coping style, this anxiety may manifest in the form of noncompliance ("defiance"), being anxious to please ("goody-two-shoes"), or being withdrawn ("bored" or "not motivated"). Do you have a student who is focused on getting high marks and other positive evaluations? Again, depending on age and history, such students may present as being overly focused on meeting your criteria ("needy" or "demanding"), helpless ("lacking confidence"), or distracted ("needing to focus" or "apply themselves").
How does this overview of stress fit with what you have been taught? How does it challenge common beliefs suggesting that normal and everyday stress is bad, that we should protect children from it, or that there may be things over which we have no control that influence how a person copes with stress?
Instead of being silent when a student says, "That guy is crazy" or "She is nuts," respond to what you are hearing: "I am hearing some language that worries me. Let's take a minute and talk about this."
Here are some strategies to keep in mind when helping students develop the necessary skills to cope with stress:
- When possible, give students choices regarding assessments. A student who experiences performance-related anxiety is likely to be negatively influenced by the anxiety (which does not mean that he or she doesn't know or can't do it).
- Consider different ways in which students can contribute to others' learning. Are they too nervous to demonstrate the skill in front of the class? Then have them record others doing so. Are they overwhelmed by the expectation? Then talk with them about it and guide them to reasonable alternatives for demonstrating their learning. This is not about giving students a way out; it is about giving them a way in.
- Start small and focus on building their capacity. We all benefit from opportunities to learn, practice, and receive constructive feedback.
- Explore simple ways to build a sense of mastery in your classroom - for example, using jigsaw or cooperative learning.
And here are some individual factors to consider:
- Does the student possess the necessary skills to complete the task? Some students may need coaching or extra practice.
- Is the person naturally more open or more resistant to new experiences? Some students may need encouragement and time to explore new experiences.
- Is the person generally more anxious or less anxious? For students who tend to be more anxious about life in general, being reminded of times when they coped effectively with anxiety can help them generalize the relevant skills to new situations.
- Is the task simple, clearly explained, and well resourced (e.g., in terms of time, materials, and support)? It can be helpful to break a large task into smaller steps, provide tools (e.g., an outline) and reminders (e.g., posters or instruction sheets), and check in frequently.
Remember also that children often mirror an important adult's response to an unexpected or unpleasant situation. If, upon seeing a child fall down and bang a knee, we swoop in to help, then we transmit the message that the fall was a catastrophe and the child or youth is incapable of handling it. Instead, we can make eye contact and check in: "Hey [Name], you took quite a tumble. Are you ready to go back in [to the game or class activity], or do you need to sit out for a few minutes?" In this way, we send the message that we noticed the event and are letting the student choose the next step because he or she can.
Infusing HPE with a Sociocultural Perspective
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation.
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation. Think back to your own school experiences in physical education. What is your story? Is it one of glory and enjoyment, or of shame and exclusion, or of indifference? How might this question be answered by some of your classmates? If your own experience of physical education was (thankfully) free from public shaming, consider the following tweets: "PE doesn't stand for physical education, it stands for public embarrassment" (Popik, 2013, n.p.). "PE is 5% exercise and 95% embarrassment" (Common White Girl, 2014, n.p.). What are some other forms of exclusion found in schools?
Another way to get at the question is to consider what image comes to mind when you think of a physical education teacher, or of physical education students. A teacher's dress code, norms, and routines - along with curriculum content and instructional activities - all affect students' participation and, ultimately, their overall physical education experience. With that power in mind, let's explore some often-unquestioned practices in physical education and look at alternatives for your own practice.
For instance, have you ever wondered why some teachers have students sit in "squads" as soon as they enter the gym, while the teacher stands in front of the class? Though some educators view this approach as an effective strategy for classroom management and grouping, it stems from physical education's roots in military training and its early focus on calisthenics and physical training. In other words, it provides a means for maintaining order in the gymnasium. What hidden messages might this practice deliver to students? For one thing, the use of squads positions the teacher as an all-powerful figure who makes all decisions and leaves little if any room for choice by students. Thus it does not fit with a sociocultural approach to teaching that seeks to fully engage students in their learning.
What alternatives exist? When gathering students together after an activity, one possibility is to invite them to sit in a circle and then seat yourself among them, as part of the circle. Indeed, in some Indigenous cultures, the circle symbolizes equality and interconnection among all things - "all peoples, all animals, all spirits, all perspectives" (chapter 6). Thus the physical arrangement of the circle is important and requires that everyone be able to see every face without having to lean forward. You might also ask your students why they think you have chosen to use a circle. Then stand up and ask them how they feel now as compared with when you were sitting with them. Notice whether students seem to detect a shift in the balance of power in the teacher - student relationship. Chapter 6 describes the circular world view and how talking circles can be used to give each member an opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and questions - in other words, to be valued.
Another common practice in physical education that we have come to take for granted is the use of a whistle to get students' attention. Think back to your early physical education days. Did your gym teacher use a whistle? If so, how did you feel when you heard it blow? Did it evoke a feeling of obedience, lack of control, nervousness? Have you ever questioned its use? Emitting 100 decibels or more with each blow, a whistle can produce a sound as loud as a motorcycle or rock concert. Used in excess, it can even damage hearing, and for some students it conjures up the image of a drill sergeant in boot camp. It may also evoke feelings of anxiety or even shame based on previous negative experiences in physical education.
One alternative practice is to use your voice to communicate through words such as stop, hold, look, listen. You can teach the children what each instruction means: stop what you are doing, hold the equipment you are using, look at the person speaking, and listen for instructions or feedback. Students can practice following these instructions in a game-like activity. This is only one alternative; no doubt you can come up with others!
In another common practice, in health classrooms, students are often required to sit and be quiet during an entire lesson. Here again, think back to your own early days, this time in health education rather than physical education. Did you sit while learning about health? If so, did you learn the names and parts of the human body? Did they have much relevance to your life as a student? As Halas and Kentel (2008) have questioned, "Do we consider how painful it can be when we hold young people back from the movement their bodies crave, particularly in schools?" (p. 214). This question is especially poignant when applied to students who are learning about health.
Despite growing support for health education, research has shown that health in schools continues to be taught in ways that are outdated, didactic, and reductionist (Begoray, Wharf-Higgins, & MacDonald, 2009; Lu & McLean, 2011). In other words, whereas physical education is movement oriented, health education continues to be taught in a teacher-centred and physically inactive manner. What can we change to make health education experiential, active, and fun? For example, rather than simply teaching dry facts about specific body parts - say, the human heart - perhaps students could embody the cardiovascular system, thus learning by acting out how it works. In another example, rather than just learning about food groups and the Canada Food Guide, perhaps students could also involvetheir bodies in completing tasks that help them remember the learning. For example, first- to third-grade students could work alone or in pairs to retrieve various food cards that are placed on the perimeter of a large circle at the centre of the gym or field. They would travel to the perimeter of the playing area and place the card in the correct designated food group (e.g., fruit, vegetable, root vegetable, tuber vegetable, grain products, meat and eggs, legumes, dairy, nuts and seeds) location (e.g., a hula-hoop). While traveling, students could explore various locomotor skills and movement concepts at the same time. As the old saying goes, "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll learn."
What makes for a successful game?
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that.
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that. The success of a game depends on a great many factors, ranging from students' moods to curricular outcomes. There are, however, a few essential considerations that must be satisfied in order for a game to be considered successful as part of a physical education lesson. These essentials hold true for all games - competitive and cooperative, small sided and large sided, teacher driven and student created.
The first essential is that the game must be educational; more specifically, it must help all students develop knowledge or skills related to a specific curricular outcome. Merely getting students physically active is not enough. Many physical educators believe that a class is successful if the students are "happy and busy" (i.e., having fun and being active) and being "good" (i.e., behaving well) (Placek, 1983; Henninger & Coleman, 2008). Certainly, these things are desirable, but if a game is not educational - that is, if students are not learning anything - then we would suggest that it cannot in good conscience be considered successful by a teacher who believes in delivering a physical education program.
The second essential is for the game to have clearly defined rules that are not too hard for students to follow and that help create equal opportunity for all players. If students are unsure how a game should be played, this uncertainty immediately undercuts its potential for success. Specifically, game flow may be disrupted by frequent stops due to rule infractions, and students may be less engaged in the activity because they don't fully understand what they are - and are not - allowed to do. As a result, games with demanding rules are often problematic at the elementary school level. For example, it would nearly impossible to play a full game of either Canadian or American football with elementary school students; there are simply far too many rules for students to remember and understand. Even at the secondary school level, teachers typically use a modified version (e.g., flag football) or a small-sided version with simplified rules. Of course, problems can also arise if a game has too few rules. For example, safety issues could be problematic for a modified game of floor hockey where the only rule provided is that a goal will be counted when the ball enters the opposing team's net. Keeping sticks down and body contact, for example, should also be addressed.
The final essential is that the game should be enjoyable and high in "playability" (Casey & Hastie, 2011).Although the need for fun is unsurprising, students' perceptions of it can be affected by a variety of factors, many of which are hard for a teacher to control. That said, one factor that is sure to influence a game's level of fun is playability. Students typically want games to feature a balance between offense and defense; even more important, they prefer games that allow for success. For example, in elementary school, volleyball typically lacks playability because it requires very specific skills that are too advanced for most of the students. Therefore, in order to make the game successful with these students, teachers need to find ways to improve its playability - for example, using a beach ball instead of a traditional volleyball. This simple modification gives students more time to set up and make contact with the ball, thus increasing the average length of rallies and increasing students' ability to succeed in playing the game. Essentially, then, this modification makes the game playable!
Helping Students Manage Stress
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation).
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation). These responses are linked to survival in the most basic sense - if we perceive danger, our built-in alarm system activates to protect us. This system often creates particular behaviours referred to in the common phrase "fight, flight, or freeze."
The stress response (which we often refer to simply as stress) occurs whenever we are faced with a challenge or change in our environment that demands our adaptation. The challenge, or stressor, may be a school or social situation, a sport competition, a touch, a threat, or anything that pressures us to adapt. The specifics of how we interpret danger - and feel stress - vary from person to person; overall, however, the stress response is simply the brain's signal to the body, and to itself, that adaptation is needed. Everyone experiences the stress response every single day. In the vast majority of situations, it is low in intensity, transient, and helpful.
Children are observant, and they learn how to interpret their own stress response by watching others. If they are told that what they are feeling is helpful - that the body signals they are experiencing are helping them prepare to perform well - then they tend to do well. In such cases, they focus on learning or on applying the skills necessary to succeed in the given situation. When they are successful, the stress response dissipates. Moreover, they remember what they did to adapt, and now they have embedded a skill and thus become more resilient. Because they remember what they did to solve the problem, they can apply that strategy in the future.
Instead of saying to a student, "You look depressed," you might say, "I'm noticing that your energy is really low today. What's going on?"
If, on the other hand, children are told that what they are feeling is harmful and negative, then they may spend much of their time trying to shut down the stress response or avoid the situation eliciting it. Both of these outcomes lead to poor adaptation and decreased resilience. Thus we must realize that we have a key role to play in helping students learn to handle stress constructively.
In order to do so, we must avoid confusing the daily stress that helps us grow, develop, and adapt with the type of stress that can lead to problems and be difficult to overcome independently. Not all stress is the same, yet people often forget the huge differences between various kinds of stress. As a result, they often confuse normal and helpful everyday stress with toxic stress - that is, the acute stress that protects us from danger. This confusion may help explain why many educators view stress as bad, when in fact most stress is healthy and even necessary for human growth and development. The following descriptions summarize three types of stress response: positive, tolerable, and toxic (Harvard Center for the Developing Child, n.d.).
- Positive stress response is a normal and essential part of healthy development. It is characterized by brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in hormone levels. A positive stress response might be triggered, for example, by the following situations.
- In childhood: receiving an immunization shot, meeting a new caregiver
- In adolescence: writing examinations, going to a new school, failing a grade, not making the team, giving a public lecture, performing on stage, asking someone for a date, going to a party with unfamiliar people
- For new teachers: meeting students' parents, writing report cards, getting to know colleagues
- Tolerable stress response activates the body's alert systems to a greater degree than positive stress response as a result of more severe, longer-lasting difficulties - for example, a natural disaster, a frightening injury, or the loss of a loved one. If the activation is time limited and buffered by relationships with adults who help the child adapt, then the brain and other organs recover from what might otherwise be damaging effects. Here are some examples.
- For students: moving to a new home and school, being diagnosed with a chronic disease (e.g., diabetes, asthma), losing a grandparent or parent
- For teachers: ending an intimate relationship, moving to an unfamiliar place to begin a career, being reassigned at the last minute and needing to rebuild lesson plans and resources
- Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, or prolonged adversity - such as unsafe housing, hunger, physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, substance abuse or mental illness in a caregiver, exposure to violence, or economic hardship - without adequate adult support. This kind of prolonged activation of the stress response systems can disrupt the development of brain architecture and other organ systems. It can also increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment well into the adult years.
You may have heard the saying, "Be kind; everyone is fighting a hard battle." Being kind means really looking at our students, seeing what might underlie their behaviour, considering how their personal wellness or context might influence how they react in a particular situation, and - as the caring adult - creating a safe space in which they can develop their sense of self.
This perspective is particularly important when reflecting on how we think children and youth (and we and our peers) "should" handle stress. Do you have a student who is very anxious about "getting into trouble"? Perhaps the student has experienced maltreatment at the hands of caregivers in response to transgressions. Depending on the child's age and coping style, this anxiety may manifest in the form of noncompliance ("defiance"), being anxious to please ("goody-two-shoes"), or being withdrawn ("bored" or "not motivated"). Do you have a student who is focused on getting high marks and other positive evaluations? Again, depending on age and history, such students may present as being overly focused on meeting your criteria ("needy" or "demanding"), helpless ("lacking confidence"), or distracted ("needing to focus" or "apply themselves").
How does this overview of stress fit with what you have been taught? How does it challenge common beliefs suggesting that normal and everyday stress is bad, that we should protect children from it, or that there may be things over which we have no control that influence how a person copes with stress?
Instead of being silent when a student says, "That guy is crazy" or "She is nuts," respond to what you are hearing: "I am hearing some language that worries me. Let's take a minute and talk about this."
Here are some strategies to keep in mind when helping students develop the necessary skills to cope with stress:
- When possible, give students choices regarding assessments. A student who experiences performance-related anxiety is likely to be negatively influenced by the anxiety (which does not mean that he or she doesn't know or can't do it).
- Consider different ways in which students can contribute to others' learning. Are they too nervous to demonstrate the skill in front of the class? Then have them record others doing so. Are they overwhelmed by the expectation? Then talk with them about it and guide them to reasonable alternatives for demonstrating their learning. This is not about giving students a way out; it is about giving them a way in.
- Start small and focus on building their capacity. We all benefit from opportunities to learn, practice, and receive constructive feedback.
- Explore simple ways to build a sense of mastery in your classroom - for example, using jigsaw or cooperative learning.
And here are some individual factors to consider:
- Does the student possess the necessary skills to complete the task? Some students may need coaching or extra practice.
- Is the person naturally more open or more resistant to new experiences? Some students may need encouragement and time to explore new experiences.
- Is the person generally more anxious or less anxious? For students who tend to be more anxious about life in general, being reminded of times when they coped effectively with anxiety can help them generalize the relevant skills to new situations.
- Is the task simple, clearly explained, and well resourced (e.g., in terms of time, materials, and support)? It can be helpful to break a large task into smaller steps, provide tools (e.g., an outline) and reminders (e.g., posters or instruction sheets), and check in frequently.
Remember also that children often mirror an important adult's response to an unexpected or unpleasant situation. If, upon seeing a child fall down and bang a knee, we swoop in to help, then we transmit the message that the fall was a catastrophe and the child or youth is incapable of handling it. Instead, we can make eye contact and check in: "Hey [Name], you took quite a tumble. Are you ready to go back in [to the game or class activity], or do you need to sit out for a few minutes?" In this way, we send the message that we noticed the event and are letting the student choose the next step because he or she can.
Infusing HPE with a Sociocultural Perspective
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation.
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation. Think back to your own school experiences in physical education. What is your story? Is it one of glory and enjoyment, or of shame and exclusion, or of indifference? How might this question be answered by some of your classmates? If your own experience of physical education was (thankfully) free from public shaming, consider the following tweets: "PE doesn't stand for physical education, it stands for public embarrassment" (Popik, 2013, n.p.). "PE is 5% exercise and 95% embarrassment" (Common White Girl, 2014, n.p.). What are some other forms of exclusion found in schools?
Another way to get at the question is to consider what image comes to mind when you think of a physical education teacher, or of physical education students. A teacher's dress code, norms, and routines - along with curriculum content and instructional activities - all affect students' participation and, ultimately, their overall physical education experience. With that power in mind, let's explore some often-unquestioned practices in physical education and look at alternatives for your own practice.
For instance, have you ever wondered why some teachers have students sit in "squads" as soon as they enter the gym, while the teacher stands in front of the class? Though some educators view this approach as an effective strategy for classroom management and grouping, it stems from physical education's roots in military training and its early focus on calisthenics and physical training. In other words, it provides a means for maintaining order in the gymnasium. What hidden messages might this practice deliver to students? For one thing, the use of squads positions the teacher as an all-powerful figure who makes all decisions and leaves little if any room for choice by students. Thus it does not fit with a sociocultural approach to teaching that seeks to fully engage students in their learning.
What alternatives exist? When gathering students together after an activity, one possibility is to invite them to sit in a circle and then seat yourself among them, as part of the circle. Indeed, in some Indigenous cultures, the circle symbolizes equality and interconnection among all things - "all peoples, all animals, all spirits, all perspectives" (chapter 6). Thus the physical arrangement of the circle is important and requires that everyone be able to see every face without having to lean forward. You might also ask your students why they think you have chosen to use a circle. Then stand up and ask them how they feel now as compared with when you were sitting with them. Notice whether students seem to detect a shift in the balance of power in the teacher - student relationship. Chapter 6 describes the circular world view and how talking circles can be used to give each member an opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and questions - in other words, to be valued.
Another common practice in physical education that we have come to take for granted is the use of a whistle to get students' attention. Think back to your early physical education days. Did your gym teacher use a whistle? If so, how did you feel when you heard it blow? Did it evoke a feeling of obedience, lack of control, nervousness? Have you ever questioned its use? Emitting 100 decibels or more with each blow, a whistle can produce a sound as loud as a motorcycle or rock concert. Used in excess, it can even damage hearing, and for some students it conjures up the image of a drill sergeant in boot camp. It may also evoke feelings of anxiety or even shame based on previous negative experiences in physical education.
One alternative practice is to use your voice to communicate through words such as stop, hold, look, listen. You can teach the children what each instruction means: stop what you are doing, hold the equipment you are using, look at the person speaking, and listen for instructions or feedback. Students can practice following these instructions in a game-like activity. This is only one alternative; no doubt you can come up with others!
In another common practice, in health classrooms, students are often required to sit and be quiet during an entire lesson. Here again, think back to your own early days, this time in health education rather than physical education. Did you sit while learning about health? If so, did you learn the names and parts of the human body? Did they have much relevance to your life as a student? As Halas and Kentel (2008) have questioned, "Do we consider how painful it can be when we hold young people back from the movement their bodies crave, particularly in schools?" (p. 214). This question is especially poignant when applied to students who are learning about health.
Despite growing support for health education, research has shown that health in schools continues to be taught in ways that are outdated, didactic, and reductionist (Begoray, Wharf-Higgins, & MacDonald, 2009; Lu & McLean, 2011). In other words, whereas physical education is movement oriented, health education continues to be taught in a teacher-centred and physically inactive manner. What can we change to make health education experiential, active, and fun? For example, rather than simply teaching dry facts about specific body parts - say, the human heart - perhaps students could embody the cardiovascular system, thus learning by acting out how it works. In another example, rather than just learning about food groups and the Canada Food Guide, perhaps students could also involvetheir bodies in completing tasks that help them remember the learning. For example, first- to third-grade students could work alone or in pairs to retrieve various food cards that are placed on the perimeter of a large circle at the centre of the gym or field. They would travel to the perimeter of the playing area and place the card in the correct designated food group (e.g., fruit, vegetable, root vegetable, tuber vegetable, grain products, meat and eggs, legumes, dairy, nuts and seeds) location (e.g., a hula-hoop). While traveling, students could explore various locomotor skills and movement concepts at the same time. As the old saying goes, "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll learn."
What makes for a successful game?
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that.
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that. The success of a game depends on a great many factors, ranging from students' moods to curricular outcomes. There are, however, a few essential considerations that must be satisfied in order for a game to be considered successful as part of a physical education lesson. These essentials hold true for all games - competitive and cooperative, small sided and large sided, teacher driven and student created.
The first essential is that the game must be educational; more specifically, it must help all students develop knowledge or skills related to a specific curricular outcome. Merely getting students physically active is not enough. Many physical educators believe that a class is successful if the students are "happy and busy" (i.e., having fun and being active) and being "good" (i.e., behaving well) (Placek, 1983; Henninger & Coleman, 2008). Certainly, these things are desirable, but if a game is not educational - that is, if students are not learning anything - then we would suggest that it cannot in good conscience be considered successful by a teacher who believes in delivering a physical education program.
The second essential is for the game to have clearly defined rules that are not too hard for students to follow and that help create equal opportunity for all players. If students are unsure how a game should be played, this uncertainty immediately undercuts its potential for success. Specifically, game flow may be disrupted by frequent stops due to rule infractions, and students may be less engaged in the activity because they don't fully understand what they are - and are not - allowed to do. As a result, games with demanding rules are often problematic at the elementary school level. For example, it would nearly impossible to play a full game of either Canadian or American football with elementary school students; there are simply far too many rules for students to remember and understand. Even at the secondary school level, teachers typically use a modified version (e.g., flag football) or a small-sided version with simplified rules. Of course, problems can also arise if a game has too few rules. For example, safety issues could be problematic for a modified game of floor hockey where the only rule provided is that a goal will be counted when the ball enters the opposing team's net. Keeping sticks down and body contact, for example, should also be addressed.
The final essential is that the game should be enjoyable and high in "playability" (Casey & Hastie, 2011).Although the need for fun is unsurprising, students' perceptions of it can be affected by a variety of factors, many of which are hard for a teacher to control. That said, one factor that is sure to influence a game's level of fun is playability. Students typically want games to feature a balance between offense and defense; even more important, they prefer games that allow for success. For example, in elementary school, volleyball typically lacks playability because it requires very specific skills that are too advanced for most of the students. Therefore, in order to make the game successful with these students, teachers need to find ways to improve its playability - for example, using a beach ball instead of a traditional volleyball. This simple modification gives students more time to set up and make contact with the ball, thus increasing the average length of rallies and increasing students' ability to succeed in playing the game. Essentially, then, this modification makes the game playable!
Helping Students Manage Stress
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation).
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation). These responses are linked to survival in the most basic sense - if we perceive danger, our built-in alarm system activates to protect us. This system often creates particular behaviours referred to in the common phrase "fight, flight, or freeze."
The stress response (which we often refer to simply as stress) occurs whenever we are faced with a challenge or change in our environment that demands our adaptation. The challenge, or stressor, may be a school or social situation, a sport competition, a touch, a threat, or anything that pressures us to adapt. The specifics of how we interpret danger - and feel stress - vary from person to person; overall, however, the stress response is simply the brain's signal to the body, and to itself, that adaptation is needed. Everyone experiences the stress response every single day. In the vast majority of situations, it is low in intensity, transient, and helpful.
Children are observant, and they learn how to interpret their own stress response by watching others. If they are told that what they are feeling is helpful - that the body signals they are experiencing are helping them prepare to perform well - then they tend to do well. In such cases, they focus on learning or on applying the skills necessary to succeed in the given situation. When they are successful, the stress response dissipates. Moreover, they remember what they did to adapt, and now they have embedded a skill and thus become more resilient. Because they remember what they did to solve the problem, they can apply that strategy in the future.
Instead of saying to a student, "You look depressed," you might say, "I'm noticing that your energy is really low today. What's going on?"
If, on the other hand, children are told that what they are feeling is harmful and negative, then they may spend much of their time trying to shut down the stress response or avoid the situation eliciting it. Both of these outcomes lead to poor adaptation and decreased resilience. Thus we must realize that we have a key role to play in helping students learn to handle stress constructively.
In order to do so, we must avoid confusing the daily stress that helps us grow, develop, and adapt with the type of stress that can lead to problems and be difficult to overcome independently. Not all stress is the same, yet people often forget the huge differences between various kinds of stress. As a result, they often confuse normal and helpful everyday stress with toxic stress - that is, the acute stress that protects us from danger. This confusion may help explain why many educators view stress as bad, when in fact most stress is healthy and even necessary for human growth and development. The following descriptions summarize three types of stress response: positive, tolerable, and toxic (Harvard Center for the Developing Child, n.d.).
- Positive stress response is a normal and essential part of healthy development. It is characterized by brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in hormone levels. A positive stress response might be triggered, for example, by the following situations.
- In childhood: receiving an immunization shot, meeting a new caregiver
- In adolescence: writing examinations, going to a new school, failing a grade, not making the team, giving a public lecture, performing on stage, asking someone for a date, going to a party with unfamiliar people
- For new teachers: meeting students' parents, writing report cards, getting to know colleagues
- Tolerable stress response activates the body's alert systems to a greater degree than positive stress response as a result of more severe, longer-lasting difficulties - for example, a natural disaster, a frightening injury, or the loss of a loved one. If the activation is time limited and buffered by relationships with adults who help the child adapt, then the brain and other organs recover from what might otherwise be damaging effects. Here are some examples.
- For students: moving to a new home and school, being diagnosed with a chronic disease (e.g., diabetes, asthma), losing a grandparent or parent
- For teachers: ending an intimate relationship, moving to an unfamiliar place to begin a career, being reassigned at the last minute and needing to rebuild lesson plans and resources
- Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, or prolonged adversity - such as unsafe housing, hunger, physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, substance abuse or mental illness in a caregiver, exposure to violence, or economic hardship - without adequate adult support. This kind of prolonged activation of the stress response systems can disrupt the development of brain architecture and other organ systems. It can also increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment well into the adult years.
You may have heard the saying, "Be kind; everyone is fighting a hard battle." Being kind means really looking at our students, seeing what might underlie their behaviour, considering how their personal wellness or context might influence how they react in a particular situation, and - as the caring adult - creating a safe space in which they can develop their sense of self.
This perspective is particularly important when reflecting on how we think children and youth (and we and our peers) "should" handle stress. Do you have a student who is very anxious about "getting into trouble"? Perhaps the student has experienced maltreatment at the hands of caregivers in response to transgressions. Depending on the child's age and coping style, this anxiety may manifest in the form of noncompliance ("defiance"), being anxious to please ("goody-two-shoes"), or being withdrawn ("bored" or "not motivated"). Do you have a student who is focused on getting high marks and other positive evaluations? Again, depending on age and history, such students may present as being overly focused on meeting your criteria ("needy" or "demanding"), helpless ("lacking confidence"), or distracted ("needing to focus" or "apply themselves").
How does this overview of stress fit with what you have been taught? How does it challenge common beliefs suggesting that normal and everyday stress is bad, that we should protect children from it, or that there may be things over which we have no control that influence how a person copes with stress?
Instead of being silent when a student says, "That guy is crazy" or "She is nuts," respond to what you are hearing: "I am hearing some language that worries me. Let's take a minute and talk about this."
Here are some strategies to keep in mind when helping students develop the necessary skills to cope with stress:
- When possible, give students choices regarding assessments. A student who experiences performance-related anxiety is likely to be negatively influenced by the anxiety (which does not mean that he or she doesn't know or can't do it).
- Consider different ways in which students can contribute to others' learning. Are they too nervous to demonstrate the skill in front of the class? Then have them record others doing so. Are they overwhelmed by the expectation? Then talk with them about it and guide them to reasonable alternatives for demonstrating their learning. This is not about giving students a way out; it is about giving them a way in.
- Start small and focus on building their capacity. We all benefit from opportunities to learn, practice, and receive constructive feedback.
- Explore simple ways to build a sense of mastery in your classroom - for example, using jigsaw or cooperative learning.
And here are some individual factors to consider:
- Does the student possess the necessary skills to complete the task? Some students may need coaching or extra practice.
- Is the person naturally more open or more resistant to new experiences? Some students may need encouragement and time to explore new experiences.
- Is the person generally more anxious or less anxious? For students who tend to be more anxious about life in general, being reminded of times when they coped effectively with anxiety can help them generalize the relevant skills to new situations.
- Is the task simple, clearly explained, and well resourced (e.g., in terms of time, materials, and support)? It can be helpful to break a large task into smaller steps, provide tools (e.g., an outline) and reminders (e.g., posters or instruction sheets), and check in frequently.
Remember also that children often mirror an important adult's response to an unexpected or unpleasant situation. If, upon seeing a child fall down and bang a knee, we swoop in to help, then we transmit the message that the fall was a catastrophe and the child or youth is incapable of handling it. Instead, we can make eye contact and check in: "Hey [Name], you took quite a tumble. Are you ready to go back in [to the game or class activity], or do you need to sit out for a few minutes?" In this way, we send the message that we noticed the event and are letting the student choose the next step because he or she can.
Infusing HPE with a Sociocultural Perspective
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation.
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation. Think back to your own school experiences in physical education. What is your story? Is it one of glory and enjoyment, or of shame and exclusion, or of indifference? How might this question be answered by some of your classmates? If your own experience of physical education was (thankfully) free from public shaming, consider the following tweets: "PE doesn't stand for physical education, it stands for public embarrassment" (Popik, 2013, n.p.). "PE is 5% exercise and 95% embarrassment" (Common White Girl, 2014, n.p.). What are some other forms of exclusion found in schools?
Another way to get at the question is to consider what image comes to mind when you think of a physical education teacher, or of physical education students. A teacher's dress code, norms, and routines - along with curriculum content and instructional activities - all affect students' participation and, ultimately, their overall physical education experience. With that power in mind, let's explore some often-unquestioned practices in physical education and look at alternatives for your own practice.
For instance, have you ever wondered why some teachers have students sit in "squads" as soon as they enter the gym, while the teacher stands in front of the class? Though some educators view this approach as an effective strategy for classroom management and grouping, it stems from physical education's roots in military training and its early focus on calisthenics and physical training. In other words, it provides a means for maintaining order in the gymnasium. What hidden messages might this practice deliver to students? For one thing, the use of squads positions the teacher as an all-powerful figure who makes all decisions and leaves little if any room for choice by students. Thus it does not fit with a sociocultural approach to teaching that seeks to fully engage students in their learning.
What alternatives exist? When gathering students together after an activity, one possibility is to invite them to sit in a circle and then seat yourself among them, as part of the circle. Indeed, in some Indigenous cultures, the circle symbolizes equality and interconnection among all things - "all peoples, all animals, all spirits, all perspectives" (chapter 6). Thus the physical arrangement of the circle is important and requires that everyone be able to see every face without having to lean forward. You might also ask your students why they think you have chosen to use a circle. Then stand up and ask them how they feel now as compared with when you were sitting with them. Notice whether students seem to detect a shift in the balance of power in the teacher - student relationship. Chapter 6 describes the circular world view and how talking circles can be used to give each member an opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and questions - in other words, to be valued.
Another common practice in physical education that we have come to take for granted is the use of a whistle to get students' attention. Think back to your early physical education days. Did your gym teacher use a whistle? If so, how did you feel when you heard it blow? Did it evoke a feeling of obedience, lack of control, nervousness? Have you ever questioned its use? Emitting 100 decibels or more with each blow, a whistle can produce a sound as loud as a motorcycle or rock concert. Used in excess, it can even damage hearing, and for some students it conjures up the image of a drill sergeant in boot camp. It may also evoke feelings of anxiety or even shame based on previous negative experiences in physical education.
One alternative practice is to use your voice to communicate through words such as stop, hold, look, listen. You can teach the children what each instruction means: stop what you are doing, hold the equipment you are using, look at the person speaking, and listen for instructions or feedback. Students can practice following these instructions in a game-like activity. This is only one alternative; no doubt you can come up with others!
In another common practice, in health classrooms, students are often required to sit and be quiet during an entire lesson. Here again, think back to your own early days, this time in health education rather than physical education. Did you sit while learning about health? If so, did you learn the names and parts of the human body? Did they have much relevance to your life as a student? As Halas and Kentel (2008) have questioned, "Do we consider how painful it can be when we hold young people back from the movement their bodies crave, particularly in schools?" (p. 214). This question is especially poignant when applied to students who are learning about health.
Despite growing support for health education, research has shown that health in schools continues to be taught in ways that are outdated, didactic, and reductionist (Begoray, Wharf-Higgins, & MacDonald, 2009; Lu & McLean, 2011). In other words, whereas physical education is movement oriented, health education continues to be taught in a teacher-centred and physically inactive manner. What can we change to make health education experiential, active, and fun? For example, rather than simply teaching dry facts about specific body parts - say, the human heart - perhaps students could embody the cardiovascular system, thus learning by acting out how it works. In another example, rather than just learning about food groups and the Canada Food Guide, perhaps students could also involvetheir bodies in completing tasks that help them remember the learning. For example, first- to third-grade students could work alone or in pairs to retrieve various food cards that are placed on the perimeter of a large circle at the centre of the gym or field. They would travel to the perimeter of the playing area and place the card in the correct designated food group (e.g., fruit, vegetable, root vegetable, tuber vegetable, grain products, meat and eggs, legumes, dairy, nuts and seeds) location (e.g., a hula-hoop). While traveling, students could explore various locomotor skills and movement concepts at the same time. As the old saying goes, "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll learn."
What makes for a successful game?
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that.
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that. The success of a game depends on a great many factors, ranging from students' moods to curricular outcomes. There are, however, a few essential considerations that must be satisfied in order for a game to be considered successful as part of a physical education lesson. These essentials hold true for all games - competitive and cooperative, small sided and large sided, teacher driven and student created.
The first essential is that the game must be educational; more specifically, it must help all students develop knowledge or skills related to a specific curricular outcome. Merely getting students physically active is not enough. Many physical educators believe that a class is successful if the students are "happy and busy" (i.e., having fun and being active) and being "good" (i.e., behaving well) (Placek, 1983; Henninger & Coleman, 2008). Certainly, these things are desirable, but if a game is not educational - that is, if students are not learning anything - then we would suggest that it cannot in good conscience be considered successful by a teacher who believes in delivering a physical education program.
The second essential is for the game to have clearly defined rules that are not too hard for students to follow and that help create equal opportunity for all players. If students are unsure how a game should be played, this uncertainty immediately undercuts its potential for success. Specifically, game flow may be disrupted by frequent stops due to rule infractions, and students may be less engaged in the activity because they don't fully understand what they are - and are not - allowed to do. As a result, games with demanding rules are often problematic at the elementary school level. For example, it would nearly impossible to play a full game of either Canadian or American football with elementary school students; there are simply far too many rules for students to remember and understand. Even at the secondary school level, teachers typically use a modified version (e.g., flag football) or a small-sided version with simplified rules. Of course, problems can also arise if a game has too few rules. For example, safety issues could be problematic for a modified game of floor hockey where the only rule provided is that a goal will be counted when the ball enters the opposing team's net. Keeping sticks down and body contact, for example, should also be addressed.
The final essential is that the game should be enjoyable and high in "playability" (Casey & Hastie, 2011).Although the need for fun is unsurprising, students' perceptions of it can be affected by a variety of factors, many of which are hard for a teacher to control. That said, one factor that is sure to influence a game's level of fun is playability. Students typically want games to feature a balance between offense and defense; even more important, they prefer games that allow for success. For example, in elementary school, volleyball typically lacks playability because it requires very specific skills that are too advanced for most of the students. Therefore, in order to make the game successful with these students, teachers need to find ways to improve its playability - for example, using a beach ball instead of a traditional volleyball. This simple modification gives students more time to set up and make contact with the ball, thus increasing the average length of rallies and increasing students' ability to succeed in playing the game. Essentially, then, this modification makes the game playable!
Helping Students Manage Stress
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation).
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation). These responses are linked to survival in the most basic sense - if we perceive danger, our built-in alarm system activates to protect us. This system often creates particular behaviours referred to in the common phrase "fight, flight, or freeze."
The stress response (which we often refer to simply as stress) occurs whenever we are faced with a challenge or change in our environment that demands our adaptation. The challenge, or stressor, may be a school or social situation, a sport competition, a touch, a threat, or anything that pressures us to adapt. The specifics of how we interpret danger - and feel stress - vary from person to person; overall, however, the stress response is simply the brain's signal to the body, and to itself, that adaptation is needed. Everyone experiences the stress response every single day. In the vast majority of situations, it is low in intensity, transient, and helpful.
Children are observant, and they learn how to interpret their own stress response by watching others. If they are told that what they are feeling is helpful - that the body signals they are experiencing are helping them prepare to perform well - then they tend to do well. In such cases, they focus on learning or on applying the skills necessary to succeed in the given situation. When they are successful, the stress response dissipates. Moreover, they remember what they did to adapt, and now they have embedded a skill and thus become more resilient. Because they remember what they did to solve the problem, they can apply that strategy in the future.
Instead of saying to a student, "You look depressed," you might say, "I'm noticing that your energy is really low today. What's going on?"
If, on the other hand, children are told that what they are feeling is harmful and negative, then they may spend much of their time trying to shut down the stress response or avoid the situation eliciting it. Both of these outcomes lead to poor adaptation and decreased resilience. Thus we must realize that we have a key role to play in helping students learn to handle stress constructively.
In order to do so, we must avoid confusing the daily stress that helps us grow, develop, and adapt with the type of stress that can lead to problems and be difficult to overcome independently. Not all stress is the same, yet people often forget the huge differences between various kinds of stress. As a result, they often confuse normal and helpful everyday stress with toxic stress - that is, the acute stress that protects us from danger. This confusion may help explain why many educators view stress as bad, when in fact most stress is healthy and even necessary for human growth and development. The following descriptions summarize three types of stress response: positive, tolerable, and toxic (Harvard Center for the Developing Child, n.d.).
- Positive stress response is a normal and essential part of healthy development. It is characterized by brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in hormone levels. A positive stress response might be triggered, for example, by the following situations.
- In childhood: receiving an immunization shot, meeting a new caregiver
- In adolescence: writing examinations, going to a new school, failing a grade, not making the team, giving a public lecture, performing on stage, asking someone for a date, going to a party with unfamiliar people
- For new teachers: meeting students' parents, writing report cards, getting to know colleagues
- Tolerable stress response activates the body's alert systems to a greater degree than positive stress response as a result of more severe, longer-lasting difficulties - for example, a natural disaster, a frightening injury, or the loss of a loved one. If the activation is time limited and buffered by relationships with adults who help the child adapt, then the brain and other organs recover from what might otherwise be damaging effects. Here are some examples.
- For students: moving to a new home and school, being diagnosed with a chronic disease (e.g., diabetes, asthma), losing a grandparent or parent
- For teachers: ending an intimate relationship, moving to an unfamiliar place to begin a career, being reassigned at the last minute and needing to rebuild lesson plans and resources
- Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, or prolonged adversity - such as unsafe housing, hunger, physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, substance abuse or mental illness in a caregiver, exposure to violence, or economic hardship - without adequate adult support. This kind of prolonged activation of the stress response systems can disrupt the development of brain architecture and other organ systems. It can also increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment well into the adult years.
You may have heard the saying, "Be kind; everyone is fighting a hard battle." Being kind means really looking at our students, seeing what might underlie their behaviour, considering how their personal wellness or context might influence how they react in a particular situation, and - as the caring adult - creating a safe space in which they can develop their sense of self.
This perspective is particularly important when reflecting on how we think children and youth (and we and our peers) "should" handle stress. Do you have a student who is very anxious about "getting into trouble"? Perhaps the student has experienced maltreatment at the hands of caregivers in response to transgressions. Depending on the child's age and coping style, this anxiety may manifest in the form of noncompliance ("defiance"), being anxious to please ("goody-two-shoes"), or being withdrawn ("bored" or "not motivated"). Do you have a student who is focused on getting high marks and other positive evaluations? Again, depending on age and history, such students may present as being overly focused on meeting your criteria ("needy" or "demanding"), helpless ("lacking confidence"), or distracted ("needing to focus" or "apply themselves").
How does this overview of stress fit with what you have been taught? How does it challenge common beliefs suggesting that normal and everyday stress is bad, that we should protect children from it, or that there may be things over which we have no control that influence how a person copes with stress?
Instead of being silent when a student says, "That guy is crazy" or "She is nuts," respond to what you are hearing: "I am hearing some language that worries me. Let's take a minute and talk about this."
Here are some strategies to keep in mind when helping students develop the necessary skills to cope with stress:
- When possible, give students choices regarding assessments. A student who experiences performance-related anxiety is likely to be negatively influenced by the anxiety (which does not mean that he or she doesn't know or can't do it).
- Consider different ways in which students can contribute to others' learning. Are they too nervous to demonstrate the skill in front of the class? Then have them record others doing so. Are they overwhelmed by the expectation? Then talk with them about it and guide them to reasonable alternatives for demonstrating their learning. This is not about giving students a way out; it is about giving them a way in.
- Start small and focus on building their capacity. We all benefit from opportunities to learn, practice, and receive constructive feedback.
- Explore simple ways to build a sense of mastery in your classroom - for example, using jigsaw or cooperative learning.
And here are some individual factors to consider:
- Does the student possess the necessary skills to complete the task? Some students may need coaching or extra practice.
- Is the person naturally more open or more resistant to new experiences? Some students may need encouragement and time to explore new experiences.
- Is the person generally more anxious or less anxious? For students who tend to be more anxious about life in general, being reminded of times when they coped effectively with anxiety can help them generalize the relevant skills to new situations.
- Is the task simple, clearly explained, and well resourced (e.g., in terms of time, materials, and support)? It can be helpful to break a large task into smaller steps, provide tools (e.g., an outline) and reminders (e.g., posters or instruction sheets), and check in frequently.
Remember also that children often mirror an important adult's response to an unexpected or unpleasant situation. If, upon seeing a child fall down and bang a knee, we swoop in to help, then we transmit the message that the fall was a catastrophe and the child or youth is incapable of handling it. Instead, we can make eye contact and check in: "Hey [Name], you took quite a tumble. Are you ready to go back in [to the game or class activity], or do you need to sit out for a few minutes?" In this way, we send the message that we noticed the event and are letting the student choose the next step because he or she can.
Infusing HPE with a Sociocultural Perspective
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation.
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation. Think back to your own school experiences in physical education. What is your story? Is it one of glory and enjoyment, or of shame and exclusion, or of indifference? How might this question be answered by some of your classmates? If your own experience of physical education was (thankfully) free from public shaming, consider the following tweets: "PE doesn't stand for physical education, it stands for public embarrassment" (Popik, 2013, n.p.). "PE is 5% exercise and 95% embarrassment" (Common White Girl, 2014, n.p.). What are some other forms of exclusion found in schools?
Another way to get at the question is to consider what image comes to mind when you think of a physical education teacher, or of physical education students. A teacher's dress code, norms, and routines - along with curriculum content and instructional activities - all affect students' participation and, ultimately, their overall physical education experience. With that power in mind, let's explore some often-unquestioned practices in physical education and look at alternatives for your own practice.
For instance, have you ever wondered why some teachers have students sit in "squads" as soon as they enter the gym, while the teacher stands in front of the class? Though some educators view this approach as an effective strategy for classroom management and grouping, it stems from physical education's roots in military training and its early focus on calisthenics and physical training. In other words, it provides a means for maintaining order in the gymnasium. What hidden messages might this practice deliver to students? For one thing, the use of squads positions the teacher as an all-powerful figure who makes all decisions and leaves little if any room for choice by students. Thus it does not fit with a sociocultural approach to teaching that seeks to fully engage students in their learning.
What alternatives exist? When gathering students together after an activity, one possibility is to invite them to sit in a circle and then seat yourself among them, as part of the circle. Indeed, in some Indigenous cultures, the circle symbolizes equality and interconnection among all things - "all peoples, all animals, all spirits, all perspectives" (chapter 6). Thus the physical arrangement of the circle is important and requires that everyone be able to see every face without having to lean forward. You might also ask your students why they think you have chosen to use a circle. Then stand up and ask them how they feel now as compared with when you were sitting with them. Notice whether students seem to detect a shift in the balance of power in the teacher - student relationship. Chapter 6 describes the circular world view and how talking circles can be used to give each member an opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and questions - in other words, to be valued.
Another common practice in physical education that we have come to take for granted is the use of a whistle to get students' attention. Think back to your early physical education days. Did your gym teacher use a whistle? If so, how did you feel when you heard it blow? Did it evoke a feeling of obedience, lack of control, nervousness? Have you ever questioned its use? Emitting 100 decibels or more with each blow, a whistle can produce a sound as loud as a motorcycle or rock concert. Used in excess, it can even damage hearing, and for some students it conjures up the image of a drill sergeant in boot camp. It may also evoke feelings of anxiety or even shame based on previous negative experiences in physical education.
One alternative practice is to use your voice to communicate through words such as stop, hold, look, listen. You can teach the children what each instruction means: stop what you are doing, hold the equipment you are using, look at the person speaking, and listen for instructions or feedback. Students can practice following these instructions in a game-like activity. This is only one alternative; no doubt you can come up with others!
In another common practice, in health classrooms, students are often required to sit and be quiet during an entire lesson. Here again, think back to your own early days, this time in health education rather than physical education. Did you sit while learning about health? If so, did you learn the names and parts of the human body? Did they have much relevance to your life as a student? As Halas and Kentel (2008) have questioned, "Do we consider how painful it can be when we hold young people back from the movement their bodies crave, particularly in schools?" (p. 214). This question is especially poignant when applied to students who are learning about health.
Despite growing support for health education, research has shown that health in schools continues to be taught in ways that are outdated, didactic, and reductionist (Begoray, Wharf-Higgins, & MacDonald, 2009; Lu & McLean, 2011). In other words, whereas physical education is movement oriented, health education continues to be taught in a teacher-centred and physically inactive manner. What can we change to make health education experiential, active, and fun? For example, rather than simply teaching dry facts about specific body parts - say, the human heart - perhaps students could embody the cardiovascular system, thus learning by acting out how it works. In another example, rather than just learning about food groups and the Canada Food Guide, perhaps students could also involvetheir bodies in completing tasks that help them remember the learning. For example, first- to third-grade students could work alone or in pairs to retrieve various food cards that are placed on the perimeter of a large circle at the centre of the gym or field. They would travel to the perimeter of the playing area and place the card in the correct designated food group (e.g., fruit, vegetable, root vegetable, tuber vegetable, grain products, meat and eggs, legumes, dairy, nuts and seeds) location (e.g., a hula-hoop). While traveling, students could explore various locomotor skills and movement concepts at the same time. As the old saying goes, "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll learn."
What makes for a successful game?
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that.
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that. The success of a game depends on a great many factors, ranging from students' moods to curricular outcomes. There are, however, a few essential considerations that must be satisfied in order for a game to be considered successful as part of a physical education lesson. These essentials hold true for all games - competitive and cooperative, small sided and large sided, teacher driven and student created.
The first essential is that the game must be educational; more specifically, it must help all students develop knowledge or skills related to a specific curricular outcome. Merely getting students physically active is not enough. Many physical educators believe that a class is successful if the students are "happy and busy" (i.e., having fun and being active) and being "good" (i.e., behaving well) (Placek, 1983; Henninger & Coleman, 2008). Certainly, these things are desirable, but if a game is not educational - that is, if students are not learning anything - then we would suggest that it cannot in good conscience be considered successful by a teacher who believes in delivering a physical education program.
The second essential is for the game to have clearly defined rules that are not too hard for students to follow and that help create equal opportunity for all players. If students are unsure how a game should be played, this uncertainty immediately undercuts its potential for success. Specifically, game flow may be disrupted by frequent stops due to rule infractions, and students may be less engaged in the activity because they don't fully understand what they are - and are not - allowed to do. As a result, games with demanding rules are often problematic at the elementary school level. For example, it would nearly impossible to play a full game of either Canadian or American football with elementary school students; there are simply far too many rules for students to remember and understand. Even at the secondary school level, teachers typically use a modified version (e.g., flag football) or a small-sided version with simplified rules. Of course, problems can also arise if a game has too few rules. For example, safety issues could be problematic for a modified game of floor hockey where the only rule provided is that a goal will be counted when the ball enters the opposing team's net. Keeping sticks down and body contact, for example, should also be addressed.
The final essential is that the game should be enjoyable and high in "playability" (Casey & Hastie, 2011).Although the need for fun is unsurprising, students' perceptions of it can be affected by a variety of factors, many of which are hard for a teacher to control. That said, one factor that is sure to influence a game's level of fun is playability. Students typically want games to feature a balance between offense and defense; even more important, they prefer games that allow for success. For example, in elementary school, volleyball typically lacks playability because it requires very specific skills that are too advanced for most of the students. Therefore, in order to make the game successful with these students, teachers need to find ways to improve its playability - for example, using a beach ball instead of a traditional volleyball. This simple modification gives students more time to set up and make contact with the ball, thus increasing the average length of rallies and increasing students' ability to succeed in playing the game. Essentially, then, this modification makes the game playable!
Helping Students Manage Stress
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation).
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation). These responses are linked to survival in the most basic sense - if we perceive danger, our built-in alarm system activates to protect us. This system often creates particular behaviours referred to in the common phrase "fight, flight, or freeze."
The stress response (which we often refer to simply as stress) occurs whenever we are faced with a challenge or change in our environment that demands our adaptation. The challenge, or stressor, may be a school or social situation, a sport competition, a touch, a threat, or anything that pressures us to adapt. The specifics of how we interpret danger - and feel stress - vary from person to person; overall, however, the stress response is simply the brain's signal to the body, and to itself, that adaptation is needed. Everyone experiences the stress response every single day. In the vast majority of situations, it is low in intensity, transient, and helpful.
Children are observant, and they learn how to interpret their own stress response by watching others. If they are told that what they are feeling is helpful - that the body signals they are experiencing are helping them prepare to perform well - then they tend to do well. In such cases, they focus on learning or on applying the skills necessary to succeed in the given situation. When they are successful, the stress response dissipates. Moreover, they remember what they did to adapt, and now they have embedded a skill and thus become more resilient. Because they remember what they did to solve the problem, they can apply that strategy in the future.
Instead of saying to a student, "You look depressed," you might say, "I'm noticing that your energy is really low today. What's going on?"
If, on the other hand, children are told that what they are feeling is harmful and negative, then they may spend much of their time trying to shut down the stress response or avoid the situation eliciting it. Both of these outcomes lead to poor adaptation and decreased resilience. Thus we must realize that we have a key role to play in helping students learn to handle stress constructively.
In order to do so, we must avoid confusing the daily stress that helps us grow, develop, and adapt with the type of stress that can lead to problems and be difficult to overcome independently. Not all stress is the same, yet people often forget the huge differences between various kinds of stress. As a result, they often confuse normal and helpful everyday stress with toxic stress - that is, the acute stress that protects us from danger. This confusion may help explain why many educators view stress as bad, when in fact most stress is healthy and even necessary for human growth and development. The following descriptions summarize three types of stress response: positive, tolerable, and toxic (Harvard Center for the Developing Child, n.d.).
- Positive stress response is a normal and essential part of healthy development. It is characterized by brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in hormone levels. A positive stress response might be triggered, for example, by the following situations.
- In childhood: receiving an immunization shot, meeting a new caregiver
- In adolescence: writing examinations, going to a new school, failing a grade, not making the team, giving a public lecture, performing on stage, asking someone for a date, going to a party with unfamiliar people
- For new teachers: meeting students' parents, writing report cards, getting to know colleagues
- Tolerable stress response activates the body's alert systems to a greater degree than positive stress response as a result of more severe, longer-lasting difficulties - for example, a natural disaster, a frightening injury, or the loss of a loved one. If the activation is time limited and buffered by relationships with adults who help the child adapt, then the brain and other organs recover from what might otherwise be damaging effects. Here are some examples.
- For students: moving to a new home and school, being diagnosed with a chronic disease (e.g., diabetes, asthma), losing a grandparent or parent
- For teachers: ending an intimate relationship, moving to an unfamiliar place to begin a career, being reassigned at the last minute and needing to rebuild lesson plans and resources
- Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, or prolonged adversity - such as unsafe housing, hunger, physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, substance abuse or mental illness in a caregiver, exposure to violence, or economic hardship - without adequate adult support. This kind of prolonged activation of the stress response systems can disrupt the development of brain architecture and other organ systems. It can also increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment well into the adult years.
You may have heard the saying, "Be kind; everyone is fighting a hard battle." Being kind means really looking at our students, seeing what might underlie their behaviour, considering how their personal wellness or context might influence how they react in a particular situation, and - as the caring adult - creating a safe space in which they can develop their sense of self.
This perspective is particularly important when reflecting on how we think children and youth (and we and our peers) "should" handle stress. Do you have a student who is very anxious about "getting into trouble"? Perhaps the student has experienced maltreatment at the hands of caregivers in response to transgressions. Depending on the child's age and coping style, this anxiety may manifest in the form of noncompliance ("defiance"), being anxious to please ("goody-two-shoes"), or being withdrawn ("bored" or "not motivated"). Do you have a student who is focused on getting high marks and other positive evaluations? Again, depending on age and history, such students may present as being overly focused on meeting your criteria ("needy" or "demanding"), helpless ("lacking confidence"), or distracted ("needing to focus" or "apply themselves").
How does this overview of stress fit with what you have been taught? How does it challenge common beliefs suggesting that normal and everyday stress is bad, that we should protect children from it, or that there may be things over which we have no control that influence how a person copes with stress?
Instead of being silent when a student says, "That guy is crazy" or "She is nuts," respond to what you are hearing: "I am hearing some language that worries me. Let's take a minute and talk about this."
Here are some strategies to keep in mind when helping students develop the necessary skills to cope with stress:
- When possible, give students choices regarding assessments. A student who experiences performance-related anxiety is likely to be negatively influenced by the anxiety (which does not mean that he or she doesn't know or can't do it).
- Consider different ways in which students can contribute to others' learning. Are they too nervous to demonstrate the skill in front of the class? Then have them record others doing so. Are they overwhelmed by the expectation? Then talk with them about it and guide them to reasonable alternatives for demonstrating their learning. This is not about giving students a way out; it is about giving them a way in.
- Start small and focus on building their capacity. We all benefit from opportunities to learn, practice, and receive constructive feedback.
- Explore simple ways to build a sense of mastery in your classroom - for example, using jigsaw or cooperative learning.
And here are some individual factors to consider:
- Does the student possess the necessary skills to complete the task? Some students may need coaching or extra practice.
- Is the person naturally more open or more resistant to new experiences? Some students may need encouragement and time to explore new experiences.
- Is the person generally more anxious or less anxious? For students who tend to be more anxious about life in general, being reminded of times when they coped effectively with anxiety can help them generalize the relevant skills to new situations.
- Is the task simple, clearly explained, and well resourced (e.g., in terms of time, materials, and support)? It can be helpful to break a large task into smaller steps, provide tools (e.g., an outline) and reminders (e.g., posters or instruction sheets), and check in frequently.
Remember also that children often mirror an important adult's response to an unexpected or unpleasant situation. If, upon seeing a child fall down and bang a knee, we swoop in to help, then we transmit the message that the fall was a catastrophe and the child or youth is incapable of handling it. Instead, we can make eye contact and check in: "Hey [Name], you took quite a tumble. Are you ready to go back in [to the game or class activity], or do you need to sit out for a few minutes?" In this way, we send the message that we noticed the event and are letting the student choose the next step because he or she can.
Infusing HPE with a Sociocultural Perspective
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation.
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation. Think back to your own school experiences in physical education. What is your story? Is it one of glory and enjoyment, or of shame and exclusion, or of indifference? How might this question be answered by some of your classmates? If your own experience of physical education was (thankfully) free from public shaming, consider the following tweets: "PE doesn't stand for physical education, it stands for public embarrassment" (Popik, 2013, n.p.). "PE is 5% exercise and 95% embarrassment" (Common White Girl, 2014, n.p.). What are some other forms of exclusion found in schools?
Another way to get at the question is to consider what image comes to mind when you think of a physical education teacher, or of physical education students. A teacher's dress code, norms, and routines - along with curriculum content and instructional activities - all affect students' participation and, ultimately, their overall physical education experience. With that power in mind, let's explore some often-unquestioned practices in physical education and look at alternatives for your own practice.
For instance, have you ever wondered why some teachers have students sit in "squads" as soon as they enter the gym, while the teacher stands in front of the class? Though some educators view this approach as an effective strategy for classroom management and grouping, it stems from physical education's roots in military training and its early focus on calisthenics and physical training. In other words, it provides a means for maintaining order in the gymnasium. What hidden messages might this practice deliver to students? For one thing, the use of squads positions the teacher as an all-powerful figure who makes all decisions and leaves little if any room for choice by students. Thus it does not fit with a sociocultural approach to teaching that seeks to fully engage students in their learning.
What alternatives exist? When gathering students together after an activity, one possibility is to invite them to sit in a circle and then seat yourself among them, as part of the circle. Indeed, in some Indigenous cultures, the circle symbolizes equality and interconnection among all things - "all peoples, all animals, all spirits, all perspectives" (chapter 6). Thus the physical arrangement of the circle is important and requires that everyone be able to see every face without having to lean forward. You might also ask your students why they think you have chosen to use a circle. Then stand up and ask them how they feel now as compared with when you were sitting with them. Notice whether students seem to detect a shift in the balance of power in the teacher - student relationship. Chapter 6 describes the circular world view and how talking circles can be used to give each member an opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and questions - in other words, to be valued.
Another common practice in physical education that we have come to take for granted is the use of a whistle to get students' attention. Think back to your early physical education days. Did your gym teacher use a whistle? If so, how did you feel when you heard it blow? Did it evoke a feeling of obedience, lack of control, nervousness? Have you ever questioned its use? Emitting 100 decibels or more with each blow, a whistle can produce a sound as loud as a motorcycle or rock concert. Used in excess, it can even damage hearing, and for some students it conjures up the image of a drill sergeant in boot camp. It may also evoke feelings of anxiety or even shame based on previous negative experiences in physical education.
One alternative practice is to use your voice to communicate through words such as stop, hold, look, listen. You can teach the children what each instruction means: stop what you are doing, hold the equipment you are using, look at the person speaking, and listen for instructions or feedback. Students can practice following these instructions in a game-like activity. This is only one alternative; no doubt you can come up with others!
In another common practice, in health classrooms, students are often required to sit and be quiet during an entire lesson. Here again, think back to your own early days, this time in health education rather than physical education. Did you sit while learning about health? If so, did you learn the names and parts of the human body? Did they have much relevance to your life as a student? As Halas and Kentel (2008) have questioned, "Do we consider how painful it can be when we hold young people back from the movement their bodies crave, particularly in schools?" (p. 214). This question is especially poignant when applied to students who are learning about health.
Despite growing support for health education, research has shown that health in schools continues to be taught in ways that are outdated, didactic, and reductionist (Begoray, Wharf-Higgins, & MacDonald, 2009; Lu & McLean, 2011). In other words, whereas physical education is movement oriented, health education continues to be taught in a teacher-centred and physically inactive manner. What can we change to make health education experiential, active, and fun? For example, rather than simply teaching dry facts about specific body parts - say, the human heart - perhaps students could embody the cardiovascular system, thus learning by acting out how it works. In another example, rather than just learning about food groups and the Canada Food Guide, perhaps students could also involvetheir bodies in completing tasks that help them remember the learning. For example, first- to third-grade students could work alone or in pairs to retrieve various food cards that are placed on the perimeter of a large circle at the centre of the gym or field. They would travel to the perimeter of the playing area and place the card in the correct designated food group (e.g., fruit, vegetable, root vegetable, tuber vegetable, grain products, meat and eggs, legumes, dairy, nuts and seeds) location (e.g., a hula-hoop). While traveling, students could explore various locomotor skills and movement concepts at the same time. As the old saying goes, "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll learn."
What makes for a successful game?
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that.
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that. The success of a game depends on a great many factors, ranging from students' moods to curricular outcomes. There are, however, a few essential considerations that must be satisfied in order for a game to be considered successful as part of a physical education lesson. These essentials hold true for all games - competitive and cooperative, small sided and large sided, teacher driven and student created.
The first essential is that the game must be educational; more specifically, it must help all students develop knowledge or skills related to a specific curricular outcome. Merely getting students physically active is not enough. Many physical educators believe that a class is successful if the students are "happy and busy" (i.e., having fun and being active) and being "good" (i.e., behaving well) (Placek, 1983; Henninger & Coleman, 2008). Certainly, these things are desirable, but if a game is not educational - that is, if students are not learning anything - then we would suggest that it cannot in good conscience be considered successful by a teacher who believes in delivering a physical education program.
The second essential is for the game to have clearly defined rules that are not too hard for students to follow and that help create equal opportunity for all players. If students are unsure how a game should be played, this uncertainty immediately undercuts its potential for success. Specifically, game flow may be disrupted by frequent stops due to rule infractions, and students may be less engaged in the activity because they don't fully understand what they are - and are not - allowed to do. As a result, games with demanding rules are often problematic at the elementary school level. For example, it would nearly impossible to play a full game of either Canadian or American football with elementary school students; there are simply far too many rules for students to remember and understand. Even at the secondary school level, teachers typically use a modified version (e.g., flag football) or a small-sided version with simplified rules. Of course, problems can also arise if a game has too few rules. For example, safety issues could be problematic for a modified game of floor hockey where the only rule provided is that a goal will be counted when the ball enters the opposing team's net. Keeping sticks down and body contact, for example, should also be addressed.
The final essential is that the game should be enjoyable and high in "playability" (Casey & Hastie, 2011).Although the need for fun is unsurprising, students' perceptions of it can be affected by a variety of factors, many of which are hard for a teacher to control. That said, one factor that is sure to influence a game's level of fun is playability. Students typically want games to feature a balance between offense and defense; even more important, they prefer games that allow for success. For example, in elementary school, volleyball typically lacks playability because it requires very specific skills that are too advanced for most of the students. Therefore, in order to make the game successful with these students, teachers need to find ways to improve its playability - for example, using a beach ball instead of a traditional volleyball. This simple modification gives students more time to set up and make contact with the ball, thus increasing the average length of rallies and increasing students' ability to succeed in playing the game. Essentially, then, this modification makes the game playable!
Helping Students Manage Stress
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation).
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation). These responses are linked to survival in the most basic sense - if we perceive danger, our built-in alarm system activates to protect us. This system often creates particular behaviours referred to in the common phrase "fight, flight, or freeze."
The stress response (which we often refer to simply as stress) occurs whenever we are faced with a challenge or change in our environment that demands our adaptation. The challenge, or stressor, may be a school or social situation, a sport competition, a touch, a threat, or anything that pressures us to adapt. The specifics of how we interpret danger - and feel stress - vary from person to person; overall, however, the stress response is simply the brain's signal to the body, and to itself, that adaptation is needed. Everyone experiences the stress response every single day. In the vast majority of situations, it is low in intensity, transient, and helpful.
Children are observant, and they learn how to interpret their own stress response by watching others. If they are told that what they are feeling is helpful - that the body signals they are experiencing are helping them prepare to perform well - then they tend to do well. In such cases, they focus on learning or on applying the skills necessary to succeed in the given situation. When they are successful, the stress response dissipates. Moreover, they remember what they did to adapt, and now they have embedded a skill and thus become more resilient. Because they remember what they did to solve the problem, they can apply that strategy in the future.
Instead of saying to a student, "You look depressed," you might say, "I'm noticing that your energy is really low today. What's going on?"
If, on the other hand, children are told that what they are feeling is harmful and negative, then they may spend much of their time trying to shut down the stress response or avoid the situation eliciting it. Both of these outcomes lead to poor adaptation and decreased resilience. Thus we must realize that we have a key role to play in helping students learn to handle stress constructively.
In order to do so, we must avoid confusing the daily stress that helps us grow, develop, and adapt with the type of stress that can lead to problems and be difficult to overcome independently. Not all stress is the same, yet people often forget the huge differences between various kinds of stress. As a result, they often confuse normal and helpful everyday stress with toxic stress - that is, the acute stress that protects us from danger. This confusion may help explain why many educators view stress as bad, when in fact most stress is healthy and even necessary for human growth and development. The following descriptions summarize three types of stress response: positive, tolerable, and toxic (Harvard Center for the Developing Child, n.d.).
- Positive stress response is a normal and essential part of healthy development. It is characterized by brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in hormone levels. A positive stress response might be triggered, for example, by the following situations.
- In childhood: receiving an immunization shot, meeting a new caregiver
- In adolescence: writing examinations, going to a new school, failing a grade, not making the team, giving a public lecture, performing on stage, asking someone for a date, going to a party with unfamiliar people
- For new teachers: meeting students' parents, writing report cards, getting to know colleagues
- Tolerable stress response activates the body's alert systems to a greater degree than positive stress response as a result of more severe, longer-lasting difficulties - for example, a natural disaster, a frightening injury, or the loss of a loved one. If the activation is time limited and buffered by relationships with adults who help the child adapt, then the brain and other organs recover from what might otherwise be damaging effects. Here are some examples.
- For students: moving to a new home and school, being diagnosed with a chronic disease (e.g., diabetes, asthma), losing a grandparent or parent
- For teachers: ending an intimate relationship, moving to an unfamiliar place to begin a career, being reassigned at the last minute and needing to rebuild lesson plans and resources
- Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, or prolonged adversity - such as unsafe housing, hunger, physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, substance abuse or mental illness in a caregiver, exposure to violence, or economic hardship - without adequate adult support. This kind of prolonged activation of the stress response systems can disrupt the development of brain architecture and other organ systems. It can also increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment well into the adult years.
You may have heard the saying, "Be kind; everyone is fighting a hard battle." Being kind means really looking at our students, seeing what might underlie their behaviour, considering how their personal wellness or context might influence how they react in a particular situation, and - as the caring adult - creating a safe space in which they can develop their sense of self.
This perspective is particularly important when reflecting on how we think children and youth (and we and our peers) "should" handle stress. Do you have a student who is very anxious about "getting into trouble"? Perhaps the student has experienced maltreatment at the hands of caregivers in response to transgressions. Depending on the child's age and coping style, this anxiety may manifest in the form of noncompliance ("defiance"), being anxious to please ("goody-two-shoes"), or being withdrawn ("bored" or "not motivated"). Do you have a student who is focused on getting high marks and other positive evaluations? Again, depending on age and history, such students may present as being overly focused on meeting your criteria ("needy" or "demanding"), helpless ("lacking confidence"), or distracted ("needing to focus" or "apply themselves").
How does this overview of stress fit with what you have been taught? How does it challenge common beliefs suggesting that normal and everyday stress is bad, that we should protect children from it, or that there may be things over which we have no control that influence how a person copes with stress?
Instead of being silent when a student says, "That guy is crazy" or "She is nuts," respond to what you are hearing: "I am hearing some language that worries me. Let's take a minute and talk about this."
Here are some strategies to keep in mind when helping students develop the necessary skills to cope with stress:
- When possible, give students choices regarding assessments. A student who experiences performance-related anxiety is likely to be negatively influenced by the anxiety (which does not mean that he or she doesn't know or can't do it).
- Consider different ways in which students can contribute to others' learning. Are they too nervous to demonstrate the skill in front of the class? Then have them record others doing so. Are they overwhelmed by the expectation? Then talk with them about it and guide them to reasonable alternatives for demonstrating their learning. This is not about giving students a way out; it is about giving them a way in.
- Start small and focus on building their capacity. We all benefit from opportunities to learn, practice, and receive constructive feedback.
- Explore simple ways to build a sense of mastery in your classroom - for example, using jigsaw or cooperative learning.
And here are some individual factors to consider:
- Does the student possess the necessary skills to complete the task? Some students may need coaching or extra practice.
- Is the person naturally more open or more resistant to new experiences? Some students may need encouragement and time to explore new experiences.
- Is the person generally more anxious or less anxious? For students who tend to be more anxious about life in general, being reminded of times when they coped effectively with anxiety can help them generalize the relevant skills to new situations.
- Is the task simple, clearly explained, and well resourced (e.g., in terms of time, materials, and support)? It can be helpful to break a large task into smaller steps, provide tools (e.g., an outline) and reminders (e.g., posters or instruction sheets), and check in frequently.
Remember also that children often mirror an important adult's response to an unexpected or unpleasant situation. If, upon seeing a child fall down and bang a knee, we swoop in to help, then we transmit the message that the fall was a catastrophe and the child or youth is incapable of handling it. Instead, we can make eye contact and check in: "Hey [Name], you took quite a tumble. Are you ready to go back in [to the game or class activity], or do you need to sit out for a few minutes?" In this way, we send the message that we noticed the event and are letting the student choose the next step because he or she can.
Infusing HPE with a Sociocultural Perspective
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation.
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation. Think back to your own school experiences in physical education. What is your story? Is it one of glory and enjoyment, or of shame and exclusion, or of indifference? How might this question be answered by some of your classmates? If your own experience of physical education was (thankfully) free from public shaming, consider the following tweets: "PE doesn't stand for physical education, it stands for public embarrassment" (Popik, 2013, n.p.). "PE is 5% exercise and 95% embarrassment" (Common White Girl, 2014, n.p.). What are some other forms of exclusion found in schools?
Another way to get at the question is to consider what image comes to mind when you think of a physical education teacher, or of physical education students. A teacher's dress code, norms, and routines - along with curriculum content and instructional activities - all affect students' participation and, ultimately, their overall physical education experience. With that power in mind, let's explore some often-unquestioned practices in physical education and look at alternatives for your own practice.
For instance, have you ever wondered why some teachers have students sit in "squads" as soon as they enter the gym, while the teacher stands in front of the class? Though some educators view this approach as an effective strategy for classroom management and grouping, it stems from physical education's roots in military training and its early focus on calisthenics and physical training. In other words, it provides a means for maintaining order in the gymnasium. What hidden messages might this practice deliver to students? For one thing, the use of squads positions the teacher as an all-powerful figure who makes all decisions and leaves little if any room for choice by students. Thus it does not fit with a sociocultural approach to teaching that seeks to fully engage students in their learning.
What alternatives exist? When gathering students together after an activity, one possibility is to invite them to sit in a circle and then seat yourself among them, as part of the circle. Indeed, in some Indigenous cultures, the circle symbolizes equality and interconnection among all things - "all peoples, all animals, all spirits, all perspectives" (chapter 6). Thus the physical arrangement of the circle is important and requires that everyone be able to see every face without having to lean forward. You might also ask your students why they think you have chosen to use a circle. Then stand up and ask them how they feel now as compared with when you were sitting with them. Notice whether students seem to detect a shift in the balance of power in the teacher - student relationship. Chapter 6 describes the circular world view and how talking circles can be used to give each member an opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and questions - in other words, to be valued.
Another common practice in physical education that we have come to take for granted is the use of a whistle to get students' attention. Think back to your early physical education days. Did your gym teacher use a whistle? If so, how did you feel when you heard it blow? Did it evoke a feeling of obedience, lack of control, nervousness? Have you ever questioned its use? Emitting 100 decibels or more with each blow, a whistle can produce a sound as loud as a motorcycle or rock concert. Used in excess, it can even damage hearing, and for some students it conjures up the image of a drill sergeant in boot camp. It may also evoke feelings of anxiety or even shame based on previous negative experiences in physical education.
One alternative practice is to use your voice to communicate through words such as stop, hold, look, listen. You can teach the children what each instruction means: stop what you are doing, hold the equipment you are using, look at the person speaking, and listen for instructions or feedback. Students can practice following these instructions in a game-like activity. This is only one alternative; no doubt you can come up with others!
In another common practice, in health classrooms, students are often required to sit and be quiet during an entire lesson. Here again, think back to your own early days, this time in health education rather than physical education. Did you sit while learning about health? If so, did you learn the names and parts of the human body? Did they have much relevance to your life as a student? As Halas and Kentel (2008) have questioned, "Do we consider how painful it can be when we hold young people back from the movement their bodies crave, particularly in schools?" (p. 214). This question is especially poignant when applied to students who are learning about health.
Despite growing support for health education, research has shown that health in schools continues to be taught in ways that are outdated, didactic, and reductionist (Begoray, Wharf-Higgins, & MacDonald, 2009; Lu & McLean, 2011). In other words, whereas physical education is movement oriented, health education continues to be taught in a teacher-centred and physically inactive manner. What can we change to make health education experiential, active, and fun? For example, rather than simply teaching dry facts about specific body parts - say, the human heart - perhaps students could embody the cardiovascular system, thus learning by acting out how it works. In another example, rather than just learning about food groups and the Canada Food Guide, perhaps students could also involvetheir bodies in completing tasks that help them remember the learning. For example, first- to third-grade students could work alone or in pairs to retrieve various food cards that are placed on the perimeter of a large circle at the centre of the gym or field. They would travel to the perimeter of the playing area and place the card in the correct designated food group (e.g., fruit, vegetable, root vegetable, tuber vegetable, grain products, meat and eggs, legumes, dairy, nuts and seeds) location (e.g., a hula-hoop). While traveling, students could explore various locomotor skills and movement concepts at the same time. As the old saying goes, "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll learn."
What makes for a successful game?
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that.
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that. The success of a game depends on a great many factors, ranging from students' moods to curricular outcomes. There are, however, a few essential considerations that must be satisfied in order for a game to be considered successful as part of a physical education lesson. These essentials hold true for all games - competitive and cooperative, small sided and large sided, teacher driven and student created.
The first essential is that the game must be educational; more specifically, it must help all students develop knowledge or skills related to a specific curricular outcome. Merely getting students physically active is not enough. Many physical educators believe that a class is successful if the students are "happy and busy" (i.e., having fun and being active) and being "good" (i.e., behaving well) (Placek, 1983; Henninger & Coleman, 2008). Certainly, these things are desirable, but if a game is not educational - that is, if students are not learning anything - then we would suggest that it cannot in good conscience be considered successful by a teacher who believes in delivering a physical education program.
The second essential is for the game to have clearly defined rules that are not too hard for students to follow and that help create equal opportunity for all players. If students are unsure how a game should be played, this uncertainty immediately undercuts its potential for success. Specifically, game flow may be disrupted by frequent stops due to rule infractions, and students may be less engaged in the activity because they don't fully understand what they are - and are not - allowed to do. As a result, games with demanding rules are often problematic at the elementary school level. For example, it would nearly impossible to play a full game of either Canadian or American football with elementary school students; there are simply far too many rules for students to remember and understand. Even at the secondary school level, teachers typically use a modified version (e.g., flag football) or a small-sided version with simplified rules. Of course, problems can also arise if a game has too few rules. For example, safety issues could be problematic for a modified game of floor hockey where the only rule provided is that a goal will be counted when the ball enters the opposing team's net. Keeping sticks down and body contact, for example, should also be addressed.
The final essential is that the game should be enjoyable and high in "playability" (Casey & Hastie, 2011).Although the need for fun is unsurprising, students' perceptions of it can be affected by a variety of factors, many of which are hard for a teacher to control. That said, one factor that is sure to influence a game's level of fun is playability. Students typically want games to feature a balance between offense and defense; even more important, they prefer games that allow for success. For example, in elementary school, volleyball typically lacks playability because it requires very specific skills that are too advanced for most of the students. Therefore, in order to make the game successful with these students, teachers need to find ways to improve its playability - for example, using a beach ball instead of a traditional volleyball. This simple modification gives students more time to set up and make contact with the ball, thus increasing the average length of rallies and increasing students' ability to succeed in playing the game. Essentially, then, this modification makes the game playable!
Helping Students Manage Stress
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation).
Stress is a normal response to environmental demands or pressures that threaten our well-being or overwhelm our coping strategies. It is experienced physically (e.g., increased heart rate and respiration), cognitively (e.g., worry), and emotionally (e.g., anxiety and trepidation). These responses are linked to survival in the most basic sense - if we perceive danger, our built-in alarm system activates to protect us. This system often creates particular behaviours referred to in the common phrase "fight, flight, or freeze."
The stress response (which we often refer to simply as stress) occurs whenever we are faced with a challenge or change in our environment that demands our adaptation. The challenge, or stressor, may be a school or social situation, a sport competition, a touch, a threat, or anything that pressures us to adapt. The specifics of how we interpret danger - and feel stress - vary from person to person; overall, however, the stress response is simply the brain's signal to the body, and to itself, that adaptation is needed. Everyone experiences the stress response every single day. In the vast majority of situations, it is low in intensity, transient, and helpful.
Children are observant, and they learn how to interpret their own stress response by watching others. If they are told that what they are feeling is helpful - that the body signals they are experiencing are helping them prepare to perform well - then they tend to do well. In such cases, they focus on learning or on applying the skills necessary to succeed in the given situation. When they are successful, the stress response dissipates. Moreover, they remember what they did to adapt, and now they have embedded a skill and thus become more resilient. Because they remember what they did to solve the problem, they can apply that strategy in the future.
Instead of saying to a student, "You look depressed," you might say, "I'm noticing that your energy is really low today. What's going on?"
If, on the other hand, children are told that what they are feeling is harmful and negative, then they may spend much of their time trying to shut down the stress response or avoid the situation eliciting it. Both of these outcomes lead to poor adaptation and decreased resilience. Thus we must realize that we have a key role to play in helping students learn to handle stress constructively.
In order to do so, we must avoid confusing the daily stress that helps us grow, develop, and adapt with the type of stress that can lead to problems and be difficult to overcome independently. Not all stress is the same, yet people often forget the huge differences between various kinds of stress. As a result, they often confuse normal and helpful everyday stress with toxic stress - that is, the acute stress that protects us from danger. This confusion may help explain why many educators view stress as bad, when in fact most stress is healthy and even necessary for human growth and development. The following descriptions summarize three types of stress response: positive, tolerable, and toxic (Harvard Center for the Developing Child, n.d.).
- Positive stress response is a normal and essential part of healthy development. It is characterized by brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in hormone levels. A positive stress response might be triggered, for example, by the following situations.
- In childhood: receiving an immunization shot, meeting a new caregiver
- In adolescence: writing examinations, going to a new school, failing a grade, not making the team, giving a public lecture, performing on stage, asking someone for a date, going to a party with unfamiliar people
- For new teachers: meeting students' parents, writing report cards, getting to know colleagues
- Tolerable stress response activates the body's alert systems to a greater degree than positive stress response as a result of more severe, longer-lasting difficulties - for example, a natural disaster, a frightening injury, or the loss of a loved one. If the activation is time limited and buffered by relationships with adults who help the child adapt, then the brain and other organs recover from what might otherwise be damaging effects. Here are some examples.
- For students: moving to a new home and school, being diagnosed with a chronic disease (e.g., diabetes, asthma), losing a grandparent or parent
- For teachers: ending an intimate relationship, moving to an unfamiliar place to begin a career, being reassigned at the last minute and needing to rebuild lesson plans and resources
- Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, or prolonged adversity - such as unsafe housing, hunger, physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, substance abuse or mental illness in a caregiver, exposure to violence, or economic hardship - without adequate adult support. This kind of prolonged activation of the stress response systems can disrupt the development of brain architecture and other organ systems. It can also increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment well into the adult years.
You may have heard the saying, "Be kind; everyone is fighting a hard battle." Being kind means really looking at our students, seeing what might underlie their behaviour, considering how their personal wellness or context might influence how they react in a particular situation, and - as the caring adult - creating a safe space in which they can develop their sense of self.
This perspective is particularly important when reflecting on how we think children and youth (and we and our peers) "should" handle stress. Do you have a student who is very anxious about "getting into trouble"? Perhaps the student has experienced maltreatment at the hands of caregivers in response to transgressions. Depending on the child's age and coping style, this anxiety may manifest in the form of noncompliance ("defiance"), being anxious to please ("goody-two-shoes"), or being withdrawn ("bored" or "not motivated"). Do you have a student who is focused on getting high marks and other positive evaluations? Again, depending on age and history, such students may present as being overly focused on meeting your criteria ("needy" or "demanding"), helpless ("lacking confidence"), or distracted ("needing to focus" or "apply themselves").
How does this overview of stress fit with what you have been taught? How does it challenge common beliefs suggesting that normal and everyday stress is bad, that we should protect children from it, or that there may be things over which we have no control that influence how a person copes with stress?
Instead of being silent when a student says, "That guy is crazy" or "She is nuts," respond to what you are hearing: "I am hearing some language that worries me. Let's take a minute and talk about this."
Here are some strategies to keep in mind when helping students develop the necessary skills to cope with stress:
- When possible, give students choices regarding assessments. A student who experiences performance-related anxiety is likely to be negatively influenced by the anxiety (which does not mean that he or she doesn't know or can't do it).
- Consider different ways in which students can contribute to others' learning. Are they too nervous to demonstrate the skill in front of the class? Then have them record others doing so. Are they overwhelmed by the expectation? Then talk with them about it and guide them to reasonable alternatives for demonstrating their learning. This is not about giving students a way out; it is about giving them a way in.
- Start small and focus on building their capacity. We all benefit from opportunities to learn, practice, and receive constructive feedback.
- Explore simple ways to build a sense of mastery in your classroom - for example, using jigsaw or cooperative learning.
And here are some individual factors to consider:
- Does the student possess the necessary skills to complete the task? Some students may need coaching or extra practice.
- Is the person naturally more open or more resistant to new experiences? Some students may need encouragement and time to explore new experiences.
- Is the person generally more anxious or less anxious? For students who tend to be more anxious about life in general, being reminded of times when they coped effectively with anxiety can help them generalize the relevant skills to new situations.
- Is the task simple, clearly explained, and well resourced (e.g., in terms of time, materials, and support)? It can be helpful to break a large task into smaller steps, provide tools (e.g., an outline) and reminders (e.g., posters or instruction sheets), and check in frequently.
Remember also that children often mirror an important adult's response to an unexpected or unpleasant situation. If, upon seeing a child fall down and bang a knee, we swoop in to help, then we transmit the message that the fall was a catastrophe and the child or youth is incapable of handling it. Instead, we can make eye contact and check in: "Hey [Name], you took quite a tumble. Are you ready to go back in [to the game or class activity], or do you need to sit out for a few minutes?" In this way, we send the message that we noticed the event and are letting the student choose the next step because he or she can.
Infusing HPE with a Sociocultural Perspective
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation.
Physical education is said to offer the best opportunity to foster the development of health and physical literacy. Yet it also has a long history of perpetuating inequality and alienation by excluding, marginalizing, or shaming members of certain groups as being "other" on the basis of criteria such as race, ability, weight, gender, and sexual orientation. Think back to your own school experiences in physical education. What is your story? Is it one of glory and enjoyment, or of shame and exclusion, or of indifference? How might this question be answered by some of your classmates? If your own experience of physical education was (thankfully) free from public shaming, consider the following tweets: "PE doesn't stand for physical education, it stands for public embarrassment" (Popik, 2013, n.p.). "PE is 5% exercise and 95% embarrassment" (Common White Girl, 2014, n.p.). What are some other forms of exclusion found in schools?
Another way to get at the question is to consider what image comes to mind when you think of a physical education teacher, or of physical education students. A teacher's dress code, norms, and routines - along with curriculum content and instructional activities - all affect students' participation and, ultimately, their overall physical education experience. With that power in mind, let's explore some often-unquestioned practices in physical education and look at alternatives for your own practice.
For instance, have you ever wondered why some teachers have students sit in "squads" as soon as they enter the gym, while the teacher stands in front of the class? Though some educators view this approach as an effective strategy for classroom management and grouping, it stems from physical education's roots in military training and its early focus on calisthenics and physical training. In other words, it provides a means for maintaining order in the gymnasium. What hidden messages might this practice deliver to students? For one thing, the use of squads positions the teacher as an all-powerful figure who makes all decisions and leaves little if any room for choice by students. Thus it does not fit with a sociocultural approach to teaching that seeks to fully engage students in their learning.
What alternatives exist? When gathering students together after an activity, one possibility is to invite them to sit in a circle and then seat yourself among them, as part of the circle. Indeed, in some Indigenous cultures, the circle symbolizes equality and interconnection among all things - "all peoples, all animals, all spirits, all perspectives" (chapter 6). Thus the physical arrangement of the circle is important and requires that everyone be able to see every face without having to lean forward. You might also ask your students why they think you have chosen to use a circle. Then stand up and ask them how they feel now as compared with when you were sitting with them. Notice whether students seem to detect a shift in the balance of power in the teacher - student relationship. Chapter 6 describes the circular world view and how talking circles can be used to give each member an opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and questions - in other words, to be valued.
Another common practice in physical education that we have come to take for granted is the use of a whistle to get students' attention. Think back to your early physical education days. Did your gym teacher use a whistle? If so, how did you feel when you heard it blow? Did it evoke a feeling of obedience, lack of control, nervousness? Have you ever questioned its use? Emitting 100 decibels or more with each blow, a whistle can produce a sound as loud as a motorcycle or rock concert. Used in excess, it can even damage hearing, and for some students it conjures up the image of a drill sergeant in boot camp. It may also evoke feelings of anxiety or even shame based on previous negative experiences in physical education.
One alternative practice is to use your voice to communicate through words such as stop, hold, look, listen. You can teach the children what each instruction means: stop what you are doing, hold the equipment you are using, look at the person speaking, and listen for instructions or feedback. Students can practice following these instructions in a game-like activity. This is only one alternative; no doubt you can come up with others!
In another common practice, in health classrooms, students are often required to sit and be quiet during an entire lesson. Here again, think back to your own early days, this time in health education rather than physical education. Did you sit while learning about health? If so, did you learn the names and parts of the human body? Did they have much relevance to your life as a student? As Halas and Kentel (2008) have questioned, "Do we consider how painful it can be when we hold young people back from the movement their bodies crave, particularly in schools?" (p. 214). This question is especially poignant when applied to students who are learning about health.
Despite growing support for health education, research has shown that health in schools continues to be taught in ways that are outdated, didactic, and reductionist (Begoray, Wharf-Higgins, & MacDonald, 2009; Lu & McLean, 2011). In other words, whereas physical education is movement oriented, health education continues to be taught in a teacher-centred and physically inactive manner. What can we change to make health education experiential, active, and fun? For example, rather than simply teaching dry facts about specific body parts - say, the human heart - perhaps students could embody the cardiovascular system, thus learning by acting out how it works. In another example, rather than just learning about food groups and the Canada Food Guide, perhaps students could also involvetheir bodies in completing tasks that help them remember the learning. For example, first- to third-grade students could work alone or in pairs to retrieve various food cards that are placed on the perimeter of a large circle at the centre of the gym or field. They would travel to the perimeter of the playing area and place the card in the correct designated food group (e.g., fruit, vegetable, root vegetable, tuber vegetable, grain products, meat and eggs, legumes, dairy, nuts and seeds) location (e.g., a hula-hoop). While traveling, students could explore various locomotor skills and movement concepts at the same time. As the old saying goes, "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll learn."
What makes for a successful game?
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that.
At this point, you may be wondering, "Are some games better than others"? The simple answer is yes, but there is a lot more to it than that. The success of a game depends on a great many factors, ranging from students' moods to curricular outcomes. There are, however, a few essential considerations that must be satisfied in order for a game to be considered successful as part of a physical education lesson. These essentials hold true for all games - competitive and cooperative, small sided and large sided, teacher driven and student created.
The first essential is that the game must be educational; more specifically, it must help all students develop knowledge or skills related to a specific curricular outcome. Merely getting students physically active is not enough. Many physical educators believe that a class is successful if the students are "happy and busy" (i.e., having fun and being active) and being "good" (i.e., behaving well) (Placek, 1983; Henninger & Coleman, 2008). Certainly, these things are desirable, but if a game is not educational - that is, if students are not learning anything - then we would suggest that it cannot in good conscience be considered successful by a teacher who believes in delivering a physical education program.
The second essential is for the game to have clearly defined rules that are not too hard for students to follow and that help create equal opportunity for all players. If students are unsure how a game should be played, this uncertainty immediately undercuts its potential for success. Specifically, game flow may be disrupted by frequent stops due to rule infractions, and students may be less engaged in the activity because they don't fully understand what they are - and are not - allowed to do. As a result, games with demanding rules are often problematic at the elementary school level. For example, it would nearly impossible to play a full game of either Canadian or American football with elementary school students; there are simply far too many rules for students to remember and understand. Even at the secondary school level, teachers typically use a modified version (e.g., flag football) or a small-sided version with simplified rules. Of course, problems can also arise if a game has too few rules. For example, safety issues could be problematic for a modified game of floor hockey where the only rule provided is that a goal will be counted when the ball enters the opposing team's net. Keeping sticks down and body contact, for example, should also be addressed.
The final essential is that the game should be enjoyable and high in "playability" (Casey & Hastie, 2011).Although the need for fun is unsurprising, students' perceptions of it can be affected by a variety of factors, many of which are hard for a teacher to control. That said, one factor that is sure to influence a game's level of fun is playability. Students typically want games to feature a balance between offense and defense; even more important, they prefer games that allow for success. For example, in elementary school, volleyball typically lacks playability because it requires very specific skills that are too advanced for most of the students. Therefore, in order to make the game successful with these students, teachers need to find ways to improve its playability - for example, using a beach ball instead of a traditional volleyball. This simple modification gives students more time to set up and make contact with the ball, thus increasing the average length of rallies and increasing students' ability to succeed in playing the game. Essentially, then, this modification makes the game playable!
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