Hope everyone with school age kids read yesterdays Calgary Herald. There was a great article in their on physical literacy and the importance of kids having “structured” PE classes that actually teach skills. You all know I am a zealot about this! I believe in keeping kids active and I also believe that there is a positive spin off academically for children who are engaged in organized physical activities. If you missed the article be sure to dig it out and read it. There has been a movement in the past several years to eliminate qualified PE teachers especially at the elementary level. A couple of years ago I had a conversation with one of the CBE consultants and she said there were only about 15 PE specialists left at the elementary level. She too was concerned at the direction PE classes were heading. Lots of free play with a ball and little instruction on skills and activity. Many parents make sure their kids are involved in activities out of school and these kids don’t suffer the fall out as much as those children whose parents do not have the time, energy or money to enrol them in sports activities outside of school.
Three years ago I was allowed to do something I have wanted to do my entire career. Every morning 40 ADHD kids (identified by their teachers) were sent to the gym for a half hour of aerobic activity. There is tons of research out there about the effect of sustained aerobic activity and how it relates to kids being able to settle down and focus on their academic learning. There is an excellent book called Spark that has research that supports this. I have heard the author of this book lecture and have read the book. The teacher’s who bought into this morning program and permitted their students to come had nothing but good to say about the effect the exercise had on their students when they returned to the classroom.
I don’t really know why I’m ranting about this but it is a topic of concern for me. Eliminating quality PE programs from the program of studies and stating that “children need 30 minutes of physical activity a day” and then defining that activity as free play is concerning. Yes, kids need time to play but I believe that is what recess and lunch time are for. The long term health effects of too much screen time and not enough physical activity time are already starting to rear their ugly heads. A significant percentage of our youth population are overweight or even obese, some have already been diagnosed with hypertension and there is a higher incidence of diseases such as diabetes. The drain this is sure to have on our health system is alarming. So as parents.....think about it and take a few minutes to read
the article. Our kids are worth it and as adults we need to make sure they are getting what their growing bodies and minds need!
HERE’S THE ARTICLE!
Phys-ed classes need a revamp to create healthy lifestyles
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Do you know what goes on in your child's physical education class?Physical literacy is an important part of a child's education. And contrary to popular belief, time spent in the gym doesn't take away from core subjects like math, science and English. In fact, numerous studies have demonstrated that physical activity improves academic performance and classroom attentiveness. Yet 20 years ago, parents and educators let physical education take a back seat to academics, reducing the amount of physical education in schools and replacing phys-ed teachers with generalists who did little more than throw a ball in the gym and tell kids to "play.""Just look where that got us," said Chris Jones, acting executive director and CEO of Physical and Health Education Canada. "That generation is more obese and inactive than any before it." The realization that we were raising a generation of physically illiterate children who had neither the skill nor the interest to pursue an active lifestyle was slow to dawn on policy-makers. But when obesity rates skyrocketed and physical activity reached all-time lows among children and adults, physical education became part of a strategy to get people moving again.In Alberta, the government has set minimum standards concerning the amount of physical education in the curriculum. Schools offering Grades 1 to 9 must provide 30 minutes of daily physical activityBut it's what happens in the gym, not on paper, that makes a difference in a child's acquisition of physical skills and their propensity to stay active into adulthood. "If your child is playing dodge ball every day, there is a problem - a huge problem," said Johanne Vaillant, a lecturer in the department of kinesiology and physical education at McGill University. Vaillant, a specialist in curriculum and teacher evaluation, said quality physical education should enable children to become competent and confident in their physical skills, learn the basics of team and individual sports and develop a healthy lifestyle that will take them well into adulthood. "You don't want to wait until you're 25 to learn how to play basketball so you can join a team," Vaillant said. But unlike gym classes of old, these skills should be taught in a way that kids spend more time moving and less time sitting. Days of children standing in line waiting to dribble a ball through a series of cones or sitting out after being eliminated from a game should be all but gone. Instead, Vaillant said, kids should be active during 70 to 80 per cent of any given gym class. In reality, what happens in the gym may not reflect the goals set out by the curriculum. Some teachers and schools haven't implemented the curriculum in the spirit it was intended. There are schools that shortchange students on the amount of phys-ed offered. And there are teachers who think a noisy gym full of active kids is too much to handle. This kind of teaching ends up producing the same type of results as those achieved 20 years ago. Athletic kids excel and learn to love sports and exercise, and the non-athletic ones feel like failures and avoid playing organized sports or participating in any activity that demands a measure of physical skill. It's up to principals and parents to ensure that physical education is being taught in such a way that every child can be successful and that all the basic competencies are acquired. Be it movement skills, sport-specific skills, fitness skills or nutrition know-how, the goal is to develop the necessary physical and health literacy needed to be active for life. So how do you ensure your child's school is following the curriculum and the required number of minutes of physical education a week? Ask. Meet with the physical education teacher and inquire which activities and sports are taught and how much time the children spend being active. If you're unhappy with the answers, talk to the principal. Gym class can't provide the 60 minutes of physical activity children are supposed to get each and every day. But if Johnny can't throw a ball or run 50 metres, chances are he'll be more comfortable playing computer games than running around outside, playing the way kids are supposed to.
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