Roberta Furger, (August 1, 2001), The New PE Curriculum: An Innovative Approach to Teaching Physical Fitness
Edutopia: retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/new-p-e-curriculum
I am a firm believer that there are two types of people that do my job. There are "gym" teachers and there are physical education teachers. I do everything I can to ensure I am NOT a gym teacher. Physical education class in the last 15 years or so has started to change for the better. Healthy and active kids make better learners......period!!
This article hits close to home, literally. It is about the physical education program in Naperville SD203 that uses many forms of technology to enhance the PE program. Pedometers, heart rate monitors, and computer-based fitness station where students measure everything from strength and flexibility to cholesterol levels just begin to touch the surface of what they use. Academic scores at these schools are awesome and student participation is also. These students want to be in these PE classes!
I personally feel with the way education is headed with testing, scores, etc. all school districts need to invest in all academic areas, EVEN SPECIALS!! Physical education, art, and music always get left out because eveyrthing else gets the attention. We need tech tools to better do our jobs as well. Help us specials teachers help the classroom teachers. Give me some pedometers and heart rate monitors, (as well as daily PE, but that's a different discussion for another day, LOL), and watch test scores and overall grades go up in the classroom.
