Author: Ashleigh Evaniew

Falling in Love with the Outdoors…Again

Depending on your geographical location, the fall season can be the prelude to the arrival of more harsh weather to come or just a cooler spell following a long hot summer. This month, we want to share with you some fall activity ideas regardless of the weather or temperatures you might be facing.

For many of us, the comfortable temperatures of fall provide some wonderful opportunities for expanding our physical education and extra-curricular programs. It’s a great time to encourage students and their families to be physically active and especially to get them outside and developing a love and appreciation of the outdoors.

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Positive Learning: 3 Tips for Generalist-Trained Teachers

(3 Minute Read)
Although Physical Education (PE) specialist teachers have acquired in-depth knowledge about teaching PE, this is not so common for generalist-trained teachers (GTs). Even when elementary schools do employ a PE specialist, it is quite common for GTs to teach at least some of the PE classes to their students.

Unfortunately, according to related literature, although GTs are certified to teach PE, they may not have acquired the confidence to teach specialized subject knowledge (DeCorby, Halas, Dixon, Wintrup, & Janzen, 2005; Bradford, Gleddie, & Millard, 2019; Rink & Hall, 2008).  This is further compounded as teaching PE is mainly a dynamic process (Bradford & Hickson, 2014; Metzler, 2011) and teachers must rely on immediate observations of student performance to decide what to do next (Metzler, 2011; Rink & Hall, 2008).  However, GTs can enhance their teaching by creating opportunities for positive learning. Such positive learning environments require a knowledgeable teacher to understand when it is best to implement the use of positive language and incorporate objectivity. Thereby, creating opportunities for a safe and positive environment where student learning is enhanced.

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Intersecting Literacies: Connecting Curriculum through the World of Physical Education

Elementary school teachers are commonly referred to as “generalist” teachers because they normally teach across all the curricular areas. For generalist teachers, the connection of curricula can be effective in helping students experience meaningful learning; it helps students “connect the dots.” Often overlooked however is that elementary school physical education specialists can help support generalists in “connecting the dots” between physical education and other curricular areas to enhance student learning.

Significantly, students who are exposed to connected or integrated curricular areas demonstrate academic performance equal to or better than students who are exposed to discipline-based programs (Drake & Reid, 2010). And, implementing integrative activities across different subject areas has been recognized as being effective for fostering learning, while maintaining high levels of student motivation, creativity, and discovery (Bradford & Schmidt, 2016). Benefits from cross-curricular connections also include: building on prior knowledge; unifying student learning; reflecting real world situations; and matching the way students think (Alberta Education, 2007).

Purposefully connecting competencies from within or across subject areas develops the understanding of key curricular learning outcomes. However, according to Gleddie, Hickson, and Bradford (2018), although cross-curricular learning refers to connecting subject areas, teachers must recognize the importance of meeting the unique intended learning outcomes in each curricular area. It is not a ‘true’ cross-curricular connection when one subject area receives a great deal of focus, while the other subject area receives minimal. For example, just because a teacher takes a Grade 4 class outside to search for and collect various items related to a science project, the lesson is not a ‘true’ cross-curricular connection to physical education (Gleddie, et al., 2018). When students are simply asked to travel to various spots to collect items such as pine-cones, rocks, and leaves, although physical activity is involved during this lesson, no learning outcomes related to physical education are explicitly met.

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Winter Physical Activities: C O L D E R can be better

It’s too cold outside! It’s snowing outside! There’s too much snow!

Have you heard these statements before in or near your schoolyard? If so, you’re not alone! The temperature seems to be a growing concern among children and youth. For some, the outside during winter months is “off limits!” Well, we disagree. We strongly believe that it is essential for children and youth to become regular physical activity participants outside. And right now, during the winter months, is the perfect time to help our students understand the possibilities and benefits of outside physical activity. So, as we journey through the last bit of winter, let’s get at it!

Before we share ideas of how to support students becoming active outside, we’d first like to point to some of the benefits of engaging in outside physical activity in colder temperatures. Benefits, which are further explained in a following section, include exposure to Vitamin D, fresh air, and the use of different muscle groups. Additionally, being active outside and engaging in a variety of movement experiences gives students opportunities to problem-solve and develop socially, as well as discover the fun of outdoor physical activity even in the cold.

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Developing Student Health and Wellness: A Comprehensive Approach

Health and wellness teaching is rapidly becoming a vital part of the school day. More and more children and youth are coming to school with conditions that are negatively impacting their lives. No longer can health and wellness be considered an “if we have time we’ll get to it” part of a school day. As evidenced by the data, children and youth are increasingly entering our classrooms anxious, lacking self-confidence, and suffering from a litany of social, emotional and physical health concerns. Therefore, it’s more important than ever for schools to continue to find ways to effectively provide students with opportunities to develop essential health and wellness skills.

One Way…Sharing the Responsibility

One of the most effective ways to impact health and wellness behaviors in students is through comprehensive programming (Joint Consortium for School Health, 2010). For example, Canadian authorities have attempted to approach this challenge through Comprehensive School Health (CSH) programming. It is widely accepted that CSH supports student learning, while simultaneously addressing school health and wellness in a planned, integrated and holistic manner (Berg et al., 2017).

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It Takes a “Community” to Role Model

To support a student’s physical literacy journey, health and physical education teachers need to consider and use all the skills and resources at their disposal. By effectively doing this, teachers can create learning environments that enhance their students’ development of physically active and healthy lifestyles. Additionally however, we believe that to provide students with the wide range of experiences vital to creating the necessary levels of confidence, self-efficacy and motivation for students to choose physically active and healthy lifestyles, teachers also need the critical support of many others.

A wide range of teaching issues including planning, lesson delivery, and assessment impact the success of health and physical education teaching. Less often considered is the importance of role modeling. According to Cardinal and Cardinal (2001) role modeling is a powerful teaching tool. However, getting students to choose to be physically active and healthy depends on more than just good role modeling by health and physical educators. This critical lifestyle choice needs to be supported schoolwide, in students’ homes, and across the community. Within these different environments students face choices that will impact their physical activity and health habits. Consequently, in order to develop physical literacy through physically active and healthy lifestyles, it’s critical students are exposed to positive role models throughout their entire “community”.

Understanding “Community”
When trying to understand the composition of a student’s “community”, it’s important to consider who students are in regular contact with daily. In addition to health and physical educators, students spend a considerable amount of time each day with other teachers and school employees, family, and their extended community of peers and adults. Below, we examine the possible role and impact of each of these “players” within a student’s “community.”

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