Author: James Overton

Keeping Our Students Active Outside of the Gymnasium

At Quibbletown Middle School we are trying to create a healthier overall school environment. Our 2015-2016 school year has started and we are off to a great start! Coming into the school year we introduced a few new ideas in an effort to keep our students active and moving outside of their regular physical education classes. As a teaching staff we first brainstormed some possible new ideas and eventually came up with two pretty cool ways to get our kids going. One was a no-brainer and the other raised (and still raises) quite a few eyebrows!

Silhouette of kid jumping against sunset

Brain Breaks and Energizers

Our first and simplest idea was the implementation of more brain breaks and energizers throughout the school day. Not all of our teachers are onboard yet, but this year we’ve convinced more teachers to embrace the value of integrating brief periods of physical activity into the classroom than in the past. To encourage buy-in, the school’s physical education teachers have offered to tailor these brain breaks and energizers towards specific classes and subject matter.

For example, some of our social studies teachers have taken their classes on virtual field trips. These trips have students standing in their classrooms and climbing the Great Wall of China, then swimming to Australia where upon arrival they hop like kangaroos, and so on! While moving the students continue to get information on each of these continents during their global studies unit. GoNoodle has also been a very useful tool for us when trying to get our students active during their non-physical education classes. Teachers can sign up at www.gonoodle.com and create class lists where groups can compete against one another to see who has the most moving minutes. There are several types of channels with different activities and methods of movement that are sure to keep kids interested. Anything and everything from Zumba to running steeplechase races are available for free to teachers.

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Fuel Up To Play 60: How we Successfully Incorporate the Program into our Daily School Routines

I just sat down after arriving home from presenting a workshop on the benefits of bodyweight exercise at the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) annual convention. In the past few years as an attendee I found a handful of professional development workshops for health and physical education. This year there were over 30. After making my own presentation, I visited others and found myself talking to many health and physical education teaching colleagues about the NFL and National Dairy Council Fuel Up To Play 60 (FUTP 60) program. I’m guessing it probably didn’t hurt that I was carrying a backpack emblazoned with the FUTP 60 logo.

I quickly discovered there was a huge interest in learning how my school achieved such success in the program so quickly and easily. In reality, it wasn’t quick, and it certainly wasn’t easy. We struggled with the program in our first year or two before starting to get our balance and finally running full speed. We went from a handful of students signed up to having hundreds of participants logging their daily nutritional and physical activities. We have had state ambassadors for each of the past two years, one national ambassador this year, and last summer I was inducted into the Program Advisor Hall of Fame. Several current and former NFL stars have come through our school doors to visit and celebrate our students’ achievements. In fact, we’ve become so accustomed to having media presence in our school that it has almost become a ho-hum situation. But a quick and easy are not words I’d use to describe our journey.

The biggest key for us was finding a core of students who wanted to make a difference in their own lives as well as the lives of their classmates. I understand this is asking a lot from 11-13 year olds but sometimes when we challenge our students we are pleasantly surprised. During this summer’s FUTP 60 Student Ambassador Summit in Texas, I heard a very telling statement from one of the attendees. He said we should stop telling our students that they are the leaders of tomorrow but rather that they are the leaders of today! Hearing that one simple statement made me want to challenge my already overachieving students even more. Back in school, the first places I looked were in my school’s Student Council and National Junior Honor Society. I realized that these included students with higher levels of dedication and commitment.

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