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Fellowship PaperThe Physical Education Program for Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Graders at South Shore Charter School
By Lisa Berman South Shore Charter School
Massachusetts Charter School Association 2002
INTRODUCTION Imagine you are a middle school coordinator, and ask yourself the following questions:
Searching for the answers to these questions motivated me to develop the Physical Education Program for fifth, sixth, and seventh graders at the South Shore Charter School (SSCS). South Shore Charter School’s mission, written in the Final Charter School Application (Dovetail Consulting 1994), includes providing students with "an education which fosters initiative, critical thinking, leadership, teamwork, and communication; to promote life skills for individual achievement in education, career, community and life." Physical Education (P.E.) is an important means of developing these skills. Organized games and sports provide an opportunity to discuss interpersonal issues, develop leadership skills, and promote teamwork. At SSCS, we take our students on a few field trips each year to give them practical experience in these areas. For the 2001-2002 school year, as the SSCS Level III Coordinator, I took that idea a step further by organizing monthly trips that would shape the Physical Education curriculum. The monthly P.E.-related field trips were either full or half-day trips. My goal was to expose students to a variety of sports, push them beyond what they perceived their capabilities to be, and/or help students acknowledge their fears and overcome them, thus building their self-esteem. My hope was that these trips would also provide planning time for groups of teachers to work on the horizontal integration of our Math and Language Arts curricula. In its first year, the program succeeded in sending students on P.E. field trips and in giving teachers more planning time. We took full day trips to ice skate, ski, spend a day at the beach, and participate in the Challenges Program (cooperative games and challenging activities requiring participants to work together) run by Horizons for Youth. an environmental education organization in Sharon, MA. Half-day trips included soccer, basketball, gymnastics, swimming, and karate, and during these trips some teachers stayed at school for planning time. These monthly trips also dictated the type of P.E. classes offered in between the trips, to either follow up on skills learned or prepare students for trips to come. Background Fitness It seems like every time I turn on the news there is a report about losing weight or a commercial for a weight loss program, and the concern for maintaining a healthy weight is not just an adult problem. Over the past 30 years, the percent of overweight children has almost tripled from 4% of 6-11 year-olds overweight in 1971 to 13% in 1999, and from 5% of 12-19 year-olds overweight in 1971 to 14% in 1999 (CDC 1999). I hoped the SSCS P.E. program would expose students to a variety of sports and activities, so they might find one or, hopefully, a few that interested them, maintain this interest for years to come, and thus become active, healthy adults. Child development and health and fitness experts recommend physical activity for all ages. The developmental stage of young adolescence is a time when it is difficult for these children to sit for long periods of time (Wormeli 2001; Knowles and Brown 2000). Physical activity is crucial to their happiness and well-being. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the National Association for Sports and Physical Education (NASPE), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services all encourage schools to increase the amount of physical activity for children and adolescents. These organizations also "recommend comprehensive daily physical education for children K-12" (Summerfield 1998). While we cannot offer daily instructional physical education, we do provide students with a daily recreation period in addition to their weekly P.E. classes.
Teacher Planning Needs Teachers work very hard. Going into the 2001-2002 school year, based on staffing and our schedule, I found that teachers had only 2 hours per week (not counting before and after school times) for planning. I knew that without more time, teachers, myself included, would face teacher burnout. Our school also had only one in-service day planned for the whole year, and teachers were asking for an increase in these in-service days. The P.E. field trips seemed like an opportune time to give teachers some extended planning time, basically a half-day in-service day, three times during the school year. Goals Physical activity is an important part of child development, and at our school we believe that kids need to be active every day. In our middle school, students receive forty-five minutes of recess each day in order to encourage daily activity. This is an increase of fifteen minutes from previous years. Students play sports and other games and come back to class focused and ready to learn. We hoped the improved physical education program would give them a larger repertoire of ideas for activities during their daily recess and also encourage them to try new sports, either in school or out of school. The second goal of the program was to increase common planning time for teachers who taught the same subjects. On full day trips, all teachers went; this participation from teachers is a given at our school where we recognize that it is important for teachers to spend time out of the classroom doing non-academic work with students. Such time together fosters a stronger student-teacher relationship. For practical reasons, we also needed all teachers to chaperone, though some parents volunteered as well. On half-day trips, either the language arts or math teachers stayed behind for common planning time. Implementation Logistics This program already had an existing framework in that four of the field trips (as mentioned, Horizons for Youth, ice skating, skiing, and Beach Day) were already a regular part of our schedule and had been for a few years. These were full day trips that all teachers attended. Teachers also had been teaching physical education to their own classes. However, the physical education instruction and activity occurred sporadically and followed no set curriculum. Using these two stepping off points, I designed a more structured and thorough program. In expanding the field trip program, I first brainstormed what sports I thought all children should have exposure to, what sports I thought they would enjoy, and what sports we might find at local facilities. Next, I contacted local businesses and sports facilities for availability and pricing. Most places can’t accommodate 100 students at one time, so I developed a rotating schedule during which 2-3 classes were sent to different places one month and then went to another place the following month, and so on. More concretely, classes on Team A went, for three consecutive months, to swimming, then karate, and then soccer. Team B went to karate first, then soccer, then swimming, and so on. Most of the arrangements were finalized before the school year began. At the beginning of the year, I sent a letter to parents explaining the P.E. field trip program, including a schedule of the trips and estimated costs. I informed parents of ways they could participate, such as chaperone/coaching or coming in to teach classes. For some trips, we hired buses, but for others we depended on parent drivers. I encouraged parents to call me with any questions or concerns. As with any new program, I knew it was important to keep the lines of communication open, alleviating the fears of parents and students and encouraging them to think positively. The vast majority of our parents are very supportive of the program, and many have volunteered to chaperone trips. Even those who worry that the P.E. program takes students away from academics are complimentary as they share how excited their children are upon returning from trips. Once the field trips are arranged, I then design the weekly P.E. classes to support the field trips as much as possible. For example, our first trip of the school year is to Horizons for Youth to take part in their Challenges program. Back at school, the P.E. classes for the three weeks following the trip consist of cooperative games I found by searching the Internet. Some months it’s more difficult to make this connection. For example, no one at school is qualified to teach karate. During the weeks before and after the karate field trip, we do other sports, such as volleyball or softball. Challenges There are certainly some obstacles that we had to overcome to implement this program. First of all, charter school teachers often wear many hats. They not only do the usual classroom teaching; they also coordinate other school programs like Title I, and they provide technological support around the building. Some of our teachers were not enthusiastic about teaching P.E. classes as well. I overcame this obstacle in a few ways. One was by assuring teachers that lesson plans would always be provided for them. I also made the teaching of P.E. a team effort. I made sure there were always two or three teachers scheduled to teach at the same time, with a total of eighteen to twenty-five students. This makes the work less stressful for the teachers. The small class size was achieved by scheduling P.E. opposite World Language classes. During the "three teacher" classes, we are sometimes able to send one teacher away for some extra planning time. Lastly, I told teachers my philosophy behind the program: Encouraging students in activities outside the classroom would strengthen relationships and our community, making students easier to teach; moreover, students who had the opportunity to be physically active would concentrate better when they were in class. While all teachers have not completely bought into the program, they have gone along with it, and, for the most part, support it. There is still hope that eventually the school will include the cost of a physical education teacher in the yearly budget. Another obstacle for weekly P.E. classes was the fact that we don’t have a gym. As a rule, we go outside for P.E. unless it is raining, snowing, or below freezing. We have a small playground and a large open field that we use for many activities. We have a small open space (approximately 30’x60’) in our building that we use when we have to stay in. The curriculum was designed with the understanding that, in the winter, we would probably have at least a month during which classes would be inside. For example, we scheduled volleyball skills for the winter. We learn them indoors, using beach balls, so we don’t break anything. We have very little sports equipment, but we have been creative in this area, too. The cooperative games we do during the three weeks of P.E. classes after the Horizons for Youth trip require no equipment. As mentioned, we use beach balls for volleyball. When we do baseball skills, we use plastic bats and balls. All of these items are very inexpensive. When we went on our basketball field trip, students brought their own balls for use that day. Many of our other activities require the use of only one ball or no equipment at all. One P.E. class is simply a brisk walk around the neighborhood surrounding our school. We also participate in the President’s Physical Fitness Challenge, which requires little equipment. Lesson plans have been a minor issue. I have culled lessons from the Internet (where there are lots of great ideas), the knowledge of the adults in our school community (such as a yoga instructor) and even from other classes. One P.E. class this year was the Pentathlon, inspired by the sixth graders’ study of Ancient Greece. Our students eventually became part of the process of developing ideas for P.E. class; we set up a suggestion box. As a result, we use one of their ideas each month. If we have open minds, there are many options, and students can broaden their definition of physical activity and education. Cost has been a minor issue as well. We always charge for field trips at our school, and my goal has been to keep our P.E. trips to about $5.00 per month. Some we knew would be more, such as our yearly skiing trip to New Hampshire for the day, but the rest fall within the range of our goal. Any student who cannot afford the fee is always given a scholarship. Parents just write, "needs scholarship" on the permission slip. I charge students a little more than the actual cost, so I can cover the scholarships as well. In addition, I ask parents for donations for large trips, such as the ski trip, and if I’m short of funds I know I can cover it out of my Level III budget, or I can go to the All Parents Group, the main parents’ organization at our school. In this way, cost has not interfered with our ability to carry out this program. In the future, however, I will ask the SSCS Board of Trustees to set aside a minimum of $5000 in our annual budget to fund this program, making it practically free for students. As noted earlier, some parents have not been as excited about these trips as I am. They do not see the P.E. trips as "time on learning," and do not see their value. With these parents, I explain the philosophy as best I can and ask for their patience; I tell them we will see results. Believe it or not, my last and enduring obstacle has been the reactions of some students. Some just don’t want to go on certain trips. My staff and I have overcome this obstacle by having heart-to-heart talks with them and also getting their peers to encourage them. When they hear fellow students raving about their most recent trip, reluctant students are more likely to go the next time. Hopefully, these trips and their P.E. classes will give students the ability to think of themselves as capable people who can participate in any activity. Results This practice shows SSCS’s solid commitment to helping students develop healthy habits and sound life skills. Parents too have been involved, especially as volunteers who run the basketball and soccer field trips. A parent came to school and taught yoga, four classes in one day, so all the students could try this activity. We are maintaining our commitment to educating the whole child by preparing them for an active adulthood, and we are including parents in the process. This program is innovative because it is a creative way to find common planning time where there was none previously. May I also mention once again that we have no gym, no P.E. teacher, and very little athletic equipment? These are huge challenges to running a good Physical Education program, and we have triumphed without them. The reactions of teachers and students provide evidence that these trips and our P.E. program have been successful. Those teachers who remain at school during trips enjoy a quiet and productive afternoon and feel more prepared and less stressed. They have remarked that the opportunity to sit down, uninterrupted, during the school day and not after an already long day (our school day is seven hours) has been a benefit to them personally as well as to the academic program. Student success has been observed on various levels. For example, as mentioned, the first trip we take each year is to Horizons for Youth in Sharon, MA. This organization’s motto is "a success for every child." Their Challenges Program places students into small groups to problem-solve and accomplish a physical challenge as a group. When students hear that they have to get their entire group from Point A to Point B by stepping on only a few small boards, many groan at first. Twenty minutes later when they’ve made it across, there is a new look of confidence on their faces and friendships have developed. They start the year with positive experiences involving those life skills our mission encourages them to master. Some successes are on a more personal level, as this story, one among many, will illustrate. One seventh-grade girl didn’t want to go swimming. After talking with her, it was clear she was worried about how her hair would look for the rest of the day (no small issue for a thirteen-year-old girl). We talked about self-consciousness and confidence, images of women, and then came up with a practical solution to the problem (braiding her hair). She went swimming, had a great time, and hopefully will begin to think of the opportunity first and her appearance second when given the chance to participate in physical activities. The reactions of the students after every trip are another testimony to the program’s success. The students always come back saying, "That was the best trip yet! It was great!" They end up wanting to do more of the activity they did on the field trip; if it’s karate, for example, they want to take karate classes. They confide in me, after the fact, that they thought gymnastics was for girls or they wouldn’t be any good at basketball, and that they were proven wrong. I applaud them for being able to admit this, and tell them to remember the experience the next time they prematurely judge something or doubt their own abilities. What We Have Learned, What We Plan to Improve We are continuing this program. To improve it, we plan to buy more equipment, teach more sports, increase parent involvement, and provide two new field trips in place of ones that fell through in the past. We plan to cover new sports and activities such as hockey, football, and lawn games (horseshoes, croquet, etc.). We rescheduled the rock-climbing trip and replaced hiking with a trip to a roller rink. We realized (based on the size of the facility) that we sent too large a group to play basketball, and we plan to use smaller groups for that trip. While in the past the trips usually took place on the last Wednesday of the month, I have looked more closely at vacation schedules and have planned trips to take place at more even intervals between vacations. Some parents informed me they would rather pay a little extra and have the students take busses for every field trip, so we are looking into this change as well. We’ve gathered feedback from parents, teachers, and students and are planning improvements based on experiences. Last year, I gathered information during one-on-one conversations. In the future, I hope to gather information through written surveys. Advice for Other Schools Facilities and funding continue to be a problem for charter schools. Our building used to be a restaurant. There was never room for a gymnasium, yet we managed to have P.E. every week, rain or shine. By getting outside the building and into the community, students not only have their weekly classes; they also learn about the resources in their own backyards. Our small class sizes limit our income at SSCS, which, in turn, impacts staffing and supplies. We have shown that creativity and some extra effort can overcome this problem, help students become well-rounded individuals, and encourage teachers to do their best work. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lisa Berman is starting her sixth year at the South Shore Charter School. She is the Level III (grades 5-7) Coordinator and a classroom teacher. CONTACT INFORMATION: Lisa Berman, South Shore Charter School REFERENCES Kahn, Emily B. Ph.D.; Leigh Taylor Ramsey, Ph.D.; Gregory W. Heath, D.H.Sc.; M.P.H.; Elizabeth H Howze, Sc.D. October 1, 2001. Increasing Physical Activity: A Report on Recommendations of the Task Force on Community Preventative Services, a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Retrieved 25 July 2002 from the Web site of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Web site: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5018al.htm Knowles, T. and D.F. Brown. 2000. What every middle school teacher should know. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Prevalence of Overweight Among Children and Adolescents: United States, 1999. Retrieved 25 July 25 2002 from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, Web site: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/overwght99.htm Summerfield, L.M. 1998. Promoting Physical Activity and Exercise among Children. Retrieved 25 July 2002 from the Kid Source On Line Web site: http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content4/promote.phyed.html Wormeli, R. 2001. Meet me in the middle. Maine: Stenhouse Publishers.
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