Hi guys,
In my EPHE 443 (phys ed) class the other day we spoke about some consequences about children who leave or forget their gym strip at home. I'm a little concerned because we had some consequences like having them write a report during the period, docking marks, embarrassing them with ugly awful spare gym strip, so they remember to bring their own. And then of course we have the lost and found or they can borrow it from friend’s. Sitting in this class was pretty hard for me not to just open my mouth and start spurting out what we have been speaking about in Allen's class about making it fair and allowing everyone the right to participate in sporting activities.
I think that at the beginning of the semester we need to outline the expectations of what we are looking for. State that gym strip is expected for each class, and state that if you cannot afford it to come and talk to you during a private time. Tell them yes everyone forgets their strip every once and a while, you won’t be punished however you will be expected to participate with or without strip. If it becomes the norms and they are constantly missing their stuff then speak to them about other options for strip.
What do you guys suggest doing? I don’t like the idea of punishing them but once it becomes a regular occurrence what other ideas do you have?
When I was in high school I was a PE teacher assistant and most of the people who didn't bring strip did it on purpose because they didn't want to participate. So I think by having a strip box they will automatically bring their strip. It is normally girls and they all coincidentally forget their strip the same day. In this class if you forgot your strip they got to sit out the entire class and I don't think that's how it should work. I agree with allowing kids to participate without strip and if it is a normal occurrence talk to them in private about why. The biggest problem is getting the people who are avoiding pe to buy in and participate. I think that by getting student input on what they would like to do could help this problem. If you got all kids to fill out forms a the beginning of the year you could get an idea of what they are interested in and hopefully they would be more likely to participate.
ReplyDeleteI definetly think you need to lay out your expectations before hand. Having work for them to do is a good way to keep them busy if you don't have an extra strip to give them, but I think I would rather just have them be my teacher's aid for the day. While the rest of the class is working on skills or playing a game, give the student some instructions and have them lead the next activity. You keep them engaged in the learning and you give them an opportunity to demonstrate leadership.
ReplyDeleteIf its a regular occurance,I would ask the student about it, talk with their parents if it continued, and if I still couldn't find a good reason as to why the student can't remember their gym strip, then maybe its time to hit up a thrift store to buy some cheap shorts and t-shirts?
The problem with gym strip is it is a hygiene issue. If you start making kids take part in PE with out strip a lot of schools and parents are going to have problems with sweaty kids walking around for the rest of the day. Not to mention the kid is going to hold a grudge against you for making him (or her) the "Sweaty" kid.
ReplyDeleteIf the expectation of a strip is made clear and the consequences of forgetting one are laid out before hand then I think the world is your oyster when deciding how you are going to handle it.
By making your position clear, you arn't punishing the student for forgetting their strip, they are choosing the alternative. Whatever the alternative may be.
The middle school class I am teaching seems to have an issue with strip and last class i had 6 student who the teacher had sit out without strip.I did not fully support this but the teachers policy is that if they forget strip they are picking up garbage or doing set up work for her.I would have a different method to deal with this but as said before I think you have to clearly state your policy early. No strip is an easy way to not participate and I personally like the lost and found or borrow from a friend. The change of content is a good point because if you researched I am sure Gymnastics has the highest strip forgetting for boys. Main issue is that it is only a problem if reoccurring, everyone forgets someimes.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but recall that certain sports like floor hockey always resulted in everyone remembering their gym strip while other sports had conveniently lower rates of remembering their strip in my PE days. Yes, sometimes students legitimately forgot their strip but this tended to be the minority of cases.
ReplyDeleteMy solution will be to provide some cheap strips for those that 'forget' theirs. I believe you need to be actively participating in PE to be adequately learning. Therefore, I will take away as many "barriers" preventing participation as I can.
I completely disagree with the teacher in Matt's example that has students pick up garbage. They aren't even present to learn the cognitive aspects of the lesson.