THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9408310129
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 3K EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HEIDI GLICK, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Remember those days in elementary school when the thought of physical-education class may have been boring or even frightening?
Those were the days when student captains picked teams, choosing the most athletic students one after the other while the not so athletic were chosen last. The days when some children stood nervously waiting their turn in relay races hoping to be able to keep up with their peers.
An hour of what was supposed to be fun and skill learning often ended up turning many students against physical fitness and competitive sports, according to Lindsay Shepheard, health and physical education coordinator for Virginia Beach public schools.
To keep kids turned onto physical education, more than 100 physical fitness specialists and assistants from Beach elementary schools and some Chesapeake schools gathered for a two-day workshop to better learn how to teach children phy-ed and dance skills, as well as social skills associated with sports.
For the fourth year in a row the city's office of instruction has sponsored the workshop, bringing in nationally recognized presenters who are knowledgeable on the trends in physical education. Sam Baumgarten, a physical education consultant from Bridgewater College in Massachusetts, led this year's workshop.
For two days, teachers became students, giggling at their own mistakes.
Baumgarten encouraged the workshop attendees to teach their classes skill-oriented activities.
In doing this, teachers paired up and volleyed with a balloon, while Baumgarten walked around the room watching their techniques.
``Hit the balloon hard,'' he encouraged and then, ``Get sideways.''
He instructed the teachers in body awareness, for instance, how to stand while waiting for the balloon or how to position the body while striking the balloon.
``Every game is a collection of skills,'' Shepheard explained.
Instead of teaching the children to play games like volleyball or basketball, she added, teach them skills like striking, dribbling and kicking. Once they learn those skills, they can apply them to the games they play.
``When you're done playing with your partner, what do you do?'' Baumgarten asked the teachers. ``You shake hands, show courtesy,'' he said while criticizing the much used ``mechanical'' slap on the back that doesn't require players to truly acknowledge their competitors.
Other trends in teaching physical education?
Letting children create their own games, including rules and penalties;
Downplaying competitive activities and fitness testing;
Not using exercise as a form of punishment;
Letting every child have more contact with - and choice of - equipment.
The days of kickball are long gone. With 20 kids and one ball, that left a lot of children standing around doing nothing, Shepheard said.
Pat Coleman, an assistant physical-education teacher at Fairfield Elementary, said her students really enjoy creating their own games, especially giving the game a name.
``It makes it more enjoyable,'' she said. ``They make their own rules.''
Being kind and polite to one another, another focus of the workshop, is important to get across to children today, added Nancy Harrell, a phys-ed specialist at Fairfield. It can be shaking hands after a competition or apologizing for bumping into someone.
In the afternoon, Baumgarten divided the teachers in groups of four, gave them two Hula-Hoop like rings and a ball and told them to create their own game.
Many of the games consisted of one person holding a hoop while others took turns throwing the ball, catching it or waiting in line. Baumgarten pointed out problems with this set-up. For one, the person holding the hoop is nothing more than an extension of the equipment itself.
In an ideal game, each child - or in this case teacher - should be moving and actively involved in the game. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by HEIDI GLICK
Teachers learn new physical skills to teach by trying them out at
the workshop.
by CNB