The Physical Education Hall of Shame, Part 1
The first part of the series of articles The Physical Education Hall of Shame lists childhood games which are considered inappropriate for physical education classes. The author argues that some games are potentially unsafe, have minimal participation time factors, they are potential to embarrass the student in front of their classmates, and focus on eliminating students from participation. One of the harmful games is Dodgeball. Even though the game involves teamwork, strategy, and motor skills, the game might be dangerous, and also includes the highly skilled students. Another game mentioned by Williams is Duck, Duck, Goose. It is a game of a minimal participation, where generally five students
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The author mentions a few more games, and they are: Giant, Elves, and Wizards, Kickball, Musical Chairs, Relay Races, and Steal the Bacon. All of these activities have a potential for embarrassment, ignore success, and focus on failures. I am positively surprised that the author talks about the problems certain games and activities may create, because very often teachers who are used to the games, simply cannot see the potential harm and danger, or they may just think that the games are fun (especially those teachers who used to win when they were students themselves). I think, it is PE educators’ responsibility to reflect on their teaching, create well-conceived lesson plans which eliminate the risk of being ridiculed and humiliated. With intelligent decisions and lesson plans, PE teachers will create equal opportunities for learning and participating in the game, as well as they will provide an …show more content…
Williams mentions Tug of War, Capture the Flag, and Climb the Rope games, and he proves that the games do not satisfy the criteria for appropriate physical education teaching practices. The author also criticizes the practice of taking attendance while students sit in lines, viewing it as a waste of precious instructional time.
I have never heard about a Shirts vs. Skins teaching practice, and that surprises me the most. I can only imagine how humiliating this can be for students who are overweight or underweight, who have a low self-esteem, or who simply are ashamed of being half naked. I really wish all physical education teachers could realize how much harm some of the long-practiced activities can cause in the lives of their students. Therefore, they should strive to carefully select the activities and games, introduce modifications, and educate themselves in order to be more insightful and thoughtful practitioners. Only then, they will be able to instill positive attitudes in students’ lives and encourage them to become physically active in their adult
The game requires too little or too much physical activity, it has to go. A child is accidentally hurt during a game, the game must be made illegal. Rick Reilly in The Weak Shall Inherit the Gym again states, “Seriously. So, if we give them dodgeball, you can look for these games to be banned next: Tag. Referring to any child as it is demeaning and hurtful. Instead of the child hollering, ‘You’re it!’ we recommend, ‘You’re special!’...Capture the flag. Mimics war. Kick the can. Unfair to the can. If we let these PC twinkies have their way, we’ll be left with: Duck-duck-duck. Teacher spends the entire hour patting each child softly on the head.” (lines 34 - 39 & 43 - 46) Children don’t think about how the game is unfair, they think How do I win? Who should I aim for? Playing a game of dodgeball is a time where kids can let loose and have
... physical education (J. Sproule, Ed.). Retrieved February 25, 2014, from Sage Journal website: http://epe.sagepub.com/content/11/3/257.short#cited-by
After first reading the essay “Sports Should be Child’s Play,” I believe David Epstein made a valid point when discussing the issue of children participating in competitive sports at a too young of an age. He effectively delivered his argument by giving an appropriate amount of evidence without crowding the piece and losing the reader. There were certain sections of the essay that would have been difficult to understand without context, however Epstein was able to guide the reader and explain the evidence and situation when necessary. The title of the essay drew me in because “child's play” coincides with something that can be easily accomplished and is enjoyable. However sports, at the higher level, are challenging and are required to be taken seriously. If children are playing at competitive level too early in their life, it can cause a loss of enjoyment and be detrimental to their physical and mental health.
Participating in a sport at an early age can be essential to the overall growth process during a child’s upbringing. Whether the participation is through some sort of organized league or just getting together amongst friends and playing, the lessons learned from this can help teach these kids and provide a positive message to them as they develop. There is a certain point, however, when organized sports can hinder progress, which is when adults get too involved and forget about the underlying reason to why they are helping. While adult involvement is necessary, adult involvement can sometimes send the wrong message to children when they try to make participation become more than just about fun and learning. According to Coakley (2009), “organized sports are worth the effort put forth by adults, as long as they do what is in the best interest of their children and put that thought ahead of their own agenda” (Coakley, p. 151). This is a valid argument because once adults put themselves in front of the children and their values, it needs to be re-evaluated as to why they first got involved in the beginning. Partaking in organized sport and activity from a young age can be beneficial to the overall development of children, as long as decisions actions are made in the best interest of the children and not stemming from ulterior motives of adults.
One of the assumptions Statsky makes is that, “One readily understandable danger of overly competitive sports is that they entice children into physical actions that are bad for growing bodies” (627). This statement rests on the assumption that children would not perform any “physical actions that are bad for growing bodies” (Statsky 627) without organized competitive sports. This is simply untrue. Children jump from swings, climb trees, skateboard, “pop wheelies” and otherwise put themselves in physical peril with alarming regularity. Children’s free and unorganized play often results in broken bones and stitches, even for the most timid children.
Ed. Teachers all over the country. It’s called ‘The New P.E.’ The idea is to get away from traditional, competitive games, and move more to what some are calling ‘nurturing, prosocial behavior’ kind of activities” Kids will still get hurt in the New P.E., so just getting rid of dodgeball will not remove all injuries! If there is an accident, you kiss it, stick a band-aid on it, and deal with it!
Dodgeball is loved by children across the nation. I know this because I’m one of them. Our class always wines to play it and we get to on Fridays as our reward for making it through the week. If we get rid of dodgeball we have to replace it with something. Tag is not an option as it’s also banned in many schools for being to rough. According to The Weak Shall Inherit The Gym- Not only tag but even musical chairs and duck goose has been banned for being unfair. Those games have been added to the Physical Education Hall Of Shame. The things that replace dodgeball is even worse. There is jump rope without a rope so you can never fail! Also there is swedish baseball where you get free passage to a base and get a 2 minute massage.These new P.E games aren’t fun they’re torture. It’s like playing a card game and you get to play any cars you want and everyone wins.
Do you want to abolish dodge ball? Is it really an apt game? Do you want your children to play this eradication activity? Dodge ball is perceived differently by many diverse individuals. Dodge ball has its pros and cons, but what do you think? While some critics covet it, others do not, like myself, who deems that this hazardous game is not a pertinent exercise for juvenile students.
To satisfy the competitive urge of their students, physical educators held “Play Days” and “Sport Days” for their female students. In a play day, teams from institutions did not play each other, but were comb...
Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) is seen throughout physical education curriculums and helps students gain an understanding of the rules and concepts of certain activities. The goal of TGfU is to help the students understand what they do and why they are doing it. Also, students can be taught by using a modified form of the activity that the teacher wants them to do. TGfU is not judged on how good or bad a student will perform. Although the model is used mostly in physical education, we see it now being used by coaches.
As a teacher my primary goal is to maximize student success. For me to accomplish that I need to create an atmosphere where students are enthusiastic and intrinsically motivated. Even though we do live in an extrinsic world, students need to have an attitude of doing things for themselves. Physical activity is a great way to demonstrate intrinsic rewards. By participating in regular physical activity students can reap the rewards of helping another succeed, giving complete devotion, increasing both health and skill related fitness, and also getting their own endorphins flowing. In life it is important to learn to to work well with others and team sports are a great way to incorporate ...
One out of every three children in America are considered obese or overweight (“Overweight”). America is at a point to where people want everything easy and fast. Last year, McDonald’s served 69 million customers a day (“Our Story”). These people are at home watching TV on their couches and eating this fast food. I think this is a huge factor to why obesity is at a high. The lack of exercise is a global pandemic. Only three out of ten Americans exercise regularly (“Information”). But for many students, the only exercise they may get is at school in a PE class. I feel like PE is a great class, but gets overlooked as a waste of time. The importance of teaching physical education is taken for granted. We can attain healthy habits, get exercise, and have fun while doing it. I believe physical education classes should be maintained and emphasized more than they are now. Most people view it as just an easy class but in reality, it could benefit our generation in the long run, and help make for a healthier future.
Sports, a very popular past time today, have been around since ancient times. Greek Olympic Games featured events from chariot races, javelin throws, to wrestling. In addition, a game similar to soccer was played in China by the second century BC. In England, a violent rugby type game was even played to settle feuds between villages. With the development of the industrial revolution and the creation of the first public schools, sports decreased in violence and were played more recreationally and constructively. Basketball was invented to help the youth in New England spend their energy in the winter months. Since the early 1900’s sports have been a key experience in the United States (“History of Sports”). I have played sports for many years, and the experience has helped me grow significantly as an individual.
The main goals behind Sport Education are to help students become knowledgeable about different sports and activities to the point where they can participate in these outside of the classroom to stay active. Also it teaches execution and strategies and encourages competitiveness. It is important for kids to be competitive because they will have to be in life and it will teach the importance of winning and losing the right way. “Sports offer kids a great chance to work cooperatively toward a common goal. And working coope...
In this essay, the role and benefits of Physical Education and School Sport will be identified from in and outside the school curriculum. The benefits that pupils have gained from the national school curriculum, what has changed from the past to present day in schools and how it has affected Physical Education in School Sport will be discussed. Also, mental and physical health benefits that occur from Physical Education will be mentioned in this essay along with what the teaching standards were like and how Physical education has changed such as different teaching ways.