Child Obesity Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY6k2reQBnY&feature=grec_index
This video is about a documentary about a school and their ideas about how physical education is something that needs to be mandatory. It also points out about how child obesity has increased in the past thirty years.

New P.E. or No P.E?

            In all of my Physical Education classes, Statistics, Motor Development, EDU 255 and 355, Leadership in Physical Education etc., I have been learning about how physical education has such a bad reputation and how students are not getting enough “phys. ed. time”.  I have heard of many schools that would like to cut physical education out of the curriculum because they feel that physical education is not a real class.  So in retaliation to that, physical education teachers have been working hard and changing their curriculums around so that they can make a point that physical education is needed. 

            I know that in my high school, where phys. ed. was never taken seriously, there are now tests given out to the students throughout the year.  I have heard that some schools are actually trying to make it so phys. ed. has regents to show that the outgoing seniors are a “physically educated person”.  I feel that this is a good thing.  It shows that us as teachers we are actually teaching students something even if they may not use it for the rest of their life.  Even though, the information that teachers provide them with is meant to be used for the rest of their life.  We have been taught to change our curriculums around so that instead of doing the “tired 6” all through the high school years, we teach them lifelong activities that the students can enjoy and actually continue to do in the future.  Yoga, hiking, canoeing, softball, weight lifting, and many more are activities that students can use to further their physical fitness so that they can continue to live a healthy lifestyle.

            One of the huge problems in America today is Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes, which is also known as juvenile and adult diabetes.  They had changed the names of the two types because there were so many cases of children with adult diabetes that they could not call it that anymore.  Type 2 diabetes is caused mostly by a person’s lifestyle, in other words, weight.  There have been so many children who are obese that it has caused them to get Type 2 diabetes.  This is something that is not healthy for a young child to have.  Children need to have a way to be active to burn off everything and to find something to do rather than play video games.  Phys. ed. class is one of the things that can help a child stay active. 

Some schools believe that physical education is just another recess class and it does not belong.  I know that the elementary and middle school I went to as a child was thinking of cutting recess and phys. ed. class.  By having these two things, children are able to be active inside and outside of school.  These types of things can help to lower child obesity.  I learned in 355 that we need to fight for more time in the elementary level because if we get them at a younger age to enjoy activity then they are more likely to enjoy it when they get older.  I believe in this very strongly.  One of my favorite coaches believes in the same idea when dealing with coaching players.  She has always had a winning season and the school wants her at the higher level but she wants nothing to do with it because she believes in the principle.  By having class, the children are able to learn skills and be active.  Also we as teachers can point them in a new direction even outside of the classroom to being active.  Teachers are able to create outside activities for students to participate in to help keep them away from sitting at home eating junk food. 

Throughout the years I have been being taught the “new physical education” to help turn these views around.  The old physical something that has helped cause all these views and we have been being taught to be an innovator and to be someone to turn the school views on physical education around.  Physical education is changing and people just need to see the differences and be able to allow the change to happen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niTSwp6mn58
This video is about what I just pointed out about the child obesity and how Congressman Wemp believes in how children need to be educated about physical activity.

Behavior Management

            I have been here at Cortland for the past four years and a teaching major for the whole time.  To become a teacher we have to do 100 hours of observations before we student teach and we do it at each level of schools, and for students with disabilities.  I am now in my last 15 hours of the 100 in my 356 observations.  It is something new, different and I have not yet really figured out how I like it.

            I only have one student and she has SED or Severe Emotional Disorders.  She is a lot of fun and a very skilled student.  The only problem that I have with her is her listening skills.  She does not listen to me at all, I laid down the law with her on the first day, and I have done a sticker chart that lists listening and behavior on it.  This past Friday in lab, I had a little issue with her on those two things.  She did not listen to anything I said and she did not behave very well.  She was crawling on the floor, in other teacher’s grids, and playing with the equipment when I asked her to help clean up.  While all this was happening, I was firm with her, said she would not be getting any stickers, and I did not give her the toy she brought until she stood up.  Everything that I have ever been taught to do in this situation I did, and none of them worked. 

            Throughout my years here, we have been taught how to handle behavior and gymnasium rules, but I don’t think I have gotten enough experience with it.  Like I have said before, I have grown up with kids and my mom taught me how to be firm and give the look when students are misbehaving.  It is the same thing here, we have been giving all these ideas on how to handle behavior but I have not had to actually deal with it.  This class is going to give me that experience.  It may only be with one student but it is still a start. 

            Whenever I have gone to any observations or have been around students, I have never had to really “lay down the law” because the laws have already been set in.  It has been a good thing because I have been able to see good classroom management to see what I would need to do when I get my own classroom.  Classroom management is something that is very important because without it, there will be no effective learning.  The students will be out of hand and then the teacher will be spending most of their time having to talk to the students and there will be no learning.  According to the reading, behavior management is something that a teacher needs to know and be able to do.  After the experience that I have had for the past two-three times in lab, I feel that my classroom management might be a little weak compared to other aspects of my teaching. 

            Cortland has given me all the tools to better my teaching, but when it comes to behavior management; I feel I am not ready for it.  Maybe this class is where we actually get the experience in it because we have to make our own rules and enforce them.  I wish that there were more classes like this where we can get better prepared in behavior management.  We have been taught how to do it, but I learn better when it comes to actually doing.  I am hoping that after this experience, I will get more experience with behavior management so when it comes time for me to have my own class, I will be better with enforcement.