PDFE #9

My personal physical activity and physical education background:
- I don’t remember my experiences in physical education throughout school very well. I attended school in Paulding County from elementary to high school. In elementary school, I know we had PE at least once a week, but I do not remember how many times exactly that we met. Although I do not remember specific things about my elementary PE experiences, I do remember it being one of my favorite classes. I am sure that a lot of skills were developed through participation in PE in elementary school because physical and cognitive development is vast during early childhood. My favorite activities in my elementary PE classes was gymnastics, rock climbing, and playing with the big parachute. In middle school, I remember taking PE for only one year. I enjoyed this PE class because we played more structured games. I was a very competitive person in sports, so I enjoyed participating. In high school, I only took one semester of PE and one semester of health. High school PE was fun because I took it with a couple friends, but the activities were not near as fun as elementary or middle school. In high school, we learned more about various sports. I was really only interested in soccer, basketball, and cross country, so learning about the other sports was not very fun for me. Looking back on my high school PE experience, I appreciate it a little more because it made me more well rounded in my knowledge of various sports. Apart from PE, I was a very active. I did not play sports formally until 7th grade, but I was constantly playing outside with my big sister. From 7th grade until I graduated, I participated in soccer, basketball, cross country, and track, so I stayed pretty active throughout the whole year.

My assessment of current Georgia recommendations for Physical Education:
- I do not consider the current recommendations in Georgia for PE are adequate. In early childhood, there seems to be so much progress in motor development. If classes met more than just once or twice a week, this motor development may could be progressed even faster, and children may could develop stronger abilities or more skills. In middle school, there are no requirements for PE which doesn’t seem right. Physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development are continuous throughout life. In school-aged children, these aspects of development seem to progress much faster than in adulthood. Because of this, 3 years of no physical education will not help children in middle school progress their physical development. I also think the Georgia requirements in high school for PE is also inadequate. I believe that being physically active is very important. With a growing number of obese children and teens constantly on the rise, it seems like requiring more than one semester of PE would make sense. Because so little time is spent in PE classes throughout school, it is important for the classes to be of good quality. I would consider a good quality PE class to be one that has a class size similar to academic classes, that includes activities that require movement from all the students for the majority of the class, that gives students plenty of practice time on the skill being taught, that has a positive environment, that is fun for all the students, that addresses all 3 learning domains (psychomotor, affective, and cognitive), that is taught by someone with a PE background, that has adequate equipment and facilities, and that results in a high level of success.


My evaluation of the importance of physical activity and physical education for children:
- PA/PE is particularly important for children because it is during this stage of development that attitudes are developed and can be influenced the most. PE requirements are more extensive (but still not adequate in my opinion) in elementary school than in middle or high school. This means that the most exposure to PE/PA in school will occur in childhood. Skill foundations are best formed during childhood. PA/PE is important for this because if skill foundations are not developed, participation in skilled activities later in life will likely decline. Children in elementary school are less self-conscious than those in middle or high school. This means that children are more likely to participate and try new things. Early exposure to physical activity during PE classes can influence later lifestyle choices. There are two different approaches to teaching PE classes: traditional approach and skill themed approach. The traditional approach focuses more on sports and games. It usually results in a low percentage of student activity and participation. A lot of time is spent on rules, instruction, and organization. More skilled students will most likely get more practice, and the less skilled students may be embarrassed when all eyes are on them. In a skill themed approach to teaching PE, there is an emphasis on skilled games and activities that allow a higher percentage of students to be active at a time. Skills are able to be practiced and improved more, and the opportunity for skill improvement is equal for all children. The less skilled students are not singled out, so they are more likely to enjoy participating in the activities.