Back to basics?

This blog has emerged out of a manufactured chance retweet on twitter. My preferred means of access my twitter account is through tweetdeck as it allows me to view concurrent columns very easy and navigation between them is simple. One of my column is a search on the term "phys ed" in the hope of getting a feel for what people are saying about my subject. Late last night I spied this tweet:

 

rickweinberg said:

Working on school work. Should kids ever fail Phys. Ed because they refuse 2 change their cloths? Please help me w/ your thoughts

My first reaction was to retweet the message to my followers (knowing that I had a number of physical education teachers following who might offer an interesting and considered opinion) and to offer a reply myself.

@rickweinberg Phys Ed should be about helping kids be lifelong participants in physical activity and that take attitude not kit. #inspire

However as soon as I posted these words I wondered if they were the politically correct reply of an academic sitting in an ivory tower rather than the true feelings of a PE teacher. Did I answer to save face? Is that the way to address issues like this? Was I becoming a fence-sitter? It took a counter question for me to ponder the truth of my reply and ultimately to write that blog (so thanks Jonesy).

 

jonesytheteachr said:

@DrAshCasey I'll ask you a Q back. Should maths students fail coz they don't bring books? Prob not, but do they meet course outcomes either?

 

This seemed to me to be a more honest reply. Would a kid fail maths if he or she refused to bring their books? Or indeed if they brought their books but refused to get them out of their bag or out of their locker? Is there a requirement in school for kids to match the expectation of the teachers and the school as 'learners'? There is certainly an expectation in society that school is a place of honesty, awareness and responsibility where people look after each other and themselves. Indeed much of the order of school life is built on discipline and this is certainly a trait in schools and individuals that is admired. It is a two way process and the school and its teacher as have a responsibility to cajole and encourage students to be involved.

 

ConservativeFBC said:

@DrAshCasey No...but they should be disciplined...we give 2 freebies, then a detention

 

This sounded more like me as a PE teacher. Did I honestly think that lifelong learning could be achieved without some cooperation between teacher and student? This was more of the truth. I vehemently believe that learning is about cooperation and mutual respect. I acknowledge that my teaching was a one-way process (i.e. one that came from me and went smoothly to the students) but that is why I engaged in a seven-year self-study to ensure that learning became a mutually constructed process that occurred between my students and me. I also acknowledge that while I loved physical education – regardless of the pedagogical approach used – many of my students hated it because of the instructor-led and drill-focus nature of the subject.

 

Then two new colleagues joined the discussion and started to debate the situation; allowing me to see physical education from the position of one who didn't always aspire to make the subject his and her career.

 

MitchSquires said:

@DrAshCasey @rickweinberg I almost did in HS. Lugging that bag around all day made me far more resentful than doing sport ever should.

 

DrAshCasey said:

@MitchSquires @rickweinberg you won't be alone but we need to make phys ed somewhere all kids enjoy being.

 

MitchSquires said:

@DrAshCasey @rickweinberg I agree! Also to be avoided: a handful I kids involved and the other 25 lining up. Noone enjoys that.

 

shhartley said:  

@MitchSquires @DrAshCasey @rickweinberg I hated public humiliation of PE. Can't catch. Can't run. If not changing wd save me, I'd choose it

 

MitchSquires said:

@shhartley @DrAshCasey @rickweinberg How much could you get away with that?

 

shhartley said:

@MitchSquires @DrAshCasey @rickweinberg About 1 week in 4.

 

rickweinberg said:

@MitchSquires @DrAshCasey I got it now. r there any educators that think "ya know, if a kid is 2 lazy 2 dress than mayb they should fail

 

MitchSquires said:

@rickweinberg @DrAshCasey I guess it somewhat depends on your system's version of what fail means

 

rickweinberg said:

RT @MitchSquires: @DrAshCasey I guess it depends on your system's version of what fail means.~how abt get an F and going 2 summer school

 

DrAshCasey said:

@shhartley shame to hear that but this is not uncommon and we need to find a way of teaching Phys Ed that doesn't humiliate

 

MitchSquires said:

@DrAshCasey @shhartley I find at Primary level when all kids are involved no one has time to watch, so no one feels embarrassed - eventually

 

 

This made me think about the amount of money we spend on technology in education and more recently in physical education and wondered if this is still appropriate when the situations mentioned by shhartley and MitchSquires continue to happen in classrooms around the world. Could the money be spent in better ways to alleviate the commonality of these issues? Should we buy iPads and heart-rate monitors when we need to redesign physical education kits to allow students to feel comfortable in lessons and then need to provide this sort of kit for those who struggle to bring it to school (for whatever reasons)?

 

Yes we should!

 

Why?

 

Because these are tools to help us broaden the appeal of physical education for all – especially (perhaps) the least able. These are ways to inspire children to be involved and to understand themselves as physical learners. However, these are not the solutions but are important tools in the journey towards a more inclusive approach to learning in physical education. Others supported this notion (although I apologise if I am putting words into their mouths).

 

MatthewKoogler said:

@DrAshCasey kids shld nvr fail, but look at it in context of being prepared for lifetime of activity r u ready to hit the gym or go play?

 

MatthewKoogler said:

@DrAshCasey look at standard of lifetime activity or being ready to participate. its legitimate life skill to be sweaty and in school/work

 

rickweinberg said

@DrAshCasey thank you so much for responding. Gym should b designed 2 avoid humiliation & advocate participation. Remove obstacles

 

Filling a gap (or just another brick in the wall)

Websites. We see lots of them every day; scores in a week, hundreds in a month (you get the idea) but what makes the good ones stand out? Why do people return to a website? We are supposed to be in an age of web 2.0 where everything is about interaction and yet a lot of websites annoy me still. They about a message – well actually several messages – put rather than refine and concentrate that message websites seem to be web:utations. It’s like powerpoint and keynote presentations where people replicate their entire work into a 20 second presentation. I am put off my poor websites and tend to go somewhere else. Either that or I simply start my whole experience on a downer.

So...imagine my motivation to create a high impact, simple and usable website that actually gets used. Likewise...imagine my trepidation as I now come to unveil the storyboard via my blog.

The idea of this website is that it is simple to look at. It is easy to navigate. It is a place where people want to spend some time. That’s it really. So can I ask for some comments based on three factors:

1) Looks good

2) Looks easy to navigate around

3) Might be somewhere I am interested in visiting more than once.

The images are currently just flats. The links don’t work and are really just images. So as they say ‘the first taste is with the eye’ – what is the first visual impression like?

Homepage

http://www.phlite.co.uk/peprn/index.html

Research Network

http://www.phlite.co.uk/peprn/network.html

Blog

http://www.phlite.co.uk/peprn/blog.html

Research into the use of technology in Physical Education

The dominant discourse in physical education over the last three decades has been focused on the staid pedagogical foundation of the subject. The teaching of physical education seems to have been set and generations of teachers have been content to replicate the practices of their teachers and their teachers' teachers. This traditional, teacher-led embodiment of physical education has been described as 'not fit for purpose' by numerous academics (see Kirk, 2010; Lawson, 2009; Siedentop, 2002 as examples in the last decade alone). In his recent book physical education futures Kirk (2010) described the current and very dominant pedagogy that thrives in the gymnasium and on the sports field around the world as "physical-education-as-sport-techniques." This approach foregrounds the teaching of the isolated techniques of games and activities ahead of understanding and game appreciation. Furthermore, Kirk (2010) believed that the ability to compartmentalise physical education as a technique-based subject into the rigorous time demands of the timetable has further exacerbated the dominance of this approach to teaching. In proffering other approaches, or models of instruction (hereby called models-based practices) Metzler (2005) argued that current instructor-led approaches to teaching in physical education placed content (i.e. the area of activity i.e basketball, athletics, gymnastics etc) at the operating centre of physical education rather than aligning teaching, learning and content. Matters are further confused when considering Lawson's (2009) argument that physical education is not capable of educating in a post-industrial age.

The demands of the 'digital age' prompted Richard Riley, the former United States of America's Secretary for Education, to suggest that we are currently preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist, using technologies that haven't been invented in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet. The disparity between this message and the current use of technology in physical education is stark. Up to now, using technology in physical education may have actually reinforced the "physical-education-as-sport-techniques" concept by often focusing on the micro analysis of skill learning, giving the impression that this is the only valid application of technology in physical education. However, the use of technology in schools is expanding at an exponential rate and yet its beneficial use in physical education is barely known. A number of innovative practitioners from around the world have started to incorporate interactive web 2.0 applications (e.g. blogs, wikis, iPads and iPods, flip cameras, online documents and surveys) into their teaching of physical education but do these work? In some reasons technology is seen more than an add on:

In New South Wales we have a multi faceted syllabus designed to explore the individual and their interaction with the world holistically - relationships, sound decision making, individual and community health to name a few. Using technology to complement and enhance our work as teachers seems to be an imperative, not a choice. (Jones, 2010)

In other global discourses mandatory physical education classes have been identified as the key opportunity to 'encourage' school-age children to be involved daily in 60 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (Chow, McKenzie, & Louie, 2009; Strong et al., 2005). Indeed such physical activity engagement is seen as an primary goal of physical education (National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 2004; Puhse & Gerber, 2005; World Health Organization, 2004) in light of growing obesity and type II diabetes epidemics (Chow, McKenzie, & Louie, 2009). In light of the changing health climate is there is a strong increase in technology in schools who are seeking to use technology tools that promote activity engagement.

Despite considerable funding to allow information and communication technology (ICT) to make "a significant contribution to teaching and learning across all subjects" (Department for Education and Skills, 2003, p. 7) physical education was, until the recent national curriculum revamp in 2007, the only subject without a statutory requirement for its use (Tearle & Golder, 2008). Unfortunately, and despite the explicit need for ICT to be used in physical education at Key Stage 3 (11-14 years old), the extent to which it is recommended is for recording and reviewing performance and tracking personal progress (Tearle & Golder, 2008). It must be acknowledged that ICT hardware and software cost money which in terms limits the ability of schools to purchase and maintain up-to-date equipment. Furthermore some physical education teachers see the use of any technology or innovation as detracting from the core purpose of the subject i.e. to get people moving to learning (Casey, 2010). Finally there is as yet little evidence that shows that a) students engage with technology in its many forms and b) how the use of technology in physical education might impact on their i) dispositions to be physically active and ii) their embodied self-identities. Indeed, does such micro-analysis and assessment technology lead to greater involvement in physical activity and does it enhance – or merely reinforce – the staid pedagogies of physical education?

This PhD will critically explore the impact of technology on teaching and learning in physical education in enhancing student understanding and disposition towards the subject. It will be about exploring and discovering what works, what doesn't and what works best. This "will certainly be a question on many PE teachers' lips as they strive to introduce technology into their classroom in a meaningful and valid way. Is it worth it? Should I do it? Will it help?" (Jones, 2010).

References

Casey, A. (2010). Practitioner research in physical education: Teacher transformation through pedagogical and curricular change. Unpublished PhD thesis, Leeds Metropolitan University.

Chow, B.C., McKenzie, T.L., & Louie, L. (2009). Physical activity and environmental influences during secondary school physical education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 28, 21-37.

Jones, B. (2010, July 21). [Comment to blogpost: research into use of technology in physical education]. Physical education practitioner research network. Retrieved July 21, 2010, from http://www.peprn.com/2010/07/research-into-use-of-technology-in.html#comments

Kirk, D. (2010). Physical education futures. London: Routledge.

Lawson, H. A. (2009.) Paradigms, exemplars and social change. Sport, Education & Society, 14(1), 97-119.

Metzler, M.W. (2005). Instructional models for physical education. Scottsdale, AZ: Holcomb Hathway.

National Association for Sport and Physical Education (2004). Moving into the future: National standards for physical education (2nd ed). Boston: McGraw Hill.

Puhse, U., & Gerber, M. (Eds.). (2005). International comparison of physical education: Concepts, problems, prospects. Oxford, UK: Meyer & Meyer Sport.

Siedentop, D. (2002). Content knowledge for physical education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 21(4), 368.

Strong, W.D., Malina, R.M., Blimkie, C.J., Daniels, S., Dishman, R., Gutin, B., et al. (2005). Evidence based physical activity for school-age children. The Journal of Pediatrics, 146, 732–737.

Tearle, P., & Golder, G. (2008). The use of ICT in the teaching and learning of physical education in compulsory education: how do we prepare the workforce of the future? European Journal of Teacher Education, 31 (

World Health Organization (2004). Global strategy on diet, physical activity and health. Geneva: World Health Organization, The Fifty-seventh World Health Assembly.

Being a Piano Player

When I was a young rugby player someone said to me "there are two types of Rugby players: Piano Carriers and Piano Players and you, my son, are a carrier; now let the players' play and the carriers' carry." He was less than subtly telling me that as a forward I should do the heavy lifting and haulage work while those fleeter of foot (and of thought) did the virtuoso stuff. I have always remembered that analogy (and as a back row forward tried to ignore it) but it recently struck me as an apt way of considering my change of direction.

Before I started my further education soiree I was a piano carrier. I was happy doing the work at the coal face: teaching the lessons that I needed to before going outside to shoulder an extra-curricular workload that was worthy of my position as physical education teacher/sports team coach. I didn't baulk at these demands; in fact I embraced them as the most important aspect of my choosen vocation. I loved the role and was happy to carrying the responsibilities of 1^st XV coach and join my peers in other schools in this prestige position among coaches.

It wasn't until I began to look at my role as a teacher of physical education through my master's degree that I began to even acknowledge the role of carrier that I had assumed upon graduating as a physical education teacher. I was happy with my role as a doing, and none thinking (apologies to any piano carriers reading this), teacher who did everything he could to maintain the status quo. However, the more I read and began to understand the more I wanted to play a different role. I didn't just want to be the 'fella' who moved the piano about I wanted to tickle the ivories. The problem was that I didn't know anything but the carrier's role I was taught by my teachers (in other words to teach as they had taught). I needed a new way of thinking if I was going to aspire to be a pedagogical virtuoso (or even just a journeyman). Therefore I had to learn. Indeed I would almost argue that I had to learn a new trade from the ground up and that was where my Master's helped to generate a little momentum and my PhD allowed me to really study – not only a new trade but also the ways in which I started to implement the new tricks and 'ways' of teaching I was undertaking.

So in summary. Further education helped me to see the piano as an instrument to be played in many different ways rather than simply as something to be hauled about in the time honoured way. This was a gift that placed me on a long pathway towards become a better teacher.

Student-designed games

I started working with student-designed games (SDG) last year and was excited by the depth of learning it engendered in my pupils. I have subsequently left secondary education and now work in a university but my interest in SDG has remained. We have started to use snippets of these ideas with our student teachers and I have been exploring the finding from my research on these SDG units but most interestingly I have persuaded and encouraged a school near the university to try it for themselves. This blog has emerged as a result of the interviews I conducted on Tuesday and the response on twitter to my tweet about it by @Darcy1968 who said that this "sounded like a good conversation to share."

Physical education, it seems, is like marmite i.e. you either love it or you hate it. As I have said before the talk about it on twitter is not often positive. The school I am working with had a group of 13-14 year old students who were taking phys ed because they had to and were predominately in the 'hate it' camp (either that or the "I want to be 'busy and happy and then I might be good' category"). In other words they were disaffected. The teachers reported that the pupils in the year above were a similar group and that their attitude to phys ed had crumbled into dissent or an unwillingness even to bring kit. In an effort to avoid the disillusionment of another group of students the phys ed department, after seeing a session on games-making that I had done, wanted to be involved.

This unit has been running for seven weeks now (or twenty-one 45 minute lessons) and the games are now ready to be played. The basic structure of the unit was for the students to design a game, from scratch, that could be played by small groups of their peers. They started the designs of their games on paper and then tried them out on the school's netball/tennis courts. Through cycles of testing, trialling (where other teams played their games and gave feedback) and re-design the students now have a 'new' game. These games will be played, each in turn, in a sport education season next academic year.

I was privileged enough to interview the teachers on Tuesday and I was intrigued by their responses to two questions: 1) How did you perceive the students' responses to the unit? 2) What differences did you find between participation in this unit and their previous games participation?

Both teachers felt that the unit had worked well but that it had been a challenge. This challenge had emerged from a number of significant factors. Firstly their role had changed. They didn't teach in the way they normally did and their voice was no longer dominant. They were taking more of a back seat in terms of classroom management, which in turn allowed them to work more closely with their students. However, this also meant that the relationship between teacher and student changed. It was this change that baffled them at first as they tried to reconsider the language and approach that they should now use in their teaching. Secondly, they felt that they weren't giving enough to these lessons. It was almost as if they felt that they had to work even harder because they were being studies by me (and a colleague) and were also studying their own teaching. They were disappointed that their other teaching responsibilities sometimes got in the way of the work they were doing with these students. This mirrors my PhD findings. Teachers want to succeed and when given the opportunity they want to throw themselves into the enhancement of teaching and, more importantly, student learning. Thirdly, they were delighted by the change in response by some of the most disaffected kids (i.e. those who thrive in the classroom but shy away from the physical nature of phys ed). They were being challenge to think and this appealed to them. Conversely, those in the "I want to just play" group didn't want to think and found that game-design got in the way of playing. Ironically, there was a reversal in the students who were enjoying physical education. However, from the anti-ablest perspective I have argued from earlier, this might not be considered a bad thing (?). Fourthly, the teacher felt that the students' enjoyment and elarning was sustainable and they were looking forward to next year when the games would be played rather than dreading the lessons that the older pupils were experiencing.

New ideas seem to drive enthusiasm. What's more new ideas and practices challenge teachers and students to consider things, in this case physical education, in a different light. The social construction of the subject is changed and with it so is the type and quality of the learning experience.

If you are interested in trying SDG them leave me a message or contact me on twitter at @DrAshCasey and I'll do what I can to help.

New ways to the problem of living

As those who follow me on twitter will know I have been at the 16 International Reflective Practice Conference this week exploring with other practitioners in nursing and education the notion of 'Reflection in Action.' I felt that it would be useful, and possibly mildly interesting, to try and tie the ideas I have encountered together in one place. This is not a rehearsed or re-written reflection/blog and therefore it will be emotive and unpolished. However, my twitter feed has served as a value place to start to consider my personal outcomes from the conference. I will relate my thoughts the tweets I have made about my experiences to date and the wonderful keynotes delivered by Ben Okri and Jenny Moon.

Reflection is part of my role as a teacher and the TDA standards for teachers has reflection embedded within it so I do feel that this a relevant discussion to have on this blog. I realise that this might not be everyone 'cup of tea' but I also felt that it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

So what has reflection meant to me this week? Ben Okri's keynote explored 'new ways to the problem of living' (as my title suggests) and, in my interpretation sought to examine the current problems he envisioned with the life lived as a human being. However, in respect to Ben's opening thoughts i.e. brevity is the missing quality of our age, I will try to keep my ideas short.

Jenny challenged the delegates to think of reflection as a different 'thing' depending on the medium through which is presented i.e. thinking, speech, writing, drawing, poetry, performance, acting, dancing etc and that it means different things in these different mediums. However, I am uncomfortable with the notions of drawing, poetry, performance, indeed anything but writing (or typing) as a vehicle for my own reflections. I guess, naively I suppose, that this relates to Ben's profound concern about what it means to be human and to live as a human inasmuch as I have become disassociated with these other forms of expression to such a degree that I am uncomfortable with the level of ineptitude I might show in using them. Ben suggested that there has been a fundamental disconnect between the arts and philosophy, and living as a human being. These things are no longer interconnected but instead we have become concerned with being artist rather than living as an artist. In other words, art is a means to an end rather than a lifestyle choice.

Being aware of my promise of brevity I will conclude in this paragraph with three fundamental concerns that Ben expressed: Failure, actuality and listening. Failure has become an end point. When we fail we stop. However, for those who strive and aspire to something 'else' failure is not an end point but just a landmark on the road to success. Drawing on the musings around Leonardo de Vinci Ben suggested that de Vinci knew what he would achieve before he started in. Therefore, failure should not be seen as a obstacle but should instead be seen as something to learn from and use as a springboard for future, and inevitable, success. Actuality, Ben suggested, was what we see i.e. I see hundred white swans and therefore all swans are white, and subsequently remains unchallenged. Actuality is Plato's shadows on the cave wall. In contrast reality is 'how things actual are' i.e. not All swans are white. Yet it is the disconnect between actuality and reality that hampers our ability to live. Finally, Ben suggested that listening with an empty mind was more important than hearing. He felt that we could hear things but not listen to them. I guess that that relates to our own reflection. We can write (or perform) but listen to our own voices. Yet it is in really listening that we find the reasons and ability to live life like a human being.

I am not sure that I have done justice to these ideas and on re-reading these words I am sure to want to explore them again in my own private spaces but they serve as a record in time of my ideas. I will leave you with a twitter poem written by Ben a line a day on twitter in January 2010 and which he open his keynote.

As clouds pass above our heads

So time passes through our lives.

Where does it go,

And when it passes,

What do we have to show?

We can plant deeds in time

As gardeners plant roses.

We can plant thoughts, or good words too

Especially if they are noble and true.

Time is an act of consciousness:

One of the greatest forces

Of the material world.

We ought to use time

Like emperors of the mind:

Do magic things that the future,

Surprised, will find.

We could change our life today

And seek out a higher way.

The Buddha sat beneath a tree

And from all illusion became free.

And as we travel on this life that is a sea

We can glimpse eternity.

We can join that growing fight

To stop our world being plunged into night.

We can wake to the power of our voice

Change the world with the power of our choice.

But there is nothing we can do

If we don't begin to think anew.

We are not much more than what we think;

In our minds we swim or sink.

If there is one secret I'd like to share

It's that we are what we dream

Or what we fear.

So dream a good dream today

And keep it going in every way.

Let each moment of our life

Somehow help the good fight

Or help spread some light.

The wise say life is a dream;

And soon the dream is done.

But what you did in the dream

Is all that counts beneath the sun.

The dream is real, and the real is a dream

Each one of us is a powerful being.

Wake up to what you are,

You are a sun, you are a star.

Wake up to what you can be.

Search, search for a new destiny

The hardest part...

And the hardest part

Was letting go, not taking part

Was the hardest part

And the strangest thing

Was waiting for that bell to ring

It was the strangest start

I could feel it go down

Bittersweet, I could taste in my mouth

Silver lining the cloud

Oh and I

I wish that I could work it out

Coldplay released this song (the hardest part) on the X&Y album and the lyrics always struck me as poignant. I felt that they reflected of my desire to change my position within the classroom and the difficulties that I experienced in shifting from the spotlight and into the wings. If, as William Shakespeare wrote, all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players, then in my teaching I didn't fully understand when to enter and when to exit or that there were many roles for me to play. I had always believed that I wanted to teach and teaching for me was standing in the at the centre of learning and directing it like a conductor controls an orchestra. However, the more I read and the more I did, the more my lessons look like a jazz ensemble (i.e. an apparent jumble of sounds that looks effortless , sounds great and yet takes years of practice and a huge amount of practice).

The legendary golfer Gary Player once said, "The more I practice, the luckier I get" and this was certainly the case for me. However it was hard. Letting go of centre stage and allowing the pupils to control the pace of their learning was hard. I did feel that I was waiting for the school bell to ring as I watched them work. Yet my work, although done on the periphery, was now even more important. I was the script writer planning for the actors to get involved. I designed the stage and arrange for the props. I adapted when something went wrong and I prompted when the students forgot their lines. I managed the learning environment but I didn't coach the learner. I planned meticulously and I timed by interventions and developed the ability to question not answer. Finally, as Gary Player said I practiced and my lessons (somehow) got better and the learning got deeper and the pupils got more involved.

Change takes time and yes it can be like a rest. But in the long term it is hard and it takes practice and it is hard...however, it is worth it.