After reading chapters 3, 18, and 19 and then reading the “Hall of Shame games” it really makes you think about the Old PE vs. the new PE. The general games that were in the text book were well organized and unlike the “hall of shame” readings it went above and beyond what the Old P.E was all about. Like old P.E, teachers would just role the ball out, and with this they had no organization, planning, goals, no values, and no objectives. In the general games that were listed in the chapter, it focuses on objectives and the goals and what skills the students would be working on during the activity/game. The pre-planning and planning really makes an activity go smooth and if just pull the Old P.E teacher pedagogy you are not getting everything to the kids that they need to fit all the NASPE standards. But if you have lesson plans and you execute them correctly then you can relate to the Standard 1 on the NYS standards in which Students will have the necessary knowledge and skills to establish and maintain physical fitness, participate in physical activity, and maintain personal health.
One game that really caught my eye in the reading was “rip-tag”. This game included every type of students and it is a tag game that you are never eliminated. The purpose is that everyone is a tagger and they have scarfs on their waste and if your scarf comes off you go to a hula hoop and pick up another one. This allows students to stay active in the game and is a big part of the NASPE standards. The one standard it really focuses on is standard 3, in which a student’s “participates regularly in physical activity”. Also during the game the students are learning to dodge, change direction, and change of speed while moving within other players. One “Hall of Shame game” that does not live up to activity of “rip-tag” is dodge-ball. Dodge-ball unlike “rip-tag” eliminates students and then they have to wait on the sideline until someone gets you back in or if it is at the end of the game. Yes, you do practice the dodging, but if you are not an elite athlete you are not practicing dodge and change of direction because you are either out or in the back row having the athletic students eliminate everyone. Also it puts pressure on the kids that never really felt comfortable in P.E because of all the other athletic students. This puts pressure on them because of the embarrassment of getting out or the hiding in the corner. Unlike “rip-tag” on page 438 in the text book, the students never really feel embarrassed because there not being eliminated and they get to get back involved in the game if their scarf comes of by another tagger.
Dodge-ball to me as a young child was a blast. I loved the competitiveness, the throwing, and the winning of a game. However looking back at it and studying how to become a great P.E teacher it does not fit in the curriculum unless it is altered. Today the old P.E is vanishing, and dodge-ball is being dismissed in schools. But if I had a chance to alter it and play the game in my gymnasium I would do several things. First I would change the elimination phases of the game. If some student was hit by a ball, instead of them going off to the sideline I would have them switch teams. This would go on for both teams, and now students will not feel pressured and will have the capability to participate regularly in physical activity as standard 3 suggest. Another thing I would alter in dodge-ball would be to incorporate Standard 5 of NASPE into play. Standard 5 states that students “Exhibits responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others in physical activity settings”. In order for this to be incorporated I would have students only have a target zone to hit other opponents from the waist down. And if there is a head shot, the student should take personal responsibility to apologize to the student they hit in the head. Also I would make a rule in my class room of no negativity towards other classmates which would affect their experience during physical activity.
While reading both the chapters in the text and the “hall of Shame” games it made me realize that today we are headed in the right direction in a new world of P.E. Unlike old P.E the new P.E is trying to move forward and eliminate sport activities and incorporate activities that involve life time goals and daily living and incorporate lesson that are evaluated and show that they will work then just “Throwing the ball out”. These concepts will help children grow in positive ways and learn more than just being competitive and playing physical sports. Though I like dodge-ball as a recreational activity, I do not believe it should be incorporated in a curriculum. Dodge-ball should be an after school activity and should involve the students who “Want” to play the game. The “hall of Shame games” should stay where they are, and better and more effective programs and curriculums will soon rise and make the new P.E the best P.E. We all are elite athletes and athletes who advance in phys Ed class, but do we as teacher candidates really want our class to turn out like the old P.E and for us to be recognized in the “Hall of Shame”? I do not want that? Do you?
Here is a link in which an article believes that there is a place in a school curriculum for dodge-ball. The author suggests that it is an elimination game, but you can alter it in to being something more.
