Group Exercise in Physical Education Part 2

So I finally taught my group exercise session in my PE class. As said before, everyone was NOT excited about it. As I was going through the class I had to continually try to motivate people to not give up and keep pushing on. At times many people just stood around and looked at me like I was crazy. If I did see someone just give up, I would try to go over and give encouragement to keep them moving.

The unexpected happened at the end of class. Many people came up to me to ask when and where I teach these group fitness classes because they enjoyed it. It was rewarding to know that at least some people found what I taught to be beneficial and that it was not just a complete waste of my time. I was very discouraged last week when this entire ordeal went down, but now after having people actually appreciate what I was trying to show them it made it all worth while.

My intention in the end was not to kill everyone in this group exercise session, but to show people of another option that can be done in physical education. With the curriculum focusing more on lifetime physical activity, this is something that can be done for a lifetime if you just introduce it. Of course it would not be to the intensity that I put the class through, but any type of group fitness environment is a great aspect to incorporate in physical education.

Lazy & Physical Education... They Don't Mix.

In light of an earlier blog regarding my experience trying to lead an exercise class in a regularly scheduled PE class and, well basically failing, I came across another student who just experienced a similar problem. It seems she was teaching her lesson for her PE class, a modified kickball game, and many of the students chose to stand around rather than participate. When she went over to try to encourage them to move or get in the game she got unpleasant looks. One girl even said that this was "too much work." Now, I am really getting fed up with this trend thats happening with PE majors. If students think they can just get by to go on to roll out a ball in class or stand on the side with a whistle, well their wake up call will be soon ahead. I can't say enough that phys ed majors need to ENJOY physical activity. It's not that hard so why are we making it hard? I may have found a new goal... maybe I will work to get to the root of this problem; get my masters, doctorate, and then teach at the collegiate level to eradicate the laziness from physical education, beginning with the future PE teachers! OK, that may be unrealistic seeing that 6 years of schooling & 2 degrees could be enough fo this gil, but SOMETHING needs to change.

Outdoor Pursuits\Adventure Education- Backpacking Trip

Today I just got back fom an outdoor adventure backpacking trip with my outdoor pursuits class. Going into this weekend trip, I was prepared as much as I could have been. Carrying nothing but what you can carry on your back in a pack that weighs about 40lbs is an experience on a 10 mile hike. We hiked fo 5 hours the first day through beautiful terrain. The weather was a perfect 60 degrees & sunny and it couldnt have been any better. We took many breaks through the hike to stop and enjoy the scenery, and also for a lunch break. As we got into camp, we set up our tents and general campsite area, getting the fire started fo dinner. After a good hot meal it began to get dark and our energy was wearing from the day. We played a number of games for some fun around the campfire. We could all tell we were forming an even tighter bond than we had already established in class. Though the night was cold and a hard nights sleep we woke up the next moning ready to go. We had a quick breakfast, packed up our gear and swept the site for garbage and then hit the road for home. Only about 2 miles to go, but it was straight uphill! We made it in one piece and walked out of the woods a bit tighter, smarter, and stronger.

I believe that adventure education is a great character builder. The adventures you encounter mold you into a stronger, more well rounded person. I truely believe its an important part of physical education, this backpacking trip solidified that.

Group Fitness in Physical Education

I'm Jen Lanke. A post-bacc student at Slippery Rock University, studying for my second degree in Health and Phys Ed (the first was Exercise Science also from SRU). Group fitness is one of my passions. I teach 4 classes a week between the ARC at Slippery Rock and the Grove City YMCA. So here is my issue:

I was asked to teach a group fitness class, one I created called Plyo Pump in one of my PE classes. Sure I understand it wasn't along with the curriculum, but we are PE majors and should enjoy movement. The whole "practice what you preach" needs to come into play in our everyday lives. Out of about 35-40 students that are enrolled in this class, 15 showed up. Everyone knew exactly what we were doing, and since they were too lazy they decided not to come.

Let me preface this by saying that before each PE class we do a warm up, which involves running 2 laps (mind you its 8 laps around this track for a mile) around a track and then some dynamic stretching before we begin our activity for the day. EVERYONE complains about just running these two laps, and people in class even run off to the bathroom or hide to get out of running. This is the future of physical education; laziness. It goes well with the current trend in society as well, you know, the trend that as physical education majors we should be trying to BREAK.

Long story short, my teacher decided (seeing that her and I were pretty upset by what happened) that we would do something different for class that day and instead I'll teach my class on this coming Tuesday when no one is expecting it. HA. We'll see how that goes!

So bottom line is, if you are going to be learning how to motivate and push students to become physically active, to lead healthy lifetsyles full of activity then maybe you yourself should enjoy moving. Otherwise, this isn't the field for you.