Baringer 9/20/11, 9/22/11

Welcome Middle School Teachers!

Please sign in, take the handouts, and sit at one of the round tables

What is one REALLY awesome strategy/activity you used to welcome your 6th, 7th, or 8th grade students to your class this September?

Table talk: Share with a partner

How “safe” is your classroom?

Let’s take a pulse…

Establishing a Safe Physical Environment

Do you provide adequate supervision? Are you always in the immediate vicinity of the students

(within sight and sound)?

Do you anticipate foreseeable risks and warn students of any inherent risks? Do you establish visible boundaries? (e.g., cones, etc.)

Do you ensure the activity is suitable for ALL students? Students with special needs, high achievers, low

achievers

Do you ensure the activity takes place in a learning environment free from obstacles? Do you post and reinforce safety rules?

SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS

Establishing a Safe Psychological Environment

Do you provide for students’ emotional and social safety?Call students by first name; learn all students’ names Encourage put-ups and discourage put-downs

Enforce an “O.U.C.H.” policy – Our Ugly Comments HurtDo you create a class culture of caring and

concern?Create a bully safe zone

Ignoring bullying enables bullying!Right to Safe Schools – 1982

It is your moral and legal responsibility to ensure that no individual student or group of students is targeted for discrimination, humiliation or bullying

Preventive class management

Use proactive vs. reactive strategies to maintain a positive, predictable, task-oriented class climate

Devote minimal time to managerial tasks to optimize time for instructional tasks

Set high expectations

And remember, the best classroom management plan is…a strong instructional plan!

Class Management

Strong Instruction = Strong Management

Establish, teach and reinforce your rules

Keep them simple and fewRespect yourself, respect others, respect the

learning environment, respect the equipmentDress appropriately, arrive on time, use active

listening skills, respect yourself and others, use equipment responsibly

State them positively – tell kids what you want vs. what you don’t want

Make them public! Post in locker room, on whiteboard, etc. Communicate them to students and their parents

Class Rules

Turn to a partner and share with him or her the rules you are currently using in your classroom

1. How are they communicated with students? With parents?

2. Are they effective? Why or why not?

3. Give each other feedback

Partner Talk

All students engaged in learning activity

Seamless equipment distribution/collection plan

Transitions managed with clear and audible signals

Students positioned away from distractions and sun during instruction

Teacher constantly monitors student behavior

Exercise never used as punishment

Severity of punishment matches infraction

Effective Management Practices

Failure to provide adequate supervision is the most common allegation of negligence (van der Smissen, 1990)

Adequate supervision includes:Ratio of teachers to studentsTeacher training (appropriate PE credential)Physical distance b/t teacher and studentsEstablishment/implementation of safety rules

Supervision

“Accomplished teachers of physical education create and sustain a welcoming, safe and

challenging environment in which students engage in and enjoy physical activity.”

-National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

Is this your class?

Can you take this ethics pledge?

Would you be comfortable giving this Bill of Rights to your students?

Got Ethics?

Social Skills Program

Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR)

Project Adventure (P.A.)

Character Development

4 Instructional Models

Actively teach social skills

Physical education is the perfect vehicle through which to teach life/social skills

Suggested pro-social skills for middle school students are: Compliment, compromise, courtesy,

encouragement, helpfulness, kindness, active listening, sharing, positive disagreement, respect

Social Skills

Introduce the social skill

Ask students to identify what the skill looks like, sounds like and feels likeLooks like (smiles, thumbs up, nods)Sounds like (good try, clapping, way to go)Feels like (acceptance, happy, sense of belonging)

Instruct students to demonstrate the social skill concurrently with the motor skill they are learning

Provide feedback to the students

Step by Step

Value-based instructional model

Commonly known as “TPSR”

Developed by Don Hellison for working with underserved, urban youth

Check out Hellison’s book: “Teaching Responsibility Through Physical Activity”

Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility

Integration: responsibility integrated into physical activity

Transfer: connections to life skills in other settings

Empowerment: teacher shares responsibility with students

Teacher-Student Relationship: students are treated as individuals deserving respect, choice, and voice

TPSR Themes

Respect the rights and feelings of others Self-control; Include everyone

Self-motivation Effort; Participation

Self-direction Goal setting; Decision making

Caring/Leadership Support/encourage others; Peer teaching/modeling

Transfer “outside the gym” Classroom; Neighborhood; Home

TPSR Goals

Relational time

Awareness talk

Physical activity (integrating responsibility)

Group meeting

Reflection time

TPSR Class Format

Model Respect: Teacher models respectful communication

Set High Expectations: Teacher explains or refers to explicit behavioral expectations

Provide Opportunities for Success: Teacher structures lesson so that all students have the opportunity to successfully participate and be included regardless of individual differences

Foster Social Interaction: Teacher structures activities that foster positive social interaction (i.e., partner talk)

Assign Roles: Teacher assigns specific responsibilities or tasks (other than leadership) that facilitate the organization of the program or a specific activity

Basic TPSR Teaching Strategies

Full Value Contract (FVC) A structure for creating appropriate conduct standards

that everyone in the class agrees to follow and that everyone in the class agrees to work on maintaining throughout the life of the classBe here; Be safe; Be honest; Have fun

“Challenge by Choice” Creates a group culture that genuinely respects the right

of an individual to choose the degree of participation that is right for him or her. Can be used to help reinforce the message that an individual is to exert and take personal responsibility for choosing his/her behaviors and actions. 

Project Adventure

Character Development

Affective domain is most difficult to assess

Character traits must be explicitly taught

Criteria for success must be clearly spelled out for students (e.g., rubric)

Most effective if program is adopted school-wide

Example: Character Counts!

Character Counts!The Six Pillars of Character

TrustworthinessBe honest • Don’t deceive, cheat, or steal • Be

reliable — do what you say you’ll do • Have the courage to do the right thing • Build a good reputation • Be loyal — stand by your family, friends, and country

RespectTreat others with respect; follow the Golden Rule •

Be tolerant and accepting of differences • Use good manners, not bad language • Be considerate of the feelings of others • Don’t threaten, hit or hurt anyone • Deal peacefully with anger, insults, and disagreements

CC Continued…

ResponsibilityDo what you are supposed to do • Plan ahead •

Persevere: keep on trying! • Always do your best • Use self-control • Be self-disciplined • Think before you act — consider the consequences • Be accountable for your words, actions, and attitudes • Set a good example for others

FairnessPlay by the rules • Take turns and share • Be open-

minded; listen to others • Don’t take advantage of others • Don’t blame others carelessly • Treat all people fairly

CC Continued…

CaringBe kind • Be compassionate and show you care •

Express gratitude • Forgive others • Help people in need

CitizenshipDo your share to make your school and community

better • Cooperate • Get involved in community affairs • Stay informed; vote • Be a good neighbor • Obey laws and rules • Respect authority • Protect the environment • Volunteer

Students demonstrate and utilize knowledge of psychological and sociological concepts, principles,

and strategies that apply to the learning and performance of physical activity.

-CA Physical Education Framework

CA Content Standard 5Grades 6-7-8

Let’s Try It On…

Traffic Jam Activity – grade 6

CA Physical Education Framework p. 92

What evidence of learning might you collect around standard 5 at the grade level you teach? Have a discussion at your table.

Some Final Thoughts…

Give students a voice and a choice

Keep the learning “student-centered”

Vary your instructional strategies

Involve students in creating rules and rubrics

Communicate your expectations with parents

Talk with students as though their parents are standing behind them

Always de-brief your cooperative games – that’s where the true learning takes place

“Capture” the evidence of learning!

Why?

Want More?

Read Nell Noddings, The Challenge to Care in Schools

Bullying: Proactive Physical Educators’ Contribution to School-Wide Prevention, JOPERD (Sept., 2010)

http://charactercounts.org/sixpillars.html

Physical Education Framework for California Public Schools

Teaching Middle School Physical Education by Bonnie Mohnsen

Silver Bullets by Karl Rohnke

Teaching Responsibility through Physical Activity by Don Hellison

Standard 5 Resources