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This article was downloaded by: [Northeastern University]On: 05 November 2014, At: 19:31Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & DancePublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujrd20
Enhancing Content Literacy in Physical EducationCathy Buell & Andrea Whittaker aa Teacher education , San Jose State University , San Jose , CA , 95192Published online: 24 Feb 2013.
To cite this article: Cathy Buell & Andrea Whittaker (2001) Enhancing Content Literacy in Physical Education, Journal ofPhysical Education, Recreation & Dance, 72:6, 32-37, DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2001.10605768
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07303084.2001.10605768
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Enhancing Content literacyin Physical Education
CATHY BUELL ANDREA WHITTAKER
Physical educators often objectwhen their classes are used aslaboratories for reading and
writing instruction (O'Brien &Stewart, 1990; Tannehill, Romar, &O'Sullivan, 1994). Yet, their argumentthat class time should be used solelyfor movement only serves to perpetuate the myth that physical activity issomehow isolated from the rest oflifeand, in the case of schoolchildren,from education. If physical performance is to be effective, more thanjust movement practice is required.
Unfortunately, little is found in theprofessional literature to helppreservice and inservice teachers seethe links between physical educationand literacy. In fact, until recently, fewpreservice programs in secondary education required potential physical educators to take courses in language andliteracy. This reluctance to include literacy in physical education may bebased on confusion about the difference between general literacy skillsand content literacy. As McKenna andRobinson (1990) explained,
Content literary can be defined as theability to use reading and writingfor the acquisition of new contentin a given discipline. Such abilityincludes three principal cognitivecomponents: general literacy skills,content-specific literacy skills (suchas map reading in the social studies), and prior knowledge of content. (p. 184)
While general literacy skill is theability to make meaning through reading, writing, visual aids, and reasoning, content literacy in physical edu-
32
cation means that students can usegeneral literacy skills to acquire knowledge in a specific movement, sport, orfitness context.
The first part of this article introduces some of McKenna and Robinson's (1990) ideas as a framework foranalyzing why and how content literacy plays an important role in physical education. The succeeding sectionselaborate a number of general andspecific instructional strategies thatphysical educators can use to buildboth content-learning and general-literacy skills. The final section suggestsways ofassessing conten t literacy basedon these instructional strategies.
Content Literacyin Physical EducationAs suggested above, content literacy isoften misunderstood by teachers. Thefollowing sections attempt to claritycontent literacy and its role in physical education.
Content literary is content-specific. Tobe literate in a content area is not toknow that content per se, but to beable to read, write, and think about itas effective means of learning stillmore about it. Content literacy is notthe same as content knowledge (theavailable knowledge about a particular subject), but prior knowledge ofcontent helps to build content literacy,and vice versa. Even though generalliteracy skills apply in all content areas, content literacy-knowing howand when to use reading, writing, andthinking skills in a particular subjectarea-will vary and must be taughtexplicitly. Content literacy comprisesall of the skills needed to develop,
understand, and reflect on content.Content litemcJ is germane to all sub
ject areas, not just those relying heavily onprinted materials. As suggested byMcKenna and Robinson (1990),"While the primary presentation maycomprise lecture or demonstrationrather than reading, and while theprincipal domain involved may bepsychomotor rather than cognitive,content acquisition nevertheless invariably includes an understanding ofkey concepts and their interrelationships" (p. 185). This understandingcan be acquired through a variety ofcontent-oriented literacy strategies.Successful performance in physicaleducation requires critical thinking;students must plan, investigate, reason, strategize, and reflect. They mustemploy metacognition (thinking aboutthinking) in order to evaluate theircurrent level of understanding abouteffective performance, analyze alternative strategies, and improve (Tishman & Perkins, 1995). While this levelof engagement does not require reading or writing, multiple avenues ofexpression can only serve to augmentthe performer's active participationin the improvement process.
Further, reading and writing provide students with ways to connect theirclass activities with other aspects oftheir lives and to take an active role inlearning. For example, teachers oftenverballv provide the rules for a particular game and have the studentslearn them as they play. However, thestudents' understanding might be enhanced if they are given the rules inwriting. They can then be asked toselect several of the rules and write
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Table 1. SampleTopics for JournalWriting or Qu·ickWrites
o Explain one rule that we used today and why it is important to the game.
o Describe how much effort you put into the activity today.
o Give one example of how you did or did not display ethical (fair play)behavior during the games today.
o Select one skill from the current activity and analyze your current levelof expertise.
o Choose one word that is specific to this activity and write your owndefinition for it.
o Give examples of how your team did or did not cooperate (show teamwork) today.
• Give two technique cues that you think might help someone perform_____ [a skill] more successfully.
o Explain one thing that you learned about [a sport orphysical activity] by reading the newspaper or finding information onthe internet.
o Set one goal for yourself for the next class.
o Make one suggestion about how the skills we worked on today could bepracticed in a way that would help you learn them better.
• Why did/didn't you do something physically active over the weekend?
o What kinds of activities do you do with your family that have specialfamily, cultural, or religious meaning? Is movement a part of theseactivities?
• If! could be a really skilled performer, I would like to be a...
o One idea I can use to help a family member become more physicallyactive is...
o A question about this class (or activity) that I need answered is...
o One thing that would motivate me to do better in physical education is...
o Today I did/didn't reach the goal I set for myself yesterday because ...
about why and how each rule is important to effective or safe game play.This type of assignment, given ashomework, assures that the studentswill: (1) review the rules betweenclasses, (2) see how the rules look inwriting, and (3) engage in criticalthinking-an active learning strategythat may also help them relate theneed for rules in a game to the needfor rules in general.
Content literacy has the potential tomaximize content acquisition. Good content-area teaching enhances direct-instruction models (e.g., lecture anddemonstration) with literacy activitiesthat help students make their ownmeaning and pursue content on theirown, according to their personal interests. For example, when studentshave learned the technical languageof sports, fitness, or movement, theycan use this language to read manualson how to improve their performance.In addition, such learning allows students to interpret sports informationand become more educated consumers of sports-related products.
Content literacy does not require content-area teachers to instruct students inthe mechanics of writing or reading. Amajor concern of physical educatorsis that they do not have time to teachboth their subject area and generalliteracy. Rather than helping studentslearn to read and write, however,content literacy helps students readand write to learn. In content literacy, reading and writing are complementary tasks that can be used tofollow direct instruction or demonstration. Students can construct theirown meanings for the concepts related to a demonstration and thenuse writing to explain, analyze, summarize, or evaluate what they havelearned, further refining their understanding. The criteria for assessingsuch learning (as we will discuss morefully later in this article) focus ondepth of thinking and selection ofappropriate information rather thanon reading or writing skill.
However, if physical educators tryto foster content literacy using textfrom their college courses or from
widely available trade materials, theymay unknowingly present obstacles tounderstanding, since such writing often exceeds students' reading levels.Because physical educators have toteach such mixed-ability groups, it isimportant that they know the approximate reading and writing levels oftheirstudents; this way, activities can bestructured to help students use reading and writing to support contentlearning at their own level. The following section offers suggestions forsuch activities that meet the needs ofstudents with a variety of reading andwriting abilities.
Fostering Content LiteracyContent literacy and reading can beincluded in physical education insubtle but highly relevant ways, without taking up excessive class time. The
gym, locker room, and surroundingareas can be made into print-rich environments that support content literacy. For example, the rules of thegymcan be posted for students to read.Bulletin boards with short articlesabout sports, athletes, physical activity, health, and fitness may entice students to read further. Issues related tophysical activity, ethics, or fair playcan be posted before class so that students can read and think about thecontent before discussion. A "strategyof the day" might also be posted onthe wall when students enter the gymso that they can read and begin toprocess how the strategy will affectgame play. Similarly, a "word for theday" might be posted and then discussed or analyzed during warm-upsas a means for students to focus oncontent-specific vocabulary.
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Web Diagram:organize topics or categories
Hierarchy:organize ideas from general to specific
Venn Diagram:compare and contrast
Matrix:compare and contrast using rowsand columns
Flow Chart:display a process or cycle...~...
t 1.....
Cycle:display a processthat repeats
T-Graph:compare another's quoteor idea with your own
her students understand a text thatdescribed such exercise. Before reading, the students were given severalcategories or main ideas that theycould use to activate prior knowledgeand experience and to guide theirreading. After reading, small groupsof students compiled details from thetext into the web diagram. A wholeclass discussion then provided an opportunity for students to compare theirdiagrams and generate additionalideas for the topic (see figure 2 for thecompleted web).
Writing can also be incorporatedin a physical education class in waysthat take little time away from physicalactivity. For instance, students can usestructured note-taking formats duringlectures about strategies, rules, or techniques. Journal writing and "quickwrites" are particularly effective waysto bring writing and reflection intophysical education. For example, atthe end of an instructional segment,students might be given a few minutesto record their performance, reflecton their participation, set a goal forthe next day, or pose a question forthe teacher to address. See table 1 fora list of potential journal topics orquick-write prompt~.
Teachers may also use task cardsthat include instructions for the activity and/or cues for performance thatrequire the students to read, makedecisions, and take responsibility fortheir own learning. Another simplewriting task is a student-designedplaybook. Teams might create aplaybook describing and illustratingstrategies that the students hope to
use during tournament play. Teamsmight also design practice drills to beused during their pre-game warm-up.
While each of these suggestions offers ways to integrate content literacyday to day, more complex tools can beeven more effective in helping students develop content-literacy andgeneral-literacy skills. Graphical organizers and other visuals (such as VennDiagrams, charts, webs, clusters, tgraphs, and posters) often help students understand the relationshipsbetween key ideas (figure 1). Simplified text containing the most important ideas can be arrayed visually tosupport students' understanding. English-language learners and otherswho are frequently mainstreamed intophysical education classes will likelybenefit from graphical organizers thatreduce the linguistic demands ofcomplex text or speech and that clearlydepict links between concept~,actions,and facts. For example, one teacherin a high school fitness class used aweb diagram summarizing key aspectsof aerobic exercise in order to help
Quote or ideafrom a text
Your own ideasor comments
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English-language learners couldalso work together with their teachersto create handouts in multiple languages that summarize key conceptsand reinforce understanding of rulesor procedures. Teachers can providegraphical illustrations of techniquesor strategies as well, and then havesuch students write verbal descriptionsin English and in their native language.
Another way to develop content literacy is through "think-alouds." Athink-aloud engages students in verbalizing their thinking to themselveswhile performing a skill or strategyand in analyzing their processes, successes, and challenges. Thinking aloudhelps to make explicit the underlyingphysical and mental steps in a processand to focus the students on what theyare doing well and what needs work.Thinking aloud can also serve a motivational purpose by challenging students to continue even when facedwith difficulties. This process ofmonitoring one's performance can build"metacognitive awareness" or self-regulation that can be used in learningsituations outside of sport and physical activity.
Newspaper and magazine articlesand web sites can also be used to teachcontent and support students as readers and writers. Students might analyze articles, write about connectionsto their everyday lives (McKenna &Robinson, 1990), relate what they readto their own experiential knowledge,or indicate new information that theyhave gathered. For example, during atrack-and-field unit, a middle schoolteacher asked her students to researcha particular track-and-field athlete orevent. Students located articles ontheir chosen topic through web orlibrary searches, summarized thesearticles, and identified at least twoconcepts that they learned from thearticles. This assignment, given by afirst-year teacher in the early days of anew school year, set the tone for bothactive student learning and criticalthinking and helped the students relate what they were doing to the worldoutside of physical education class.
Additional ideas for implementing
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reading and writing in physical education include:
• Playing charades on rules or othertopics and then writing about whatwas learned
• Analyzing videos of games orevents (or even live events themselves)
• Usingjudging forms• Completing peer observations• Designing a new or modified game• Creating posters or other visuals
accompanied by written explanation.
Assessing Content LiteracyCurrent thinking in education suggests that assessment must be integrated with the teaching process andprovide meaningful information aboutstudent learning (National Associationfor Sport and Physical Education[NASPE], 1995). Therefore, teachersshould use a range ofassessment techniques and measures that "reflect important subject content, ... enhancelearning through a connection withthe instruction, [and] ... provide reliable evidence ofstudent performance"(NASPE, p. vii). Content literacy inphysical education includes both "whatstudents should know" and "what students should be able to do," in alldomains. Employing strategies to develop content literacy ensures that students will have opportunities to demonstrate multiple ways ofknowing andtheir current levels of learning. Authentic assessment, based on a demonstration of content literacy, communicates to students, administrators,and parents both "what is valued inphysical education and how studentsare progressing toward specific goals"(NASPE, p. viii).
Again, reading material providedto students must be at a level thatallows them to comprehend the content. Teachers can use a simple "cloze"test on a text to ensure that it is written at an appropriate level (Bormuth,1968, and Taylor, 1953, as cited inAIverman & Phelps, 1998). Here arethe directions for such a test:
• Beginning with a randomly selected word in the second sentence ofthe text, delete every fifth word until20 words have been removed.
• Ask students to read the alteredtext on their own and make guessesabout the missing words. Let themknow in advance that this guessingwill be difficult. Encourage them todraw on past experience with the topicand to use the surrounding text tosupport their guesses. If they can figure out 40-to-60 percent of the missing words, then the text is at theirinstructional level.
• Once students have made theirguesses, reveal the deleted words, discuss strategies that the students usedto make their guesses, and ask themto calculate their score (allow them toearn a correct score for very closesynonyms as well as exact matches).
This test takes only about 15 minutes to administer, and it gives teachers a reasonable understanding of thereading level of individuals and wholeclasses. The cloze test also helps students recognize the strategies that theyuse to make sense of text (e.g., usingprior knowledge, predicting, usingknowledge of syntax and other context cues). They can transfer thesestrategies to reading in physical education and other courses, thereby promoting literacy development in general as well as content literacy in physical education.
Once teachers identify appropriatereading levels using the cloze test, theycan select materials for use with wholeclasses or groups of students. In addition, the cloze process helps teachersidentify which aspects of the text areposing difficulties for students andwhich content-specific terms are unfamiliar. After identifying these difficulties, teachers can plan vocabularylessons that help students learn theterms needed to understand and participate in a new activity. For example,an article on weight training may include unfamiliar names of musclegroups, weight equipment, or liftingtechniques. The results of a cloze testcan help teachers single out such concepts to teach in an explicit and meaning-eentered way in the gym and inthe classroom.
Students also need support whenwriting reports if the teacher is going
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to grade the quality of their understanding as exhibited within such reports. To give this support, teacherscould do the following:
• Provide clear guidelines for whatwill need to be included.
• Share the rubric or scoring guidewhen the assignment is given ratherthan keeping expectations secret.
• Allow some in-elass time for gathering resources (web, text, etc.).
• Encourage students to use graphical organizers or note-taking formatsto help them organize ideas beforewriting.
• Use staggered due dates so thatstudents turn in a draft or some otheraspect of the report (e.g., a list ofresources, a graphical organizer summarizing key aspects of the report) inorder to receive feedback and avoidprocrastination.
Teachers should use rubrics andscoring guides that focus primarily onthe content, organization, and clarityof student writing, not on the mechanics of their writing (spelling,grammar, and punctuation). This willhelp students clearly understand thegoal of assignments and prepare for
success. For example, in Moving intothe Future: National Standards for Physical Education (NASPE, 1995, p. 65),one sample assessment of an eighthgrade performance benchmark forstandard two ("Applies movement concepts and principles to the learningand development of motor skills") is aproject that requires the students toselect an activity in which they alreadyparticipate or in which they wish toparticipate, develop a training andconditioning program, analyze thebasic skills and movement patterns,assess their current personal skill andfitness status, describe specific conditioning and practice procedures, andset goals for improvement.
This project clearly holds expectations of content literacy and authentic assessment. The selection of theactivity is tied to the student's life awayfrom the classroom, which creates ahigher level of personal meaning andmotivation. The student must gather,interpret, and analyze both verbal andvisual information in order to complete the project successfully. In thiscase, the criteria for assessment reflect what the student knows and is
able to do relative to the selected physical activity. The successful student:
a. Accurately assesses personal mo
tor fitness status
b. Correctly identifies motor fitness
requirements
c. Correctly identifies the compo
nent skills and movement patterns
d. Selects appropriate practice pro
cedures to learn and master skills
and movement patterns (NASPE,
1995, p. 65)
In addition, the student should beable to demonstrate knowledge aboutmultiple facets of skill developmentby using various personally selectedstrategies, such as reading, writing, illustrating, using technology, and giving physical demonstrations.
For some types of students (e.g.,English learners or special-educationstudents), it may be appropriate toreduce reading and writing demandsbut still allow students to show whatthey know. For example, rather thanrequiring students to write a lengthyreport, teachers may want to assessstudent posters or graphical organiz-
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ers that display key concepts and theirinterrelationships. In the aerobic-exercise unit mentioned earlier, theteacher assessed students' graphicalorganizers for the article they read byexamining how they linked details withmain idea categories. This assessmentrevealed which terms and conceptswere understood and which neededto be taught again through demonstration or explanation.
Finally, when assessing journals orother reflective writing, teachers canfocus their feedback on the qualityand depth of students' ideas, on theirexplanations of content-related concepts and strategies, on their analysisof their own strategies and performances, and on how they make connections to their own life experience.Aswith other projects, teachers shouldprovide rubrics or scoring guides forjournal writing to clarify for studentswhat will be assessed.
ConclusionReading and writing in physical education? While it is critical that we provide students with opportunities to bephysically active, it is equally important that we offer opportunities tothink, to learn how to learn. It maynot be possible for students to become highly skillful performers in athree-to-six-week unit. However, ifthese same students are given the opportunity to learn what they can aboutunit activities and are provided withthe tools (i.e., content literacy) to learnmore in the future, they are morelikely to become lifelong movers.
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Cathy Buell is an associate professor of human performance and director of secondary education, and Andrea Whittaker is anassistantprofessor of teachereducation, atSanJose State University, San Jose, CA 95192.
IWilliamsContinued from page 31
consists oficing, stretching, ultrasound,and strengthening exercises (Anderson & Hall, 1995). In order to preventjumper's knee, children should stretchproperly before physical activity andmake sure that the surrounding musculature is properly strengthened.
ConclusionAthletic injuries can affect children ina number of negative ways. Childrenwho are injured might feel ashamedor embarrassed of their injuries andtherefore avoid telling their physicaleducation teacher that they shouldnot participate. Continued participation may hinder the healing processor lead to additional injuries. Otherchildren may seek different ways ofavoiding activity in order to hide theirinjury from their teacher or peers.This strategy may lead to teasing fromother children that could eventuallyaffect the child's attitude towards
physical activity.Armed with the aboveinformation on the causation, identification, and treatment of commoninjuries, teachers and youth sportcoaches can help children preventsuch injuries and maintain their excitement for physical activity.
ReferencesAmerican Academy of Pediatrics. (2000).
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http://www.aap.org/policy/re9906.htmlAnderson, M. K., & Hall, S.j. (1995). Sports
injury management. Media, PA:Williams& Wilkins.
Arnheim, D. D., & Prentice, W. E. (2000).Principles of athletic training (10th ed.).St. Louis, MO: Mosby-Year Book.
DiFiori,j. (1999). Overuse injuries in children and adolescents. The Physician and
Sports Medicine, 27, 75-89.Duff, j. F. (1992). Youth sports injuries: A
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about sports injuries to kids [On-line].Available: http://www.safekids.org/tier3_cd.cfm?contenCitem_id=505&folder-id=178
O'Conner, D. L. (1998, June 15). Preventing sports injuries in kids. Patient
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Bift Williams is an assistant professor, andRip Marston isan associate professor, in theSchool of Health, Physical Education, andLeisure Services at the University of Northern Iowa, CedarFalls, fA 50614.
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