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| Gym Goes Online |
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Thursday, September 6, 2007
Reasons Behind the Change Two factors most influence the change in the traditional gym class. On the one hand, the increasingly competitive standardized testing is taking class time away from physical education. Many schools recognize that the way to bolster test scores is to devote more time to core subjects, like math and reading, and often gym class is the place with the most room to cut from busy school schedules. This trend is taking place in schools in all areas, including urban and suburban schools. The second issue behind the shift from traditional gym class is the focus on the obesity rates of children in the United States. Educators agree that traditional formats, particularly combined with large class sizes, don't give students the amount of exercise that they need to lead healthy lives. The average group oriented gym class usually only engages a child for a few minutes out of the average hour long gym class. Think about how much time a student stands around waiting for their turn in a game of kickball and you'll see how much time the student actually participates in physical activity during a traditional gym class. Independent Physical Activity Unlike the team sports that have traditionally dominated physical education, today's gym classes take advantage of the greater variety of individual activities that make the most use out of student exercise time. Activities like yoga, martial arts, bike riding, and jogging have come to the forefront in modern physical education where the new focus is on tailoring gym class to meet the needs of the students who take it and, hopefully, help them to develop lifelong habits of regular exercise. While many students get embarrassed by their lack of coordination in team sports, there is a much greater variety of activities that students can participate in, taking the attention off of performing in a group and onto establishing strong personal exercise and fitness goals. By encouraging independent physical activities, physical education programs encourage more students to take responsibility for their personal fitness and feel better about themselves when they exercise. Taking it Online Many schools are taking the gym student completely out of the gym by making it an independent study class. In this way, students get credit for doing physical activities outside of school, such as taking a martial arts class or jogging a certain amount of time each day before school. Such programs take the pressure off of the student's class schedule, allowing them to focus more on academic areas in school and enjoying physical activity outside of school. Student and physical education teachers track progress and work together to set goals without using valuable academic time in school. Schools across the country have set up online monitoring programs where students can measure their individual activities while keeping everyone healthy and happy. Columbus Schools Conduct Partnership Programs that Aid Students Columbus Schools Have Created a Broad Range of Partnerships The partnership programs that Columbus Schools are engaged in cover a wide range of disciplines, grade levels, and locations. There are several successful partnership programs in the Columbus Schools. "Computers Rock 24/7" is a partnership program focused on introducing technology to fourth and fifth grade girls to technology. Students in the program develop their own web pages and learn about computers from the inside out. This program is a partnership between Columbus Schools, Weinland-Hudson Elementary School, The Ohio State University Women in Technology, and The Women in Computer Engineering. "Modeling Physical Sciences in Ohio" is a program aimed at teacher development and training. This partnership program involved Columbus Schools, College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at Ohio State, Ohio Board of Regents, and Worthington City Schools. This partnership program centered around a three-week workshop intended to train Columbus Schools teachers in better methods of instruction that will be more effective with students from a variety of levels and backgrounds. Ongoing Saturday workshops held throughout the school year will revisit the techniques used in the original workshop and help foster a cooperative bond between teachers. There are a number of literacy partnerships in several schools in the Columbus Schools system that addresses all manner of literacy difficulties and language arts development. One literacy partnership program involved two Columbus Schools' elementary schools, Medary and Trevitt Elementary Schools, working with Ohio State Department of English. The "Medary and Trevitt Literacy Partnerships" aims to provide extra literacy tutoring to first graders. Students from Ohio State will work with Medary Elementary first grade students in a program where students receive reading help during school hours. The Trevitt Elementary School program will have the Ohio State student tutors working in all manner of language arts in a one on one after school program. The students have benefited greatly from the individual attention that can be provided. Another literacy partnership in the Columbus Schools is the Johnson Park Middle School Literacy Partnership. Started in the 2005-2006 school year, this program had Ohio Stat undergraduates from the Writing Program acting as advisors and mentors on the Johnson Park Middle School newspaper. The Johnson Park Middle School Literacy Partnership also had the students from Ohio State and Johnson Park Middle School working together to produce the monthly magazine "M," a magazine for and about middle schools on the east side of Columbus. This literacy partnership was part of a larger project between Johnson Park Middle School and Ohio State, led by the P-12 Project. The "Africentric Literacy Program" is another tutoring cooperative between Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing in Ohio State's College of Humanities and the Columbus Schools' Africentric Elementary School. This program is now in its sixth year and has resulted in higher reading and writing test scores. The "Africentric Literacy Program" holds a special end of the year celebration in which the students in the program read selected writings from the year. All participating students in the program receive writers' kits and a hardbound book of all the students' work over the year. Cleveland Schools Career Fields Program Cleveland Schools Aims to Help Students Prepare for Life After High School All Cleveland Schools high schools have developed the Career Fields path of study to help students choose and succeed in higher education, work, and life after high school. The Career Fields places occupations into paths that share common skills. This allows teachers and students to combine educational study with more technical instruction. The six career paths chosen by Cleveland Schools are: Arts and Communications, Business and Management & Information Technology, Environmental and Agricultural Systems, Health Services, Human Resources/ Services, and Industrial and Engineering Systems. Following an educational path allows students to plan for a career after high school or a two-year technical or associate degree, or a four-year college degree. Cleveland Schools' Career Fields provides the elective courses, in addition to the core requirements that will prepare them for the career of their choice. Each Career Field is a part of a Career Pathway Certificate Programs, the only difference between these and the regular high school curriculum is that Career Pathway students may enter the workforce immediately after graduation from high school. When entering the ninth grade in the Cleveland Schools students can choose to enter the Individual Career Plan. This allows students in the Cleveland Schools to have a greater understanding of who they are, have a potential career path that is grounded in their personal skills and interests, and put together an educational plan in high school that will help them achieve their dream of a successful career. The Six Career Pathways in the Cleveland Schools Career Fields Program The Arts and Communications Career Field focuses on those careers that pertain to the arts in some way. Such job opportunities in the path include: vocal & instrumental music; visual and media arts; theater and film; journalism and literature; mass media, TV/radio and broadcasting; advertising, public relations, graphic design, printing/publishing, telecommunications and technical writing. The Business, Management & Information Technology Field pathway provides training in high skilled world of business, management and administration as well as marketing, finance accounting, and data processing. Students who follow this path usually have a strong background in math, science and technical skills. The Environmental and Agricultural Systems Career Field trains students for opportunities in agriculture, the environment and natural resources. It includes agricultural science, earth sciences, environmental sciences as well as service, research, education and production. Some careers to consider are agriculture, earth sciences, environmental studies, fisheries management, animal care, forestry, lawn care, plant care, floral work, horticulture, and wildlife management. The Health Services Career Field path offers students education in health and treatment of injuries and disease and includes service, research, education and manufacturing areas of the health industry. There are a variety of jobs in the health services field including: working in medicine, dentistry, nursing, therapy and rehabilitation, nutrition, fitness and hygiene. The Human Resources/Services Career Field trains students in possible pursuits in economic, political and social systems and include personal, protective, legal, educational and children's and family services. Students will have the future opportunity to work in the law and legal services, community support areas such as fire and city services, education and personal services such as cosmetology and home health aide. The Industrial and Engineering Systems Career Field pathway educates students in the careers that related to technologies necessary to design, develop, install and maintain physical systems for transportation, construction and manufacturing areas. The jobs in which students could pursue might include engineering and related technologies; mechanics and repair; transportation; manufacturing technology; and precision production and construction. |
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