The New PE! Reading, Writing and Exercising?!?

Yes, PE is new compared to how we remember it. In the past PE consisted of strict exercising and stretching, a whole lot of running and very little water. Parents do you remember your PE class, does this sound familiar?

Welcome to "The New PE." I call it this because so much of what was done in the past no longer exists in a typical PE class. Yes, we still exercise, stretch and run, but we focus on much more. We focus on the entire person. You'll be happy to know that our PE games and activities are all based on the Arizona State Standards for Physical Education. These standards can be found on the Arizona Department of Education Website; under Physical Education. We also focus on the 3 domains of Physical Education.

We have 3 domains in Physical Education class:

1. Psychomotor Domain: In this area the focus is on actual physical movements. For example, Throwing: throwing has very specific body movements involved. Lets break them down.

Throwing: The student should:

1. Grip the ball with at least 2 to 3 fingers on the laces (football)

2. Raise the ball toward the ear on the dominant side, while rotating the hips and shoulders in the same direction.

3. Point at his/her target with the opposite hand.

4. Step forward, toward the target with his/her opposite foot than the hand used for throwing. ( If they throw with the right hand, they should step with the left foot.)

5. Finally, get eye contact with his/her partner and throw the ball.

2. Cognitive Domain: In this area we focus on learning, understanding and being able to recite and/or write down information to all games and activities played during Physical Education class, including health and nutrition related information. For example, primary students may be asked to draw a pathway they learned (Zig Zag, curved, straight pathways). Intermediate students may be asked to write down the name of a muscle after they have been given a description of it and it's location on the body. The Cognitive domain is important because students need to know, understand and comprehend rules as well as be able to locate and describe things like muscles, bones etc... I like to describe it as "Exercising our brains, before we exercise our bodies."

3. Affective Domain: In this area we focus on our social skills and SPORTSMANSHIP. How do we get along with others in a sport/recreational setting. For example, students focus on problem solving skills. One of the best problem solving skills we have come up with at Bellair is "Rock/Paper/Scissors." If 2 students have a disagreement during an activity, they are taught to solve the problem in reasonable, fair way. Playing "Rock/Paper/Scissors" almost eliminated all verbal arguments. Whoever wins RPS wins the disagreement, and they continue to play in a peaceful manner.

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This Page was last update: Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 11:07:46 AM
This page was originally posted: 9/20/02; 8:33:26 AM.
Copyright 2008 Coach Knope

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