Teach PE Like a Rockstar: April 2011

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Will You "Move Your Body" with Beyoncé?

Beyoncé reworked her 2007 song "Get Me Bodied" in part to support Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign to curb childhood obesity. Will doing a song that encourages more physical activity be the start of something wonderful? I think its great that she was willing to help out, but this video is being supported by several national organizations, sadly neither AAHPERD or NASPE were part of this initiative despite having the Let's Move in School Campaign already underway:-(

According to the linked article, only National Association Of Broadcasters, the American Association Of School Administrators, the National Middle School Association, and the National School Boards Association.

[Source Yahoo! Music]

Friday, April 22, 2011

NCAA 4 Sale?

Image via WikipediaWith all the stories and controversie that rocked the "athletics" arena this past year, you knew the discussion would eventually circle to the topic of paying athletes to compete for your school.

Ohio State's Jim Tressel knew about his player's off-field problems more than six months before it was revealed in the press and this was after he had taken oaths and signed letters stating that he did not know of any transgressions that should be reported to the school's or NCAA's rules and compliance officers.

What is your coaching philosophy and how does athletics play a role within the school system? Should an athletic director have as much say as the Residence Life Director, Curriculum Coordinator, Department Heads?

College ROI: What We Found - BusinessWeek

How much is your college degree worth? Bloomberg Businessweek and PayScale put together a different way to determine the value of your degree. Is your school listed and do you think this is a fair way to assess the value and worth of your degree?

College ROI: What We Found - BusinessWeek

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Cumulative effects of high school football and CTE (study)

Unique study explores cumulative effect of hits in prep football (Via SI.com)

This report echoes threads that was brought up in the hockey story posted yesterday. Be sure to watch this episode on PBS of Purdue University's study on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) for two high school football teams. The researchers used accelerometers in the helmets to measure cumulative g-force effects from collisions.

Of the 31 times that the researches brought in non-concussed players to do neurocognitive testing, 17 produced impaired scores. "That's 17 players who were not expected to be impaired," said Tom Talavage, a Purdue associate professor of biomedical engineering and electrical and computer engineering.
The fMRI data has backed up the results from the first season as well, in that the pattern of brain activity in impaired players changes when they are asked to do a task that requires mental focus.

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Danger On The Ice

OTL: Danger On The Ice - ESPN Video - ESPN

Here's a great video piece on concussions a checking in minor league hockey and USA Hockey's Minnesota Fair Play Points, which essentially is like Hellison's Personal and Social Responsibility system (affective domain). It essentially adds another point to each team at the start of the game, and if you stay smart and don't violate the principles of fair and safe play - you get another point. Here are some of the rules, but for more details, hit up the previous link for much more details.

- less than 12 minutes in penalty box (PeeWee level)

- points accumulate in standings

- coaches must also behave

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Burn Studios. Music Maker in the Cloud

Burn Studios Audiotool Lets You Mix and Make Music in the Cloud [Music ]: "

Click here to read Burn Studios Audiotool Lets You Mix and Make Music in the Cloud

The Burn Studios Audiotool http://www.audiotool.com/ is a free cloud-based music production studio. The web app lets you create your own electronic music by connecting virtual devices, including drum machines and synths, together in limitless combinations. Warning Flash is required, so iPad users unfortunately miss out.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

High intensity exercises reduce CVD risk factors better than aerobic activities in adolescent youth (study)

Image by Jett Loe via Flickr
Some questions for you:

Do you provide activities that are of high intensity or do we primarily focus on moderate levels of activity?
How might you take advantage of this new study and create more high intensity activities?
How will you deal with the fact that children do not have high cardiovascular fitness levels and then you're asking them to work extra hard?
Do you know how the body (especially youth) responds to movement and the bioenergetics involved in exercise?
Have you taken EXS 387, EXS 397 prior to student teaching?
Do you think it's important to have this knowledge and skill set in human movement to be a great and transformative educator?

This article examines the effects of brief, intense exercise in comparison with traditional endurance exercise on both novel and traditional markers of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in youth.

The effects of time and intensity of exercise on novel and established markers of CVD in adolescent youth - Buchan - 2011 - American Journal of Human Biology

DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.21166

Related articles

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

More $ from USDA for fruits and veggies in schools

Good news as we continue our pursuit of healthier children, schools and communities as the USDA announced more money for schools to bring more fruits and veggies. Now I think bringing more food is good, I really think we need to support bigger initiatives that encompass the entire community including the family in raising healthier children. At AAHPERD I met up with PE guru Dolly Lamdin and she was explaining their UT Elementary School initiative WellNest that does all of the above and recently received some great press.

Families engage in WellNest Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM) Nights where they participate in fitness activities, participate in cooking demos, take nutrition classes and leave with a bag of farm fresh organic vegetables each time. It is our belief that with this support the whole family will work together to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle.