Physical Literacy: Why Our Kids Need It & How They Can Get It

A nationwide movement shows why so many children exercise so little while an elite few become carried away with sport-specific training.  Although this article requires a subscription, the essence is that despite great sports programs, the majority of children don't get enough exercise (#physicalliteracy) and gross motor skill development. For some reason, we tend to exclude those who don't have the requisite skills to compete athletically which sends the wrong message. My cousin (Philip Yang of Yamaji Dojo) has a great solution by accepting all those interested. Read what he recently posted to his Facebook Group:

215 is my new favorite number... the number of members who joined our club this month. 

Jujutsu does not weed out the weak, the less talented or those with a less competitive nature. Because the weak will become strong, the less talented will aquire skills and all will become confident. Jujutsu only weeds out those who stop training.

215 is my new favorite number... the number of members who joined our club this month. Jujutsu does not weed out the...
Posted by Yamaji Dojo on Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Net Neutrality Countdown - Please Retweet

Be sure to let your followers, friends, and politicians know about the important FCC vote in 9 days. Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites.

 

Go to the main Battle for Net Neutrality site for some simple links to tweet to politicians and business figures.

#opheaPLAY Photo each day for Month of May

Join PE, Health and Fitness professionals around the world to celebrate OPHEA & National Sport and PE month and tweet a picture that goes along with each daily theme with the hashtag #opheaPLAY. Here are my Tweeted photos so far...

1. Enjoyment
2. Physical Activity
3. Equipment
4. Sports
5. Territory
6. Motion
7. Manipulation
8. Play
9. Target
10. Mental Health
11. Fun
12. Spirit
13. Stability
14. Communication
15. Relationships
16. Personal Safety
17. Jump
18. Dance
19. Bounce
20. Gravity
21. Physical Fitness
22. Locomotion
23. Critical Thinking
24. Internet Safety
25.Net/Wall
26. Healthy Choices
27. Run
28. Relaxation
29. Healthy Eating
30. Striking/Fielding
31. Healthy School/Workplace

Tweets about "#OpheaPLAY"

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What does your Twitter Chatter Say About You - Visual.ly

Visual.ly is a great infographic creation tool you can use to see what you tweet about and to whom you tweet the most. What does yours look like? There are other tools out there that can analyze your tweets and connections, one of my favorites was Vizify but it was acquired by Yahoo and then shut down. No word on whether it will see the light of day under the the Yahoo banner of products and services.

U.S. Education vs. The World

U.S. Education vs. The World: "

This is an old link and was in draft status, but it's a great looking #infographic. U.S. Education vs. The World is a very cool infographic from MAT@USC.  You can imagine this data as a boring series of bar charts in an academic report, but the colorful, visual design here is fantastic.  The winding connecting lines can make it a little difficult for the reader to understand the data, but I think it also draws the reader in like a simple puzzle.

We’ve put together this infographic that compares the United States’ education spend and performance versus eleven countries.  The U.S. is the clear leader in total annual spending, but ranks 9th in Science performance and 10th in Math.

Thanks to Sarah for sending in the link!

"

Weight of The Nation HBO Series Must Watch

Even if you're not in health or education, you must watch Weight of the Nation from HBO and NIH/CDC. Happy #ntaahperd

More Attention Problems During Childhood Predict Poorer Executive Functioning in Late Adolescence

scream and shout (Photo credit: mdanys)

Having attention problems as a young child predicted later difficulties with response inhibition in adolescence. As educators, its really important to establish clear and effective behavior management strategies and classroom/gym rules. Helping young children especially with inattention, disorganization, impulsivity, and hyperactivity at a young age might help offset or reduce lower executive function scores as adolescents. I would love to know what more about intervention studies run and their long-term impact on executive function levels.

Attention problems (behavior problems including inattention, disorganization, impulsivity, and hyperactivity) are widely thought to reflect deficits in executive functions (EFs). However, it is unclear whether attention problems differentially relate to distinct EFs and how developmental stability and change predict levels of EFs in late adolescence. We investigated, in an unselected sample, how teacher-rated attention problems from ages 7 to 14 years related to three correlated but separable EFs, measured as latent variables at age 17. Attention problems at all ages significantly predicted later levels of response inhibition and working memory updating, and to some extent set shifting; the relation to inhibiting was stronger than the relations to the other EFs or IQ. Growth models indicated that attention problems were quite stable in this age range, and it was the initial levels of problems, rather than their changes across time, that predicted later EFs. These results support the hypothesis that attention problems primarily reflect difficulties with response inhibition.

Greater Attention Problems During Childhood Predict Poorer Executive Functioning in Late Adolescence

Calling All School Leaders! Professional Development Matters!

For high quality 21st century school leaders, the focus should be on using research-based practices to assist learning, thinking, and applying for teachers and students. If you are a school leader or an instructional coach, Chris Atkinson recommends Doug Reeve’s book: Transforming Professional Development Into Student Results. where he presents his “Leadership and Learning Matrix”. What have you done to improve your learning, teaching, and understanding? Have you been a lifelong learner?



Read all the details here: Calling All School Leaders! Professional Development Matters; Don’t Rely On Luck!

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How Much Exercise Does Your State Get?

How active is your state? See where you stack up with the rest of the country then see what you can do to make your community and state more active.

• Alabama: 47.5
• Alaska: 60.1
• Arizona: 53.3
• Arkansas: 52.5
• California: 55.1
• Colorado: 59.8
• Connecticut: 54.2
• Delaware: 46.5
• Florida: 53.5
• Georgia: 51.4
• Hawaii: 62.2
• Idaho: 57.7
• Illinois: 51.2
• Indiana: 49.4
• Iowa: 53.1
• Kansas: 52.3
• Kentucky: 50.5
• Louisiana: 50.5
• Maine: 55.3
• Maryland: 50.1
• Massachusetts: 52.9
• Michigan: 50.9
• Minnesota: 55.7
• Mississippi: 50.1
• Missouri: 51.7
• Montana: 60.1
• Nation: 51.6
• Nebraska: 56.3
• Nevada: 54.5
• New Hampshire: 53.9
• New Jersey: 47.7
• New Mexico: 57.4
• New York: 49.3
• North Carolina: 51.7
• North Dakota: 56.0
• Ohio: 49.3
• Oklahoma: 50.7
• Oregon: 58.0
• Pennsylvania: 50.4
• Rhode Island: 48.2
• South Carolina: 49.7
• South Dakota: 51.8
• Tennessee: 49.2
• Texas: 52.2
• Utah: 53.9
• Vermont: 65.3
• Virginia: 52.0
• Washington: 55.7
• West Virginia: 47.1
• Wisconsin: 53.9
• Wyoming: 54.2
  
  

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Happy International Day of Happiness PE Rockstars

Celebrate International Day of Happiness with the world tomorrow as you hum and dance to Pharrell Williams song "Happy".  Be sure to check out our #Physed Flipboard for more articles and news that impact Physical Educaion, #pechat, and #pegeeks.

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Power of Technology & Worldwide #PECHAT

The transformative and transparent power of technology to influence learning is all around us and is accessible to teacher-candidates of all abilities. Integrating technology into education is crucial for our students continued understanding, growth, networking and professional development.  How we choose to use them and where we place them in the learning process is our mandate. 

Specific examples of successful PE InTechGration.

Trish - Yoga lesson (video, ipad, assessments - specific congruent)

Ben - ePortfolio (unit planning, professional development)

Live #PECHAT

Is this fitness?

Erwan Le Corre is the founder of “MovNat”, a synthesis of his long-term passion for real-world physical competency, his love of movement in nature, his extensive knowledge of Physical Education history, and his personal philosophy of life. He believes it is everyone’s universal and biological birthright to be strong, healthy, happy and free. He calls this state of being our “True Nature”.

Student teaching thoughts for Rockstar PE

The elementary is such a great experience student teaching! I'm having a blast and the children love to learn! My cooperating teacher is great and does a great job with the children. This placement is terrific compared to my first placement at the high school level. Photos, videos, and more to come! Check out my blog at dhowardphysed.blogspot.com

Sarah Nadrowski (2013) Wins All-Around National Title

Congratulations to Sarah Nadrowski a Cortland PE Senior who won the all-around title at the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) Championships, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.  The Cortland team won third place overall. More details can be found here.

Who profits from the NCAA March Madness?

Click image to see a larger versionCollege Basketball and Taxes via H&R Block

20 Surprising Social Media Stats For 2012

Interesting facts compiled by GO-Globe.com about our usage of social media.

No Recess in Syracuse?

You heard me, there will be no recess scheduled in Syracuse city schools this year.  On top of that you can bet that they don't have daily PE either as it is not mandated by the state DOE.

“If they are going to opt to do recess, they are going to be taking time from ELA (English language arts) and math, and that’s a choice I hope every teacher considers very carefully,” Kelley said.

They have obviously not read the latest on brain development, physical fitness and academics.

I spent a few days in March at Naperville, IL where PE, recess, and physical activity is paramount to learning for all, but especially for those with difficulty learning math, and reading (part of Common Core). These are the results for the Learning Readiness PE program over 5 years:

• Reading rose 1-2 grade levels
• Math scores increased 10-22%

Don't forget to get your resources for the benefits of exercise, fitness on academics at:

• NASPE Advocacy Toolkit - http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/advocacy/governmentRelations/toolkit.cfm
• Postion Statements http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/standards/PEPS.cfm 
• Let's Move in Schools - http://www.aahperd.org/letsmoveinschool/about/overview.cfm

One of the main authors of the brain study on youth who exercise is Chuck Hillman and you can find one of his papers here from the Nature journal "Be smart, exercise your heart: exercise effects on brain and cognition"

#PEchat Takes-Off

The first World Wide #pechat has been happening all day and will continue the entire day through the Pacific and eventually Europe. Here is the initial batch of 300+ tweets that show-off our willingness to share with each other to improve the lives of our students.

Lives in Crisis: Transformed by Tony Robbins (Bright Spots)

Author, life coach, and motivational speaker Tony Robbins. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Anthony Robbins is a world-famous motivator and life-coach but its great that he offers lots of little videos to compliment their Coach Training website and his mega workshops. I think it is so important for everyone, especially those in education, to work on your own professional development and growth.  To really make a difference you need to be a lifelong learner and have a thirst for constant growth.   Reading, taking workshops, discussing with peers and mentors and contributing to your Personal Learning Network will make all the difference in your potential.

Click here to see how he transformed Rechaud's lifelong struggle with stuttering by listening first and identifying the first time he remembers stuttering and what was the emotional trigger. The term Bright Spots comes from a great book by Chip & Dan Heath called "Switch" - a must read.

Cover via Amazon