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

Success Knows No Boundaries (470)

We often talk about overcoming obstacles and attaining new heights as if it were a catch phrase from a news broadcast but do we really know what its like to achieve thing most people think is impossible? This ESPN broadcast of the Gallaudet University women's basketball team is proof positive of that success has no bias. A great turnaround record of 14-12 last season was a stepping stone to a 24-3 record this season and earned them a spot in the Div. III tournament this spring. From the coach having to learn sign language to communicate with his players to his players learning how to read their opponents better, this team epitomizes what we want to instill in our students. Trust, Respect, Responsibility, Relationships, & Rapport = SUNY Cortland PE Dept Positive Learning Framework


Points to Ponder (P2P):

1. As a new teacher or coach, would you take on a position for which you don't have all the necessary skills or knowledge?
2. Would you be willing to learn new skills, tactics, philosophies, technologies, and even languages to help your students?
3. What came to mind as you watched the players using American Sign Language with the subtitles?
4. Do you know Sign Language and did you know that infants can learn to sign before they can speak? 
5. What is the sign for running, stopping, thirsty, hurt, and other signs you will one day use in the gym?

Related articles

• School for Deaf Makes Noise in Women's Basketball (abcnews.go.com)
• Deaf Team's Standout Season Draws Cheers (npr.org)

PE the Naperville Way

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

In this PBS special, they focus on our best bet at showing the importance and benefits of regular physical activity within a high quality physical education program.  Naperville Central High School has blazed the way for all of us and because of the efforts of the late Phil Lawler and Paul Zientarski were ahead of their time, but never gave up on what they envisioned. What do you envision for your program and how hard are you willing to work and for how long?

A baseball pitcher born without lower limbs, is cut from HS team, WWYD (470)

A teenage baseball player, born without both tibia and fibula, who has been playing competitively for eight years, was cut from his high school baseball team. On the second day of tryouts, the coaches claim he was not able to field the ball quickly enough at home quickly enough and was cut despite winning awards and having an 80 mile an hour fastball. Fitted with prosthetics Anthony Burroto



Guiding Questions:

1. What is your school's interscholastic philosophy and how does it fit in with your school's educational and physical education's philosophy/goals?
2. Please link to your high school's athletic, education, and PE philosophies. 
3. Please link to your athletic, education, and PE philosophies on your separate eportfolio.
4. What are the policies in place for athletic teams in terms of who can try out for teams?  What are the requirements in terms of :
1. varsity, junior varsity, modified (I never liked this term), or whatever team / club/ intramural
2. gender
3. differently-abled, students with prosthetics
4. religious clothing, traditions, requirements, artifacts
5. What is your response to this video piece?
6. How would you describe the mother and son in terms of the way they reacted to the news of getting cut?  Did they do themselves any favors by going on air?  How did their body language and tone of voice help or hurt their presentation of the facts?
7. What would you do - WWYD?

Elementary school practices fall short of national recommendations for diet and physical activity (RWJF)

New Report Highlights Changes Needed to Support Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in U.S. Elementary Schools

Elementary school practices fall short of national recommendations for diet and physical activity.

A comprehensive new report from Bridging the Gap and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that elementary schools across the nation commonly offer their students junk food and soda, serve meals that don’t meet current dietary guidelines, and provide little time for physical activity.

The report, School Policies and Practices to Improve Health and Prevent Obesity: National Elementary School Survey Results, examined practices that affect nutrition, physical activity and obesity prevention for tens of millions of students. Its conclusions are critical for informing the Child Nutrition Reauthorization legislation, including policies related to competitive foods and school meals.

Among the key findings from the 2007–08 school year:

• Nearly two-thirds of public elementary school students were able to purchase competitive foods or beverages on campus. These items, sold or served outside of school meal programs, often included soda, candy, cookies and french fries.

• Meals served through the National School Lunch Program often included higher-fat items such as pizza, french fries, and 2% or whole milk.

• Only 20 percent of public school third-graders were offered daily physical education, and only 18 percent were offered at least 150 minutes of weekly physical education, as recommended by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education.

More here

http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/bridgingthegap20101123mongraphrevised.pdf

http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/btg201006.pdf

http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/64429companionbrief.pdf

Six- Step Plan to Using Your 21st Century Voice to Make a Difference

Image by wlibrary via FlickrThe Six- Step Plan to Using Your 21st Century Voice to Make a Difference by Lisa Nielsen: "
I love this reference about finding and using your 21st Centruy Voice and the steps she defines for all of us to become the lifelong learners we want our students to become.

1. Join (Week 1)
2. Lurk (Week 2, 3, 4)
3. Converse (Week 5+)
4. Initiate (sometime within the first six - twelve months)
5. Launch (If you feel ready)
6. Share / Publish / Establish Your Digital Footprint (for the rest of your life)

Physical Education Is An Academic Subject

Be sure to grab this latest NASPE Advocacy paper "Physical Education Is An Academic Subject". It is imperative that you start to collect your tools to support our profession and your future job.