FINAL PART 1B and 1C-Laura Bohneberg

1 B

1.)    The website is from Toronto Ontario, Canada and the school that is featured in this video is in South Saskatoon, Canada. There is also another school that is mentioned in this video is in Naperville, Chicago, USA.

2.)    I found this new piece very interesting and it captivated my attention as I continued to watch the short video.  Before this video I had some standard knowledge of how exercise helps people focus more but mainly because I am a very physically active person and I personally see the benefits of it.  Watching this video just made me believe it more, that exercise really does get the brain moving, as we see in the video that being physically activity stimulates the “sleepy” part of the front brain.  I’ve always been told that you should work out in the morning before you go to work or school and now I see why. The students that were able to participate in the physical activity for 20 minutes straight before their classes saw improvement in the focus and reading abilities.

3.)    I feel that the Phys Ed teachers weren’t being involved in this experiment because they are the typical phys ed teacher that we tend to see more and more in schools these days. The phys ed teachers that just have the students play a game of soccer or basketball and have students sitting out or waiting their turns. They even said in the video that the program is different from a “regular” gym class and im guessing that that school happens to have just a regular gym class where more than half of the students are standing around or not even participating.  As a physical educator I will do my best to have 100% participation but not by just physically doing so but cognitively doing so as well. My students will be using their brains as well as their bodies. Maybe try and incorporate topics that they are learning in their other classes such as if they are learning about a certain country, play a sport that is from that country. That way they are combining other aspects of their social learning into their workout.

4.)    The students that participated in this experiment initially benefitted greatly from it. The main focus of this program was to get them to focus more and learn more as well as comprehend things they were learning better and that is definitely what happened. The results showed that most of the students improved a full grade which is a huge progress seeing as when they started school they were at a grade 4 level.  I also noticed that not only were the students becoming “smarter” but they were also becoming better people. One of the boys that had a troubled life began looking at what he wanted to do in the future for himself and wanted to get himself on the better path of life. These students were overall happier and looked forward to coming to school and getting on the treadmills everyday. Standard 1a and 1b were used in this program because the students were using their basic motor and manipulative skills to become more physically active. Now in the video they only showed the students on the treadmills but im sure that they had other means of physical activity as well. Since this experiment was a program this fulfills standard 1b. I believe I remember the video saying that the students participated in physical activity for 20 minutes straight before their classes stared 3 times a week. Standard 2 was definielty covered in this program because these kids were actually becoming focused and behaving better in the classroom. The students looked forward to coming to class and getting on the treadmills and their relationships with their teachers improved as well. I feel that standard 3 was half way covered in this program. The video said that the equipment was donated to the school and they were put into the classrooms not in a open gym room so that is the only place that the students have where they can get physical activity. They didn’t give us any information on whether the students knew of gyms in town that they could go to if they wanted to but at the end interview with their teacher she said that students did convince some of their parents to go on walks with them throughout the neighborhood so they did take information that they learned and brought it home with them.

5.)    BDNF stands for Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor. Vigorous exercise causes the release of these nerve growth factors which acts like a fertilizer to the brain. Its basically miracle growth for the brain. Its helps preserve the brain cells, make them stronger, helps them resist stress and makes them more pliable.  Aerobic activity such as running, walking, swimming, or jumping rope can help develop an overall effective brain but a key part to that is the heart rate must be elevated for atleast 20 minutes. There are two books mentioned throughout the video. The first is called Spark by John Ratey. In addition the second book is The Kinesthetic Classroom by Traci Lengel and Mike Kuczala

1c

I feel that there are enough activities on the B-9 form the students to be able to be competent in 6 activities, proficient in 3 across 3 different categories. Some of these categories include, team passing net/wall, target, striking fielding, aquatics, dance and aesthetic, outdoor, personal Performance and fitness activities and under these categories there are dozens of activities. It shouldn’t be too difficult for students to achieve this but for some reason it is. I believe that  as 12^th graders, who should be pretty physically capable of achieving this, 90% is a fair percentage. If this doesn’t happen then we as physical educators aren’t doing our jobs very well. Sure there are those kids that physically cant do a sport that were doing but with practice and determination anything is possible. Thanks to our EDU255 class we have been given the opportunity to experience various types of activities that I never thought I would get to experience, cup stacking for instance. I had never done it before but because of the lesson I became interested in it and wanted to try it more.

I believe that the percentage of the senior class that should reach competency in their personal fitness plan should also be at 90%. Sometimes students that participate in a sport are exempt from phys ed or are treated “special”.  This should not be happening and goes against standards 1a and 1b completely. Students need to be able to create a fitness plan that suits them. Obviously some students are going to be in better shape than other students so its important for them to figure out what right for them. As obesity becomes more and more of an issue in school these days we as physical educators need to take that step into improving the lives of these children. Out with the old phys ed were you get to choose if you want to participate or your waiting for your turn. In with the new PE, fun and exciting activities where students want to participate and thus will be successful in their personal fitness plan.