Mark Arcara Final Part 1B-1C

Answer to Question to the video: http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indepthanalysis/story/2009/10/06/national-braingains.html


1. The website is from Toronto ON, Canada.  The school is located in South Saskertoon, Canada and then their is another school mentioned called Naperville Central located near Chicago, USA.


2.  I thought this piece was very interesting due to all of the statistics that were given on the improvements the school had accomplished from adding exercise to their curriculum.  The part that I found most interesting was the fact that ninety percent of the student in school had ADHD and after exercise was added, students were gradually coming off their medication and were functioning on their own.  In fact the teacher says that the students attentions spans increased by three hours.  Also I liked how the school acted as an aid to the children and would provide them with free clothes and food.  This was very interesting to me because I am a firm believer in exercise stimulates your mind and makes you a better student.  Statistics show that students on an athletic team have higher gpa's than the rest of the student body.  This is definitely something the rest of the country and world need to be involved in because being active can only help.


3.  I believe we don't hear anything about the PE teacher being involved with the experiment because the teacher doesn't teach lessons that stimulate the brain as well as the body.  The PE program is most likely a standard PE program where the teacher would stick to the main s probably ports of basketball, baseball, soccer, football.  Their was never any thinking being done in this class and just a poor PE program.  I will ensure that my PE program will be beneficial to my students and faculty by thinking outside the box and creating a buzz throughout the school.  During my lessons I ant kids to be thinking at all times and have to solve problems during my lessons.  Not only do i want my students to become better movers but to be better thinkers as well and this will carry into other classes like history, english and math and in the long run make better students.


4.  The main outcomes and benefits from the experiment were very drastic and really sent the schools academic levels through the roof.  Some main points from the experiment include that the students attention span would increase by three hours.  Also after giving a pre experiment test and post experiment test students gained a full letter grade higher in the post experiment exam.  These are drastic numbers that changed just from adding thirty minute exercises three times a week.  I am not surprised at all from these finding because I was always told this and always have been a firm believer that academics and athletics go hand in hand.  The outcomes from the experiment are very similar to the NYS PE Standards. The one that sticks in my head the most would be standard two.  After the experiment students were able to control and manage their behavior better.  As for standards 1A and 1B they are also so closely related because the students were able to perform better motor skills and were now able to make their own fitness programs by taking exercise they used in class.  Standard three is also met because now like they said in the video kids want to come to school now just to exercise.  The students are using their resources in their community to become more active and lead healthier lifestyles.


5. BDNF is a nerve growth factor that takes place in the brain.  Dr. John Ratey describes BDNF as fertilizer on the brain which helps preserve the brain and helps it withstand stress.  BDNF increases when heart rate goes up during physical activity.  This directly deals with PE and learning because PE is where we get our heart rates up and when this is done we are increasing our BDNF levels hence increasing our learning ability. One of the books is mentioned in the documentary.  The book is called  “Spark” by Dr. John Ratey.  The other boo is “The Kinesthetic Classroom” by Traci Lengel and Mike Kuczala.


PART C


1c. There are so many different categories of activity that one can be proficient or competent in. Some of the categories are, team passing, net/wall, target, striking fielding, aquatics, dance and aesthetic, outdoor, personal performance, and fitness.  With the many choices to pick from students should find an activity that is right for them and really gets them interested.   Not many schools follow the 6+3 across 3 because they are still doing bad PE.  Students should be competent in 6, proficient in 3, across 3 categories especially seniors in high school.   This regents in the PE program would stop kids from just sitting in the corner not participating to actually working for a grade and becoming healthier and better learners while doing it.  Their is no reason why PE shouldn't be included at the regents level because without that title we are making it harder for ourselves as educators to move away from the old boring PE programs.  I believe the recommended regent's level for LS #1A should be 90%.  I don't believe that anything should be 100% because that is just to unrealistic.  90% is a more realistic umber that I believe is very accessible.


As for LS #1B I believe that also 95% of students in the senior class should be reach “competency” in their “Personal Fitness Plan".  Again I didn't want to say 100% because that is unrealistic but even if kids don't pass the LS#1A they should still be able to make a personal fitness plan just by paying attention on how to be active.  As a PE teacher you need to be able to explain to students that cant exactly do something, the correct way to perform the task.  Then on the other and you have to explain to the students who can perform the skills how to put what they are doing onto paper.  If the teacher can do this then their should be no reason why 95% of students shouldn't pass this with flying colors.