Physical Education News and Notes

What a great start to the new school year! With a fresh coat of paint on the walls and the floor, the multipurpose room is looking sharper than ever. Over the summer I was able to attend two very exciting and informative programs, the first being Responsive Classroom for Physical Education (RCPE) and the second a technology program at the SAU’s Seacoast Professional Development Center.

The RCPE program was wonderful in many ways. First, the time to collaborate with other professionals while, learning ways to implement the responsive classroom philosophy into physical education was a real eye opener. While at RCPE I was able to take a long look at my style of teaching and make some changes I feel for the better. For the Physical Education program at EKES, students will see more of a connection between the language used in the classroom and in physical education. The language should be the same in both or very close to the same, with the goal being less confusion for the students on teacher, student, and class expectations and procedures. Some other things implement from the RCPE program beside the language, include a message board, circle greetings, and sharing time. The RCPE program integrates very nicely with my knowledge base of Adventure Based activities and I feel that this will greatly enhance the EKES Physical Education program.

The second half of my summer, I found myself spending two weeks at the Seacoast Professional Development Center in Exeter. Here I was able to accomplish a professional goal that I have had for sometime. That goal was to generate an assessment program using the technology of the Palm Pilot. With a lot of help from the center staff and time at the computer, I was able to create a database of assessments, reports and graphical based assessment that can be put on the Palm. With the Palm I now have the ability to assess a student without paper and a clipboard. Also, students can now assess themselves or another student using the way cool technology of the Palm Pilot. The project is still in its developmental stages so stay tuned for more news or visit my web site at http://www.eks.sau16.k12.nh.us/pe/ .

As you can see I have two big changes for the Physical Education program. I look forward to the challenge of implementing both. Have a great fall and talk to you soon.