Who said P.E. was just for recreation?

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I hope you all have had a fabulous week! Can you believe it is already over? At the beginning of the week I stumbled upon a video of our First Lady Michelle Obama dancing with Jimmy Fallon to promote her Let's Move Campaign (video posted at the end). It was adorable, and really made me want to get up and move.

So, later on this week when I was reading an article about P.E. teachers starting to incorporate different subjects into the students play time I thought it was brilliant. It made perfect sense to have students play games where they can review their vocabulary words, place value, history lessons, and etc. That's why it slightly irritated me when I seen that some parents did not think including other subjects in the P.E. classroom is beneficial to their students. It allows students to have a better...

The way I see it, is if students are playing games that touch basis or relate to what they are learning in other classes/subjects then those moments allow for a child's understanding to be enriched. It also might strike an interest for students who do not normally actively participate in the classroom to go above and beyond to "win" the game or be the "first to finish" when doing activities related to other subjects during P.E. time. The parents were arguing that by making students continue to do "work" the teachers are going to stifle their general interest in school. This is another problem for me because as a future educator I think using math, english, or another subject to play physical games with in P.E. class is going to be more beneficial for the students overall understanding of the material.

Of course, including different subjects into P.E. time is not the best for every single student but for the most part it probably is. By allowing students to play games and learn at the same time that is fun and in my mind it's effective teaching. When students enjoy what they are doing they are more successful and confident individuals. I honestly believe that combining physical play with different subjects will help students grasp the many concepts covered, bring normally shy students out of their shell, and enhance overall student participation in their learning both in the "regular" classroom as well as in P.E. class.

How do you feel about this? Would you be angry if your child's gym teacher was including different subjects into "play time"? Let's hear some feedback.

Until next time,

April Avery


Here is the video I mentioned above, check it out.