The Importance of Physical Education
This publication in the Virginia Education Association reflects on the real purpose of Health and PE in today’s society. The article’s main purpose is to talk about how high quality HPE helps students succeed in life. This generation is filled with obese, unhealthy people. There are other factors that play a part in the rise of obesity, but technology and the lack of physical activity are to name a few. This generation consists of technology baked into each and every person’s genes. Video games, social media, and computers take away from the idea of staying physically active. Why ride a bike when you can sit and play video games? This concept of screen time versus the being physically active can be prevented by making sure PE programs are setting kids up for a healthy lifestyle. Unhealthy, quick, easy eating is a factor of obesity as well and, again, can be prevented by high quality health programs. The point is, HPE classes are important for every single student and can be a strategy for living a healthier lifestyle physically, mentally, and emotionally. It’s important to know why HPE should always be a priority in schools and how it is an essential key to life.
This article might not have a lot of information, but it has enough to get the big point across. Students should be aware that generations are becoming more and more obese. Educators should be aware of this as well and be sure to implement physical activity into their classrooms. Educating students on the importance of HPE will give them ways to live a healthy lifestyle, away from obesity. There are some questions students could ask from this article before and after they read: Why is health physical education important? How can HPE influence kids to live a healthy lifestyle? What factors contribute to the increasing obesity rates? How can HPE be cross curriculum? Should physical activity be required in k-12 schools? These questions, as well as others, will be beneficial for any future health or physical education class that reads this article. Each question can be looked at at multiple angles and in depth to achieve the deepest understanding of the article.
Understanding the American Experience is the Grand Challenge that goes along with this article the best. The article is about the current generation being obese and the steps HPE classes need to take to turn this downfall around. Being physically fit and healthy is a huge part of living, or in other words it’s part of the “American Experience”. In order to get the most out of this experience, people need to be active and healthy. Keeping kids involved in physical activities and giving them accurate health information to live a healthy lifestyle should result in adding to a positive life. Going off of the concept of this article, the Physical Education Standard it relates to is standard 5: recognize the value of physical activity for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression and/or social interaction. I chose this standard because the main idea is getting people to realize how dang important quality physical education is. The article gives support and detail to help show reasoning for why HPE should always be up to par and kept at every school. It would be a beneficial topic to cover and talk about so students could realize why HPE should be important in their lives.
Going into a routine, I would use Response Writing while teaching this to my class. Response Writing would allow students to write really any thoughts on the article. In their responses, they can write what confused them, what was clear, or what they might have questions on. I would have them relate this article to personal experiences and write about them. Students would also answer some controversial questions I’d pose about the article the best they can. This routine gives students more free range but can then be discussed as a class. Some learners may need to work with others and that works as well. I like the idea of letting this routine be used diversely to fit multiple learning styles. Whether in groups, individually, or as a class, students will all be working on the same concept and putting their thoughts on paper. This ties into my “organization” focus as well. I’m making sure students have their thoughts well put together from the article. The article itself is easy to understand which leads to a well-organized lesson.
