With Daily Physical Education No Longer the Law, Schools Revise PE Plans
Requirements for the amount of Physical Education required in schools are in a downward spiral and Illinois schools are trying to stop this trend. This article, in a nutshell, talks about how easy it is becoming for schools to cut back on the amount of required PE days for students. The law has brought PE days down to a minimum of three days a week and PE once in middle school can be skipped if students are involved in other school activities. Some schools say they don’t have the money for PE, whether that means for PE teachers, equipment, etc. Other schools say they have limited space and resources. There are many different reasonings found to cut back on Physical Education time. Many schools are trying to get waivers and achieve the very bare minimum of PE days as possible. These are obviously problems that need to be addressed. Illinois is one of the few areas making efforts to implement physical education into every day of the school week. The importance of physical education goes beyond keeping a child physically fit. Physical Education improves academics and decreases the risks of diseases. The strive for more days of required PE classes for each and every student is running hard.
This article brings up possible questions students could ask while reading: Why would schools cut physical education? Are there ways schools can still require and include PE without facing budget issues? What are some ways to make up for limited PE space/equipment? How can people stop this trend of cutting Physical Education classes? These questions are meant for critical thinking. Students should be able to advocate for subject matters that are beneficial to their learning experience. Each of these questions should make students find accurate ways in saving Physical Education classes.
While teaching about this article to high school health students, I’d connect the topic to the Grand Challenge the American Experience. I’ve written about this type of connection previously, but most physical ed topics will all fall under this same broad idea. Part of the American Experience includes living a full, and happy life. Family, friends, and school are all part of most everyone’s daily lives. School, specifically, has a very big impact on individuals therefore it’s important that school’s are providing the best education possible. Along with that comes top notch physical education. Physical activity is essential to healthy living, therefore promoting physical education in student’s lives is a huge piece of living the American Experience. This whole concept goes along with Health Education Standard 1: Comprehend concepts related to personal health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health. Physical activity and education involves to many strategies to enhance one’s health. A routine I would use while teaching this would be Response Writing. I think it’s important for students to generate their own questions and answers before coming together as a class. Response Writing allows students to write down any thoughts they have from the writing or any possible questions. Groups would be allowed to collaborate thoughts together in order to meet diverse learner’s needs. Focusing on organization, this routine gives me a way to see where my students thoughts are. I’d then be able to organize where the lesson moves forward from that point.
