Part 1B
1.) The website is from Toronto ON, Canada. There are two schools mentioned in the documentary. One is located in Southern Saskatoon, Canada while the other school is in Naperville, Chicago, USA.
2.) I thought this news piece was extremely interesting. I remember doing a writing assignment for my previous college about how a healthy body equals a healthy mind, but this information blew me away. More than half the children that attended these high schools were diagnosed with an illness that prevented them from learning to the best of their abilities. Allison Cameron, a math teacher at Naperville high school stated in the documentary that more than half of her students were diagnosed with ADHD, and many of them had prescriptions to be on riddling. It is mind blowing to see how something as simple as exercise could change these kids from acting out in class to becoming real students who want to learn. This makes me wonder why other schools around the nation have not changed their programs. I think from this web-site it is obvious to see that exercise helps brain development and behavior control. I think too many students are stuck playing inside and have no room to run around and release energy. This program is great because it helps the students release all that energy so they can then focus on school work.
3.) I believe we don’t hear anything about the PE teachers in this program because they probably have the type of PE program the video describes. This type of program is where the students are either sitting out or standing around on the court not participating. If the students hated the idea of the treadmills in math they probably don’t find PE class to be enjoyable either and act out in that class as well. When I become a physical educator, I will make sure that my students are constantly moving getting their heart rates up and brains thinking. I will then try to challenge my students as much as possible by adding reading, writing, and math components into my lesson.
4.) The main outcome of this program was to find a way to get through to these children to help them learn and control themselves in a way that is beneficial to them. The benefits of this program were amazing. These 9th grade students started at a grade 4 level. Once the program was finished they improved a full letter grade in English language arts. Previous this school would not see any improvement at all in a full school year. The documentary went deeper into two male students who attended Naperville. One of the boys grew up in a bad position and at a young age had many issues. He started using drugs at eight and started to drink alcohol at the age of ten. Once the school started to use this cardio workout program the boy did not see himself as an issued child anymore. He wanted to think about his future now the things he could be doing with his life. There was also a boy in the video that did not like people and cursed out loud in the classroom. The program helped this boy by helping him control his anger which helped him communicate with others. This student by the end of the film developed a really good relationship with his teacher which he never had before. Overall I think this video proves its points that a healthy body equals a healthy mind. These outcomes are very similar to our New York State PE Standards. Overall the improvement we saw in this video is what we want in our PE programs. For example, the program met both aspects of NYS standard 1. The program in the video had students becoming competent and able to perform different basic motor skills. NYS Standard 2 was also met by this program because using this program helped the students to manage their behavioral issues. Lastly NYS Standard 3 was met because the students learned about these machines and could apply them to their everyday lives and others.
5.) BDNF is a growth factor for the brain. In the video Dr.John Ratey describes that BDNF acts as a fertilizer on parts of the brain. He says our brains are geared for us to move. BDNF helps to increase the survival of neurons and enforces the growth of new ones. To get your BDNF to increase it you must participate in aerobic cardio exercise for 20 minutes or more. This involves activity such as running and swimming or one that really gets your heart rate to increase. One book that is mentioned in the documentary that outlines this is “Spark” by Dr. John Ratey and another is “The Kinesthetic Classroom” by Traci Lengel and Mike Kuczala.
PART 1C
1.) There are many different activity categories a students can be proficient or competent in. These categories are team passing activities, net/wall activities, target activities, striking fielding activities, aquatics, dance and aesthetic, outdoor, personal performance, and fitness activities. To be competent in 6 activities and proficient in 3 in 3 different activity categories should not be too hard for a senior class because many of the activities in these categories the students work on every year. Out of the 50 or more activities the students are involved in I believe the recommended regents level for NYS Learning Standard 1A should be 90%. I believe at grade 12 the students should have already mastered the skills they have been learning since day one.
2.)When it comes to NYS Learning Standard 1B 90% of 12th graders should be “competency” in creating a Personal Fitness Plan. The students need to be able to take tests and create tests to fully understand the concept of being a physically educated person. The 12th graders should also be able to include nutrition into their personal fitness plan to prove that they understand what it fully means.
