New Directions in Manitoba Education

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Some Students Dont Like PEExperiences From
Various Perspectives
David A. Fitzpatrick, PhD. University of
Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada
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Four Studies/Questions

• What is it like to be low skilled in PE or to
  experience physical awkwardness?
• How do students who are low skilled or physically
  awkward cope with and avoid exposure in PE?
• What is it like to teach PE to students who are
  low skilled or physically awkward?
• What are the rewarding and disappointing PE
  experiences?

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Possible Reasons for Negative PE Experiences

• Low Skilled
• Physically Awkward (DCD)
• Overweight/Obese
• Illness/Disease
• Disability
• Shy about public display of Body
• Adolescent Puberty
• Embarrassing Incidents/Experiences
• Bad day
• Other

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Incorrect Assumptions of Teaching PE

• Because PE teachers likes physical activity,
  assumes everyone likes physical activity.
• Because PE teachers are relatively skilled assume
  all others are skilled.
• PE Teachers teach only to the skilled.
• Some assume Anyone can teach gym.
• PE is playing games and free play.
• PE requires little or no preparation

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Justifying The Studies

• We may not fully appreciate what it is like to
  have a negative PE experience.
• We may benefit from personal insights of others.
• Need for more tactful teaching and coaching.
• Research has not identified a definitive
  instructional intervention for low skilled
  students.

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The Target Experience

• What is it like to have a negative PE experience?
• Personal accounts
• Reflections
• Thoughts, feelings, and actions

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Methodology

• Hermeneutic Phenomenology
• A qualitative research method, that seeks to
  describe, explain, and understand the meaning of
  human experiences.

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Awkwardness in the Media

• The only thing the Craine boys are good at
  catching are subtle nuances and the occasional
  virus (Niles Craine on Fraser)
• e.g. Craines learn to ride a bike!

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(No Transcript)
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Calvin and Hobbs

• Today at 300 PM is PE Class, also know as
  state sponsored terrorism (Calvin).

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Study One

• The Lived Experience ofPhysical
  AwkwardnessAdults Retrospective Views

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Describing Awkwardness

• When other people that say they can't play,
  it means they can't play very well. If I say I
  can't play, I can't play!
• There are people who are athletes, and people
  who are non-athletes, and then there is me.
• Baseball was the worst. It happened to be a
  combination of all the things I did badly I
  couldnt throw. I couldnt bat. I couldnt catch.
  That doesnt leave much.

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Four Main Themesof Experiencing Awkwardness

• Failing and Falling
• Hurt and Humiliation
• Worrying and Wondering
• Avoiding Awkwardness

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Failing and Falling

• I would quite often trip over my own feet and
  not be able to run.
• I was not steady. I could not bend over like
  other kids and pick something up. Id fall
  over.
• I was on the ground more times than I was up.

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Hurt and Humiliation

• I was embarrassed about falling down.
• In a position where other people can laugh at
  you definitely embarrassed.
• I had to take my turn at serving. I was totally
  humiliated, being so unskilled.

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Worrying and Wondering

• Others were able to do it Whats my
  problem?
• I dont know why Im not better at this, like
  most kids.
• Why cant I throw a ball like a regular human
  being?

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Avoidance Awkwardness

• I would come up with a sore stomach to get out
  of it.
• On field days I ... was doing other things like
  selling tickets or ice cream.
• I took three Sciences, three Maths, two English,
  and Russian History so there wasn't room for PE.
• I even took singing lessons (and I cant sing)
  opposed to taking phys. ed.

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Study Two

• Avoiding PE
• A Subversive Activity
• How do Some Students Cope
• And Avoid PE?

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Physical Education is Public

• The child is in a position of being acclaimed
  or humiliated by an authority from whose decision
  there is no recourse and in a group from which
  there is no escape (Wood, 1983, p. 220).

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Cognition and Avoidance

• I was a klutz, but I was a thinking klutz, so I
  learned how to hide most of it.

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Avoiding AwkwardnessVaried Involvement
Uninvolved
Involved

• Compliance/Trying hard
• Supportive others
• Selective participation
• Pseudo participation
• Hiding within activity 
• Humor
• Emotional Response

• Pretending Illness
• Misrepresentation
• Doing other things
• Actively avoid
• Refuse/Rebel
• Give Up/Do not try
• Didnt care/Accept it

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Supportive Peers

• I fell and she actually stopped running and came
  back and helped me up and ran with me the rest
  of the race
• Quite often the kids would they just grab me
  by the arm and basically pull me along so I
  wouldn't fall.

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Pseudo-Participation

• Just run around and as long as you don't get the
  ball, you don't worry about getting swacked.
• I never swung when I batted because kids
  are no good at throwing. You always got four
  balls.

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Distraction/Doing Unrelated tasks

• If there were something I could do instead of
  gym, I was doing it.
• I joined the yearbook committee as an
  alternative to intramurals.
• I did a school history compilation. I missed a
  lot of PE.

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Illness and Avoidance

• I even pretended that I was sick.
• I remember writing notes to get out of gym.

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Not Seeking Assistance

• It might have been a good thing to go and ask
  the phys. ed. teacher for some help but I
  never.
• I would rather just struggle along with it on my
  own.

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About Teachers

• I wasnt too enthused with the teacher one of
  those phys. ed. geniuses, a real physical jerk.
  It was her life.
• Teachers really seemed to focus on the people
  who were good.
• No one ever taught me I had no help from my
  teachers."
• I didn't like the teacher's attitude, she always
  shouted at me.

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The Experience of Teaching Students Who are
Physically Awkward
Study Three
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Teaching Awkward Students Questions of Interest

• Do teachers recognize these students?
• How do teachers feel about instruction?
• How do teachers interact instructionally?
• What invariant and variant themes arise?
• What further questions arise?

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Invariant (Consistent) Themes

• Knowing the Students
• Empathic/Perceptive Awareness
• Accepting/Answering the Challenge
• Wishful Thinking/Hopeful Expectation
• Frustrations
• Successes and Rewarding Results

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Identifying AwkwardnessDo Teachers Recognize
Awkwardness?

• Yes, absolutely, theres no question. They
  stick out like a sore thumb and teachers know
  that right away (Dixi).
• Ive got them identified fairly early(Pam)
• I was aware pretty quickly (Ken).

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Veteran Teacher Feelings

• Empathic and Perceptive Awareness
• Feeling
• Badly
• Unhappy
• Sad
• Frustrated
• Hopeful
• Optimistic

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Empathic Awareness

• He was very unhappy, I could tell (Cara)
•  
• You can tell when they dont have that success,
  the lack of confidence, the
  lowself-esteem (Dan).
•  
• You could see that wasnt a positive experience
  (Dixi).

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The Challenge

• Every PE teacher I ever had tried to teach me
  this, and I cant. Youre wasting your time. I
  dare you to teach me (Kens student).
• Everyone who walks out of this gym today
  is going to know how to do this (Cara). 

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Wishful Thinking andHopeful Expectations

• Youd like to think that everyone would come
  into your program and totally love phys. ed. and
  be successful and then go on and enjoy physical
  activity.
• I wish I could convince him to find one thing
  that hed really like (Pam).

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Feelings of Frustration

• I felt frustrated that I hadnt set it up in
  order for her to get success (Pete).
• I felt a little bit frustrated because you
  expected kids to get on with something you were
  teaching (Dixi).
•  
• The frustrating part is once they move
  into a junior high school they may do nothing
  physical (Pam).

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Barriers to Teaching

• Our failure to recognize the need to teach
  skills, really hurts kids (Ken).
• Some children get lost in the shuffle (Pam)
• The problem is in not having the resources to
  run a quality programs (Dixi).
• Theres no accountability.
• There are no curriculum police (Dixi).

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Effective Instruction Guidelines

• Warm and Orderly Environment
• Realistic, High, Achievable Outcomes
• Promote Student Choice and Control
• Structured Instruction
• Demonstrate Expectations
• Group Students and Use Stations
• Ask and Encourage Questions
• Maximize Practice and Success
• Circulate and Monitor Progress
• Provide Feedback

(Vogel Seefeldt 1988)
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Strategies Employed

• Peer Teaching
• Groups/Partners
• Volunteers
• Pull out programs
• Practice
• Mass participation
• Gradual competition

• Promoting success
• Encouragement
• Choice
• Individual attention
• Physical guidance
• Modifications
• Individual activities

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Warm Orderly Environment

• Once you developed rapport they trust you
  dont feel threatened dont feel singled out
  and then you have a starting point (Ken).
• The biggest impact for me is being sensitive to
  the students feelings when theyre trying
  something (Pete).

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Promoting Choice

• Everybody, if given choice, would be better at
  something.
• Choices give them a much better chance of
  finding what they like and feeling some enjoyment
  from it (Dixi)

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Finding A Way to Teach

• Equate it to the math teacher who cant
  understand why students cant get a
  question.
• What do I do, say it louder? That doesnt work.
• You have to have all of the kids be successful
  (Cara).

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Teaching Skills Steps by Step

• We cant be play leaders, we have to be physical
  educators and recognize where skill deficiencies
  are and break things down and teach them (Ken).
• We did achieve some success by breaking the
  skill right down (Pam). 

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Taking the Time

• He got extra attention intensive individual
  instruction (Dixi).
• In teaching it takes a fair amount of time for
  mastery to occur (Pete).
• I see it as a kid who going to need a little
  more of my time (Ken).

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We Have Ways of Making You Learn

• Weve grown a lot as a profession Now theres
  more accountability. Everyones better included
  (Dixi).
• We do not treat Joe-Hockey Player any different
  than Rita-Trip-Over-Her-Feet-Every-Two-Seconds
  (Cara).
• Everyone plays (Pete).

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Rewarding Results

• We found something he was good at. Others were
  giving him praise. It meant he was more
  accepted (Cara).
• Even though I was terrible, I always had fun
  when she was my teacher (Dixis student).

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Knowing When Not to Teach

• I had a sense that she didnt want me to spend
  too much time because she didnt feel like she
  was making that much improvement or she was being
  singled out (Pete).

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Finding Humour

• My teaching partner and I would bet lunch on
  our ability to teach him something (Dixi).
• One awkward student interaction
• I said, You seem to be having a problem.
• She said, Oh I am, Im ambidextrous and I dont
  know which hand to use,
• I responded I think ambidextrous means equally
  good with both hands.
• She laughed and said, Im such a klutz. (Dixi).

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Conclusions

• Are they physically awkward, or physically
  uneducated? (Wall, 1998)
• Students and teachers are telling incongruent
  stories(Fitzpatrick, 2003).
• Regardless, They Have to be Carefully Taught
  (Evans, 1975).

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Experiences in Physical EducationA Reflective
Retrospective A Longitudinal Study
Study 4 Negative Experiences in PE
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Physical Education ExperiencesWriting Exercise

• 1. Describe a positive or rewarding
  incident from your school
  
  physical education
  experience.
• 2. Describe a negative or disappointing
  incident from your school
  
  physical education
  experience.

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Positive PE Experiences (90-04)

• Choice of activities, games and sports
• Varity of activities, games and sports
• Learning new skills
• Helping others learn skills
• Cooperating and playing with and against peers
• Grouping age and ability playing together
• Encouraging teacher/coach
• Recognition for good performance
• Voluntary competition
• Emphasizing Fairplay Principles
• Special events (Field Day/Winter Fun Day)
• Setting a record/Winning a game or championship
• Playing on a team against other schools

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Negative PE Experiences (90-04)

• Inappropriate competition/Losing
• Separating boys and girls
• Forced participation of boys and girls
• Different activities for boys and girls
• Forced participation in activities (e.g. field
  day)
• Lack of facilities
• Shirts Vs Skins/Boys Vs Girls
• Being low skilled
• Teacher ridiculing non-athletes or low skilled
  students
• Teacher Favoritism/Bias to skilled/athletes/boys
• Performing in front of others
• Skills/Fitness/Skinfold testing
• Unfair teams and unequal competition
• Student picked teams/Chosen last.

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More Negative PE Experiences (90-04)

• Finishing last
• Losing/elimination/too competitive type games
• Changing for PE
• Skilled and or athletes dominating activities
• Going back to class sweaty
• Performing poorly in public
• Overcrowded classes/line-ups, waiting turns
• Playing painful games e.g. murder ball
• Unequal playing time
• Lack of choice/variety
• Repetitive boring activity
• Forced fitness testing

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Negative PE Experiences (90-04) Conclusion

• Lack of equipment/facilities
• Segregating boys and girls
• Teaching only to the skilled
• Boys dominating activities
• Not learning skills
• Failing to meet personal expectations
• Injury
• Too little time in the gym
• Long boring warm-ups
• Public weighing/Skinfold testing
• Unenthusiastic Teachers

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Unenthusiastic Teaching Behaviours

• Disinterest
• Ignoring
• Inactive
• Unprepared
• No or negative feedback
• Verbally abusive criticism
• Showing favoritism
• Using physical activity as a punishment

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Implications?

• We are evaluated every time we teach.
• Students form lasting impressions.
• Students become adults who support or criticize
  PE, based upon their experiences.
• Some become administrators, trustees, Ministers
  of Education and can have a huge impact on the
  structure and delivery of PE.
• Negative impressions can last a lifetime!

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Inclusive Physical Education

• Inclusion may be defined as a
• Philosophy of teaching
• Method of teaching
• Curricular adaptation
• Process of teaching to all students

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Inclusive Physical Educationa Challenge to
Teachers

• Inclusive physical education is an approach to
  teaching that challenges PE teachers to adapt
  variables to facilitate meaningful participation
  of all students, regardless of skill level,
  ability, or disability.

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Assumptions of Inclusion

• People are more alike than unlike
• Needs are neither normal or abnormal
• All students can be taught
• All students can learn
• All students can benefit from inclusion in PE
• All students need active participation in PE.
• Differences are a norm, not an exception.
• IPE de-emphasis individual differences.

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Something to Think About

• Participating in an activity by performing a
  motor or sport skill in a different or
  non-traditional way does not lessen its value if
  it facilitates participation.
• Does it matter how the skills is performed, if
  the outcome is achieved?

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Benefits of Inclusion for SWD

• Modeling opportunities for SWD
• Socializing opportunities for SWD
• Socialization opportunities for SWD
• More normal experience for SWD
• SWD feels part of the group, school, life
• Improved coping skills for SWD
• Improved self concept/self worth for SWD
• Opportunity for SWD to self actualize in PE

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Benefits of Inclusion for All

• Provides normal experiences for all
• Learning about differences
• Learning about helping
• All feel part of class
• Educate other students about disability
• IPE is more like real society

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Factors Promoting Inclusion

• Teacher preparation
• Teacher attitude
• Preparation of class peers
• Readiness of SWD
• Administration support
• Resources
• Readiness and Preparation of SWD
• Willingness to try

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Supportive Administrative Decisions

• Decreased class size
• Decreased student teacher ratio
• Increased IA or volunteers
• In-service opportunities
• Resource availability
• Involve PE teacher in IEP

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Questions/Criticisms of Inclusion

• Inclusion lessens the PE experience for others?
• Are some SWD incapable of participating in PE?
• Do students have a responsibility to assume a
  role of teacher in assisting SWD?
• At what point is an inclusive program no longer
  Physical Education?

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Can all be Included in PE?

• It may not be possible to include all students,
  all of the time, in PE, but it is possible to
  try.
• Total Inclusion is the beginning point.
• Segregated placements are a last resort.
• Alternatives are considered only if IPE is not
  meeting the needs of the SWD or others.

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When IPE is Not Appropriate

• Risk of injury (self or others)
• Interferes with teaching/learning
• Unsafe for student or others
• Persistent disruptions
• Lack of supports/assistants/volunteers

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Range of IPE Participation

• Full participation (most desirable)
• Modified active (with adaptations)
• Partner assisted (with a little help from my
  friends)
• Parallel active (specific designed activity in
  class)
• Active observer (assists organization/administrati
  on)
• Passive observer (knowledgeable observer)
• Alternative tasks (specially designed program)

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Inclusion Teaching Style

• Inclusive teaching presents multiple versions,
  variations, or degrees of difficulty of a task,
  for students to select a successful entry level
  and make further choices for successful
  participation.

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Inclusion Style Advantages

• Student pressure and anxiety reduced
• Increased student decision making
• Potential to promotes student self confidence.
• Increased individualization
• Inclusion is an easy for students to understand.
• Inclusion is an inviting style
• Inclusion for independent practice and progress.

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Inclusion Style Disadvantages

• Some students content to stay at one spot.
• Danger of loss of integrity of task/game.
• May not include all students all the time.
• Requires careful teacher planning.
• Requires adequate space and equipment.
• Time intensive style.

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Inclusive Process

• Teacher presents task options.
• Student surveys task/activity.
• Student considers options.
• Student selects option.
• Student decides entry level.
• Student self assesses performance.
• Teachers provides instruction
• Safe choice is the best choice!

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Options After Initial Entry Choice

• Harder or more difficult choice
• Same choice
• Less difficult choice
• Process continues

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Inclusion Role of Teacher

• Teacher decides task
• Teacher designs range of tasks
• Teacher designs adaptations
• Teachers circulates
• Teacher answers questions
• Teacher offers instructional points

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Inclusion Role of Student

• Surveys choices
• Selects initial level for performance
• Decides entry point
• Evaluates performance
• Decides level to continue
• Performs task
• Assesses performance
• Decides if other level of task is appropriate
• Identifies range of possibilities

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Slanted Rope Theory
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Slanted Rope Theory
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Inclusive Basketball Shot Factors To Consider

• Angle of shot
• Timing/pace of shot
• Attempts
• Degree of success
• Context of shot
• Other

• Ball size
• Ball weight of ball
• Basket distance
• Basket height
• Hoop dimensions
• Multiple goals

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Inclusive Teaching Cautions

• Teacher must must create legitimate options
• Note students who stay at their entry level.
• Note gaps between student aspiration and reality
• Teach to close gaps between aspiration and
  reality

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Negative PE Experiences

• Thank You!
• Questions/Comments
• as time permits.