A three-year physical education program integrating cross-curricular targets unique to the middle school student.

A three-year physical education program integrating cross-curricular targets unique to the middle school student.

A three-year physical education program integrating cross-curricular targets unique to the middle school student.

When kids take part in the activities that come from Maximum Middle School Physical Education, they won't be able to wait for their next physical education class! Written and piloted by the 2003 NASPE National Middle School Physical Education Teacher of the Year, the lessons and activities provided in this comprehensive book and CD-ROM package will keep middle school students interested and help you meet your daily challenges as a physical education teacher. Maximum Middle School Physical Education offers a mix of student-centered activities and lesson plans that foster affective growth, physical skills, and knowledge development. It's called maximum physical education because the book and CD-ROM provide much more than just lesson plans, assessment sheets, and activities--it's a detailed guide to a joyful experience in physical education. The authors base their content on current best practices and the National Standards for Physical Education. They help you capture and keep middle schoolers' attention with activities that encompass fitness exercises, social skills, and physical skill development. With this package, you'll be able to -use a wealth of fresh ideas that address the whole middle school student at this vital time of development; -broaden your program's impact with the social, emotional, and personal responsibility threads woven through each lesson; and -use over 150 worksheets, assessments, and other reproducibles to help you minimize prep time and stay organized. The CD-ROM also contains handouts, task cards, posters, and station instructions. The book includes thumbnails of the CD-ROM items so that you know when to include them in your teaching. The text also provides practical information and tested-and-true suggestions on promoting your program and making physical education a maximum learning experience for all involved. Maximum Middle School Physical Education will help you empower students to take responsibility for their own activity and fitness. And it will help you create an environment where your students experience maximum success, joy, and love for movement.

Student-Centered Physical Education presents over 100 fun physical activities that not only promote student fitness and skill development but also build the foundation for a physically active life. The authors' modular approach allows teachers to mix and match activities in order to achieve specific goals, creating multiple opportunities within each class period for students to succeed. Authors Timothy Smith and Nicholas Cestaro, who together have more than 50 years of teaching experience, have developed a student-centered approach to physical education to replace the outdated, subject-driven approach. By focusing on the needs of the preadolescent student rather than on sports or calisthenics, this proven program challenges exclusivity, boredom, and gender bias. Their strategies and activities make physical education relevant to your students and motivate them to participate in physical activity, both in the gym and after school. Part I, "A Student-Centered Modular Approach," helps you develop and organize your classes. You'll learn how to assemble modular lesson plans and how to increase their effectiveness using the teaching strategies presented. You'll also find a chapter on authentic assessment, which discusses the use of rubrics, portfolios, and portfolio cards. Next, Part II, "Teaching Modules," provides you with easy-to-follow, step-by-step directions for more than 100 fitness-related activities, including -warm-ups, -skill development activities, -team-oriented activities, and -individual and paired activities. Each activity is ready to be inserted into the modular lesson format presented in Part I. In addition, you'll find 10 detailed health-fitness modules-one for each month of the school year-that will help you present and reinforce key lifestyle concepts in addition to the "physical" components of physical education.

"Soundly based in the research literature and theory, this comprehensive introductory text is a practical guide to teaching physical education to the elementary school child. Its skill theme approach guides teachers in the process of assisting children develop their motor skills and physical fitness through developmentally appropriate activities.This mandatory package includes the "Movement Analysis Wheel" that can be used by students and teachers to more fully understand the skill theme approach and apply it with children."--Publisher's website.

Physical inactivity is a key determinant of health across the lifespan. A lack of activity increases the risk of heart disease, colon and breast cancer, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, osteoporosis, anxiety and depression and others diseases. Emerging literature has suggested that in terms of mortality, the global population health burden of physical inactivity approaches that of cigarette smoking. The prevalence and substantial disease risk associated with physical inactivity has been described as a pandemic. The prevalence, health impact, and evidence of changeability all have resulted in calls for action to increase physical activity across the lifespan. In response to the need to find ways to make physical activity a health priority for youth, the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Physical Activity and Physical Education in the School Environment was formed. Its purpose was to review the current status of physical activity and physical education in the school environment, including before, during, and after school, and examine the influences of physical activity and physical education on the short and long term physical, cognitive and brain, and psychosocial health and development of children and adolescents. Educating the Student Body makes recommendations about approaches for strengthening and improving programs and policies for physical activity and physical education in the school environment. This report lays out a set of guiding principles to guide its work on these tasks. These included: recognizing the benefits of instilling life-long physical activity habits in children; the value of using systems thinking in improving physical activity and physical education in the school environment; the recognition of current disparities in opportunities and the need to achieve equity in physical activity and physical education; the importance of considering all types of school environments; the need to take into consideration the diversity of students as recommendations are developed. This report will be of interest to local and national policymakers, school officials, teachers, and the education community, researchers, professional organizations, and parents interested in physical activity, physical education, and health for school-aged children and adolescents.