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

Forget the 10,000 hour rule— what if it’s possible to learn the basics of any new skill in 20 hours or less? Take a moment to consider how many things you want to learn to do. What’s on your list? What’s holding you back from getting started? Are you worried about the time and effort it takes to acquire new skills—time you don’t have and effort you can’t spare? Research suggests it takes 10,000 hours to develop a new skill. In this nonstop world when will you ever find that much time and energy? To make matters worse, the early hours of prac­ticing something new are always the most frustrating. That’s why it’s difficult to learn how to speak a new language, play an instrument, hit a golf ball, or shoot great photos. It’s so much easier to watch TV or surf the web . . . In The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach to rapid skill acquisition— how to learn any new skill as quickly as possible. His method shows you how to deconstruct com­plex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers. By complet­ing just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice you’ll go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well. Kaufman personally field-tested the meth­ods in this book. You’ll have a front row seat as he develops a personal yoga practice, writes his own web-based computer programs, teaches himself to touch type on a nonstandard key­board, explores the oldest and most complex board game in history, picks up the ukulele, and learns how to windsurf. Here are a few of the sim­ple techniques he teaches: Define your target performance level: Fig­ure out what your desired level of skill looks like, what you’re trying to achieve, and what you’ll be able to do when you’re done. The more specific, the better. Deconstruct the skill: Most of the things we think of as skills are actually bundles of smaller subskills. If you break down the subcompo­nents, it’s easier to figure out which ones are most important and practice those first. Eliminate barriers to practice: Removing common distractions and unnecessary effort makes it much easier to sit down and focus on deliberate practice. Create fast feedback loops: Getting accu­rate, real-time information about how well you’re performing during practice makes it much easier to improve. Whether you want to paint a portrait, launch a start-up, fly an airplane, or juggle flaming chain­saws, The First 20 Hours will help you pick up the basics of any skill in record time . . . and have more fun along the way.

Motor Control and Learning, Sixth Edition, focuses on observable movement behavior, the many factors that influence quality of movement, and how movement skills are acquired.

"A Guide to Better Movement is a resource for movement professionals, athletes, chronic pain sufferers, and anyone else who wants to move better and feel better. The book offers a clear and practical look at emerging science related to the brain's role in movement and pain. It will forever change the way you look at movement. In it, you will learn: the essential qualities of movements that are healthy and efficient; why good movement requires healthy "maps" in the brain; why pain is sometimes more about self-perception than tissue damage or injury; the science behind mind-body practices; general principles that can be used to improve any movement practice; and 25 illustrated and simple movement lessons to help you move better and feel better."--Amazon.com.

Intended for occupational therapists, physical therapists, physical education teachers, and adapted physical education teachers. Provides a detailed history of movement skill assessment, its purposes and theoretical underpinnings. Then discusses six levels of movement skill assessment and provides eight in-depth critiques of popular assessment instruments, such as the Test of Gross Motor Development, the Movement Assessment Battery for Children Checklist, and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Reading instruction is too often grounded in a narrowly defined "science of reading" that focuses exclusively on cognitive skills and strategies. Yet cognition is just one aspect of reading development. This book guides K–8 educators to understand and address other scientifically supported factors that influence each student's literacy learning, including metacognition, motivation and engagement, social–emotional learning, self-efficacy, and more. Peter Afflerbach uses classroom vignettes to illustrate the broad-based nature of student readers’ growth, and provides concrete suggestions for instruction and assessment. The book's utility is enhanced by end-of-chapter review questions and activities and a reproducible tool, the Healthy Readers Profile, which can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

New edition of a PE for children text. The authors discuss various instructional approaches, establishing an environment for learning, space awareness, skill themes from dance to striking with long-handled implements, and teaching children with special needs. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Moving Body in the Aural Skills Classroom-influenced by Dalcroze-eurhythmics-is a practical guide for college-level teachers and students interested in integrating the moving body into the traditional aural skills classroom. What distinguishes this book from other texts is its central concern with movement-to-music as a tool for developing musical perception and the kinesthetic aspects humans experience as performers. Moving to music and watching others move cultivates an active, multi-sensory learning experience, in which students learn by discovery and from each other. Improvisatory and expressive elements are built into exercises to encourage a dynamic link between musical training and artistic performance. Designed for a three- to four-semester undergraduate curriculum, the book contains a wealth of exercises that teach rhythmic, melodic, harmonic and formal concepts. Exercises not only develop the ear, but also awaken the muscular and nervous system, foster mind-body connections, strengthen the powers of concentration (being in the "musical now"), develop inner-hearing, short- and long-term memory, multi-tasking skills, limb autonomy, and expressive freedom. Exercises are presented in a graded, though flexible order allowing you to select individual exercises in any sequence. Activities involve movement through space (traveling movement) as well as movement in place (stationary movement) for those teaching in small classrooms. The text can be used as a teacher's manual, a supplementary aural-skills textbook, or as a stand-alone reference in a course dedicated to eurhythmics. Movement exercises are designed to enhance and work in conjunction with musical examples presented in other texts. Many exercises also provide an effective aural/sensory tool in the music theory classroom to complement verbal explanations. The approach integrates easily into any traditional college or conservatory classroom and is compatible with the following systems: fixed do, moveable do, and scale degrees. A companion website accompanies the text featuring undergraduate students performing select exercises.