Edutopia - June/July 2008 - (Page 46)

VIDEOPREMIERE GET PHYSICAL Check out a video of this wild PE class at edutopia.org/new-pe-video When Healy instructs the class, “Go to your climbing stations,” the kids respond with a start-your-engines kick that erases the impression left by the lackadaisical warm-ups. The room swirls into controlled chaos as kids grab helmets and safety harnesses. After six weeks of ground-based skill and safety training, each member of the class has an objective that matches his or her interest and skill level. Bill Monti’s motto, “Challenge by Choice,” is still the Adventure Room’s credo. The concentration is palpable and, for fourteen-year-olds, a little disconcerting. Some kids tie intricate knots around lines used to scale the 25-foot walls. Others begin hooking their safety ropes. A few begin climbing the various rock-wall features, while others begin a collective climb inside a “chimney” mounted 15 feet up on another wall. Others tie off their lines and begin to make their way up a pyramid-shaped wood-and-wire ladder. Their objective: reach and traverse a narrow bridge suspended just beneath the 25-foot ceiling. When a student climbs, a spotter makes sure the safety rope is taut, so a misstep won’t cause a fall. (Later, the role between climber and spotter will be reversed.) Within minutes, a tribe of fearless junior Spider-men de⇒es gravity on the way up, over, and along arti⇒cial rock faces. With the period ending, kids seem reluctant to come back to earth. After class, Healy notes that the Adventure Curriculum, a requirement for San Rafael High School freshmen since 2006, has become a favorite of teachers as well as students. “One instructor came up to tell me that her freshmen were acting more grounded and mature than seniors who never had the chance to take the course,” she adds. Principal Judy Colton, a former PE instructor, is a major booster of the Adventure Room program, which she says exempli⇒es what PE must do—“Build self-esteem, develop problem-solving skills, teach cooperation, and present interesting challenges.” Shape of Things to Come In San Rafael’s program, we see the past, the present, and possibly the future of physical education. Like many other schools, San Rafael is creatively trying to confront a need for physical activity that is immediate and drastic. Despite bright spots like the Adventure Curriculum, the news on the American youth front is dismal. (See the video link in “Feel the Burn,” page 52.) The 2001 Shape of the Nation Report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that only 40 percent of states mandated a minimum number of PE minutes per week. The CDC reported that between 1991 and 2003, the percentage of high school students enrolled in daily PE classes dropped from 42 percent to 28 percent. The study also showed that while 70 percent of high school freshmen attended at least one—generally required— PE class a week, that number dropped to 40 percent by senior year. 46 EDUTOPIA JUNE/JULY 2008 http://edutopia.org/new-pe-video

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Edutopia - June/July 2008

Edutopia - June/July 2008 Contents UpFront Feedback Dispatches Sage Advice Ask Ellen Head of Class Cool Schools Design Young Minds, Fast Times Wii Love Learning No More Pencils, No More Books Tech Without Support All the Right Moves Room to Learn Heart & Soul Pop Quiz: Jeff Corwin

Edutopia - June/July 2008

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