Edutopia - June/July 2008 - (Page 51)

This outreach has a solid foundation in fact. Increasingly persuasive research shows that daily exercise optimizes learning. John Ratey, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, contends that regular exercise is critical to the release of natural endorphins, including BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), a crucial substance Ratey calls “mental Miracle-Gro.” Ratey devotes part of his new book, Spark: the Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, to the PE program at Illinois’ Naperville Central High School. Naperville has instituted one of the nation’s most intensive PE curricula, with each student required to attend a daily, rigorous forty⇒ve-minute gym class. Test results from 2002 found that only 3 percent of the district’s students were overweight, a remarkably low number. To prove the point, Naperville ⇒nished sixth in math and ⇒rst in science in the 2001 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) exam, a test dominated by Asian and Eastern European students. Given ⇒nancial realities, Naperville’s programs may not be scalable; but they offer an ideal picture of the new PE, some parts of which most schools can adopt. The town’s Central High School boasts weight-training, cardio, and aerobics facilities, respiration monitors, state-of-the-art comput- er video ⇒tness devices, a dance room, swimming and diving pools, a rock-climbing wall, and a highropes course. Schools without such enviable resources can still get creative, utilizing programs like those endorsed by Spring⇒eld College’s Diane Lorenzo, that emphasize integration with other school departments. According to Lorenzo, if a history class is studying medieval Europe, “the PE department can create a series of coordinated, related PE courses in archery, juggling, and orienteering.” Obviously, for any school, jousting is a budget breaker. Yet all the interdisciplinary creativity in the world cannot overcome the starvation diet confronting many PE programs. This fact becomes obvious when schools, as they sometimes do, revert to the ploy of turning the keys to the gym over to a history, biology, or math teacher. It is then this person’s job to pass out balls and baby-sit the class as it plays a spirited or spirit-killing game—depending on your relative PE progressiveness— of “murderball,” as dodgeball is known in a number of PE circles. One of the most outspoken critics of old PE’s do-or-die mentality is Neil Wilson, a professor of physical education at Eastern Connecticut Does your school have an effective benchmarking and progress monitoring system in place? Bringing effective assessment practices to your classrooms will guide your differentiated instruction choices to more effectively teach all students and gauge their academic progress. AIMSweb® uses 1 to 3 minute curriculum-based measurement (CBM) probes for grades K through 8 to benchmark and monitor essential skill areas: Early Literacy Reading – Fluency – Comprehension Spelling Early Numeracy Math Computation Written Expression Sign up for a FREE webinar on AIMSweb today! Go to www.AIMSweb.com The Power to Learn. s !)-3WEBCOM http://www.AIMSweb.com http://www.AIMSweb.com http://www.AIMSweb.com

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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