District Administration - September 2007 - (Page 36)

factor X academic performance, Miller says. The Mohawk Area School District in Bessemer, which has about 2,000 students between the K6 school and the Mohawk Junior/Senior High School, lies in a rural community about 60 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. The district plans to conduct a study to see whether increased physical activity using the new ﬁtness center will help improve the academic performance of a group of “reluctant readers”–those students who score in the lowest quadrant on schoolwide reading assessments. “We are hoping physical activity is not only going to improve their academic performance but is going to be related to higher levels of self-esteem and lower levels of anxiety and stress,” Miller says. But all students, not just those in the study and including those with disabilities as accommodations can be made, will use the Interactive Fitness Center. Today’s tech-savvy schoolchildren, who have grown up playing video games, need more interactive ﬁtness technologies to capture their interest, Miller says. Too often, entertainment technologies, such as video games, contribute to a sedStudents play Nintendo Wii, which has wireless, handheld controllers that respond to students’ movements. They will use these types of games in the “Fitness Buddies” program to help them stay active and achieve better reading comprehension. From left to right: Mohawk Principal Patricia Monaco, Assistant Superintendent Kathy Kwolek, Superintendent Timothy McNamee, and Assistant Mohawk Principal Lorree Houk. Helping Reluctant Readers This fall, the school plans to randomly select two groups of “reluctant readers,” each with about 20 students for the study. Both groups will participate in physical education, but those in the experimental group will be using the ﬁtness center more frequently than those in the control group, she says. Although the schedule has not been ﬁrmed up yet, the experimental group “We didn’t know how we were going to do it. We just had the vision.” —Lou Ann Miller, physical education and wellness instructor, Mohawk Elementary School entary lifestyle as students spend large amounts of time after school sitting in front of a television with a game controller. The idea of the ﬁtness center is to use similar technologies that typically encourage them to sit to get kids excited about physical activity, she says. Running or riding a stationary bike, which are more adult-style disciplines, are “boring” for tech-savvy students, Miller says. “They are not going to want to do that,” she says. “We are going to try to make it fun.” 36 September 2007 may use the facility three to ﬁve times a week, while other children will use the equipment once a week or once every other week. And depending on scheduling, it’s possible that there could be some before- or after-school opportunities for those in the experimental group to use the center as part of the study, she says. Assistant Superintendent Kathleen Kwolek says that students’ body mass index (BMI)—an indicator of obesity— also will be tracked. “The research says there is a link between physical activity and achievement, so we are going to put it to the test,” Kwolek says. The 850-student school uses internal reading assessments at the beginning of each school year and continues testing about every nine weeks. The hope is that the students will improve their reading performance over the course of a year, Kwolek says. Although BMI is not part of the criteria by which students in the study will be selected, the hope is that the students’ BMI will decrease as a result of the center’s 21st-century activities. The district is enlisting the help of selected students from the adjacent Mohawk Junior/Senior High School to serve as “ﬁtness buddies” to mentor and motivate the children in the experimental group as they use the ﬁtness facility, says Kelly Hoﬀman, a health and physical education teacher at the high school. The high school students, drawn from an advanced health and wellness class and an independent-study physical education course, will give positive reinforcement to the young children and record data for the study, including, possibly, the children’s heart rates to help gauge exertion and ensure that the rates are within the recommended ranges under what constitutes physical exertion. District Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - September 2007

Cover
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Curriculum Update
Inside the Law
District Profile
Administrator Profile
District Buying Power 2007
X-Factor Student Achievement Awards 2007
We've Got Mail
Supporting New Teachers
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
New Products
Problem Solution
Computer Literature
Research Corner
Online Edge
Supervisor’s Opinion
Speaking Out
Calendar of Events
Understanding the Times

District Administration - September 2007