News | Getting Active
The following example illustrates this in action.
movements like bending, twisting, turning and swinging.
‘telling’ them in relation to each of these movements.
In the lead-up to the athletics sports Deirdre (my colleague at Maungatapu) and I pondered the question of what teaching and learning needed to occur to enable all learners to confidently participate in all the events. We then mapped out our class-based programmes, beginning by asking the students the simple question ‘What is movement?’
It would seem the ‘doing’ rather than the ‘thinking’ prompted a shift in their understandings of the range of movements possible. From here, we took our non-negotiable context of athletics – the mandatory expectation that in term 4 our class will participate in a school wide event (with some students going on to compete at cluster and regional events) – and tried to generate positive ways of thinking about it.
We discussed the power of the mind and the ways belief in ourselves can shape our ability to achieve. The results of these mind/body explorations were posted on a storyboard with each group then taking digital photos of each stage of their event with everybody contributing. The photos were subsequently used to make a movie that enabled us share what our body and mind is doing in athletics events.
First up, we listed all the events that students in our senior school (Years 5 and 6) are required to participate in. Next, students worked in groups to explore what movements their bodies would be doing in a specific athletics event, while also investigating what their minds might be doing or
This example shows how you can take a non-negotiable activity in your school context back to classroom teaching and learning, making it meaningful so that all students can achieve to the best of their ability without worrying about their ability, size or shape.
Although movement refers to a broad suite of activities and contexts, the initial responses of our Year 5 and 6 students were invariably restricted to things like ‘jumping’, ‘running’ and ‘walking’. In an effort to expand the thinking about movement, we shifted from trying to verbally define movement to getting students to explore different ways they could move by themselves, in pairs, and in groups. We asked them to try out five different ways of moving their bodies that were then shared with a buddy and with a group. As a class we came back and collectively mapped the raft of different movements our bodies are able to make. These included
The philosophy of our TLRI project, ‘Everybody Counts’ motivated us to ensure that when we plan around nonnegotiables, we do so in relation to catering for all our learners, rather than just the few physically ‘capable’ ones. While we continue to make the most of the wiggle room, we also linger on questioning the purpose of co-
curricular sports events, what students actually learn about themselves and other from their participation, and how inclusive they really are. What’s happening in your school in this regard, and what questions may need to be asked in your context to better meet the needs of all learners? Joanne Naera is a classroom teacher of a Year 5/6class at Maungatapu Primary School, Tauranga, New Zealand. The basis for this discussion is drawn from work completed as part of a collaborative research project, involving primary school teachers (Jo Naera, Joel Devcich, Deirdre Duggan, and Shane Keown) and university partners (Kirsten Petrie, Lisette Burrows and Marg Cosgriff). This project was made possible with the support of the Teaching, Learning and Research Initiative funding; the Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research; and students, staff and school communities. For more information on the project and access to future publications see http://www.tlri.org.nz/tlri-research/ research-progress/school-sector/ every-body-counts-understandinghealth-and-physical or contact Dr Kirsten Petrie, Project Director at kpetrie@waikato.ac.nz.
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Term 1, 2013 | 17