Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Group Teacher Advocacy Project Sed322 1
Group Teacher Advocacy Project Sed322 1
Group Teacher Advocacy Project Sed322 1
Ryan Foster, Carlee Hakes, Jared Gaskin, Kaitlin Fincher, Jasmine Fernandez
Physical activity’s overall presence is noticeably limited throughout Arizona schools, and
our team of educators argue that it is for this reason that today’s students are struggling with
problems like obesity and lackluster school performance. Over the course of our respective field
experiences, the five of us have noticed a plethora of negative effects on students and staff alike
education class, once an essential component to the average student’s school day, now takes
place only twice a week for a mere half hour. To add to this grievance, students only get two
insufficient 15-minute recesses throughout the day. These numbers fall far below the nationally
recommended averages, so it is no wonder why students and staff regularly express their lack of
contentment. Students’ growth and development are not being given the necessary consideration;
Following the same downward trend as the two schools mentioned previously, Palo
Verde Elementary’s physical education program is also suffering. Three years ago, Palo Verde
offered students physical education three times a week compared to students now only attending
physical education once a week. Moreover, an insufficient amount of recess time is being
offered. A large number of staff members have reported an increase in negative student
behaviors over the past several years, which may be due to the decrease in activity time students
are offered throughout the school week. However, teachers are being negatively affected by this
decrease in activity time, as well. Students’ physical activity breaks throughout the day once
gave them time to prep for classes and de-stress, but now they are perpetually busy and have
little opportunity to move around themselves. When teachers are stressed and/or unhappy, they
3
GROUP TEACHER ADVOCACY PROJECT
cannot deliver passionate lessons and are perhaps more unlikely to act caring and patient toward
students. This shift, in turn, can cause students to disengage, thus leading to tension, lethargy,
dedication to classical education formats and advanced scholastic achievement leaves little time
in the day for students and staff to move around and de-stress. Unlike other schools in the Gilbert
Public School District, GCA must cover seven classes a day unlike the standard five or six. This
crammed set-up means that there is absolutely no time in the day for physical (or mental) breaks.
From the beginning of the school day to the very end, students are in class listening to lectures,
flipping through their textbooks, or writing in their notebooks as instructed by their teachers,
who are similarly confined to their seats or podiums all day given their school-imposed lecturer
roles. Neither party benefits from this inhospitable environment. Students are only permitted to
get out of their seats during class if they have to go to the bathroom or if their IEP/504 calls for a
need for movement, and their pent-up energy often exhibits in the form of behavioral outbursts,
stress eating, torpor, etc. Similarly, teachers are dissatisfied by how the rigid culture of the
At another school, Crismon Elementary in Mesa, physical education teachers are noticing
how more and more students are becoming unable to perform simple physical movements that
only 15 years ago were easy for children to perform. Common exercises, such as jumping rope,
are becoming increasingly difficult for many students nowadays because they are not committed
to regular physical activity in and out of school. Regardless of the setting, students’ sedentary
behaviors are very much apparent while their movement patterns and physical fitness levels
leave much to be desired. This stagnancy and lack of self-care concerns educators across all
4
GROUP TEACHER ADVOCACY PROJECT
fields because childhood obesity as well as a series of other related physical/emotional issues are
on an upward trend.
Despite physical education’s required slot in secondary schools— students typically have
to enroll in a physical education class for at least one of the four years they are in school— the
breakdown of physical education classes at Higley High in Gilbert shows that even when such
classes are present in the curriculum, the amount of time in which students are actually being
education daily may appear promising, but upon deeper examination, it was observed that about
20-30 minutes of this 50-minute period was utilized in an extremely underwhelming manner;
that is, this large time frame was dedicated solely to giving students’ time to dress out and get to
wherever location they needed to get to, be it to the workout spot or to another class. If time for
physical activity is not treated seriously or not enforced effectively, then students will take
Research Background
The current rise of childhood obesity and sedentary lifestyle patterns is due to a series of
changing environmental factors. The influence of the school setting is particularly important to
consider when evaluating this trend. “Children spend a majority of their waking day at school,
hence, it is during this window of opportunity that physical activity could be influenced the
most” (Hills, King, & Armstrong, 2007, p. 538). Facilitating an active lifestyle in students is an
important responsibility for schools. However, most schools in the United States are not up to
standard; Wang, Papaioannou, Sarrazin, Jaakkola, and Solmon (2006) outline in their report
how:
The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) recommends that
5
GROUP TEACHER ADVOCACY PROJECT
elementary schools offer 150 minutes of instruction per week and that secondary schools
provide 220 minutes each week to older students (Corbin & Pangrazi, 1998). Estimates
are, however, that only seven to 8 percent of schools currently meet those standards
(Cook, 2005).
Following the example of many schools across the nation, various Arizona schools have
decreased physical education as well as opportunities for physical activity over the years in favor
of shifting attention to academic rigor, allocating funding elsewhere, and the like. Such a practice
has adverse effects on students’ health and wellness, which in turn has adverse effects on their
A recent report on the state’s lack of clear guidelines/regulations for physical education
sheds more light on the issue of declining physical activity in schools. The Arizona K12 Center
(2017) claims that so many students are missing out on the “benefits of a robust physical
education program” because Arizona does not designate how much physical education should be
implemented in schools, assess the availability of appropriate equipment and adequate facilities,
require schools to provide their local school wellness policy to the state education agency, or
monitor the implementation of local school wellness policies. When schools are not held
accountable for formally educating their students on the need for physical fitness or healthy
Recess is also at risk in today’s schools. Ramstetter and Murray (2017) describe how the
process of diminishing recess has been going on since the 1990s, facing further decline due to
the enactment of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2001; although the rising rates of childhood
obesity have become a major concern to countless American organizations and driven them to
come up with more health and wellness-related initiatives in recent years, implementation is
6
GROUP TEACHER ADVOCACY PROJECT
ultimately under local jurisdiction, and thus educators can only hope that schools choose to
honor the policies pushing for more recess, physical activity, and general well-roundedness
during school days (p. 20). Based on our team members’ respective experiences in the field,
however, it seems that Arizona schools are still caught up in the idea that minimizing recess will
strengthen students’ academics, when in fact doing so merely minimizes physical activity
opportunities, benefits to their cognitive functioning, time for social interaction, etc.
It is rather ironic how America’s schools cut time for physical education and physical
activity short despite the fact that there is no clear evidence out there indicating that these cuts
bolster student performance in anyway. Interestingly, there is evidence out there showing the
opposite. A 2006 study conducted with 214 elementary school students in Michigan, for
example, found that increased physical activity levels correlated with improved academic
performance (Coe, Pivarnik, Womack, Reeves, & Malina, 2006). The results of another study,
conducted in 2012 with 36 pre-adolescent children in Illinois, supports this finding, with
researchers concluding that physical activity does not detract from children’s learning, but rather
offers “an increased opportunity to engage in health behaviors” (Drollette, Shishido, Pontifex, &
There are a number of American studies out there with similar results to those stated
above worth discussing, but our team would like to briefly point out how differently physical
activity in schools outside of the United States is viewed and implemented in schools. To
illustrate, students in China are at recess for approximately 40% of their school day, yet they are
regular recipients of top academic honors (Chang & Coward, 2015). Wang et. al (2006)
elaborates on more countries’ approaches to fostering academic excellence and physical fitness;
they go into detail about how Singapore holds high expectations for physical education (i.e.
7
GROUP TEACHER ADVOCACY PROJECT
requiring students to learn gymnastics, swimming, dance, track and field, etc.), how Greece and
France demand proficiency from more than one sport from all students, and how Finland teaches
its students to engage in sports as a natural form of self-expression. It is often pointed out how
the United States lags behind other countries in terms of education ranking. There is reason to
believe that the country’s lack of emphasis on physical activity may be factoring into students’
low performances.
Suggestions/Recommendations
During a regular school day, students usually have five opportunities to be physically
active: physical education classes, recess, active transport before and after school, afterschool
activities, and in-class activity breaks (Slater, Nicholson, Criqui, Turner, & Chaloupka, 2012, as
cited in Cooper et al., 2016, p. 133). Winter (2009) suggests five strategies to combat the related
issues of decreasing physical activity in schools and childhood obesity; these strategies include
staying informed about the scope of the problem, designing a school action plan to support health
and wellness, promoting positive psychosocial development of children, promoting healthy diet
Staying informed. It is important for schools to know the scope of childhood obesity in
their community so education personnel and policymakers can make informed decisions,
improve policies, and implement more effective programs to benefit students and their families.
Teachers can mobilize student success programs and obesity prevention initiatives by staying
informed of local youth health data, reading professional journals, and checking credible
Designing a school action plan. Schools function as hubs that possess a potentially
massive influence over the health and wellness of young students. Educators can take action to
8
GROUP TEACHER ADVOCACY PROJECT
prevent obesity, support student performance, and garner community involvement in a number of
ways. For example, physical education teachers, content area teachers, nurses, counselors, and
more can team up to deliver curricula and programs designed to improve students’ health-related
knowledge and behaviors. Involving stakeholders in the community, such as parents, grassroots
programs, health agencies, and child care providers, also makes for a meaningful collaboration,
as these groups can offer more insight into positive, fun, and culturally sensitive approaches to
shown that overweight children have lower self-esteem, less athletic competence, more negative
feelings concerning appearance/body image, a higher risk for psychological and psychosocial
problems, and so on. With such stressors affecting their self-image and behavior, it is
unsurprising that these students’ academic achievement suffers. Educators can work against such
declines by interacting with students authoritatively and providing good modeling and social
learning opportunities.
regulation and thereby builds their competence and self-esteem” (Winter, 2009, p. 285). Rather
than forcing children to stuff themselves or turning a blind eye toward their perhaps unsavory
eating habits, authoritative teachers facilitate good eating patterns, using methods like
encouragement and offers of more time for play, physical activity, etc. to educate students.
Providing good modeling and social learning opportunities. Social Cognitive Theory
(SCT) dictates that children acquire much of their knowledge through the observation and
modeling of others’ behaviors. With this idea in mind, school personnel can serve as great
models to students by making it a routine to eat healthily and be physically active themselves.
9
GROUP TEACHER ADVOCACY PROJECT
School settings are naturally ideal environments for social learning, where everyone can learn
benefit through participation and social interaction. Educators can greatly motivate students to
engage in healthy practices if they demonstrate how to eat nutritiously, play and exercise
Promoting healthy diet and nutrition. There is an undeniable link between diet quality
and school performance. Students with poor diets are not getting the energy they need to focus
and function properly, which often leads to them doing poorly in school. Schools and parents can
work together to fight this dilemma by teaching children about nutrition and good dietary choices
in addition to enforcing reasonable limits on technology use and more physical activity. If
parents are unable to secure proper food or lack the means of providing health education for
themselves and their children, then school personnel should assist them in procuring necessary
aid/resources.
Encouraging physical activity. One way teachers and schools can increase physical
activity is by simply scheduling more time for it during the school day. Outside of physical
education class and recess, students should have educational activities that are structured to
foster many opportunities for play and motion. After all, student engagement rises when students
are given more hands-on, authentic tasks as well as chances to interact with their environment.
methods for coming/going to school (e.g. walking instead of driving, biking instead of taking the
bus) along with extracurricular activities/programs they may enjoy in and out of school (e.g.
sports clubs, recreation centers, etc.). When educators show genuine investment in students’
well-beings, in their lives beyond their school performance, students are more likely to take these
their other potential community partners can increase physical activity and/or decrease childhood
obesity rates. Next, our team will shift focus and discuss how physical education teachers can
assert their own importance and the importance of physical education itself to the school
community by serving not only as coaches and mentors, but as reinforcers of core subject area
content, as well. Current research conducted by Scrabis-Fletcher (2016) offers diverse examples
of how physical education teachers can incorporate content area concepts into their teaching. Our
team will supplement her findings by offering strategies of our own from the inverse
perspective— that is, how content area teachers can reinforce physical activity by bringing
Mathematics. Physical education teachers can cover such math concepts as calculation,
conversion of measurement, and graphing during activities. For instance, if students are going to
bowl, their physical education teacher can have them calculate how many lanes can be made in
their provided gymnasium space as well as how long each lane should be in different units (i.e.
feet, yards, meters, etc.). They can also be tasked with dividing themselves into teams equally
and plotting each other’s scores, which gives them data to analyze over time.
Meanwhile, some ways math teachers can implement more physical activity into their
classrooms include teaching projectile motion with different types of balls, having students
model various quantities and symbols with their bodies (e.g. creating yoga poses to depict
numbers, moving their arms for inequality symbols, etc.), having students do multiple exercises
to graph/calculate how their performance changes over time, and more. They can also work
students fine and gross motor skills by having them participate in probability games (i.e.
determining the probability of bouncing a ball into a cup three times in a row, of getting five
11
GROUP TEACHER ADVOCACY PROJECT
perfect scores in a row in a DDR-like dance, etc.).
Science. Physical education courses span both physical exercise and physical
health/nutrition. It ties in quite well with several areas of science as a result. To illustrate,
physical education teachers can reinforce the concept of physics by having students engage in a
sport in multiple settings and then examine how force, friction, momentum, gravity, and more
alter based on equipment and environment. Similarly, science teachers can mirror this practice in
and out of their own classrooms; they can even arrange for field trips to amusement parks, for
example, so that students can witness physics in action all while partaking in fun physical
experiences. Going back to physical education teachers, they can provide more insight into
human health and nutrition on both a biological and chemical level to help strengthen students’
scientific backgrounds. If they step up to the plate and give supplemental education on more of
the conceptual/theoretical information behind the complex human body, then science teachers
can invest more time in hands-on, interesting physical procedures like dissections, gardening to
teachers can address is that of government and its three branches. For example, they can divide
students into three groups to represent the executive, judicial, and legislative branches and have
them complete an equal amount of physical challenges to connect to the idea that each branch
must carry out laborious tasks to operate the country efficiently. To promote healthy competition
along with an understanding of how the different branches can use their individual powers to
influence policy making, physical education teachers can have the teams/branches compete in an
assortment of physical activities; whichever branch emerges victorious can decide what law shall
be enforced, although the other branches can subsequently challenge the supposed winner to
12
GROUP TEACHER ADVOCACY PROJECT
more games to overrule their decision.
As for social studies/history teachers, an enjoyable way in which they can incorporate
physical activity into the classroom is by allowing students to explore the different cultures and
time periods through their iconic dances, games, and role plays. To illustrate, social
studies/history teachers can offer students insight into the American dance and music culture of
the 1920s by having them try out the foxtrot or jitterbug, or they can try out traditional games
originating from Ancient Greece and Rome. On the topic of initiating role plays, social
studies/history teachers must be careful when choosing scenarios for students to act out; that is,
they must ensure that the content in role plays is not culturally insensitive, violent, etc. Some
possible concepts worth exploring pertain to agriculture, industry, political meetings and treaty
English language arts (ELA). English language arts (ELA) can be broken up into four
parts: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Each of these areas can easily be woven into the
physical education curriculum. For instance, physical education teachers can collaborate with
ELA teachers to see what vocabulary words, parts of speech, and other similar content students
are studying in class. Then they can have students review these concepts through a bulls-eye
activity; during this activity, depending on where their dart (or safer substitute) lands on the
board, students will have to define the corresponding ring’s word, list synonyms/antonyms, use it
in a sentence, and so on. Other possible ways to incorporate ELA into physical education entail
having students read task cards at stations to perform certain physical activities and collaborate
ELA classrooms are often perceived as strict, work-focused spaces where students are
stuck at their desks reading and writing dully. However, strategic implementation of physical
13
GROUP TEACHER ADVOCACY PROJECT
activity can bring the ELA curriculum to life. ELA teachers can use physical activity to enhance
their content in a variety of ways. Acting out dialogues and/or roleplaying, for example, enables
students to adopt new personas and move around in diverse contexts; doing so challenges them
to both analyze plot elements in depth and convey stories to the people around them through
well-thought-out language and body language. Formal and informal debates make for another
example of good physical activity integration. In these formats, students are constantly moving
around to different corners of the room to justify their opinions and arguments, thus supporting
Fine arts. Given the multifaceted nature of the fine arts subject, physical education
teachers can integrate aspects of art and music/performance with ease. To illustrate, physical
education teachers can encourage students to design flyers, posters, and other related visuals
regarding relevant nutrition information and the benefits of an active lifestyle. Additionally, they
Fine arts teachers naturally promote physical activity in their classes in the way that they
have students build and set up stage props, dance to and design choreographies, exercise fine and
gross motor skills when crafting art, and the like. Continued emphasis on such practices helps
students to become more cultured and interested in doing hard work alongside their peers.
Physical education teachers and content area teachers both play integral roles in the
school community. Neither should be viewed as more necessary or competent than the other
when it comes to education; rather, thoughtful collaboration between the two parties can yield
complementary instructional practices that are highly engaging and informative. It is important
for teachers to establish a balance between mental exercise and physical exercise when
structuring lessons.
14
GROUP TEACHER ADVOCACY PROJECT
Conclusion
Given how important physical activity is to students’ overall well-beings, schools should
strive to provide students with content classes enriched with physical activity, after-school
activities, physical education classes, in-class brain breaks, recess, and more. Providing the bare
minimum will not help students develop positive, sustainable attitudes toward living healthily.
“There are approximately 25 million obese children in the United States today, and that number
continues to grow” (“How Do We Best Advocate,” 2015, p. 55). Rather than contributing to this
alarming statistic, schools should stay aware of youth health in the community as well as
collaborate with stakeholders to make internal and external improvements. School personnel can
augment physical activity levels and curb obesity rates, poor school performances, risky
behaviors, etc. by marrying traditional academic content with physical education and activity to
design more well-rounded, valuable curricula; furthermore, they can model good physical
practices themselves and provide encouragement to inspire students to perform more physical
activity in and out of school. In all, students need thorough, quality physical education and plenty
of opportunities for physical activity in their schools. After all, schools are responsible for
ensuring that their students grow into worthwhile adults with positive self-views, good health
(physical, mental, and emotional), solid self-care skills, and big dreams.
15
GROUP TEACHER ADVOCACY PROJECT
References
Arizona K12 Center. (2017, April 6). Arizona falls behind in the race for quality physical
http://azk12.org/homeroom/2017/04/06/arizona-falls-behind-in-the-race-for-quality-
physical-education/
Chang, R., & Coward, F. (2015). More recess time, please! The Phi Delta Kappan, 97(3), 14-17.
Coe, D. P., Pivarnik, J. M., Womack, C. J., Reeves, M. J., & Malina, R. M. (2006). Effect of
https://doi.org/10.1249/01.mss.0000227537.13175.1b
Cooper, K. H., Greenberg, J. D., Castelli, D. M., Barton, M., Martin, S. B., & Morrow, James R.,
Jr. (2016). Implementing policies to enhance physical education and physical activity in
doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.1080/02701367.2016.1164009
Drollette, E.S., Shishido, T., Pontifex, M.B., & Hillman, C.H. (2012) Maintenance of cognitive
control during and after walking in preadolescent children. Medicine and Science in
Hills, A.P., King, N.A., & Armstrong, T.P. (2007). The contribution of physical activity and
https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200737060-00006
How do we best advocate for quality health and physical education in an economically
16
GROUP TEACHER ADVOCACY PROJECT
challenging school climate? (2015). JOPERD: The Journal of Physical Education,
org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.1080/07303084.2015.1023127
Ramstetter, C., & Murray, R. (2017). Time to play: Recognizing the benefits of recess.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1137793.pdf
Wang, C.K. J., Papaioannou, A. G., Sarrazin, P. G., Jaakkola, T., & Solmon, M. A.
(2006). A brief description of physical education and school children's sport involvement
in Singapore, Greece, France, Finland, and the United States. International Journal of
https://doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2006.9671796
Winter, S.M. (2009). Childhood obesity in the testing era: What teachers and schools can do!