Running head: INTEGRATED CONTENT LITERACY: PHYSICAL EDUCATION 1

Janet Castro

Integrated Content Literacy: Physical Education

TED 634: Content Area Literacy

Professor Smith

June 28, 2017

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Integrated Content Literacy – Physical Education

Incorporating literacy in a physical education program is imperative because it helps

students with their developmental skills such as: interpersonal communication, critical thinking,

problem solving, and creative thinking. There are several activities I plan to utilize to integrate

literacy in my physical education class. I plan to utilize graphic organizers, written activities,

vocabulary exercises, workbook activities, timelines, pair and group share activities, team

presentations, and labeled diagrams.

I plan to create graphic organizers for every unit. The graphic organizers will include the

sport/activity rules, key terms, positions, common scenarios, and visuals so that students’ can

have better understanding. According to McKenna and Robinson (2014), “research has

demonstrated that graphic organizers can help all students to have better understanding and

comprehension of the skill related concepts” (McKenna & Robinson, 2014, p. 90). All students

meaning, including those that are exceptional students like: English language learners (ELLs),

special needs, high-risk, and gifted students can also benefit from these graphic organizers.

I will also use the following assignments’ to incorporate literacy in Physical Education:

 Word Quilt Activity (vocabulary exercise - term/guess definition/ actual definition/draw

picture/use term in a sentence)

 Have students create a timeline on the evolution of a sport (origin, country, founder, etc.)

 Team presentations on team members, team name, team leader (team nominated),

mascot, motivational quote, and goals

 Use “sportfolios” to record cardio times (plot graph) and write weekly, short-term (every

6-week grading period), and long-term (semester) goals

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 Create a grocery list of healthy food items that meet a realistic food budget (pair project)

 Create meal plans from a realistic low budget (group project)

 Fast-food healthy alternatives’ meal options (come up with breakfast, lunch, and dinner

meal options) – group project

 3-day food diary (beginning of semester), 7-day food diary (middle of the year), 21-day

food diary (end of the year). Include a reflection paper in which they could compare their

eating habits from the beginning to the end of the year (after learning about nutrition).

 Nutrition Activity stations: record information on a worksheet, answer true and false

questions, and answer multiple-choice quiz (group collaboration)” (Janet Castro, 2017)

My goal is to incorporate as much collaborative work as possible. “Cooperative learning

involves placing students in groups that work collaboratively to achieve common goals. An

underlying idea is that cooperation is healthier and more productive than the competition that

individual work may foster” (McKenna & Robinson, 2014, p.140). I will give students’ ample

opportunities to work with a partner or group to help build upon their interpersonal

communication skills. More so, by doing so it would benefit all students’ (including exceptional)

because it would help them to better understand and comprehend the concepts by discussing it

with their peers.

Strategies

Modeling

Modeling will be the most common strategy I implement because it is important that

students’ perform and execute a skill based on the demonstration given to them. Modeling

“shows or demonstrates to students what they are expected to do. It guides students’ through
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each step of a process” (SDAIE and related strategies). I often call on a student (who is skilled)

to model how to properly execute a skill so that the students’ can have peer motivation. If they

see one of their peers properly perform a skill it often gives everyone else that much more

confidence to be capable of performing the skill. If I have access to a classroom I plan to show

video demonstrations’ or presentations related to the unit/skills. Then, I would continue on

outside with peer demonstrations, followed by individual practice of the skill.

Bridging

Bridging is a strategy that would help students to “activate and build on the knowledge

that [they] already possess. In addition, this cold help students [to] make connections from

previous learning to the new concepts or behaviors” (SDAIE and related strategies). A great

activity in which I could incorporate both literacy and the bridging strategy in physical education

is by “[asking] each student to select a strategy, play, or formation associated with a given sport.

The students’ task is to describe and defend their selections, contrasting them favorably with

alternatives” (p. 197). The task calls for the application of critical thinking and problem solving

skills. Bridging is a useful strategy for student learning because “it gives students’ opportunities

to make connections between previously learned information to new lesson material” (Janet

Castro, 2017). Also, “bridging can help students’ to understand the purpose, and how they can

apply the concepts to real life” (Janet Castro, 2017).

Activating Background Knowledge/ Review

According to McKenna and Robinson (2014), “the notion of activating, or “switching

on,” appropriate background knowledge is important because new knowledge, if it is to be well

learned and understood, must be integrated into existing knowledge” (p. 76). The strategy that

would be the most helpful for students to activate background knowledge in Physical Education
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is review. In order for students to comprehend new information the teacher would need to “make

an effort to or reference earlier material...” (McKenna & Robinson, 2014, p. 71). Referencing

earlier lessons helps students make connections between previous learned information and new

information. Reviewing is important because it helps students to prepare mentally and physically

to execute the proper technique for skill performance (exercise). More so, reviewing helps with

practice and application.

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References

McKenna, M. and Robinson, R. (2014). Teaching through text: Reading and writing in the

content areas. Boston: Pearson.

SDAIE and related strategies [PowerPoint Slides]. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://nu.blackboard.

com/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_55870_1&content_id=_403