Skills Testing in Phy Ed

[declansdad]

I think what it comes down to is that a student needs to leave school with a basic level of competency in reading and math to get by in life -- jock or no jock. A basic of level of competency in archery, on the other hand, is NOT necessary to get by in life.

I just don't think these things need to be taught as required classes in the schools. Stick to the necessities and teach them well -- and let kids pursue interests, hobbies as extracurriculars or electives.

You are getting caught up on the archery thing. It is the PE, music, and art that I'm saying is important and should be required in school.

 

[MichelleVW]

This is why I said your are being hypocritical. Yes you should be happy she achieved a better grade, but she wasn't tested on her knowledge of running.

She WAS tested on her knowledge of archery also and she did well on those tests...it was the skill part she bombed out on. It's quite possible that she will have a KNOWLEDGE test on running in the future, just not last week.

I believe they should have a test on paper about KNOWLEDGE and then also a participation grade that takes in account children that try but have no natural ability in the sport......

Does that make sense to you or am I still being hypocritical?

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I think it is crap. There are only so many ways to do a math example correctly. You can teach someone that and they may understand it but may struggle. There are a bazillion ways to run, throw a ball. paint a picture, play an instrument, sing a song etc. For the poster who said "How hard can archery be?" Well I am simply not athletically inclined. I played sports and some I was good at but I will never be the star player or a soccer player, or a runner for that matter. If I had to run super fast to get a good grade in gym you might as well fail me now. I have been slow since birth. I can run every single day of my life and I will still be slow. Everyone's body is built differently. You cannot acquire those skills. You either have them or you don't. Picked last in gym? Well I was picked after last in gym. I wasn't a couch potato. I danced competitively for years spending more hours at dance class than I did in school. Gym class made me feel awkward and uncoordinated. Just the thought of dodgeball makes me ill. I feel the same way about music and that was my major. Some people just do not have it. They cannot hear the notes in tune, play them in tune, or have a pleasant singing voice. You cannot teach that. It is not a formula. You are born with that. These classes should be graded on effort not actual skill since it is not something you can learn. Seriously- how is the kid supposed to practice archery? Call up some of her knight friends for a friendly game over some ale? Give me a break.

 

[TwinsinCA]

Also there is more to PE than just keeping kids in shape.

Like what?

The only things I took away from HS Gym classes were a whole lot of misery and embarrassment. As soon as it was elective (as a senior) I never took it again.

Wondering what is was I was supposed to be learning.

 

[declansdad]

She WAS tested on her knowledge of archery also and she did well on those tests...it was the skill part she bombed out on. It's quite possible that she will have a KNOWLEDGE test on running in the future, just not last week.

I believe they should have a test on paper about KNOWLEDGE and then also a participation grade that takes in account children that try but have no natural ability in the sport......

Does that make sense to you or am I still being hypocritical?

I understand what you are saying but in your first post you said

I agree that they should have a participation grade, and be tested on KNOWLEDGE, but she gets a 50 on a test because she can't hit the Bull's Eye!!! THAT IS CRAP!!!

But now that she is tested on running and she has that skill, all's good.

You can't have it both ways.

 

[TwinsinCA]

I think it is crap. There are only so many ways to do a math example correctly. You can teach someone that and they may understand it but may struggle. There are a bazillion ways to run, throw a ball. paint a picture, play an instrument, sing a song etc. For the poster who said "How hard can archery be?" Well I am simply not athletically inclined. I played sports and some I was good at but I will never be the star player or a soccer player, or a runner for that matter. If I had to run super fast to get a good grade in gym you might as well fail me now. I have been slow since birth. I can run every single day of my life and I will still be slow. Everyone's body is built differently. You cannot acquire those skills. You either have them or you don't. Picked last in gym? Well I was picked after last in gym. I wasn't a couch potato. I danced competitively for years spending more hours at dance class than I did in school. Gym class made me feel awkward and uncoordinated. Just the thought of dodgeball makes me ill. I feel the same way about music and that was my major. Some people just do not have it. They cannot hear the notes in tune, play them in tune, or have a pleasant singing voice. You cannot teach that. It is not a formula. You are born with that. These classes should be graded on effort not actual skill since it is not something you can learn. Seriously- how is the kid supposed to practice archery? Call up some of her knight friends for a friendly game over some ale? Give me a break.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Like what?

The only things I took away from HS Gym classes were a whole lot of misery and embarrassment. As soon as it was elective (as a senior) I never took it again.

Wondering what is was I was supposed to be learning.

If you were me you would have been learning how to cut class so you wouldn't be embarrassed.

 

[declansdad]

I think it is crap. There are only so many ways to do a math example correctly. You can teach someone that and they may understand it but may struggle. There are a bazillion ways to run, throw a ball. paint a picture, play an instrument, sing a song etc. For the poster who said "How hard can archery be?" Well I am simply not athletically inclined. I played sports and some I was good at but I will never be the star player or a soccer player, or a runner for that matter. If I had to run super fast to get a good grade in gym you might as well fail me now. I have been slow since birth. I can run every single day of my life and I will still be slow. Everyone's body is built differently. You cannot acquire those skills. You either have them or you don't. Picked last in gym? Well I was picked after last in gym. I wasn't a couch potato. I danced competitively for years spending more hours at dance class than I did in school. Gym class made me feel awkward and uncoordinated. Just the thought of dodgeball makes me ill. I feel the same way about music and that was my major. Some people just do not have it. They cannot hear the notes in tune, play them in tune, or have a pleasant singing voice. You cannot teach that. It is not a formula. You are born with that. These classes should be graded on effort not actual skill since it is not something you can learn. Seriously- how is the kid supposed to practice archery? Call up some of her knight friends for a friendly game over some ale? Give me a break.

Oh give it up on the archery, that was one example.

You can acquire skills and you can improve on those skills. It happens everyday.

Using your analogy, there are people out there that are not good at mathmatics, these people should be graded on effort and not actually calculating the answer to A + B = C.

 

[declansdad]

Like what?

The only things I took away from HS Gym classes were a whole lot of misery and embarrassment. As soon as it was elective (as a senior) I never took it again.

Wondering what is was I was supposed to be learning.

lets see what did I learn in PE.

leadership
ways to stay healthy
proper nutrition
coaching skills
how to plan and run events.

Those are some of the things I can remember off the top of my head.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Oh give it up on the archery, that was one example.

You can acquire skills and you can improve on those skills. It happens everyday.

Using your analogy, there are people out there that are not good at mathmatics, these people should be graded on effort and not actually calculating the answer to A + B = C.

I was bad at math. There are exact formulas to arrive at answers. I could not seem to remember them or get them straight. Part of my grade was for the effort I put forth if I went to extra help etc. So yes, there was more to the grade then just getting the right answer. Oh- and there are many skills that you cannot acquire. Some skills are God given.

lets see what did I learn in PE.

leadership
ways to stay healthy
proper nutrition
coaching skills
how to plan and run events.

Those are some of the things I can remember off the top of my head.

What did I learn in PE?
How to be awkward.
How to be embarrased because I can't climb a rope, do a pullup, run fast, etc.

FTR- I still can't climb a rope, run fast or do a pullup. Not for lack of trying- I just have not been able to ever do those things.

I learned leadership from my family.
I learned how to stay healthy from my family.
I learned nutrition from my family.
I learned coaching skills from my family, dance teachers, music teachers and some coaches.
I learned how to plan and run events fromo my family.

So really, Gym was not something I needed.
I also think it is gross to shower up for school and then go running around so you can sweat and stink the rest of the day. That's just my little pet peeve though and off topic.

 

[declansdad]

I was bad at math. There are exact formulas to arrive at answers. I could not seem to remember them or get them straight. Part of my grade was for the effort I put forth if I went to extra help etc. So yes, there was more to the grade then just getting the right answer. Oh- and there are many skills that you cannot acquire. Some skills are God given.

If you read the first post, you will see that the op's daughter did receive marks for her effort but she did not receive marks for completing the skill properly.

Your last sentence would depend on whether you believe in God. You may have a God-given talent to do something but that doesn't mean it can't be improved upon.


What did I learn in PE?
How to be awkward.
How to be embarrased because I can't climb a rope, do a pullup, run fast, etc.

FTR- I still can't climb a rope, run fast or do a pullup. Not for lack of trying- I just have not been able to ever do those things.

I learned leadership from my family.
I learned how to stay healthy from my family.
I learned nutrition from my family.
I learned coaching skills from my family, dance teachers, music teachers and some coaches.
I learned how to plan and run events fromo my family.

So really, Gym was not something I needed.
I also think it is gross to shower up for school and then go running around so you can sweat and stink the rest of the day. That's just my little pet peeve though and off topic.

Everything could be learned outside of school. I believe that is why some people homeschool.

All those times you were embarassed in PE, there were people who were embarassed in the academic classes because they were not strong in those classes.

 

[TwinsinCA]

lets see what did I learn in PE.

leadership
ways to stay healthy
proper nutrition
coaching skills
how to plan and run events.

Those are some of the things I can remember off the top of my head.

Ways to stay healthy and proper nutrition kind of fall under the "keeping kids in shape" that you already mentioned.

Plan and run events? Never did anything like that. What do you mean? What kinds of events?

Coaching skills and leaderhip?? Are you saying you were supposed to learn by the way you were coached and led? Because we surely never got any practice doing either during gym.

I can't think of one solid thing *I* learned in over a decade of it other than the fact I HATE GYM CLASS. Proper nutrition and ways to stay healthy are certainly important. And if that is what they are teaching these days, then it has a place in schools. But the gym classes of my youth were useless.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Everything could be learned outside of school. I believe that is why some people homeschool.

All those times you were embarassed in PE, there were people who were embarassed in the academic classes because they were not strong in those classes.

Here we go. You are hung up on semantics. If you don't believe in God then let's just say that some people are born with some skills and talents and some are not. Clearly you cannot believe that if we all practice we can all become the next Michael Jordan?
As for being embarassed in an academic class, you are placed in academic classes according to your skill level. AP, regents, regents skill etc. In gym you just have to go when they give it to you. It doesn't matter whether you are good at it or not or if the rest of your class is future Olympians.
Yes, I am sure you can learn everything at school at home if you HS but you mentioned specific things you learned from Gym class. I did not learn any of those things from Gym class. That was my point.


ETA- Event planning? The only event that I learned to plan from gym was where I was going to get breakfast from when I was cutting gym class! lol!

 

[TwinsinCA]

All those times you were embarassed in PE, there were people who were embarassed in the academic classes because they were not strong in those classes.[/COLOR]

I never had to change clothes and also walk NAKED in front of my peers in order to take a shower during Geometry class. Unless a teacher broadcasts your grade for the whole class (which they have no business doing)-- how is someone going to be embarrassed by not being "strong" in that class?

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I never had to change clothes and also walk NAKED in front of my peers in order to take a shower in during Geometry class. Unless a teacher broadcasts your grade for the whole class (which they have no business doing)-- how is someone going to be embarrassed by not being "strong" in that class?

Sweatpants over your jeans my dear!

 

[declansdad]

Here we go. You are hung up on semantics. If you don't believe in God then let's just say that some people are born with some skills and talents and some are not. Clearly you cannot believe that if we all practice we can all become the next Michael Jordan?
As for being embarassed in an academic class, you are placed in academic classes according to your skill level. AP, regents, regents skill etc. In gym you just have to go when they give it to you. It doesn't matter whether you are good at it or not or if the rest of your class is future Olympians.
Yes, I am sure you can learn everything at school at home if you HS but you mentioned specific things you learned from Gym class. I did not learn any of those things from Gym class. That was my point.


ETA- Event planning? The only event that I learned to plan from gym was where I was going to get breakfast from when I was cutting gym class! lol!

You may not become the next Jordan but you can improve, that is my point. those who can perform a skill better should receive a better mark.

We don't have all the level that you speak of so I have no idea how that works.

Event planning - organizing tournaments

 

[declansdad]

I never had to change clothes and also walk NAKED in front of my peers in order to take a shower in during Geometry class. Unless a teacher broadcasts your grade for the whole class (which they have no business doing)-- how is someone going to be embarrassed by not being "strong" in that class?

I'm sure you could figure out a way to get to the shower without walking naked in front of your peers.

Students can be embarassed in any class, if they can't perform the work.

 

[MichelleVW]

I'm sure you could figure out a way to get to the shower without walking naked in front of your peers.

Students can be embarassed in any class, if they can't perform the work.

I am thinking you just like to argue with everyone.....

we had open showers so you HAD to be naked in front of other people....no choice there....

 

[TwinsinCA]

I'm sure you could figure out a way to get to the shower without walking naked in front of your peers.

The shower wasn't private. It was one big room with a lot of shower heads. Just HOW was I supposed to take a shower and not be seen naked????

And taking a shower was NOT optional. There was a lady outside the door giving us our towels when we were done and marking off our name. If we didn't, we'd be in trouble.

 

[poohandwendy]

I don't understand how you can be mad that her skill was graded for archery, yet happy with the idea that her skill will be graded when it comes to stuff she excels in, like running and hockey?

(i didn't read the entire thread, so this may have already been addressed)

You say that she really likes PE, so I wouldn't worry about it. This isn't going to affect her life in a negative way.