Obesity problem prompts summer P.E.
Marcella Murray and Aaron Frenzel opted to ride the exercise cycles during the free choice section of their physical education class last week while their counterparts lifted weights or played volleyball.
The two Gruening Middle School summer school students said they were burning off some energy before returning to the academic rigors of remedial education.
Little did they know they were also setting a new national trend.
Physical education in summer school?
Yep.
But not because these students performed poorly in P.E. during the regular school year.
Instead, the Anchorage School District is using the inclusion of "life-long" P.E. in its middle school summer school curriculum as a tool in the ongoing war on childhood obesity and to combat academic fatigue.
The move is gaining some national attention as representatives from The American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance based in Reston, Va., say the ASD might just be on the cutting edge of whole-child education.
"Last year we took only a few calls from districts inquiring about the role of physical education in summer school," said Paula Kun, director of communications for the organization that recently completed a state-by-state survey of the status of physical education in America. "We are just starting to hear about the whole topic."
Kun said the alliance didn't have any solid data on how many school districts nationwide are including P.E. in summer school curriculum, but after having the program at Gruening where 108 students - approximately one-12th of the local middle school population - and at two other ASD sites in Anchorage fully explained to her, Kun said it's the type of approach her organization supports.
"The bottom line is that the national recommendation for physical activity guidelines is that students receive a minimum of 60 minutes of activity every day," Kun said. "That's not just during the regular school year. We want that every day. It sounds like that is what is happening. If it is, it may very well be a new trend."
Particulary if Holly Odegard and Paulette Ditzler, two of Gruening's faculty members taking on P.E. duty for summer school, have anything to say about it.
The pair both say including P.E. during the summer session is right on the academic mark.
"(The students') brains are refreshed after they get a chance to exercise," Odegard said. "It gives them a break, and they are more prepared to get back into the classroom."
Ditzler said including P.E. in summer school curriculum more closely follows the academic structure of the regular school year.
She thinks it adds to student success over the summer sessions, which in general are attended by students with academic struggles.
"Having some success outside the classroom often translates into later success in the classroom," she said.
After all, who wouldn't enjoy beating Sven Gustafson, Gruening's principal, to the hoop for an easy lay-up?
"Just trying to set a good example," Gustafson said, after he took a break to play some hoops with several students.
While it might look like horseplay to the casual observer, the students participating in the sport-oriented classes say it's helping them master the basics of math and grammar.
Hunter Thomas is heading into eighth grade at Mirror Lake Middle School.
He knows he struggles in math and science, but still wasn't jumping for joy about attending summer school.
But now that he gets the opportunity to work on his jump shot and lift weights, Thomas said summer school is "a lot more fun" than regular school.
He's in a writing course just before his summer school P.E. class with a vocabulary section following.
"If I had to be writing that whole time without a chance to work out in between, I would go nuts," he said. "This gives me a chance to lift some weights and relax. I am much calmer afterward."
Murray, who is attending summer school to get better prepared for high school next fall, admits she isn't too keen on most of the physical activities.
"I kinda like running," she said. "At least it is a break from doing all of the school work."
Sherry Ellers, district coordinator for the middle school summer school, said that's the point.
"We are trying to work in healthy lifestyle choices along with teaching reading, writing and math," she said. "It truly is just as important."
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