FREE ESSAY ON ELEMENTARY PHYS. ED

ELEMENTARY PHYS. ED

The effect of physical education on elementary students is noticeable through all types of
skill development. From personal experiences, people can conclude that there is more to
games and activities than just expending energy to relieve and calm younger children. The
main focus of my ideas is mainly directed towards motor skills, relationships and how
they contribute to student learning, and setting and achieving goals as well as the five
areas to which I set beliefs, theories, and assumptions.
Children, especially young, need to learn basic motor skills to make their physical life
easier when they get older. Sometimes motor skills come to us phylogenetically, such as
walking, but often times we have to be taught, and need to learn how to use our body
parts. If teachers try to incorporate motor skill enhancing games and exercises into
their lesson plan, the students will benefit. Some early mechanics, such as Rudolf
Laban's four classifications of movement, might be very helpful towards early, as well as
later, control of body parts. Also, basic motor skills are beneficial to classroom work,
such as pencil control, hand control, and body control in class exercises. Some skills
also depend on the physical environment of the participants, and the opportunity placed
before them. And then other times, it just depends on the speed at which the individual
is capable of learning. Elementary phys. ed. programs and teachers tend to push gross
motor skills onto younger children to enhance basic skills, therefore creating a
"prerequisite" for more advanced games and drills. This is what makes later grades more
exciting for students at higher levels.
How relationships contribute to learning is one way to understand the necessity for
physical education in younger groups. The interaction with people in earlier years
promotes the social skills of a person, as well as a student. Affective development plays
a larger role in this because it encourages positive interaction between children, but
also teaches respect for the game, the rules, and the people who are involved in the
activity. By putting students together in a situation where they can relate to one
another, a teacher can push students to socialize, and feel welcome in their
surroundings. If a student feels welcome by all of their "teammates" they will find it
easier to play the game. And in finding the game easy to play, the students play harder
and better. A feeling of self worth comes with this almost competitive nature. The
problem that may occur in a younger classroom is over competitive nature. If a teacher
plays a game where some students are better than others, and the game requires
competitiveness, children will feel as though they are being left out, or even worse,
feel inadequate. This is a negative response that you do not want to receive from
students.
One way to cut down on this feeling is to help children set and achieve goals for
themselves. If children are in it for themselves, no one can make them feel as though
they are doing poorly. If instructors try to incorporate cognitive development, it may
make it fairer for all participants, because then your less physically enhanced children
can create games that they may find easier. This will also increase the growth of
creativity in the students. Therefore it may reflect in the classroom towards schoolwork,
and other aspects of their lives. Goal setting may also lead to children learning on
their own. This will lead to a faster increase in levels of development. As children
learn faster, they will increase speed of play and start to play games that have an
increase in competition, and in many cases, have a winning and losing side. This can be
very rewarding for children, in all aspects of their lives, especially self-esteem.
As a learner, one should approach a class, whether it is Phys Ed or English, with an open
mind. Assume nothing about the experience, but on the other hand, a student should still
set goals to achieve in a day, or even class. Believe that even if they are trying their
best, they can still achieve a greater level of excellence, not for the teacher, but for
themselves. I don't see how the receiver of information could theorize in a class, but
possibly input to the class outline, making it easier for the instructor to perform their
duty. 
As the teacher, I believe you uphold the most responsibility to achieve a level of
excellence, and interest in the program. If the instructor does not believe the students
are capable of more than what is required in the set curriculum, then gifted students
would be less likely to excel. It is the responsibilities of the teacher to assume that
there are more advanced children in the class, and to alter the outline benefit each
child, individually and cooperatively. Instructor and subject matter are two very related
areas of learning, because a teacher can advance and change the outline as they see fit.
In the school, as well as society, I think more advanced children, and adults, benefit
more because a more gifted child is moving at a speed at which society would prefer
(faster is better, if you fall behind its too bad). Who's to say behind isn't right on
time? Society should, but will never, learn that equality is difficult to achieve, and to
never assume that the fastest, smartest, biggest, or fittest is the best.
In conclusion, the motor skills, relationships, and the achievement of realistic goals of
children in the elementary phys. ed. class are what I believe to be important in the
students learning. Are my beliefs, theories and assumptions true? This is a question that
I would believe to be 'easy'; in my mind I believe them to be true. These, to my
knowledge, are the best and most accurate ways of separating how I feel about elementary
Phys. Ed. The points made in this paper, as well as what I've learned in the classroom,
whether being the learner or teacher, have helped me make a much more important decision
in my life, I now feel I can, and will be an elementary teacher, maybe not in phys ed,
but possibly.
Bibliography
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