American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance - AAHPERD

Issue: October 2009    

Struggling to Engage Urban Youths in Meaningful  Physical Education: A Bailout Plan to Survive and Thrive
    Aaron O’Neill

Abstract: Teaching in an urban setting is not usually easy and  sometimes leads to frustration. Some teachers have to find new and creative  ways to address the challenges and situations they encounter in certain schools  and with certain groups of students. This article describeseach offour “bailout” structures that the author came up with to make his class  safe and encouraging for every student. The structures are (1) the Five-finger  Contract (encouragement, responsibility, respect, commitment, safety); (2) the Effort/Attitude/Sportsmanship  Socratic Circle (also known as the E.A. Sports); (3) teaching team roles  (peacemaker, leader, role player/listener, and thinker) through physical  activity and challenges; and (4) the inverted triangle that aims to teach the  children in the gym (the majority) who are not elite athletes.

Article category: NASPE Symposium