Sunday, February 19, 2012

Diversity in PE

Diversity is something that needs to be addressed in the classrooms and in the gym (Image Found).  No matter how rural an area is the people and students of the community still face common problems with diversity.  Some think of race when they think of diversity however that is merely the tip of the iceberg.  Diversity goes as far as culture, social class, gender, age, and ethnicity.  The term diversity is not limited to the things that were listed however these are something’s to think about when addressing diversity to students.  One of my classmates had a great experience with diversity in the PE setting during her elementary school days.   The teacher found information about each of the student’s historical cultural background and played games based off of those, for example if someone was from Ireland than the teacher would play the game Gaelic which is played there.  I thought that was a really great idea and it really opens the eyes of the students and lets them experience different culture.   I believe that international games are a must in a physical education experience.  With some diversity issues such as dealing with gender stereotypes it is good to stray away from using the terms “throwing like a girl” and to use different terms as boy and girl for partners.  For example with dance it is expected to have a male and female partner however by changing those terms to leader and follower that eliminates the awkwardness of the gender issue.  This also can allow for less awkwardness when there are male and male and females and females paired up together.  Allowing students to dance to both rolls will also help the cognitive domain by making the students learn how to do the skills for leader and follower rather than just one or the other.  With our countries populations growing our public schools are seeing more immersion classrooms and it is the teacher’s responsibility as well as the schools to have policies and lesson that address, handle, and build peoples comfort level with diversity. I think PE teachers are put in a position where they have the opportunity to work with diversity on a social level and there are many activities and games that build teamwork by having students perform out of their comfort zone.

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