Ashleigh Drall's Professional Inquiry Project
Does participating in a weekly Fun Fitness Friday improve school performance and school connectedness?
Inspiration behind P.E. for School Connectedness
School Connection
Research has shown that second only to family, school is the most important stabilizing force in the lives of young people. School connection is the belief by students that others in the school care about their learning and about them as individuals. Students are more likely to succeed when they feel connected to school. Students' positive attachment to school is amplified when they have a sense of belonging and being part of the school.
Reference:
Lester, L., Waters, S., & Cross, D. (2013). The Relationship Between School Connectedness and Mental Health During the Transition to Secondary School: A Path Analysis. Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling,23(2), 157-171.
Covid-19
Covid-19 has negatively impacted school connectedness. Students have been put into cohorts creating an anchor in connection between grades and other classes. Extracurricular activities, family days, fun events have been cancelled. Recess is separated into sections and lunch is had at multiple different set times during the day. Students have little to no chance in creating connections with other students, in other grades and classes.
Quality Physical Education
Quality physical education provides students with the opportunity to socialize with others and learn different skills such as communication, tolerance, trust, empathy and respect for others. They also learn positive team skills including cooperation, leadership, cohesion and responsibility. Students who play sports or participate in other physical activities experience a variety of emotions and learn how to better cope in stressful, challenging or painful situations. Physical activity gives students a chance to build connections. Quality P.E. can be associated with improved mental health, since increased activity provides psychological benefits including reduced stress, anxiety and depression. It also helps students develop strategies to manage their emotions and increase their self-esteem.
Reference:
Trudeau, F., Shephard, R.J. Physical education, school physical activity, school sports and academic performance. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 5, 10 (2008).
What my project was all about
Below is a description of how I explored my Inquiry Question
Every Friday of the month, grades 1-5 came into the gym for a 30 min period and partook in a Fun Fitness Friday Program. Each Friday was to explore a different activity focusing on different areas of fitness. The students got to participate and learn a bunch of different games that they could play with their friends out at recess or on the weekend, or even in their other gym classes. The goal of my program was to amplify school community, connectedness and performance. I have noticed that because of covid-19 there have been a lot of things that we can’t do, especially as a whole school all together. This fun program was something we could do as a school community because it was a competition between every single grade.
Every week I told each class something that I was watching for, a goal of the week. For example I watched for things like fair play, sportsmanship, effort, participation , etc. Whichever class from grade 1-5 I thought tried their best to follow our goal won the golden sneakers! The winner of the week was announced over the intercom on Mondays and the class got to display the golden sneaker in their class for the whole week. In April, at the end of my practicum, the grade who won the golden sneaker the most times won a bigger surprise prize, which was a pizza party and bragging rights.
My end goal was to improve the school community that was diminished with covid-19 by still having the classes in their cohorts but in healthy competition with each other, therefore it felt as if they were playing with all the different grades. This project allowed students to create decision-making processes that facilitated school engagement, provided students with the academic, emotional, and social skills necessary to be actively engaged in school, provided prep time for teachers and staff by taking on their class for sections of the day, which is needed in the hard times of the pandemic and created trusting and caring relationships that promote open communication among administrators, teachers, staff and students.
Teacher Feedback
Below are some comments from the teachers that allowed me to take their kids for my Fun Friday Fitness Program.
"I never stayed in the gym, but my kids were always very excited about it. What I liked was that it was helping their social skills and attitudes (which is a casualty of the pandemic) and they were excited about it."
"Every week my kids could not be more excited to see what the fun activity was going to be on Friday and who would win the golden sneaker on Monday."
"During the drumroll waiting for the announcement of last weeks winner, my kids could barely stay in their seats. When they one they cheered so loud. It was awesome to see how impactful these activities were, and how it brought my class together."
"My students always come back to class sweating and with a smile on their face. They were always excited to tell me what fun game they played that Friday. I even saw them playing some variations of your games at recess with other kids!"