Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with physicaleducation

"Teacher James, bathroom please!"

bardic — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:19:35 -0800

How can I become a better physical education teacher for kindergarten students who don't speak English? I'm teaching kindergarten at a private school in South Korea. After lunch we have "Activity Time" where the kids break into groups for PE, music, art, and English practice. As the only male foreign teacher, I was made the PE coordinator. I'm actually having fun doing it, but I'd appreciate any constructive criticism as to how I'm doing things. Among the kids, I have separate groups of five, six, and seven year-olds, and I adjust my lesson plans accordingly (the seven year-olds require a lot less in the way of structure and modeling).

The kids come in for roughly 35 minute sessions. We're on the 5th floor of a building, and going outside is not a possibility. However, we have a "gym" with padded floors and walls and a decent amount of padded blocks, ramps, and miniature stairs to build neat little obstacle courses. We also have modular equipment to make small balance beams, hoops to crawl through, and plastic rings to hop to and fro from. I think I've come up with some pretty good activities, but I'm curious as to whether or not I'm over-thinking certain things. I usually set up an activity for about 20-25 minutes, and then let the kids have "free play" where they can pretty much do what they want. This means they'll run around screaming and turning themselves into a sweaty mess before their next activity session. My boss would probably like me to structure the whole activity period, but my co-workers actually would like the kids to get a little crazier with me so that their energy is siphoned off even more before the next class (the parents probably don't mind either). They seem to have more fun playing on their own anyways. Any child development folks who can tell me what I'm doing wrong (or hopefully, right?).

Thanks in advance!

How local were the "R2D2 Circle" and the "C3PO Walk?"

breezeway — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:44:52 -0800

Were the "R2D2 Circle" and the "C3PO Walk" widespread children's exercises in the late Seventies, or were they just something my Phys Ed teacher made up? Sometime around 1979, my Central Maryland elementary school PE teacher had us do a series of calisthenic-type exercises with a record of the disco version of the Star Wars theme playing in the background. As I remember, there was a voice on the record that would periodically say, "R2D2 Circle!" or "C3PO Walk!" and we would march around in a tight circle with our hands on our heads or do a tinmanesque goosestep with our arms straight out, respectively.

Was this something my PE teacher invented, or was it more widespread, possibly part of a PE curriculum for the state, or even a disco instruction record intended for adults? Was the voice actually on the record, and if so, how can I get a hold of it?

As zombies get weaker, we get stronger

Astro Zombie — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 19:15:35 -0800

Zombiefilter: How long would it take before a zombie's muscles were no longer functional? In my ongoing preparations for the inevitable zombie takeover, it has occured to me that, while zombies seem to have somehow arrested their state of decay, their bodies no longer repair injuries. Knowing that every time we use a muscle it tears the muscle slightly, how long would it take before a zombie's legs were functionally useless? And, further, how much longer would it be before they could no longer drag themselves by their arms and can be eliminated with a simple coup de gras to the head?