The PE Playbook – October 2016 Edition

Welcome to the October 2016 Edition of the PE Playbook. The PE Playbook is a review of blog posts over the past month that are specific to Physical Education or Youth Sport. Its about bringing these blog posts into a format that is easy to find, use and share. Hopefully this will result in more PE Teachers (and others) reading them and engaging with them. If you have any feedback about the presentation or content of the PE Playbook then please let me know in the comments section of this post or via @ImSporticus. Previous Editions of the PE Playbook can be found here.

Vern Gambetta is a coach and educator with a strong focus on movement and human development. He blogs at Functional Path Training and has a very different style to most peoples blogs I read. They are little and often; sharing his insights, reflections, experiences, stories, knowledge. They are always full of rich and deep wisdom from someone who has spent a lifetime studying and coaching movement. In GPP – Getting Tired shares his thoughts about general physical preparedness. In Thinking & Questioning he promotes the idea of specialising in being a generalist, these thoughts are furthered explored in It’s Not Rocket Science. I really like Learning From the Past as it challenges us to question progress for progress sake, which may mean we could throw out proven methods. Developing a Training System reminds us that theory has a place in our practice, but so does trial and error. This is where we learn about what works in our context. Finally this month Reductionist Thinking questions the practice of breaking movement and exercise down into its smallest parts in the hope of producing a working whole. Something as PE teachers we should consider. If you want to hear more about Vern’s philosophy and approach then I can highly recommend his recent podcast interview on Michael Gervais’s Finding Mastery. Well worth your time and effort.

Physical Education – Promoting Sport Participation in School and Beyond by Shane Pill looks at sports place in the PE Curriculum and suggests that it could meet two broad purposes of school. That of initiation into important bodies of knowledge and the also the guiding of individuals development as a functioning contributing member of society.

Modern Masculinity by James Vaughan asks if the ideals of masculinity might be one of the most destructive culturally to our approach to coaching sport (and potentially beyond sport).

Reflective questions for learning by Nick Levett offers us 10 excellent questions we can use to get those we teach or coach to reflect on their learning,

Semantics: ‘physical education’ vs ‘physical literacy’ by Timothy Lynch raises some issues about physical literacy and asks if it only serves to confuse those who teach through the physical. Why Is Physical Literacy Not Just Physical Education? is an attempted response by the International Physical literacy Association to address those concerns.

7 Traits of Highly Effective Youth Sports Coaches by Michael Langlois puts a nice youth sports spin on Stephen Covey’s self help masterpiece.

Do students know what’s good for them? by Tom Stafford questions how much autonomy should have over their own learning. An important question to consider in a subject like Physical Education.

The Current State of Movement Mastery in the NFL by the movement master Shawn Myszka offers four potential suggests on how to better master movement for sport.

Understanding Targets (For the Under 10s) by Simon Guilfoyle tells the story of Stick Child, Stick Dad and target setting. One to consider in a life without levels.

8 Coaching Mistakes I Wish I Never Made by Changing The Game Project is a reflective piece on previous coaching practice that may have had a negative impact on athletes.

Analysis of Parent-Teacher Conferences – making an impact by Mel Hamada is one a a number of blog posts she has written this month that has made me reflect on my own practice. This one is about assessment essentials and what information we pas onto parents about PE.

Should we be teaching GCSE theory in KS3 P.E lessons? by Tom Brush asks questions that I have been asking myself recently. As the focus on Performance Management is grade outcomes, will PE start to be dictated by GCSE PE. There are some difficult decisions ahead for PE Heads of Department to make and Tom raises some issues that need to be clear before they are made.