Journals in Physical Education

The middle school students have a Physical Education Journal, which is worth 20% of their grade. In each journal there are guidelines in the back which tell the students what each assignment should contain. Please check your child’s progress in their journal each week they should have assignments that should take them around 20 minutes.

Writing in physical education can enhance student performance in at least four ways: (1) writing to learn, which stimulates the gathering and organizing of ideas; (2) writing to motivate, which stimulates a sense of adventure, curiosity, and creativity; (3) writing to assess, which allows both teacher and student to evaluate progress; and (4) writing to do, which integrates writing directly into the physical activity.

When keeping track of performance students are enabled to practice goal setting which is important in increasing physical fitness level, but equally important in other areas of student life. Journals reinforce concepts learnt and enable students to reflect, which develops a more effective learner. The journal provides cross-curricular opportunities with math, computers, science and English. It is a wonderful opportunity to sow many parts of learning together.

It is the purpose of the journal to create a three stage journal that the students can use to develop positive attitudes toward lifelong fitness and create an action plan to ensure its’ implementation throughout their life. Journals should include fitness test scores within a chart that allows them to assess their fitness levels. Students go through a process of setting goals for improvement and developing plans to reach those specific goals.

With principles such as FITT to guide students develop the tools they need in order to make good activity choices. The journal also allows them to explore different activities and develop competency levels in them so that they are more confident and thus likely to choose to participate in the future. Finally, through the journal students get to take a deeper look into what they are doing and examine strategies to support others in the lifelong quest for fitness.

Thank you for your support in helping all students be ‘Fit for Life”.

If you have any questions, please email me at jolansdown@gmail.com.

Ms. Lansdown