Project Submission

KSP 643 – Inquiry Lesson Project Scott Tiedens

My district has invested considerable time in vertical teaming amongst disciplines and we had a PE meeting about the time that this class started. Currently, the different levels of PE in our district are not at all united as to the direction that our program must be going. There are those of us who are progressive thinking and there are a number of folks resistant to any change. Assessment seemed to be a sticking point at the aforementioned meeting. I left that meeting very frustrated and decided to take a more active role in educating myself and trying to find a way to make some progress toward improving our assessment.

Focus of the Investigation
The focus of the investigation was narrowed quite quickly in the process. In our district, the elementary levels and the middle school levels were lacking in objective assessment of their students. There were many excuses or justifications made but they were not very willing to make changes. I needed to convince them that there are other and better ways to assess students and I chose to focus on the elementary level. I have taught at all levels in the district and I felt that this effort would be more productive if I focused on the elementary level. I had better relationships with a couple of those folks.

Questioning
Questioning was both directed toward actual assessment protocols and also personal attitudes and group dynamics. Who are the experts? Which of our teachers are on board? Will our administration back the changes? Can assessments be done efficiently with our schedules? Not all Elementary schools are on the same class rotation, how does that affect the process? Where do we go to get practical information? The early steps generated more questions and I gradually was able to answer those and focus on collecting actual assessment samples and share these with the team.

Information Gathering
Information was gathered primarily through networking and searching the internet. This was done both individually by me and collaboratively with the help of Steve Hack, administrators at multiple buildings and contacting other professionals.

Information Evaluation and Analyzed
The primary litmus test was; was the assessment already being used by a teacher/school and did it align with our district standards and benchmarks. A secondary consideration was the practicality of being modified to meet our teacher’s schedules, how many minutes and how often they see their students. Only information from credible professional sources was used.

Variety of Information Types
Information was gathered electronically and via personal discussions. The sources of information included; professional organizations, other districts, and professional publications.

Synthesis of Information and Organization of Finding
Personal communication and discussions were added to the blog for review and collaborative discussions. File and electronic data / templates were disseminated through the PE department Wiki. Templates and ideas were shared with department members at our last vertical team meeting in February.

Shakopee Physical Education Department Wiki Assessment Page

Seeking Outside Help

Scott
Check out this eamil. We should try and get Leigh Anderson to come and see us. 651-653-1351 ________________________________________
From: Donald Glover [donald.glover@uwrf.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 9:30 AM
To: Hack, Steve
Cc: leighanderson@comcast.net
Subject: RE: Help

> Don,
> Thank you for getting back to me soon.
>
> Arizona. Very nice! I hope you are enjoying the Arizona winter.
>
> I hope that Leigh Anderson is able to help us and come to our
> in-service day in February. I think it would be a huge help. I
> really like what we are teaching. I think we have a top notch
> curriculum. Our only down fall is assessesment. As a group we don't
> like skill assessment either but we are struggling in what and how to
> assess. We want to fix it but we need a gentle push in the right
> direction. Thank you for your help I truly appreciate it!
>
> Take Care
> Steve Hack

Hi Steve:
I talked to Leigh Anderson and she would very much like to talk to you. I don't think she will have time to do an in-service ,but, she would like to talk to you. Her number is 651-653-1351.
She also thinks you should look at the assessment chapter in Character Education and pick and choose. The reason I don't like skill assessment is because our students do not get enough practice time. It is easier to improve in math or reading as they have books they can take home to practice with as well as daily classroom practice. It is tough to check out volleyballs and nets for at home practice -plus you only see them twice per week.
Physical Education fitness/wellness homework is very appropriate , however Using partners for peer assessment of skill during class time is very appropriate as well, as long as they are not graded on it. The assessment will give you information as to how to improve their skill--or help in planning activities Look closely at that chapter in Character Education and talk to Leigh.

Sorry I could not be of more assistance

Don Glover

Candid Discussion

This is very good stuff I'm glad we can have this discussion. I think you and I are on the same page when it comes to most of these matters. However we need to compare apples to apples. Let me explain. You (or someone) want us to do the same kind of paper work that a classroom teacher does but it is impossible. A classroom teacher sees their students every day and are able to assess their 25 to 30 kids. Elementary Pe teachers teach 5 grade levels with an average of 4 sections per grade level. I would have to assess 420 plus kids. We see each class and therefore each student 74 times out of 176 student contact days. That works out to 3,700 minutes per student per year. That is 62 hours per student per year. That comes down to about 42 % of the school year. I see my students less then half the year!



Let’s compare that to classroom time. On average a classroom teacher teaches 6.5 hours a day with a 30 minute duty free lunch and a 50 minute prep. That means they teach 24 students for 5 hours per day. That come out to 52,800 minutes or 880 hours per year. If the classroom teacher teaches about 5 different subject and would get 176 hours per subject per student. Classroom teachers have 65% MORE time for each subject then PE does.

My point is there is a great disparity between classroom and specialist student contact time. Creating an imbalance in assessment opportunity. If I had 65% more time I would assess more. At the elementary level all specialist are graded very subjectively by the teacher. Not because we are afraid of assessment it’s because we DON'T have the time and we have so many students to assess.



I like you want our PE department to be one of the better ones in the state. If assessment is that big of a deal then we need to find someone who knows how it do. I have been struggling with this for years and have been trying to find someone or somewhere that has a good elementary assessment and grading system and have come up with nothing. I don't feel the people in that room who don't teach elementary PE are going to be able to help me come up with assessments for students they know nothing about. Please don't get me wrong if there is something better out there, if there is someone who has a great way to assess and grade, I'm in.



I would tell the person who asked you the question about pay that you are going to take 65% of classroom teacher time away give them more students, expect them to teach a new grade level each hour (1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade) still expect them to teach their full curriculum at each grade level, and still assess the same. At the same time you are going to give PE classes 65% more time with fewer students and expect them to start assessing. In one year I bet you would see the classroom teachers having some major problems and PE thriving. Not a realistic scenario but obstacles we face are huge and can’t be denied. If classroom teachers had the same obstacles they would have the same problems I'm sure of it. So we can’t compare apples to apples. It’s not the same.

Curriculum Maps and Assessements

Maybe this will help us a little




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Michael Doyle [mailto:Michael.Doyle@wayzata.k12.mn.us]
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 12:17 PM
To: Hack, Steve
Subject: FW: Maps



Here is info from our PE curriculum person. These are the curriculum maps for our elementary schools.



My DAPE curriculum map is on my website below.





Mike Doyle

Physical Education/DAPE Teacher

Wayzata High School

4955 Peony Lane

Plymouth, MN 55446

763-745-6847

michael.doyle@wayzata.k12.mn.us



Wayzata High School DAPE Website

http://www.wayzata.k12.mn.us/whs/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=670&Itemid=1461



From: Kris Jones
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 10:45 AM
To: Michael Doyle
Subject: RE: Maps



Hi Mike-

I’ll send you the documents to date. I think our elementary teachers did a great job. They are in their final revisions now.

Should have final docs in the next month or so.

Kris



From: Michael Doyle
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 8:38 AM
To: Kris Jones
Subject: Maps



Quick Question.



I have a old college roommate teaching elementary PE in Shakopee and he is getting pressure to map his curriculum.

Is the Wayzata elementary PE curriculum map online yet? I was looking for it and could not find it.

He is looking for some guidance.



Thanks.





Mike Doyle

Physical Education/DAPE Teacher

Wayzata High School

4955 Peony Lane

Plymouth, MN 55446

763-745-6847

michael.doyle@wayzata.k12.mn.us



Wayzata High School DAPE Website

http://www.wayzata.k12.mn.us/whs/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=670&Itemid=1461

Assessment Links

http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/examples/tasks_elementary_physicaleducation.htm

http://www.pecentral.org/assessment/assessment.html

Here is what he does. We are looking to incorporate some of it into what we do at Shako.

Steve


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: JERAD HAMPTON [mailto:Hampton_Jerad@salkeiz.k12.or.us]
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 10:15 AM





Good Morning,



I've attached the assessment forms for you to look at. Let me know what you think.



Jerad Hampton

Forest Ridge Elementary

Keizer, OR

Elementary Follow Up

Scott,

I want you to know that I’m pushing hard to make changes. I want our program to be good. The elementary (believe it or not) is on board. I’m working really hard trying to get good information that can help us make a good curriculum and assessment. It’s not going to happen all this year but we have a good start.



We did meet with Chris Correa in the afternoon yesterday. What she tried to have us do really confused everybody. Nobody understood exactly what she wanted. It was frustrating for her and us. She was trying to get us to align our essential questions with our benchmarks. However the wording and how it was explained left all of us in the dark. Either she didn’t explain it well enough or we need to be on IEPS J. I’m sure we will revisit it. I think with what I got from Wayzata will help us a lot next time we meet.



As for the assessment piece. Here is what we are thinking at the elementary. We are going to assess in 3 areas. Psychomotor, Cognitive, and Affective in each unit we teach. Right now we are top heavy in the affective domain. As a matter of fact that really is the only thing we grade in. We will continue to use our check sheet to grade the affective piece. For the Cognitive domain we are going to start doing a “unit finale.” Check out the attachment its going to look something like that. We are still struggling with is the Psychomotor piece. I think its going to come down to another check list with a rubric.



For example



Task: Dribble and shoot an object at a goal.



Rubric

4. Displays all the essential elements with fluid motion

3. Dribbles the hockey puck with all essential elements (grip, continuous dribble, use both sides of stick, maintains slow jog)

2. Dribbles with 3 of 4 essential elements

1. Dribbles with 2 or fewer essential elements

0. Violates safety procedures and or does not complete the assessment task



This is what we came up with so far. What do you think?

Assessment possibility from colleague

I found this and thought we might want to look into it. Take a gander.



https://www.dailyfitlog.com/home

Link to PEP Grant Winning School

http://fpas.neenah.k12.wi.us/fmi/xsl/curriculum/search.xsl?-view



Paul Nettesheim

Assistant Principal

Shakopee High School

Interesting meeting...

Student assessment was the focus of our vertical team meeting today...not everyone is on board. Why do we have to assess? Who is making us do this? Frustrating as a facilitator, when intrinsic motivation is not present and so much energy is put forth in opposition to something that has to be done. Arghhhhh!

Assessment Examples for Elem PE

A teacher in Oregon shared assessment ideas with a colleague of mine. No need to reinvent the wheel - just modify the treads and make it better!

Assessment Conversations

Fellow professionals I need your help. Lately our PE program has been under attack. Our district is become assessment based and our elementary PE department is struggling. Please read some of the following statements I have received and let me know how you would respond.

1. I heard someone ask this question and I couldn’t defend it very well…If PE teachers don’t have to correct papers, don’t have to analyze data and make adjustments to their curriculum, don’t do formal assessments in every unit, or give comprehensive tests…which all seem to be expectations of the “core” teachers; Why should they get paid the same?

2. Physical Education Teachers, unlike classroom teachers, generally have not felt obliged to demonstrate student achievement of goals in a formal and systematic way. Instead, we often simply require students to attend classes and demonstrate good behavior. Thus, in order to earn physical education credit for graduation, students are graded on attendance rather than achievement, on participation rather than learning.


Don't get me started Steveh. Glad to see you join the "discussion area". It's addicting.

I have asked questions about assessing elem age students on this site and for the most part we ALL assess about the same. Not sure why there is a push for paper work. It takes too much time out of the already limited time we see them.

Does anyone have any good worthwhile "formal" assessment ideas (that won't take up too much time) that we can take a look at? First through fifth grade PE.

There has to be some teacher out there that is passionate about their formal assessment... please share.

In our district they are stacking our PE classes with 60-80 kids, saying that is the only way to keep core classes small enough for core teachers to work with students. This seems unsafe--to have so many students in a gym, also under the watch of only one teacher. Is this what is going on around the country? But with so little money to schools nowadays, what other options are there for administrators?



I agree. I have a class of about 70 kids in a small gym as well. I know at the daycare I worked at, it was a state law that the ratio was 12 kids to 1 teacher so I'm sure there's some argument out there or article that states how many kids should be to a teacher in the school.

As for assessing students and holding us accountable for that, it's pretty much impossible because we can't control what the kids are or aren't doing at home. A kid can get a good work out at school and go home and eat 5 twinkies. How are we supposed to be responsible for that?

So are teachers getting a salary because they check papers and give tests or are we given a salary for the content we teach and deliver to students , keeping them engaged in class, making a difference, supervision, etc. If it's the second reason (I hope), we should all get paid the same. I think if P.E. was created for schools x many years ago, there was a reason for it and a purpose and we should be treated the same as any other subject they felt was necessary to be in a school as well.



Giving tests, grading papers, doesn't make you a better teacher! I have been both a PE teacher and a classroom teacher so I know! Every day is an assessment in my class, every day I adjust for curriculum (weather, numbers, etc. how many classroom teachers have to change what that are teaching due to weather?) Our teachers are a given a scope and sequence and told what tests to give...I have to develop a curriculum based on state standards, facilities, number of students, etc. which causes my curriculum to be ever changing. How many teachers do you know that can' give a math test because they don't have a classroom? I can't give a test on the mile run because I don't have a track! I know this probably doesn't help but statements like that make me angry. My opinion is stop paying any teacher that doesn't do their job....and that would help with the budget!



hate to say it, but that unfortunate individual has a valid point about assessment. it's just too bad that he or she took a noble topic about maximizing educational services and turned it into a lousy "what about me" whine-fest.

not that i don't think a national PE reform is in order, not am I against formal assessment of students, but i'll bet they didn't think about how we would have to multiply their time with paperwork to assess every student we see. I see about 300 students per day on average. they hang out with the same 20 or so. If I taught just one group of students all day, not only would they be awesome (haha), but they would no doubt be assessed regularly. furthermore, could we get paid more if we assessed they way they did becasue we would have more students than they have?

now to address the issue of paperwork. I'm so sick and tired of these one dimensional perceptions on assessment. MOVEMENT is our main focus. it doens't make any sense to create all this paperwork because when a child is working on a worksheet, test or other paper assignment...they are sedentary. education in the PHYSICAL is what we are about. how they are physically growing and their physical improvement is what we need to assess. i don't believe that can be achieved through "their" type of assessment. the problem lies in the fact that we do not have a standard practice that i could refer to as "our" way, or "our" type of assessment.

for middle and high school, more formal and objective assessment can be easier. heart rate monitors, pedometers, and other technology can give us numbers to work with. elementary level PE, I believe, is centered around exposure to and repetition of the broadest range of physical skills and activities. second to that would be what i think is the hardest task of all: creating a positive experience and instilling a love for physical activity in them. how do you even begin to put a salary on that?



I won’t say I’m passionate about formal assessment Gus, but I’ve always tried to teach by the motto, “if your not testing, your not teaching.” Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really enjoy testing, but I feel it is important for this reason that many people don’t see as equals. You can almost feel the vibe from fellow teachers and parents. For my district we created an assessment schedule sheet for every elementary student to have. It covers 31 skills/areas and is broken down by grade. For example, 1st grade we assess on hop, start, and stop, 5th grade we assess on strike, throw, catch, and volley with a partner, also offensive and defensive roles, health related physical fitness concepts and explain demonstrate rules and safety in PE. This sheet travels with the student as they move onto middle school PE teachers. Now what it is done with there is another story. Parents can request to see this chart at any time. They were on paper form, but I’ve moved to electronic form. To take it a step further, we also have a spreadsheet for each of those items broken down with critical elements. Easy to use, but yes time consuming and we all know how much time we have with our kiddos. I’m more then happy to send a copy your way if you’d like!
We have 3 grading periods a year and I try and assess each of my students 3 times during that grading period. This gives me some ammo if a parent, principal, or whoever come to me and ask me why did this student get such grades. I also give keep track of my students “citizenship/behavior grade” once a week. I add these up and get an average and this is their “E, S, or N” grade. As far as the second comment you mentioned Steve, I feel that the move has been made and still needs to keep heading in the direction of grading on more then just showing up and being a good boy/girl in PE.



At our middle school we use a form of assessment we created called the Wellness Index. It's all of the kids fitness scores. The categories are Cardio (mile and pacer) Strength (push up, pull up, sit up) and Nutrition (written test). There's a formula we use that calculates the national standard for their age against their improvement. They get a percent for the cardio, strength, and nutrtion categories and those are added up and divided by 3 to give them their Wellness Index score. It's pretty clear that some kids are never going to run a mile under 9 minutes so this formula takes into consideration that if a 200 pound kid runs a mile in 16 minutes and then the next year 13 minutes, that's a huge improvement even though it does not meet the national standard and instead of the formula spitting out a bad score such as a 30% for a 13 minute mile, it'll weigh out the improvement and standard and the kid might get an 80% instead for that particular category! Just an idea!



Wow, I am feeling lucky. I have 22 kids in the gym at most. Small VT school.

Would I get paid more if I taught high school science or english? By their logic science would get paid more, right? English is reading and writing, papers, etc. Science is reading, writing, conversions, weights, uhhh... other things I did not do well in high school.

What we do is different than in the classroom. But I would argue that PE is the most important subject. What is more important than your health (physical, emotional, etc)? Where is the only place in the school that you are ACTIVELY teaching this? I think that if I was posed with those questions I would relate back to some of the biggest challenges facing our kids - health.
Yes, I am LITERALLY saying that PE is more important than math, reading, writing...
I know this is not the best argument, but it is a start.

I would agree with the 'servicing' of students. How many does a classroom teacher service a day? How many do you service a day?



i'm with you mike! i, too, feel PE is the single most important part of a students day at school. when you boil it all down to the most fundamental level, what do you need more to survive? Physical ability.



JJlhampton... I would love a copy. Thanks.
jgustafs@shakopee.k12.mn.us



pagakm... if you could email me a sample of what you use that would also be awesome too!! The more sample i have the better. That goes to the rest of you too. :)



:0) Ask a classroom teacher to take your classes in the gym for one week and see if they sing the same tune. LOL.. Honestly, yea we do not grade papers, etc, etc, however we do ALOT of physical activities, afterschool organizations like running clubs, etc, and plain and simple for as great as a job as it is, it is tough to be in the gym everyday with kids running around, yelling, etc..

I don’t think the debate is whether PE is important or not. I believe the debate is if PE should assess and what should it assess. How do you prove that a student in your class is getting anything out of it? You may be teaching but are the students learning? How do you prove to parents and administrators that PE has educational value? Could you answer these questions if a parent asked you? “Show me why my kid gets the grade that they do in PE”. “What should my kid be able to do, how well do they do it in comparison to their peers, and how do you measure improvement or success?” I’m just like most of you and grade on effort, sportsmanship, and cooperation, but I’m questioning if that is OK. I feel like as a profession we are selling ourselves short. There has to be a way to meet in the middle. I don’t think anyone expects to assess like a classroom teachers does. They understand that we don’t see the kids as much, we have so many kids to assess, and we teach so many different grade levels ect….However doing nothing isn’t OK anymore. There as to be some middle ground. That is what I’m looking for.



I collect skills data for k-2nd graders. It's easy and you end up with solid documentation. All you need is a spreadsheet with each students name on it and a score system (I use numbers, 1-4). Let's say I am going to assess overhand throwing. I have a rubric that shows what constitutes a 1, 2, 3, and 4 score. Then the students work on the skill with a partner and I simply walk around the class watching each student and putting their score in the spreadsheet. This usually takes about half of the class time. I can then use my data to see what we need more work on and what things we are achieving at. I can also track student progress from year to year.

Wondering...

Some Questions...thinking out loud.

Are there many PE people actively exploring assessment ideas for elementary age kids?

Is this going to be worth the time and effort?

How much of a paradigm shift can be expected? What is the time frame for change?

Somewhat Random Thoughts
Vertical Teams - interesting group dynamics - help or hinder change
Team members all have different comfort levels when change is proposed
Each level has a leader...leadership style differences my enhance or hinder the process

Rigor and Relevance

I chose the assessment topic because it is immediately relevant to my professional life and I don't expect information to be easily accessed.

PE Assessment Idea Link

Assessment Ideas

This is the old paradigm...

Practical Assessment for Physical Education Teachers.

by Sarah Doolittle

Physical Education Teachers, unlike classroom teachers, generally have not felt obliged to demonstrate student achievement of goals in a formal and systematic way. Instead, we often simply require students to attend classes and demonstrate good behavior. Thus, in order to earn physical education credit for graduation, students are graded on attendance rather than achievement, on participation rather than learning.

Experts?

Been talking to folks trying to find an PE assessment exepert...difficult to find. Got the name of a person from a colleague of mine. Will contact and see if she can help.

Anybody know of PE assessment experts? Please share if you do.

Brainstorming

When choosing a topic for this inquiry assignment, my thoughts were all over the place. I thought about the following topics:

Surviving Divorce
ESL Teaching Strategies
Vertical Teaming
Assessment in PE
Social Networking in Education
Christian Psychology
Distance Learning and Learning Styles
iPhones and iTouches in the Classroom
Free Market Education

I finally chose to focus on PE Assessments because I am interested in authentic assessment and a paradigm shift in PE. This would also be beneficial in my leadership role in our Vertical Teaming initiative in my district.