My 14yo son has always complained about his mandatory public school health classes. He doesn't like the 80's and 90's era instructional videos. And in any case, he's already received a far more thorough health education through our church's youth programs. But yesterday I was amused to discover that his Phys-ed teacher shares my son's opinion of the course! Apparently this teacher handed fill-in-the-blank sheets out to the class, then fired up an educational film on the evils of drug use. My son sits in the back of the class, which is exactly where the teacher decided to park himself in order to keep an eye on the dark classroom. As the teacher sat down beside my son, he glanced over and realized he'd had already completed his worksheet. "That looks correct," he commented to my boy. "Yeah." My son pulled out his giant sound-blocking headphones. "Can I listen to music?" "Oh, what the hell. Go ahead." So my son kicked back and listened to Pink Floyd while the film played. He said it really enhanced his viewing experience. :lol:
That's hilarious! I don't know about Canada, but in the USA, you have to be a teacher to coach and you have to coach to be a teacher. People who want to be coaches tend to try to get jobs as phys ed teachers. It's probable that this man really couldn't care two hoots about gym class.
LOL...Sounds like the one I had in high school...also our football coach. Especially when it game time for the birds and bees. I guess he figured we already had parents who told us all that stuff. And the films were awful. Boring boring boring!
You know... I really can't say if it's the same, or not. I do know that my son got stuck with a gym teacher teaching his math class last term. It was a disaster - she didn't have the greatest grasp of the curriculum and was teaching from the textbook. My husband ended up teaching the boy his Grade 9 Math in the evenings.
Sounds like the same ridiculous videos that were played when I was in high school. The funniest year for me was the year my Swim instructor had to teach health class. You could tell he was uncomfortable with the topics covered (except for the nutrition and exercise portion) and his idea of teaching the uncomfortable stuff was to have students take turns reading aloud from the text. By the end of class his face was so red from embarrassment, he really didn't like teaching the course and we almost always had a sub on days when videos were being shown.
We had class right after the assembly. I never liked assemblies, so I had gone up to my geometry class. He had this big drawing on the board, where you have to figure out the degrees of all the angles, etc. So I sat down and did it. Then I wandered into the newspaper office (I was on staff). Someone had turned on Phil Donahue (I know; that dates me!), and Alan Alda was on. Being a big MASH fan (dates me even more, lol!), I got watching. So when the assembly was over, I went and told the geometry teacher I was here, but was in the newspaper office watching Phil Donahue. Un, no, I needed to be in class. I grinned, and handed him the paper I had done earlier. He rolled his eyes, and told me to get out of there, lol! (Keep in mind, I was a good kid and the teachers knew they could trust me to be where I said I'd be!)
Lol! You've reminded me of something... My husband was really good in math, too. Once he finished his work early and pulled out a book to read at the back of the class. The teacher called him out and said that he couldn't possibly understand the material if he wasn't listening. Then he challenged my husband to come up to the board and solve the equation on it. Big mistake! My husband sauntered up to the front of the room and solved it easily, to the entertainment of the entire class. Then, of course, the teacher kicked him out of class and told him to go to the office. But my husband was on good terms with the principal, so that was hardly a real punishment.
I think ps gym class is a joke. In high school, you have to change into appropriate clothing, then listen to the teacher tell you what to do, then do a few minutes of activity, and finally go change (and shower, if needed) before you go to the next class. So, really how much time is actually exercising? Also, the showers are awful (or at least when I went to school).
They no longer shower in gym classes; too big an opportunity for abuse/bullying. At least, that's how it is a where we live.
Actually, the classes my kids have are somewhat better than that, lame 80's instructional videos aside. Their classes are an hour and fifteen minutes long. According to my daughter, that meant they got an hour of actual "gym stuff" a day. The classes are sex segregated (one for girls, one for boys). There's no showers after class - the kids just change back into their school clothes when gym's over. My daughter actually enjoyed the physical side of things. What led to her dropping gym was having to work with other kids on Health projects. She was stuck in a group in which she was the only one who actually gave a darn about the grade they'd be earning. Half of her group got themselves suspended from school, after they were caught buying pot! So my kid's sworn off taking any more "non-academic" courses, because she can't handle the stress. On the other hand, my son's having a good enough experience this year that he's applied to get into the "Outdoor Ed" program next year. Under the guise of teaching "leadership skills", it's basically official permission to ditch school and go canoeing! Can't get any better than that, in his opinion. I hope he gets in, though it's a bit of a long shot. :love:
I just asked my kids. My son says there are showers in the boy's locker room, but "nobody uses them". My daughter says the girls' locker room doesn't even have showers. I never showered after gym when I was a youngster, either. I wonder if it has something to do with not wanting to send Canadian kids outside in the winter with wet heads of hair? Showering would seem very impractical during a good chunk of the school year around here. P.S. Just asked my mother-in-law. She never had to shower in school, either. P.P.S. My husband did sometimes shower, but not after every class. And it wasn't ever required. It was just that the opportunity was there to shower, if a boy wanted.
OOPS! Are we going the wrong direction with the thread. I think if a child can get the answers right the teacher shouldn't worry about them too much as long as they are not disrupting the class. I think the same thing should be said of attendance. I am not advocating skipping school just to skip, but some people have health issues. I would suppose is they are sick all the time, then the school would send a tutor or the homework home or something, but if they are only sick once in a while, they may not be able to go on to the next year because they missed too many days. I think if they can do the work--let them pass.
I'm confused... I thought ABall was saying the important thing is that my boy had the right answers, and she's right. I'm happy about that! I was just amused at the teacher's attitude - and the implication that the film didn't have anything other to offer than what was on the sheet. Aren't you guys agreeing?
Rabbits? Nah, that's a squirrel! http://www.nenah.org/Gifs/index.php...ginal&fromthumbnail=true&preferredsize=resize
