Health Is Wealth - Physical Education

Physical Education. The terminology implies teaching students the subject of being physical, much like Spanish education or Math education teaches students the subject matter. In the past, this interpretation of physical education has led to instruction dedicated to motor skills and knowledge, reinforcing to students the benefits of physically active behaviors. Over the past decade however, the focus on physical education in many schools, including WSG, has shifted towards helping students embrace a healthy lifestyle and overall wellness for their lives, in addition to physical activity. It is thought to be a way for students to learn habits and skills that will benefit them over the course of their lives, establishing a pattern of well-being. In addition, The Hunt Institute in 2021 shared the following regarding Physical Education “P.E. [physical education] has been one of the most challenging subjects to teach online, but the irony is, students need P.E. now more than ever, not just for physical health but mental health.” ( Patricia Suppe, president of the California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance). Living through the stress of a pandemic is exactly the reason why we want our students to embrace healthy habits. What does physical education look like during a pandemic, with remote learning or hybrid learning?

At WSG, Physical Education teacher Coach Lawhorne knows just how important it is to continually adapt the program to keep students engaged and moving, despite the challenge with learning spaces on campus or while remote learning from home. As a result, she embraced this opportunity to creatively think about physical education, creating a curriculum and overall wellness focused program that encourages students to be physically active while at home, creatively uses any available space while at school, and also incorporates spiritual and mental nourishment. During remote learning, students were challenged to create their own fitness tutorials and learned exercise and healthy movement methods that they will be able to utilize throughout their lives. She offered opportunities for mental health check-ins with students (and WSG graduates, now in high school), creating spaces for them to share concerns about isolation at home. Through an overarching commitment to student wellness, WSG counselors, teachers and staff collaborated on supporting student’s overall emotional health. When students returned to campus this school year, the challenges to offering physical activity were different due to social distancing requirements, limited outdoor activity space and a lack of a dedicated physical education space. Coach Lawhorne adapted the program again, leading the girls through an incredibly successful step and dance program, held in classrooms. The students’ enthusiasm and engagement in the step routines provided a needed continuation of physical activity at school. Their classroom routines were shared in a school wide showcase in December (featured here), and instilled a fun aspect to their learning.

One of the challenges since the beginning of the pandemic however has been finding ways to get students to still embrace physical activities and wellness each day, even while away from the school building. With a focus on healthy eating, physical movement and activities, combined with spiritual nourishment and balance throughout the pandemic, students at WSG have been encouraged to develop the habits and perspective needed for them to build and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

New Lens of Teaching and Learning

COVID forced a shift in how excellence in teaching is viewed - or if it didn’t happen that way, it should have. Over the past two years, schools needed to quickly shift their teaching model to meet students’ needs, depending on the specific circumstances of their school and the students themselves. Whether hybrid teaching, completely virtual/remote, or in-person wearing a mask and social distancing with students, delivery of instruction changed. Students adapted accordingly to the mode of instruction, with many proceeding throughout the last school year remotely learning from home. In their bedrooms or kitchens, or perhaps public libraries and community centers, students recognized that being present for class meant logging into a digital classroom, participating in a small group breakout room or responding in a chat box. They communicated with their teachers via email and virtual conferences, leveraging their overall comfort with using technology and at times, sharing their own knowledge with their teachers.

I recently had the opportunity to visit a middle school language arts class, taught remotely by the teacher (due to a required quarantine) with students both in-person and online from home, also quarantining. The teacher's lesson was a discussion based on the book the group was reading together (A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee). Through the use of student discussion leaders (both in-person and online), clear classroom expectations, established relationships with students and the choice of a highly relatable book, this class was a magical example of student engagement and critical thinking around the topics presented. In many ways, it held all of the components of a great lesson and class discussion that would occur very regularly throughout an ordinary school year. But of course, due to COVID protocols, this is anything but an ordinary school year. At that time I observed active and engaged students volunteering to read and lead the discussion, tackling difficult vocabulary and utilizing critical thinking to understand the author’s intent - all while sitting in the classroom with headphones on, a few on their yoga mats on the floor, and others at home in various spaces. In the classroom, the air conditioner was on full blast that day, so students wrapped in sweaters and blankets, some sitting on the windowsill to get warmer in the sun. They muted and unmuted themselves to participate, virtually raising their hands or waving to catch the attention of the discussion leader.

It is indeed a “new normal” of viewing great education. If you were looking for rows of desks with students quietly listening to a teacher lecture at the front of the room - this was not that class! However, if you were looking to see an example of an exceptional teacher leading a group of actively engaged students critically analyzing literature, this was that class! Looking through the lens of great teaching under differing circumstances, this was truly the joyful pursuit of learning.

Defining the WSG Way of Teaching and Learning

December is full of Christmas cheer at WSG! WSG’s hallways are transformed with decorations, there is planning for our Christmas program, and you can hear Christmas carols in our hallway during classroom transitions. Christmas is also a beautiful reminder of our awesome responsibility to provide excellent and joyful learning opportunities for our girls. You may think to yourself, “Ms. Wetzel, what on Earth does Christmas have to do with WSG’s pedagogy?” I am here to tell you that Christmas has everything to do with our school’s pedagogy! Christmas is a celebration of the incarnation, when God became human. The incarnation shows us that God is present in our lives and in the world! At WSG, we embrace an incarnational view of the world. We believe that God’s love is present everywhere and in everyone! The incarnation informs how we approach school culture, discipline and academic learning. Our students are taught to acknowledge God’s presence in all people. Our teachers embrace an incarnational worldview when they use restorative practices in the classroom or develop lesson plans that cater to the unique needs of our students. Because Christ’s love is at work in everyone and everywhere, all learning at WSG from math to reading to science to religion helps to bring forth the fullness of Christ’s light in our students and our school. Christmas has everything to do with our pedagogy and is a perfect time to share with you how WSG came to formalize it.

In 2018, we began a collaborative process to define the WSG way of teaching and learning through the development of a pedagogy statement. It was important to define our pedagogy because we knew there was something special about how WSG engages students in the learning process. We wanted the statement to both capture the essence of our teaching practices and be aspirational. Remember all learning is a reflection of Christ’s presence in our school so it was important for us to celebrate our strengths and identify areas for continued growth.

We identified 9 essential traits of our teaching methods: faith-based, individualized, culturally responsive, experiential, inquiry based, flexible grouping, differentiated assessments, positive behavior systems and data-driven decision making. You can read the complete pedagogy statement as well as our recognize statements here:

Pedagogy Statement

Pedagogy Traits and Recognize Statements

Here is the timeline of our project:

We are incredibly proud of the work our staff engaged in throughout this adaptive process. At each step, we incorporated feedback from all of our staff and made adjustments until we arrived at a statement that truly captures what we believe about teaching and learning at WSG.

Merry Christmas!