Physical education in an alternative school setting: an exercise in creativity

Melpomene Journal, Fall-Winter, 2002 by Georgia Ewing

In an alternative school setting where facilities and funding score low as priorities, meeting district requirements for physical education remains an exercise in creativity. And touting the benefits of physical activity to students, particularly to girls, is a challenge.

These are the sentiments of two educators who work at the Osseo Area Learning Center (OALC), which serves approximately 350 junior and senior high students in Minnesota's Osseo School District. These students typically have not been successful in a traditional school setting for a variety of reasons including sub-standard academic performance, poor attendance, pregnancy, chemical dependency and mental health or behavior problems.

"Teachers need to pique the interest of students and stress the importance of physical education because many of their parents are not knowledgeable about the benefits of physical activity," says Osseo school district psychologist and teacher Kristi Klukas. "They don't see sports as very important."

She maintains that educators and parents alike consider physical fitness a frill and ignore the value of team or individual sports. "Physical activity is not valued as a mood enhancer or as a way to help students excel academically or otherwise," she says.

"We have to be very creative and innovative," adds Alicia Fischer, who teaches health and physical education at OALC. "The students and staff here are very flexible and they know that we are nor going to have the equipment and facilities of the other large high schools. We are servicing a smaller population of students, so, of course, we won't have the field houses and extensive equipment other schools have.

"I try to vary the activities enough each trimester so students aren't always participating in the same team games," says Fischer. "I find myself planning my lessons around the time of year and weather. For example, we can only play basketball in September, October, late April, May and June."

That's because there are no hoops inside the school building, which is realty a renovated warehouse. The gym has a low ceiling that is unsuitable for such aerial activities as badminton, indoor soccer and basketball. And the gym is too small to accommodate most traditional team sports.

Physical education class sizes, most of which comprise 15 to 20 students, are substantially smaller than those in the three other high schools in the Osseo district. Smaller classes allow more individual attention to special-needs students, Fischer says. The goal is to get all phy ed classes at OALC down to a maximum of 18 students.

Students at OALC, many of whom have emotional or learning problems, need to meet both state and district physical education requirements. They must complete one credit of health and two credits of phy ed during their three years in the district.

"In our program we alternate every day between individual weight training and team games," Fischer says. "Students participate in various weight-training activities and cardio activities like Tae Bo and stationary bike riding. On team/recreation game days, students participate in outside activities like volleyball and basketball. And, if weather does not permit, then floor hockey and team handball are adapted to the limitations of the gym."

Fischer says she focuses on teaching skills and activities that improve psychomotor ability: body control, fitness, propelling, receiving and striking. "My personal goal of physical education is to assist students in finding activities that they will enjoy participating in for the rest of their lives," she notes. "I feel sometimes too much focus is put on competition in phy ed classes rather than fun, and this oftentimes leads to students disliking phy ed for the long term."

No after-school programs are available for OALC students. They may participate in extracurricular activities and athletics at their district home school, but few choose to do this. According to Klukas, many students are "barely hanging on" because 70 to 80 percent work part or full time. And many female students have children to care for. The school, incidentally, offers a day-care program for these young mothers.

Even if OALC students did have the time or inclination to take on extracurricular sports, fees might be prohibitive. Budget cuts in the Osseo district have led to increased fees for sports; many families spend several hundred dollars per season for their children to participate in team sports. "Sports for some is an avenue to take to stay out of trouble, and this opportunity is being eliminated for many students because of high fees," Fischer says.

Girls are the big losers

OALC students have mixed feelings about physical education. "Like anything, some love it, some hate it," Fischer offers, adding that she believes that it's hard for students to overcome negative experiences they might have had in previous classes. "At the junior high and high school level, I see body image and self-esteem affecting the attitudes students have about phy ed, especially with female students."