Children Moving: A Reflective Approach to Teaching Physical Education

Children! Impressionable, innocent, enthusiastic, eager to learn, and all different. In fact, if you believe that all children are identical—with the same interests, abilities, and size—thenChildren Moving is not the book for you. The authors of Children Moving, however, recognize that each child is unique. One size does not fit all! Thus,Children Moving guides you in the process of learning to teach a curriculum that is differentiated for a range of skill abilities and fitness levels. If all children were the same, we would be able to package a curriculum with the same games and the same gymnastic stunts and dances you would do with all of the children as if they were identical.Children Moving, on the other hand, introduces you to the reflective approach—a process of teaching that provides the background for you to adapt, adjust, and modify lessons so they are interesting and worthwhile for all of the children you teach—from the lowest to the highest skill and fitness levels. The ultimate goal, of course, is to guide youngsters in the process of becoming physically active for a lifetime.

The lesson plans to accompany Children Moving, On the Move: Lesson Plans for Children Moving, are now available on the CREATE platform as an ExpressBook. To order your print or eBook copies, visit http://create.mcgraw-hill.com.

George Graham, PhD, joined the faculty in the Department of Kinesiology at Penn State in August 2002. He serves as the coordinator of the K-12 Health and Physical Education program and as the Director of the Pedagogy of Physical Activity Laboratory. He moved to Penn State after 17 years on the faculty at Virginia Tech. He began his career teaching and coaching in the public schools of California and Oregon and also served on the faculties of the University of Georgia and the University of South Carolina. Dr. Graham has published extensively on the topics of physical education teacher effectiveness and physical education and activity for children with twelve books and monographs to his credit and over 50 articles. He is a much sought after speaker and consultant, delivering presentations at more then 100 conferences (over 35 were keynote addresses) throughout the world as well as serving as a consultant to seventy-five school districts, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and the Professional Golf Association of America. Dr. Graham has appeared on CBS in the Morning, CNN, and National Public Radio (NPR) to speak on the topic of positive physical education for children. He has also been cited in USA Today, The Harvard Review and The Washington Post. A recipient of numerous awards, he most recently was inducted as a Fellow in the North American Society for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. He was awarded the Margie Hanson Honor Award presented by the Council on Physical Education for Children, and the National Association for Sport and Physical Education Curriculum and Instruction Academy Honor Award. Dr. Graham served as the Executive Director of the United States Physical Education Association. Along with his graduate students he wrote the first developmentally appropriate document for the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE). He is the immediate past-President of NASPE. He also serves on the PepsiCo Blue Ribbon Advisory Board for Health and Wellness and as the Director of Research and Curriculum Development for Top Dog Fitness. His most recent work is focused on educational uses of computer technology for teachers and students. He is the senior advisor for PE Central, the ultimate website for physical education teachers that averages over 70,000 unique visitors per month. Dr. Graham also is the senior advisor to Healthy Hearts, an e-Learning module delivered via the Internet for upper elementary and middle school students, designed to teach them about cardiovascular disease, physical activity, nutrition and tobacco avoidance. Healthy Hearts is currently being used extensively in West Virginia and New York.