By Carrie Powers
It was my third year as a teacher way back in 1999. I had just been given my dream job as the Health and Physical Education Teacher at a small private I worked at in downtown Toronto. I was in heaven! You see, my first degree was in Health and Sports Science and I had been a very happy competitive runner in Canada and the United States for over 10 years. I loved being physical. It was my preferred ‘method of operation’ back then, my MO.
Thinking back to 1999, I had so much energy! I spent countless hours devising my own classroom management system for all my PE classes from Kindergarten to grade 8 called ‘Information Formation.” It worked like a charm. I also spent hours reading over all the great PE resources that Ontario Physical Health Education Association (OPHEA) put out for teachers. Their PE lessons were exceptional, easy to follow and to implement. I happily went to work each day and happily went home at the end of each work day.
The best part of my job back then was that I taught all my PE lessons outside on the grass field situated directly behind our school; rain, snow or shine. I was invincible! As a young physical being teacher, I also took pride in the fact that I had to carry all the PE equipment outside for all my classes, all by myself. This could include a class set of soccer balls, bouncy balls, hula hoops, baseball gear, gator balls or lacrosse equipment on any given day. Piece of cake for me back then.
In all my classes, I tended to run my students a lot! Running is fun, right? And my job in my mind was literally to tire them out to the best of my ability in a fun, physical way, so the students would return to their classroom teacher calmer and more focused for their next lessons. I took that responsibility to heart that year.
During my lessons that September, 1999, I remember luckily having pretty good weather to do my classes in. I also remember it was a key time to get to know all of my students better in the physical arena and look for ways to help some students that were new to certain fitness and sports skills. One class really intrigued me that September. It was my Kindergarten class. They were so darn cute! All 20 of them would arrive with a bountiful amount of energy and all just wanted to have loads of fun. What they didn’t realize is it was my job to actually teach them how to listen, follow instructions, throw or catch a ball, and respond to my whistle. It was in those early days of September a challenge for me to ‘calm the herd’ so to speak. But I love challenges!
One student in particular, Henry, a smallish boy in stature for his age stood out in my memory. It was common for my students to arrive at my “Information Formation” area out on the grass field, and sit single file between two large orange cones. After I told them what we were going to do today, the class would take off for a warm up run around the field led by me. Sometimes we would jog, sometimes we would skip, gallop or do side shuffle. In those early lessons with this kindergarten class, I would often blow the whistle, which the kids knew to ‘stop’ immediately and ‘freeze’ their body while I look back to see how all the little kindies were doing. Every single time I blew the whistle I would see Henry off in the far, far distance just walking, not even trying to freeze. Hmmm. What was that about? I would encourage him to catch up, which he did and we would continue going around the field as a happy little unit.
As I observed Henry closer in our small or large group cooperative games, I saw that he was not able to lift his legs or move in an agile way like his peers. He literally could not run! Honestly, it just looked to me that he had never moved his body physically before, like ever. So awkward. So new. When I pulled him aside, he was very shy with me yet very respectful when I asked him questions. He would usually just nod his head and smile. English was his second language, so I didn’t force a response.
My spidey senses as a teacher were heightened. I needed to do some research in order to help Henry more during my physical education classes. First off, I spoke to his classroom teacher who shared with me that yes, Henry was from China and had been in Toronto since age 3 yet his parents did not speak English with him at home. Okay, that was helpful for me to learn that. Next, I decided to call home and talk to his mother to learn more about him. His mother didn’t speak English. Okay, that was a problem. I thanked her for the call and got off the phone quickly.
That following Monday, I was completely surprised that Henry’s mom with a translator showed up at our school just before the morning bell went. I spoke to both of them. The mother, through the translator, wanted to know if Henry was behaving and doing what he was told while at school. I stated with a big smile, “Yes, of course!” and then went into why I had called her last week. I was basically concerned with his physical health and his lack of coordination overall. I told them mother he had difficulty running in general.
You could see from the mother’s facial reaction that she was relieved. She told me that Henry is her only child and spends a lot of time in their condo every day after school and only goes to the park sometimes for exercise. I was like in my mind, “What? Come Again?” But outwardly, I responded, “Oh okay, can you tell me more? Has he ever joined up to do any physical activities before?” Her response was, “No! She was also concerned yet felt he was not a high energy kid.” I thanked her for coming to see me and told her I would help her son get more physical, no problem.
For the next month I was on a mission. The following kindergarten PE class, I pulled Henry aside and told him, “Henry, I am going to teach you how to run!” He looked up at me and smiled. So during our classes together while the other students were safely and happily completing a fitness task together, I would pull Henry aside and teach him how to lift his legs and move his arms, alternating each arm and leg while running. We would do it together. Henry was loving the attention. I would then ask him to run ahead of me, so I could watch and give new tips. Slowly but surely, Henry was learning how to lift his legs, swing his arms, lean forward and run, sort of. This learning process continued with each passing month in term one and with lots of practice. But I could see that Henry was dedicated to the task and was one of those students who set a good example by listening to instructions in ‘Information Formation.” Thus he received a great deal of positive instruction from me during that period of time.
Over term 1 that fall, I witnessed the following sight. Every time I asked my kindy class to run around the field or do little running races or do tag games, Henry would always be dead last or get tagged first. It was a given. There was a period of time that no one in the class wanted to ‘partner-up’ with Henry, for he was so slow. So, I had to make the partners in every class, problem solved. Henry tried his best to run and keep up with his classmates and honestly, he was the most tired kid at the end of all our PE classes together that fall. Sometimes his face would be so flushed, beat red from all his exertion and he would just flop on the grass at times during the lesson. I never gave up on him! I was determined to teach him how to be physical, how to run and how to have fun while participating.
Term 2 began. Henry was able to run a bit better. Still the slowest but was not so far behind the others. I continued to give him lots of encouragement and slowly, the other students were accepting him for they could see he was improving. One class in general during the winter months, I remember us all on the sidelines clapping our hands and cheering Henry on to finish his warm up lap in the snow like a champ. He looked up and tried to give a little surge forward towards his cheering classmates and encouraging teacher. Once he made it, we all gave him a high five, praised him and continued on with our lesson. He was so happy! It was definitely a cool moment for us all.
Henry’s parents would show up at each parent teacher interview that year with their interpreter and thank me every time for helping their son and teaching him how to run. They couldn’t believe the progress we had made! Apparently, Henry was now asking his parents to go to the park and to join the local soccer team that summer in their neighbourhood. They were overjoyed to see their son so active and so happy.
That is the kind of parent-teacher conference you want to have every single term. To hear parents say that they are happy with their child’s learning, development and effort. I was a super happy teacher back then, for I was teaching my students from my passion, from my heart. Physical Education. It was the best!
At the end of the 1999-2000 school year, I remember Henry could indeed finally run. It may have taken all 10 months of practice together every single PE class, but we had accomplished that goal together. At the end of the year, I like to give out ‘Athletic Certificates’ to all the students for something they improved or excelled in. To Henry I gave him a certificate that read Congratulations for: “Learning How To Run.” I distinctly remember his face was beaming with pride once I put the certificate in one hand and shook the other hand in congratulations. The whole class cheered wildly! Henry had done it. That is a day I will never forget as a young teacher.
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