Short essay on traditional elementary school

The traditional elementary school is organized around the self-contained classroom, in which one teacher provides instruction in all the subjects.

Over the years, specialist teachers have begun to relieve the classroom teacher of some of the instructional responsibilities in areas such as physical education, art, and music. Most states now certify specialist teachers in these areas

States that have laws requiring physical-education instruction in the elementary school seldom specify that the instruction has to be done by a specialist teacher.

But the National Children and Youth Fitness Study II found that 83 percent of the children in grades first through fourth who were tested in the study had physical education at least once per week from a specialist teacher.

That finding is higher than are most estimates. Regardless of what the actual percentage might be, it is clear that many school districts hire elementary physical-education specialists even though they are not required by law to do so.

The issue here is clear. Most classroom teachers have had only one course in physical-education methods as part of their teacher preparation. They are not well prepared to teach physical education. The demands on their curricular time increase year to year.

They cannot possibly do all the things expected of them and physical education is too often the subject that gets left out.

The physical-education specialist has extensive training to do the job and has that job as his or her sole teaching interest. Children clearly benefit more from specialist teaching than from instruction given by the classroom teacher.

In many school districts, elementary physical- education specialists travel from school to school, often serving three or four schools each week. The specialist teacher’s one lesson per week and the classroom teacher follows up with a second and perhaps third lesson that week.

The specialist teacher is often responsible for providing lesson plans for the classroom teacher that build on what was taught during the specialist’s one lesson with the children. Being a travelling specialist is a difficult job. Continuity is hard to achieve.

The specialist sometimes does not feel that he or she is a member of any single school faculty. It is clear that elementary physical education will take a major step forward when each school has at least one specialist physical educator.

School districts that want children to have a daily period of physical education have one to three full-time specialist physical educators in each elementary school. The benefits of such an arrangement are clear.

The school district obviously values physical education. Groups of specialist teachers can work together, each teaching in those activities for which he or she is best prepared.

That this situation might someday become the norm for elementary schools everywhere is the hope behind the movement for high-quality, daily physical education.