Dancing around the Athletic Centre gym as part of a “flock” and playing a hand-tapping game that required concentration and control probably weren’t what high school teachers from the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) expected when they arrived at the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education for a February 16 professional development day.
The TCDSB teachers enthusiastically participated in all the lessons about movement and its applicability to both sport and everyday life, taught by Professor David Frost and his team of instructors in a workshop entitled, Using an Active Environment to Facilitate Learning. The lessons touched on the correct way to execute the movements that underpin daily activities such as sitting and running, as well as on success in leadership and team building.
“We looked at how some of the same ideas we use in our undergraduate curriculum could be applied to a high school setting and highlighted a few teaching and learning strategies that the teachers can incorporate into their own classes,” Frost said. “We showed that there are benefits to getting people active while teaching any class by leveraging a variety of different teaching methods.”
“[The workshop] is transferable to everyday activities and getting students to be lifelong active learners”
Vincent Valeri, vice-principal at Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts, said the workshop was valuable because it is transferable to everyday activities and getting students to be lifelong active learners.
The workshop, organized by recruitment coordinator Sophie Harding from the KPE Registrar’s Office and Sue Pribaz of the TDCSB’s Student Success Resource Centre, was the first of its kind offered by the Faculty, and it’s one that both KPE and the TCDSB would like to repeat.
“A lot of our teachers are graduates of U of T’s old physical education and health program,” Pribaz said. “This is an opportunity to showcase the changes to the program and to learn new strategies for teaching.”