Wednesday, July 8, 2009

From a Spark into a Bonfire


Sorry I've been neglecting my P.E. peeps somewhat.
Greg Thompson, an elementary P.E. teacher from Wisconsin, did a presentation at this year's GAIN on his 5-in-5 concept. It is based on Dr. John Ratey's SPARK concept:


http://johnratey.typepad.com/

Dr. Ratey's concept is that daily vigorous exercise improves cognitive function. My only issue is that is very technology dependent, narrow scoped, & difficult to implement in most typical school settings.
Greg amped it up by developing a series of exercises that can be done in limited space- even in a classroom, with no equipment, and is easy to administrate. It is a series of 5 exercises performed in 5 minutes, repeated at regular intervals throughout the day. It involves squatting, pushing, pulling, rotating, balancing, reaching, hopping/jumping. There's no reason to stare into some heart rate monitor, it's very clear you are above 120 beats per minute.

5 comments:

JH said...

I know PE has been cut practically everywhere but what about recess?

I wished recess was available all through high school back in the day.

jbeyle said...

Is there somewhere we can see it in action? Thanks for the update
Jon B

Joe Przytula said...

I will contact Greg & see if I can get pics/video.

Unknown said...

There is a really cool PE program I heard about from Dr. Ed Thomas going on in Jefferson County Iowa. Here is a link to video about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_-gTzrqMiE

Greg T. said...

I will look into posting something. I would love to do it with video for you Joe. Our plan is to have 24 modules with video clips for sale in the fall through Beacon Athletics. As Joe said, the program is designed to be used in concert between the PE teacher and classroom teacher. The exercises are taught in PE class then led by students in the classroom. Our push up numbers were excellent this spring and we hadn't done a regular push up in 5 months or so. Feel free to contact me with questions:
gregory.thompson@farmington.k12.mi.us