Enhancing Content Literacy in Physical Education

Integrating the English Language Arts Common Core State Standards into Physical Education

“…Although there are also many opportunities to integrate mathematics into physical education, this article focuses solely on ELA. think about what they are learning in more depth, which leads to enhanced student understanding (Buell & Whittaker, 2001). For example, students are taught tactics of a game through playing the game; however, they may learn more about those tactics if they had to select three tactics from a list and explain in writing what each tactic is and how it contributes to successful game-play.…”

The Use of Alternative Texts in Physical Education

“…In attempts to aid students' understanding of physical education, Griffin and Morgan suggested creating individual student dictionaries to collect terms over the duration of the class. For students to generate meaning in PE, these general literacy skills must be focused on acquiring knowledge in specific movements and aspects of sport and fitness (Buell & Whittaker, 2001). Many physical educators consistently think about the how, when, and what of their lessons, but to create meaning is to focus on the why (Sanford-Smith & Hopper, 1996).…”

“…To strengthen the skills students use, Buell and Whittaker (2001) and Manzo, Manzo, and Estes (2001) encouraged building into lessons the subject-specific thinking skills required in PE. Thus reading to learn, writing to learn, and talking to learn in PE can be used to develop critical thinking, planning and strategizing for success, reflecting on and analyzing performance and synthesizing findings, and questioning.…”

“…Skills learned in physical education, they said, "can be generalized beyond physical education and sport examples so that students realize their applicability in other academic subjects and other areas of their lives" (p. 349). PE can then begin to have an impact on students' lives so they can become lifelong learners and lifelong "movers" (Buell & Whittaker, 2001).…”

Physical Education and Language Arts: An Interdisciplinary Teaching Approach

“…A Physical education and Language Arts sample lesson is provided in Figure 2. reading and writing provide children with ways to connect their physical education activities with other aspects of their lives and take an active role in learning and even maximize the potential for content acquisition (Buell & Whittaker, 2001). Particularly in physical education, journal writing is an effective way to integrate writing and reflection (Buell & Whittaker, 2001).…”