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Physical literacy focus includes class time

West Vancouver schools integrating activity throughout the day

Agility ladders are becoming as common as crayons in West Vancouver primary classrooms.

And that’s by design.

An agility ladder is a piece of exercise equipment that can be rolled out on a flat surface. It looks like a ladder lying down, and users can practise various types of movement such as skipping through the rungs, shuffling, jumping, and more. It is meant to promote co-ordination, focus, and cardio. The equipment is just one small piece of the plan as the West Vancouver district school board refines its system-wide approach to physical literacy.

“The importance of teachers creating quality movement opportunities for students to become more physically literate is not a new concept in West Vancouver schools, but what is different is the district’s system-wide approach to nurturing the development of healthy, confident, competent movers,” explains Diane Nelson, director of instruction, learning and innovation.

For years, the district has focused on three domains of learning that worked somewhat independently of each other: cognitive (such as memory, understanding, and attention), emotional (such as self-regulation and self-awareness of emotions), and physical (such as fundamental sports skills taught during gym class).

Each domain had a district leader working with teachers to design and implement programming. About six years ago, the district brought together the cognitive and emotional domains, recognizing the affect emotional well-being has on student learning.

Emotional awareness and skills to recognize and self-regulate those emotions are now a component of classroom learning, contributing to regular academic study.

Last year, the district decided to bring physical learning into the classroom as well.

Nelson explains that physical literacy has been a part of the curriculum for years, but has mainly focused on fundamental sports and movement skills. That focus was fairly narrow and took place during regular physical education classes.

“We’ve been doing a very good job for a number of years,” says Nelson, but adds that assessment of Grade 2 baseline physical literacy showed there was room for improvement.

So the focus shifted slightly to reflect a new emphasis on “movement all day any time.”

That means teachers now work in action breaks and activity throughout the day. That could mean 10 minutes of yoga, some jumping jacks, stretching, creating shapes with bodies as they are learning about shapes in math class, or even just a quick run out to the school yard to touch two trees and return to the classroom.

“There’s a lot more movement throughout the day,” notes Nelson.

In general, physical literacy refers to learning basic movement skills, such as sending and receiving (catching and throwing), balance and body control, and locomotor skills such as running, jumping, skipping, and rolling. Those skills continue to be taught in specific physical education classes, but that learning is then reinforced in the classroom. Nelson compares the process to learning any other subject, such as math, in which teachers try to get students to talk about it and do it in different ways at different times for more practice, not just during a specified math class.

Last year the system-wide effort went into effect and Nelson says classroom teachers observed not only dramatic changes overall in skill development in the gym, but they also noticed a positive impact on the students’ ability to manage their energy levels within the classroom setting.

She calls the past school year “a real breakthrough,” with plans to continue the momentum during the upcoming school year.

“Our overriding goal for physical literacy is we want to ensure that we have competent, confident movers who are motivated to move and be active for life,”
says Nelson.