This is Jessi, practicing her juggling skills, just as
we did on our trip to KAHPERD.

On October 15, my PEH 220 class took a field trip to the KAHPERD Convention in Louisville. I feel that this experience really impacts me as an aspiring teacher. There was so much information presented to me there that I had always been somewhat familiar with, but never really realized how much it could impact the lives of my future students. Kids face so much these days, with the fact that childhood obesity rates are constantly rising, expectations from schools are elevating, and childhood depression is becoming an epidemic in today’s society, how do we really expect our children to be able to cope with everything? However, there is a treatment. Exercise and movement can help children to deal with all of the above factors All we need to do is incorporate this idealistic standard of living into their everyday lives.

In schools today, so much is based on state tests. It is expected that children sit down all the time and constantly study, in order for the teachers to have enough time to go over everything that will appear on these tests. However, I found the results of the school that she talked about to be amazing. After using the program standards of Fit 4 Learning, the test scores improved dramatically with the approach. Not only do children reap the benefits of this program through kinesthetic learning, but using the exercise you get through this will also help with bringing children’s weight down and help with then deal better with stress, inevitably bringing childhood depression to a standstill. Going to the convention made me really realize that there are so many positive reasons to integrate movement into the lives of our children.

Upon becoming a teacher I definitely plan to find ways to bring movement into the classroom, given all of the wonderful effects it will have on my students. I really enjoyed all of the games and activities we participated in during our time in Louisville. I also noticed the things the teachers on the videos she showed us were doing and I can understand how these activities can help children with learning. Another good thing about this is that you can apply this type of method to almost any subject, whether it is math, social studies or phonics. All you really have to do is come up with a song that will help the children remember how to do something, and then apply movements and it is really easy to remember. As a teacher, I absolutely want to include this type of learning in my classroom and I am really glad to have gotten to have this experience. I feel as if it will help me to be a better and more effective teacher in the future.

I would place this in the Elements of Authentic Learning section. This was a field trip that I will never forget. The information I learned there will constantly be with me as I continue to build my future in teaching children. I feel that the experiences that I had through going on this trip affected me in such a way because there was so much activity used to present the information given, it wasn’t just a big lecture, backed up by a PowerPoint, but the presenter actually took the time and used the energy it took to get up and show us how activity could be used in schools.