Hip-Hop

In 1976 some house parties in the Bronx, NYC gave rise to a phenomenon that is still shaping culture today. Hip-Hop tends to borrow from existing sources: a DJ takes samples and beats from songs and mixes them together to create a new sound score; the MC or rapper borrows from West African folk poets and Jamaican musicians who have been reciting rhymes over percussive beats for centuries; beatboxing stems from ska and scat in jazz; fashion samples from impoverished and even imprisoned human populations; graffiti borrows surfaces other than conventional canvases and displays in unconventional "galleries", but borrows from numerous established and conventional techniques.  But since this is PE, our investigation of Hip-Hop will focus primarily on dancing, which draws from West African dance, East African dance, Capoeira, Jitterbug, gymnastics, and so much more.  At the core, Hip-Hop dance is street dance.

Our use of Hip-Hop is designed to foster strength, coordination, muscle and movement memories, strength, stamina, speed, awareness and rhythm, but also gives us a chance to support creativity, innovation, risk taking and management, and self-expression.

Hip-Hop has been so successful that in just 37 years that the influences can be felt globally.  The "open source" nature of hip-hop, a form that freely borrows from existing forms, allows it to fluidly be adapted by young people world-wide.  Hip Hop is a fusion.  There is salsa-infused Hip-Hop, Jazzy Hip-Hop, Balletic Hip-Hop, Tap-infused Hip-Hop, Bollywood Hip-Hop, even Hula-heavy Hip-Hop.  There is a Hip-Hop movement vocabulary, but there is also an expectation that a dancer manipulates, alters, and varies the vocabulary to establish a unique signature, style, or "trademark".  Take a move and innovate a new way to do it to impress all the b-boys/b-girls in your "crew" or at the "battle".  If you take a move but never make it your own, you are "biting".  You can "bite", but you then have to "flip it" (innovate something new in it or do it your own unique way).

So why Hip-Hop?  Isn't is a celebration of bling and conquest?  Hip-Hop is a reflection of culture as much as it is a culture to in itself.  If a culture celebrates bling and conquest, so will the art generated therein.  If the culture embraces innovation, creativity, self-expression, physical and mental flexibility, whole-bodied health, that is reflected in the art.

Hula and Isolation; Cat & Mouse; Catching Fish

In January most classes spent part of the time learning a Hula dance, which was aimed at our Multicultural Event's focus on Polynesian Culture.  Some students were concerned by or embarrassed about all the isolated movements of the hips, which opened dialog about cultural normalcy of dress, diet, exercise, and movement.  The conversations and context about culture and it's correlations with movement is a useful tool for understanding wellness practices that are as effective as they are unfamiliar.

The study of Hula was neither terribly in-depth nor intense, but serves to tune a students bodily awareness to in isolated group of skeletal muscles; to challenge movement and muscle memory; to challenge directional and spatial awareness; and as an unexpected "foot in the door" for the hip-hop lessons that will follow.

The introspective, low-intensity nature of the Hula lessons were paired with high intensity games of Chase called (Dog&)Cat&Mouse and Catching Fish.  These games requires speed, agility, quick decision-making,  fluid focus, spatial awareness, and attention to detail.

Cat&Mouse is a sprint game of chase.  Students stand in groups of 2 or 3 and serve as bases (or Mouse Holes).  One student is designated Mouse, another is Cat, and you can figure out who is chasing whom.  If the Cat tags the Mouse, the Mouse becomes the Cat (and Cat becomes Mouse) tries to instantly tag back.  Either Cat or Mouse can go to a base of students, join the group, and bump a new Cat or Mouse off the other end.  For a much more challenging version, add a Dog who chases the Cat who chases the Mouse who chases the Dog...

Catching Fish is a version of a Blob Tag and Infection Tag and uses more stamina than sprinting, and requires very different strategies and solutions.  One student starts chasing all the others.  A student tagged joins the tagger's hand until they are a group or "net" of 4, at which time they divide into 2 nets of 2 and pursue other "fish" (those yet un-tagged).

Next students will explore a cultural and dance phenomenon: Hip-Hop.

Be Healthy,
Matthew Smith

Magic Hand, Ball Control, Ballet

The running and tag games that filled October and helped us train in November for the Seattle Kid's Marathon was ultimately dominated by a game we developed in PE called Magic Hand.  In Freeze Tag the tagger has freeze power, and in other tag games the tagger has other powers, but in Magic Hand the tagger has a variety of powers.  Magic Hand is an amalgam; "All-Tag".  One student might be tagged frozen, the next student might be Disco Tagged and the next yet might have to complete X number of Jumping Jacks or Push-Ups to get back in the game.  The game and the powers grew from one week to the next, and eventually even became a team game based on the structure of Capture the Flag, but each team had multiple flags, each of which represented a Tag Power their team could capture from the other team.  While all K-4 classes seemed to thoroughly enjoy the playing and development of the game, only the 4th graders will get a chance to similarly create their own amalgam game or sport, TBD.  The running/tag games and lessons went later than originally planned, but student involvement and enthusiasm trumped paper-laid plans, and the game was a great, fun way to train for the Marathon.

Between the November and December holiday breaks, the K's and 1st graders will be studying Ballet while the 2-4th grades begin ball manipulation skills with Basketball drills and games.  The 2-4th graders will start Ballet upon returning in January, or if class dynamics are inappropriate or unsafe in during Basketball, they will start Ballet sooner.

For the K-1st Grades, Ballet focuses on movement memory, strong feet/ankles, stability (standing on one leg, for instance), balance (standing equally stable on the other leg), jumps/hops/leaps, and rotation/turns/spins.  Exact or precise reproduction of movement is less important than understanding the underlying movement dynamics.  For instance, if a student hops where he should leap, the momentum is more important than the details about which feet go where when, as long as the student can distinctly differentiate the two when asked.  Intermediate students will learn things like the sagittal, coronal, and transverse planes of space/movement (albeit by names like "wheel", "wall", and "table" planes).  They will learn that mobility is dependent upon (relative) stability.  Intermediate students will also be expected to demonstrated more Ballet vocabulary and more precise move memory and recall.  Students of all ages will learn a variety of stretching during ballet, but not in every class.

Basketball, like all team sports in K-4 PE, starts with drills and games for the skills and may or may not get as far as competitive team basketball.  It is my expectation that classes will get there, but they must work safely and with discipline; the more important lessons are the ability to control your body well enough to control equipment while dribbling, passing, aiming, shooting, rebounding, and more.  Basketball is another excellent opportunity to practice and refine teamwork and sportsmanship, and it also gives us more opportunities to tune our cardio-aerobic engines with  shuttle runs, all sorts of jumps (jacks, ropes, burpees, star jumps, etc), albeit with more emphasis on explosive power and sprinting than marathon, pace, or distance running.

The final week before the December break is intended to be obstacle courses, a student favorite that is generally appropriate on short weeks before holiday breaks.

Keep Moving,
Matthew Smith

Head-Tail and Cross Lateral;Problem-Solving and Satisfaction

The K and 1st Graders start most PE classes with a developmental movement sequence that is useful for coordinating strong head-tail connections in the spine (useful for rolling, falling, tumbling, etc) and to reinforce cross-lateral body connections (used in everything from crawling, walking, and running to throwing a ball or doing a ballet leap or turn).  They have played the Space Game (finding and using the positive/negative space in the shapes their bodies create), Body Sculptures, and Mirroring- all movement exploration games with partner(s)- and are starting to combine them into bigger, more complex investigations.  Students have been investigating quadrupedal movement to recruit strength in the arms, shoulders, back and chest (useful later when we tumble), and will soon start to play a few quadruped games, like tag and soccer.

The 2nd-4th grades have wrapped-up Frisbee Games and Ultimate Frisbee, and will next begin aerobic and cardiovascular studies.  We'll run (a lot) to build our cardio-aerobic engines, but also jump some ropes and some jacks.  In addition, we will revisit quadrupedal movement to build strong bodies and to prepare for Obstacle Courses and Capoeira.  The 3rd-4th graders will pull it all together with beginner Parkour/Free Running; essentially the practice of perceiving the world as an obstacle course and problem-solving on the move to navigate through it.  There are few things as satisfying to me as an obstacle course, and judging by enthusiasm, many students feel the same way.  Just like our ancestors running through a forest or across a savanna, we must make quick decisions while on the move.  Our ancestors did so to eat and to not be eaten.   Modern living has removed most of the problem solving from human mobility: civil engineers and planners have built roads, sidewalks, paths, and stairs but ancestral humans navigated their environments in a very different way.  Free Running and Obstacle Courses challenge us to live to that design- the problem solver on the move- and living up to our design is satisfying indeed!

Stay Healthy,
Matthew Smith

New Beginnings and New Expectations/Beware of Flying Objects

I am so excited to again be teaching K-4 Movement and PE at OWS.  My name is Matthew Smith, and this is my PE blog:

By now students in Grades 1-4 are starting to realize how expectations for them have risen with their grade level.  And I must say right up front that this year's Kindergarten classes are already making an outstanding impression with their focus, range, and willingness, so I am establishing high expectations for them as well.

The K-1 Grades will spend the next few weeks exploring things they already in some ways know, but things we want to define more clearly and to learn to observe the body more clearly.  We'll spend time rolling and crawling (in more ways than you might imagine) and falling and sliding; walking, running, leaping, jumping, hopping, skipping, galloping; and understanding how all those things are different and how the body does different things to coordinate and integrate and differentiate all the above.  I might choreograph a cumulative little ditty that takes us through the motor development from fetal position, through rolling over, reaching, scooting, crawling eventually running and leaping, and spinning... I have high expectations for these Kindergarten classes!

The 1-4th Grades started the year with team-building exercises, emphasizing awareness (of space, others, equipments/obstacles), communication (verbal, visual, touch), and trust.  Grades 2-4 will use Ultimate Frisbee drills and games to advance their team building.  The 2nd Grade will do some additional non-frisbee team building first, and will play games that drill the skills, not competitive games.  The 3-4th Grades will be assigned teams and will keep the same teams throughout our Ultimate Frisbee unit, developing a rhythm and familiarity, but good sportsmanship is a must.  Some students in 4th Grade will get the opportunity to be Team Managers, mostly giving them the opportunities to influence team mechanics and chemistry, and correct the imbalances of my team assignments.  Managers manage for one week, then a new Manager.  If this "pilot" works, we will repeat it throughout our team sport units (but probably new teams in every new sport), giving all students opportunities to Manage.

Until Next Time,
Go Bobcats!

Volleyball

Volleyball is a fantastic team sport that requires no physical contact with other players, but is nonetheless physically demanding.  Moving to the ball, positioning the limbs, jumping, sliding, and not to mention the timing and coordination of contacting a moving ball with a moving body.  Furthermore, students learn that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection, so geometry becomes part of the game to keep the ball moving in the intended direction.  The ball bounces up to ~60% of it's original height, so students experience elasticity and must regulate and modulate applied force accordingly.  Lastly, volleyball requires a team effort that can not be successful without communication, trust, and focus.  I myself played Jr Olympic volleyball in HS and club volleyball in college and I always look forward to sharing my personal favorite ball game with students.

The younger classes will use a variety of balls and balloons to develop and coordinate skills and will also translate the skills to a racket game (probably pickle ball or badminton, TBD).  The older students will stay focused on the volleyball equipment and will more comprehensively learn the rules, rotation, and game play.  They are starting with very soft balls, but will gradually toughen their forearms until they are ready to bump a regulation volleyball.

Tail Tag, Fox Tail, and Wrestling

Students in Kindergarten are beginning 3 weeks of rehearsals for their Cultural Parade, but the 1st-4th grade students have all learned Tail Tag.  In Tail Tag, students wear a belt into which they tuck a flag.  That flag is the tail.  There are a variety of versions, but all versions require that one or more students try to take the tail of other students.  It is a tag game without actual tagging.  This no-contact game may seem a counter-intuitive introduction to the very full-contact activity that is wrestling, but it requires the students to start thinking about protecting the space behind them; protecting their backs.  It is also a litmus test to be sure that students carefully listen to and follow instructions.  When students demonstrate safety and responsibility in the task, then they advance to Fox Tail.  To date, about half the classes have made such progress.  Fox Tail wears the same belts and keeps the same flag as a tail behind a student, but instead of students having run of the gym, they are confined to a single small mat.  Retreat is no longer an option and there is nowhere to hide.  One student faces-off against another student, and while remaining on their feet, and without grabbing the other body, the students attempt to reach around the opponent and pull the tail from the belt.  Although there is no grabbing (no closed hands), arms and hands push and manipulate each other trying to solve the puzzle that is trying to solve them in return.  A student who captures the tail returns it, the tail is tucked again into the belt, and a high-5 or hand shake resumes the game until time expires.  Later versions of the game will allow a student to lie face down with the flag beneath the belly.  The partner/opponent then must try to roll that student onto her/his back to get or at least expose the tail- an amazing way to explore and exercise core muscles.  Yet another version does away with the tail altogether and the student lying tries to stand-up while the other student tries to roll her onto her back.  Some of the classes that can successfully and safely accomplish all the above will then move onto wrestling.

Wrestling is an almost universal developmental experience among young primates and indeed among many other young mammals (puppies, cubs, kittens, and ferrets all wrestle).  Wrestling and running are probably the first two activities that humans ever organized into sport.  Running, wrestling, swimming, and climbing are activities that allow and encourage natural functions of the human form, and that is why I am excited to offer an introduction to wrestling this year in PE.

For safety, we will not go so far as executing take-downs or tackles (although some students may earn the chance to learn and slow-motion practice) and there is a zero-tolerance policy toward horse-play and inattention.  Because of such high expectations and such low tolerance, this is generally a very safe unit of study.  In years past, I have always had more bumps, bruises, or injuries during Tag Games than during Wrestling.  But also because of the expectations and tolerances, and also because of the many uncertainties about the activity itself, I tend to contact more parents during wrestling than during any other activity.  I am also at your disposal for any and all questions and concerns that you may have, so please do not hesitate to email me or schedule a conference.

Enjoy the Warming Weather,
Matthew Smith