New PE is a better PE

For the last couple of years, whenever you entered the colosseum, you would witness a mixed class of PE of both boys and girls, and complete chaos. But this year it’s a complete different story. Now when you walk in you see a filled colosseum with organized classes split into boys and girls, and focused on what they’re supposed to do.

This is due to the changes made in PE this year, which include a change in the whole curriculum and in the structure of the classes. Overall the changes have been positively received by both students and PE teachers and people want to know the reasoning behind the changes.

Curriculum Change

“The first reason is to give the class more diversification, so that it wasn’t the same thing every year because all students have different tastes,  and we are able to satisfy the majority of the students this way,” Luis Fernando Rodriguez, also known as “Nando”, the PE coordinator said.

The main reason for the changes was mostly directed towards the students, trying to make the class more diverse and fun for both students and teachers. Finally the teachers and the school were able to figure out a way to fulfill the diverse tastes students have and make immediate changes.

“The first thing was that we distributed [the class] in 5 general topics: the first is risk and prevention in physical activity, the second is physiology, the third theme is programming own habits of physical activity, the fourth one is physical preparation,and the last one is pace and rhythm,” Rodriguez said.

The first change made was a major shift in the curriculum of the PE class. Before the changes the classes were very repetitive and dull with no sense of organization or direction of the class. But with this change, it proposes a variety of activities that will be carried out across the year, enriching not only their physical abilities but also their knowledge.

Class Structure Changes

“The second change is the distribution of the classes, in Middle School, we distribute it by the majority of the gender, that is, if there are lots of men, 3 groups of men and 2 of women” Rodriguez said.

The second major change wasn’t done in the curriculum but more headed to the structure of the class. It had to do with how the classes were chosen and divided. In Middle School PE classes were divided based on gender. Dividing men into three classes and women into two classes. Although in Middle School the structure was set up to be more simple, in High School it was a complete different story.

“In High School we distribute [the classes] in the following way: we take out a group of athletes that will be like a high PE in some way because they have better conditions, and 4 groups in the following way: two groups of women and two groups of men, trying to find that the physical conditions and the characteristics to be similar, not if they are lazy or if they are good but that they are similar so that the class is even “

In High School the classes were divided based on physical abilities in an attempt to balance out the classes. This is the reason why many critics have surfaced by students saying that this affects motivation in students or that they classified wrong. But others argue that this gives a balance to the class making it more entertaining.

Effect of the Changes

“Through the classification of the classes we have seen that the class flows more smoothly by having students of the same abilities and motivation in the same class.” said Urbano Mesa, a PE teacher

This comes to show that all the changes made have definitely made an improvement in making the class more captivating and engaging than ever before. Both teachers and students have seen an effect of classifying the classes, both positive and negative, but mostly positive.

“In my case, I know of some students that should be on the advanced class and some that should be on the lower class, and those are changes that have not been done and should be done,” said Julian Jaramillo an 11th grade junior.