Ray Calabrese’s Buckeye Blog

Real Difference Makers Push the Edge of the Envelop

Scott Mendelssohn and James Corral created a fitness lab in their middle school that pushes the edge of the envelop for the way physical education is taught in schools. These two men recognized the importance of creating a mental attitude of lifetime fitness for young people. School districts throughout the U.S. should consider modeling this program. 

Here’s part of the story reported by Amy Moellering:

[You can read the whole story here: http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_13645244]

“CHARLOTTE WOOD MIDDLE SCHOOL in Danville has taken physical education to a whole new level.

Their Fitness Lab, which opened this school year, is a far cry from the dodgeball and calisthenics many of us remember from our PE days. Instead, there are five bikes, seven rowers, eight Nautilus machines, 36 stability balls and free weights.

It resembles a workout room at a fitness club more than a middle school gym class. PE classes at Charlotte Wood explore different sports such as Frisbee football and basketball, but they supplement those units with days in the Fitness Lab. There, kids learn why it’s important to raise their heart rates and develop muscle strength. Students move through stations, keeping their heart rates up for 30 minutes as they circulate through aerobic and strength building exercises. They track their progress from week to week, helping them make the connection between exercise and health.”

“My main concern is not that kids learn to play a certain sport, but that they learn the connection of sports to fitness,” said Scott Mendelssohn, head of the school’s physical education department.

“If you don’t explain the relevance of running and how it improves heart health, they won’t understand why running is important.”

Mendelssohn, along with Athletic Director James Corral, worked on making the lab a reality for nine years. Corral had established a similar fitness center when he was a junior high PE teacher in Washington State in the late 1990s. At the time, it was one of only two junior high fitness centers in the nation.

Filed under: Appreciative Inquiry and tagged difference makers, fitness, mental attitude, Oakland, physical education, school districts