• The first step involves getting to know the children in the program and helping them get to know each other. You can accomplish this through name games and other icebreaking activities. If you already know the children and/or the children already know each other, work on developing teamwork within the group. This can be accomplished by participating in non-competitive group games and initiatives. (See page 9 for practical tips on building a team and some examples of teambuilding games. See page 33 for additional international games that can jump-start the program.)
• Explain the program to the children. This is a good time to develop mutual ground rules and set goals for the group. (See page 11 for suggestions for developing ground rules.)
• (A) Use brainstorming to help the group determine a culture and sport to explore and play. (B) If a sport is chosen, learn more about the country and culture in which it is played. If a culture is chosen, research that culture, learn about the sports popular in the culture, and (C) choose to play that sport. (See page 13 for an explanation of how to brainstorm with a group.)
• Research the sport to learn about rules, attire, equipment, heroes, and other aspects of that sport. Begin learning the language used in the chosen country through computer, library, and community resources. (See page 31 for a list of Internet resources. See page 14 for an explanation of community).
• Make contact with people in the community that may be able to help the group learn the skills and acquire the resources associated with the sport and language. (See page 14 for an explanation of community.)
• Play the sport using any rules, skills, language, and cultural knowledge acquired. For instance, if you have been learning about Japan and Karate, you might want the children to practice their kicks and count off using Japanese numbers. If you have been learning about Mexico and soccer, you might want the children to scrimmage and keep score in Spanish. The program should culminate in an opportunity for the children to use the sport and cultural knowledge learned to participate in, or play, the sport.

Objective: Students will develop teambuilding skills. (1)

Objective: Students will explore a specific culture and the associated sport. (3, 4)

Objective: Students will develop skills related to the sport. (4, 5)

Objective: Students will apply new skills and knowledge to play the sport. (6)

Objective: Students will apply new skills and knowledge to play the sport. (6)

Objective: Students will demonstrate acquired knowledge and skills. (1-6)

Objective: Students will participate in program evaluation. (1-6)

Teambuilding

Teambuilding should be: Enjoyable Trust-oriented Motivating The responsibility of every team member A continuous (iterative) process Focused on a clear and consistent set of goals Concerned with the needs of each team member Aware of team potential An open climate for communication Open to creativity Open to new ways of problem solving Appreciative of individual differences and strengths Able to Welcome and handle change Teamwork oriented Take an opportunity to see if your team shares any of the above components. Icebreakers: Icebreakers are helpful in starting a group on the road to becoming an effective team. Icebreakers allow team members to begin talking and getting to know one another. Here are a few icebreakers that you may want to try with your team. Alphabet Search Divide the participants into small groups. Instructions: Search your person for objects that you have on you with the beginning letter of the objects ranging from A-Z. Make a list. The first group to get all 26 letters represented wins. This exercise can explore how diverse we are and provide insight into our individual selves. If done in a small group, this activity lends itself well to a small team building exercise as the group works together through the alphabet. Animals Objective: Have fun! Get acquainted. Preparation: On a slip of paper, write the name of an animal that makes an obvious noise. Create five to ten slips for each animal.Hand out each slip of paper and instruct the group that they should find the people in the room who have the same animal as they have without talking. Give them a few minutes. They should make sounds and jesters that let others know what animal they are. Once they find each person in their group they should continue until they find all the monkeys, or all the dogs, etc. Birthday Partner Have participants mingle in the group and identify the person whose birth date (not year - just month and date) is closest to their own. Then, have them find out two things they have in common. Cut the Cake Draw a picture of a cake. (Variation – If you have an exact group of eight – use a real cake!) The objective: There are eight people coming to the party. You have one cake to serve. Your task is to produce eight pieces of cake with only three cuts of the knife. Possible solutions: Cut cake in half so you have 2 small complete cakes. Put them on top of each other and then cut in exact 4’s thus having 8 pieces. Cut the cake in half. Now you have 2 pieces. Stack them on top of each other and then cut in half – now you have 4 pieces. Cut those in half either way and you will have 8 pieces. Using the knife make one complete circle cut about ½ way through the cake so you have a circle inside the cake – 2 pieces. Now cut into 4ths and you will have 8 pieces. The elegant solution: Using the knife cut 1 curved line through the cake that has 3 curves. Then cut another curved line that intersects in the middle of the top and bottom curve. Then cut the cake in half. M&M’s Pass around a bag of M&M's. Tell the participants to take as many as they want. Once everyone has M&M's, instruct them that for each M&M they took they have to say one thing about themselves. For instance, if a person took 10 M&M's, they have to say 10 things about themselves. (check for food allergies)

1. Ask the participants to suggest possible ground rules for the group. You can encourage them by asking the following questions:
• What rules do we need to follow for you to have fun?
• How do you want to be treated by people in this group?
• What should we do when people are not following the ground rules we set?

• Post the ground rules where they will be visible to the participants during the program. The more they see the rules, the more they will remember them.
• Be strict about following the ground rules. If you do not enforce them early and often, it will be difficult to get the group to follow them later. If you set consequences for breaking the ground rules at the same time you set the rules, enforcing the rules will be easier.
• If you know that an activity may tempt the participants to break the ground rules, remind them of the rules before the activity begins. For instance, if you are having a soccer expert speak to the children, you may be concerned that the children will have trouble paying attention. It may be useful to remind them before the speaker begins that one of the rules they agreed upon was that “only one person may speak at a time.”
• You as the leader should model the ground rules. If you are not following the rules, the children will not want to either.
• Be flexible about the rules. If there is a ground rule that is broken very often, talk to the group about it. It might be useful to change the rule or drop it from the list altogether. It might also be useful to add new rules if issues arise that are not addressed by the existing rules.

1. Respect others when they are talking and listen carefully to them.
2. Treat others as you would like to be treated.
3. Participate to the fullest of your ability.
4. Try new ideas and activities.

1. The first and second time you break a rule, you get a warning.
2. The third time you break a rule, you will have 10 minutes of time out from the group.
3. The fourth time you break a rule, you will not participate until the next time the group meets.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a technique used to generate ideas and thoughts on a particular subject or topic. It can be used in various settings, such as classrooms, playgrounds, and after-school programs. Listed below are rules or guidelines for brainstorming. These techniques can be used to assist in increasing students’ level of comfort while brainstorming.

• Don’t judge/no criticism. Say what comes to your head and do not worry if it’s a good idea. Accept all ideas.
• Lots of ideas. Come up with as many ideas as you can.
• Wild and outlandish ideas. Come up with ideas that may be far out and strange.
• Piggyback. Build on ideas that are already stated. It’s okay to copy a person’s idea and change it a bit.

• Be positive. Pick ideas by emphasizing the ones you like, not complaining or crossing out the ones you dislike.
• Look at new items. Don’t forget about an idea that might be a bit strange.
• Use your head. Plan out tools you’ll use and the choices that are best for you.

Look where you’re going. Know what your goal is and keep your eyes on that target.

For more information contact:

FPSP International Office	Voice: 800.256.1499 or 859.276.4336
PO Box 23720	Fax: 859.276.4306
Lexington, KY 40523-3720	Email: FPSolve@aol.com
www.fpsp.org

Community Tie-ins

• Meetings should begin with:
• Greeting - begin with staff and students greeting one another by name
• Sharing - students and staff share information about themselves or their day
• Group activity - involve the entire group in a short, fast-paced activity
• News and announcements - students learn about events of the day or what is expected in the day ahead

Best Practices

• Common goals for all peer tutor programs are to provide students of all ages and ability levels an opportunity to interact and participate in an integrated learning environment
• All students can benefit from opportunities to engage in peer instruction, provide leadership, and ideally empower a dynamic new relationship based on understanding and responsibility
• Students learn more from other students when the student-tutor is skilled in the subject being taught. So, for a sports program, less-skilled students will learn most when they are paired with highly skilled students.

• Occurs when teams of pre-service teachers are assigned to the same classroom to provide observation and feedback
• Provides opportunities to refine teaching skills through immediate feedback and experimentation with alternate strategies
• Allows individuals to develop their own perspectives and to model strengths
• Consists of four training components:
  • understanding the rationale for peer coaching
  • demonstrations
  • simulated practice
  • analysis of the simulations
• Utilizes seven skills to enhance clarity of instruction for students:
  • informing students of lesson objectives
  • repeating important points
  • using examples
  • repeating information students do not understand
  • asking questions
  • providing opportunities for student questions
  • offer practice opportunities

• Content literacy is the ability to use reading and writing in the acquisition of new content in a given discipline
• Three principal cognitive components of content literacy are: general literacy skills, content specific literacy skills and prior content knowledge
• Content literacy in physical education can use general literacy techniques to enhance knowledge in a specific movement, sport, or fitness context
• Content literacy is content specific and allows one to be able to read, write, and think about the content while still learning more about it
• Content literacy comprises all of the skills needed to develop, understand and reflect on content
• Successful performance in physical education requires critical thinking; students must plan, investigate, reason, strategize, and reflect
• Further reading and writing provides students with ways to connect their class activities to other aspects of life and to be an active learner
• Suggestions for enhancing content literacy:
  • give students rules in writing after verbally stating the rules
  • ask students to select several rules and write about why and how each rule is important to effective or safe game play
  • use bulletin boards to display short articles about sports, athletes, and health
  • post a strategy or word of the day
  • have students write in a journal at the end of an instructional segment
  • ask students to complete peer observations
  • invite students to design a new or modified game
  • have students create posters or other visual aids with written explanations
• Content literacy helps students read and write
• Physical educators teach mixed ability groups, so it is important to know students’ approximate reading and writing abilities.

• Minority students are attracted to programs that use multicultural perspectives.
• There are four main approaches that multicultural education can take. The last two approaches listed require the most work to develop but provide the best multicultural education.
  • Contributions approach – focuses on holidays and heroes.
  • Additive approach – implies that teachers can add multicultural perspectives to their lessons without changing the content.
  • Transformation approach – the content of lessons are adapted to help students understand different cultural perspectives.
  • Decision-Making Social Action approach – students make decisions about social issues that are important and take actions to solve them.
• Mainstreaming, or putting disabled and non-disabled participants together can make the recreation experience richer and help participants understand multicultural perspectives. This concept applies to different groups (racial, cultural, etc) as well as to disabled and non-disabled groups.
• Although cultures have varying customs, rules and values, play and sport are universal to all people. Having people play games together can help them overcome some of the differences between them.
• If more sports are being explored (i.e., sports of different cultures), children can learn additional skills and will probably be more engaged because they won’t have time to get bored.
• By exploring cultures with our students, teachers and after-school staff can keep things fresh and interesting for themselves as well as for their students.
• Multicultural education is the process through which students are exposed to the diversity that exists in the United States
• To be culturally responsive means that teachers have the responsibility of being culturally responsive in the design of curriculum programs that are sensitive to the educational needs of learner from diverse cultural backgrounds

• It is important for the students to interact with the language they are learning. They can interact with the instructor, with each other, and with the language itself to learn more.
• It is important to teach language elements to the students and provide them with chances to practice the language in an instructional environment.
• It can be useful to place students in groups or pairs with mixed abilities. In such a mixed group, the more advanced student can practice his/her skills, and the less advanced student’s language skills can improve through interaction.

• It may be possible to improve the pro-social behaviors of children by teaching those behaviors in a sport context.
• Sport programs may be more successful at improving pro-social behavior if they include several different sports. This way, the children will be less likely to lose interest.
• Video-viewing could be one effective method (to be used within a sport context) for teaching pro-social behaviors.
• The facilitator of such a program should be someone that will continue to be involved with the children when the program is over. Students often develop an attachment to the adults working with them and may not show pro-social behaviors if they think their relationship with that adult ends with the program

• Students can best learn second languages from one another when the foreign words are repeated and rephrased during interaction.

Program Evaluation

The effectiveness of the Soaring with My Heroes program has been evaluated using a variety of methods. Several of the instruments used to measure program effectiveness are discussed below. These instruments were used to collect data at three different intervals: during the Fall before the first implementation, during the late Fall or early Spring semester between the first and second implementations, and late in the Spring after the second implementation. In addition, staff kept detailed field notes.

Questionnaires

Results

Another theme that emerged was the idea that the participants became more comfortable using other languages. For instance, during the first implementation of the program, one program leader’s field notes mentioned foreign language use only once. During the second implementation of the program, the same program leader mentioned the participants’ use of foreign language 21 times. Only two of these discussions of the participants’ use of language expressed a lack of or hesitancy to use other languages, and both discussions occurred early in the second implementation. Thus, the last 19 mentions of foreign language use indicate that there was an increase in the positive attitudes of participants toward the use of a new language.