From the Mouths of Babes: Student Voice in an Urban Elementary School
Student engagement in urban physical education programs is often problematic for teachers. One reason for a lack of engagement appears to be that many students do not find a great deal of meaning in the content of their physical education class. Students' lack of engagement in physical education is, as well, influenced by contextual variables such as the students' and teachers' personal characteristics (e.g. the manner by which they demonstrate respect for other people and handle conflict) and the values manifested in their community. The aforementioned contextual variables along with questionable content suggest that urban physical education teachers should employ different curricular programs and instructional methods than have been traditionally used in order to make programs meaningful to students. While the perceptions urban high school students hold about physical education has been examined, the perceptions of elementary urban students with regard to the meaningfulness of physical education have not (Cothran & Ennis, 1999; Ennis, Cothran, Davidson, Loftus, Owens, Swanson & Hopsicker, 1997). The purpose of the current study was to examine students' perceptions of events that occur frequently in urban physical education at the elementary level. Participants were an intact class of 15 sixth grade students and their teacher. Data were collected in three ways: a) videotaped records of lessons, b) field notes and c) formal interviews with 10 students using a semi structured interview guide. Field note data were typewritten and inductively analyzed. Interview data were analyzed qualitatively through constant comparison (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Categories were developed and examined for common elements that ran throughout and were then tied together. At this point in the analysis, themes were extracted from these categories. Data were coded and examples garnered that illustrated the themes. Two principal findings were drawn from the analysis. First, students perceived the curriculum to be uninteresting and relatively worthless. Although some of the activities taught would be considered unique, students were not interested because activities were not taught well and students lacked opportunities to participate in them in their neighborhood. As well, the activities were not particularly valued in their households and neighborhoods. A second finding was that respect from the teacher is essential. Students indicated that they were more likely to engage in activities if they believed the teacher respected them and put a premium on bi-directional respect within the classroom.