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Rob Richardsons Research-Based Analysis of Dilemma

I teach a challenging self-contained adapted physical education class, comprised of
emotionally disturbed students from my schools regional program, in the hallway. It is a
constant struggle to manage student behaviors in this dynamic and restrictive environment. It is
also difficult to design physical activities that are not only meaningful to develop skill and
fitness, but also safe in the hallway. Its important not to limit yourself to one perspective when
finding research-based solutions. My specific dilemma can be analyzed and broken down into
numerous broader issues that are universally problematic throughout the field of education.
Teachers looking for ways to manage behaviors of emotionally disturbed, or ED, students
would relate well to my dilemma. ED students present their own unique challenges and what
works for the general population often will not work for them. Everything the teacher does or
says needs to be intentional and individualized to that student. It is imperative that the teacher
give the student a clear set of expectations before any transition to prevent an emotional
meltdown. It is also important that the student buys in to the activities with choice and an
incentive system.
Managing the learning environment is vitally important when teaching an ED student, but
it is also important to enhance instruction in the general student population. While my behavior
management and instruction is negatively impacted by the small space and dynamic nature of the
hallway, classroom design and resource availability impacts all classrooms. All teachers strive to
control the environment around their students in order to minimize distractions and to better
facilitate instructional communication. We all daydream that were Ms./Mr. Frizzle, giving
students hands-on learning with a magic school bus. The reality is often a cramped space,
outdated materials, and distractions beyond our control. The ability to take whatever learning

space and materials youve got and use them to create a productive learning environment is one
that all teachers seek to improve.
Special education students come with their own set of challenges. Teachers need to be
aware of the legal and procedural components of the special education program. We need to be
able to practice evidence-based instruction, gathering valid data and providing input into the IEP
process. We need to be very good at individualizing instruction and building differentiation into
lessons that will meet the instructional goals of both the special education student and the rest of
the class. Communication becomes very important, as its necessary to continually work
cooperatively with the parents, student, and specialists in a reflective process to best meet the
students needs.
Taking my specific dilemma and backing up a bit to look at it through broader issues is a
useful technique to find and apply research-based solutions. I found that there were very few
resources dedicated to my problem, but as my focus became more broad and thematic, I was able
to find a lot of research that I could then adapt and apply to my specific dilemma.
A 2011 study by Kuuskorpi, Kaarina, Cabellos, and Gonzlez, entitled The Future of the
Physical Learning Environment: School Facilities That Support the User, attempted to identify
what the perfect classroom should look like. This was a multinational collaborative study that
used feedback from teachers, students, and professional organizations to create a model for a
perfect classroom. The only problem was that this was focused entirely on a conventional class
and not a physical education class. Rather than directly take their findings, I focused on their
process and criteria that they based their conclusion on and then attempted to apply them to my
situation.

They based need on how four main learning contexts interact holistically with the
learning environment. These learning contexts are social, individual, formal teaching and
informal learning. They also placed a high value on the ability of the space to be flexible and
modifiable. They also stressed that technology should be fully integrated throughout the
workspace, rather than being confined to a special location.
When going back to my dilemma, teaching a self-contained ED APE class in the hallway,
this article made me reflect on just how inadequate that learning space is. Thankfully, having a
ruggedized IPad Mini on my schools WiFi allows me to have technology that is fully integrated
into class. The idea of having a dynamic classroom is also appealing and potentially valuable.
Rather than staying in one portion of the hallway, I could build a series of stations around the
school as a framework, and then modify the activities at each station to fit the content of that
class.
By thinking of the learning environment as a modifiable, dynamic, flexible space that
integrates technology and travels with the student, Im able to better set my students up for
success. With this new understanding, I can minimize the negative aspects of teaching in the
hallway.
A 2008 journal publication by Craig Heynen entitled Viewing and Visual Representation
in the Physical Education Classroom, outlined how to use technology to better target language
arts goals and to enrich student understanding of content. The great thing about this article was
that most of the strategies to integrate viewing and visual representation are capable of being
utilized in a confined space.

The journal article describes uses for technology, such as using pictures and video
tutorials to teach skills. I already use many videos to teach activities and have found students are
very receptive to them. The ED students in my dilemma seem to be able to focus better and
adsorb more if I present content digitally than in person.
The journal also described how to use cameras to help enhance instruction. Ive also
found this to be effective. In the past, Ive recorded students performing skills at the beginning,
middle, and end of a unit. Along the way, I play the videos so the students can watch themselves
and analyze their performance relative to the instructional video. It also enhances student buy-in,
as Ive burned DVDs for students to bring home to their parents of the development of their
skills throughout the unit. This not only motivates students to perform their best, but gives them
a chance to analyze performance and provide meaningful self-feedback.
The article also suggests creating a PE webpage to enhance communication, but also to
house online activities. Ive built that webpage already and regularly use it for alternate
activities.
I was pleased to see that Ive already tried many of the suggestions in this article, so Im
on the right path. It did help me to pause and reflect on the frequency that Ive implemented
these visual strategies. It also gave me some new things to try, such as sequencing a skill
progression with photograph cards, or concept mapping.
In the 2010 article by Kathy Davis, Patricia Hodson , Guili Zhang , Boni Boswell & Jim
Decker, Providing Physical Activity for Students with Intellectual Disabilities, the MAP program
was analyzed. The MAP program is named for the acronym of Motivate, Adapt, and Play.
The ultimate goal of MAP is to enhance the physical fitness of students with intellectual

disabilities. This increase in performance was measured with a series of standardized pre and
post-tests. Once a baseline of performance is established, the heart of the program takes over. In
this stage, MAP is a progressive method of individualizing instruction.
The first step is one that is very important to me and my dilemma, Motivate. In this, the
article outline how to survey the students, their families, and their homeroom teachers in order to
compile an incentive program. Within this step, teachers also compile a list of skills and
activities the students excel at and enjoy.
The next step, Adapt, requires the teacher to take existing activities and alter them to
meet the physical and behavioral needs of the students. This may mean changing equipment to
that which the student can handle, and/or the procedures of the activity to something that may
better appeal to the student. Within this stage, activities that are chosen and adapted are done so
with intentionality to improve one of the focal fitness areas.
In the final step, Play, the students are free to play and have fun, as the teacher utilizes
incentives and creates a fun environment. The idea here is to get students excited about physical
activity to get better student engagement.
The MAP program is very similar to the way that adapted PE is currently implemented,
along with the Individualized Education Plan, Functional Behavioral Assessment, and
Behavioral Intervention Plan for each student. I do like the intentionality behind the program and
the focus on creating lifelong movers by making physical activity fun.
The 2011 Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance article by Block,
Taliaferro, Campbell, Harris, and Tipton, Teaching the Self-Contained Adapted Physical
Education Class, was probably the most directly correlated publication concerning my dilemma.
While this article was the most relevant to my dilemma, it was the least data-driven. It was more

of a collection of pedagogical best practices rather than a research study. While the article had
some good points, it lacked utility when applied to my dilemma in the real world of teaching.
Things I liked were that it stressed the individualized nature of the self-contained ED
APE. The article suggested creating a survey for the student and his or her guardians to complete
in order to find out what activities are relevant to them. In this way, your work at school can
easily and seamlessly transfer to physical activity out of school that they are interested in. It also
mentioned creating different performance benchmarks for each student, dependent on his or her
individual performance level. In order to facilitate this differentialization, the article
recommended the use of stations, so that each student could work on a different activity.
This can be useful for my self-contained ED APE classes, but mainly to differentiate
between difficulty levels within activities. The article seemed to be a snapshot in time suggesting
to do basketball with one student, bowling with another, and mini-golf with another. In the real
world of PE, we teach differing units throughout the year. In reality, wed likely have a unit of
bowling for two to three weeks, followed by a unit of mini-golf, followed by a unit of basketball.
Within each unit, activities would be differentialized to each student.
Within the hallway, there is not enough space to set up the equipment necessary to work
on different units all at the same time. Stations may work, but they would require prior set-up,
which I cant do because the hallways are still in use for travel before and after my class, and it
would spread students up too much. Its important that Im able to keep the students apart, but I
need to be able to quickly get to them to provide feedback or control behaviors.
I was impressed that there was an article out there that was pretty close to my dilemma,
but am disappointed in the lack of data on the topic and how many of the theoretical best
practices do not directly apply to the real world of teaching.

Recognizing a deficiency in available data for my dilemma, I was happy to find the 2010
Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance article by Jooyeon Jin & Joonkoo Yun
entitled, Evidence-based Practice in Adapted Physical Education. I was looking for a study of
best practices in APE that are supported by data. What I found was an analysis of evidence-based
practice as a general topic.
The article broke down steps of evidence-based practice, starting with a question, then
gathering evidence, integrating the evidence with your instruction, and then starting the reflective
process to form new questions. It also broke down the hierarchy of evidence into a continuum
ranging from anecdotal information at the most basic level, up to systematic reviews of
randomized control studies at the most credible level.
As the article progresses, it covers responsibilities for both those creating evidence and
for those looking for evidence. It uses the hierarchy of evidence as a guide for how teachers
should select studies to implement into their instruction.
This article was not what I was looking for, and didnt provide direct help for how to
solve my dilemma, but it did lay the framework for how I should continue my search. This
article was all about the process for implementing evidence based instruction. I was able to use
this article to better filter future articles and critique the validity of their conclusions.
The article also had a section on disseminating evidence once you have created it or
become aware of it. I think this is crucial in specialized content areas, such as physical education.
We are fortunate enough to have supervisors in Howard County that regularly give us time to
share emerging resources and practices with our peers. Its very beneficial to see what our peers
are doing in their classrooms so we can learn from each other.

An article published in 2012 by the Journal of Special Education, by Chaapel, Columna,

Lytle, Bailey, entitled Parental Expectations About Adapted Physical Education Services, dealt
with communication between parents and teachers of Adapted Physical Education students. Ever
since my son was born, I have a new perspective of how important my job is. I better understand
what my students mean to their parents and what supports at home can do for the child. It also
helps me understand how to better foster a collaborative relationship with parents of APE
students, now that I have a more clear understanding of their perspective.
This study found that parents largely want physical activity for their child, a collaborative
relationship with their kids teachers, and to have a qualified and personable teacher. In wanting
quality physical activity for their child, this means in school and out. Many parents expressed a
desire to learn from the professionals and to be directed to further growth opportunities outside
of class. I need to improve in this areas.
I regularly discover activities that my APE students excel in. In the past, Ive told the
student about some opportunities that exist for that activity outside of school, and have bought
some equipment to give them as a reward at the end of the unit, but I havent done good enough
reaching out to the parents to ensure they are knowledgeable about those activities and
opportunities. I forget that Im a resource for the community and that some parents may want to
pick my brain for things to do at home. This may be a reason to continue sending DVDs home of
students skills progressing from the start of the unit, till the end. Not only does it inform parents
of their students ability level, but it can give the parent activity ideas and can end with credits
containing further opportunities.
I think parents would appreciate the content and extension of learning from the classroom
to the home. I also think it would be an incredible motivational tool for the students.

The students in my self-contained APE ED classes all have IEPs. I searched for an article
on creating and implementing physical education specific IEP goals in the classroom. At my
school, related arts teachers are rarely part of the IEP process. In the 2005 article by Ellen
Kowalski , Gina Pucci , Lauren Lieberman & Carin Mulawka entitled Implementing IEP or 504
Goals and Objectives into General Physical Education, published in the Journal of Physical
Education, Recreation & Dance, the formation and use of PE IEP goals are discussed at length.
I was interested in the beginning of the article, where it breaks down the involvement of
the PE teacher in creating IEP goals, and how those goals should be structured. When reflecting
on my students with IEPs, I have not been invited to identify the students present level of
performance, or to create short term and annual goals. Considering how closely I work with my
self-contained APE ED students from year to year, this is something Im going to have to look
in to so I can help craft their goals and educational needs. I believe this is one avenue I could
pursue to ensure I have a proper teaching space for the years to come.
Implementing the IEP goals with integrated APE students has been challenging for me
over the years. It takes so much time to adapt lessons and provide close feedback for APE
students, that I often feel like Im neglecting the rest of the class. This article laid out a process in
which you can reverse thinking and have the entire class work on the APE students IEP goals,
only at a much higher level of difficulty. Because the APE students IEP goals should be based
in the schoolwide PE curriculum, starting with them and adapting them to the whole class would
not detract from the learning of the rest of the class. Its a valuable lesson that I intend to
implement in my teaching.
This assignment was pretty eye opening. When I have had dilemmas in the past, Ive
usually attempted to solve them by personal reflection or collaboration with my coworkers.

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Looking back, it seems silly that I had never gone out to seek research and data from
professional studies that relate to my dilemmas. In any other area of my life, if I have a problem,
I do research and take what Ive learned to try solving the problem.
As an avid shooter, with numerous carry permits, when confronted with the simple
dilemma of, What defensive ammunition should I keep in my firearm, I went out and found
studies released by the FBI, the Internal Wound Ballistics association, data from trauma
surgeons, presentations from professionals like Dr. Fackler, and various sources of scientific
ballistics gelatin testing for various types of ammunition. After an exhaustive study, I discovered
the recommended criteria for performance from professionals based on studies, then I found the
ammunition that best meets those criteria.
I did the same type of research when looking to buy a stroller for my son. I researched
everything from the basic criteria most parents required, to the durability of fabrics and fasteners
the components were made from. I dont know why I have never applied the same methodology
to my professional life. Perhaps its because Ive fallen victim to thinking that all the schooling
and experience has made me an authority in my professional content area and that my knowledge
base is good enough. In short, Ive gotten lazy and stopped seeking more knowledge.
This class was a good wakeup call that there is a world of additional knowledge out there
that I can readily apply to my instruction to make my life easier and to also be a better teacher for
my students. It felt odd that while I regularly research just about everything in my personal life, I
felt like I was starting from scratch in my professional life.
I learned how to use database systems like ERIC and Proquest, and to utilize the
thesaurus to make my searches more targeted and efficient. When searching, I learned that my
specific dilemma is not going to have many studies or articles offering solutions. I needed to

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broaden my search for more universal topics and then reflect on how to apply lessons learned to
my specific dilemma.
As for my dilemma, teaching a self-contained APE ED student in the hallway, Ive come
away from this assignment with many good solutions. I now can better integrate technology into
the classroom environment, be part of the IEP process to ensure I have proper facilities and help
develop IEP goals, and I can use what Ive learned about evidence based practice to better
identify valuable evidence in the future. This class was fun and useful.

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Bibliography
1. Kuuskorpi, K.& Gonzalez, N.(2011). The future of the physical learning
environment: school facilities that support the user. CELE Exchange. Retrieved
from http://www.oecd.org/edu/innovationeducation/centreforeffectivelearningenvironmentscele/49167890.pdf

2. Heynen, C. (2008). Viewing and visual representation in the physical education

classroom. Strategies, 22(1), 25-30. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/214545392?accountid=12164

3. Kathy Davis , Patricia Hodson , Guili Zhang , Boni Boswell & Jim Decker (2010)
Providing Physical Activity for Students with Intellectual Disabilities, Journal of
Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 81:5, 23-28, DOI:
10.1080/07303084.2010.10598476
4. Campbell, A. L., Harris, N., & Tipton, J. (2011). Teaching the self-contained
adapted physical education class. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation &
Dance, 82(4), 47-52. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/863689140?accountid=12164

5. Jooyeon Jin & Joonkoo Yun (2010) Evidence-based Practice in Adapted Physical
Education, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 81:4, 50-54, DOI:
10.1080/07303084.2010.10598465
6. Chaapel, H., Columna, L., Lytle, R., & Bailey, J. (2013). Parental Expectations About
Adapted Physical Education Services. The Journal of Special Education, 47(3), 186196. Retrieved March 24, 2014. Retrieved from
http://sed.sagepub.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/content/47/3/186.full.pdf+html

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7. Ellen Kowalski , Gina Pucci , Lauren Lieberman & Carin Mulawka (2005)
Implementing IEP or 504 Goals and Objectives into General Physical Education,
Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 76:7, 33-37, DOI:
10.1080/07303084.2005.10609310