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That’s A Lot of Words

me trying to think of 3,600 words about physical literacy

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Get Movin’

How should the progress of physical literacy be observed and recorded under the conditions of our new, unhealthy societal habits? Due to the constant changes in our society, physical literacy is becoming a popular, yet complex concept to live by. People across the globe are becoming more aware of physical literacy, specifically because of the current obesity crisis. Our society is finally realizing the lack of physical activity in the average human’s everyday life; however, it is not just physical activity that we are lacking. Our society is unaware of how important it is to take care of yourself, whether it’s your mental or physical health. Working at my university’s recreation center, I, along with my colleagues and patrons, are very familiar with the concept of physical literacy and deal with health and wellness every day. I think that everyone should be as educated about physical literacy as the people that I work with. Considering the social changes our society has been through over the past couple of decades, we need to be more knowledgeable about and perform physical literacy.  

About two years ago I started educating myself on physical literacy. I have always been active, participating in multiple sports year-round, but I never really took it upon myself to look further into health and fitness. My first step was asking my parents for a gym membership. Walking into the gym for the first time was extremely intimidating. I was surrounded by toned and muscular adults, drinking their fruit punch flavored pre-workout in shake BlenderBottle®’s, but instead of backing out, I learned my way around the gym. I tested new machinery that I have never seen before. I watched videos of fitness enthusiasts to help me familiarize myself with the strange equipment and movements. After many trial and errors, I finally found a workout routine that worked for my body. Before the gym, I absolutely hated running; however, after planning my new routine, I discovered different ways to implement cardio into my workout without having to run a mile or two. Having these different movements and routines made me enjoy taking care of my body. Throughout this process, I started to feel more positive about myself and life in general. I was much happier and less stressed than before I started my journey. What made me love the gym even more was seeing results. Running at soccer practice felt completely different. I was able to push myself much harder. I no longer dreaded going to practice, partially because I didn’t eat a box of pizza rolls doused in hot sauce right before practice. Even my coaches recognized my hard work and faster speed.  I think other students need to hear that change is possible. If you dedicate yourself to taking the time to get to know, push, and discipline yourself, changes, for the better, will happen.

There are many different definitions of physical literacy, but they all have the same concept. Overall, physical literacy is the foundation of a healthy life. The development of physical literacy starts at a young age. Children start to learn and develop physical literacy once they start attending school, as early as preschool and or kindergarten. PE majors and teachers, exercise science majors, like health and fitness instructors, and other health and wellness academic fields must be very knowledgeable about the concept. In this case, we are talking about the fundamental movements of your body, and concepts like having confidence within yourself. In the article, “Physical literacy in the field of physical education – A challenge and a possibility,” Lundvall mentions Whitehead’s first definition of physical literacy discusses the idea of “physical performance aspects of movement that enable a particular goal to be achieved, or elements of movement that need attention” (114). Part of physical literacy is understanding that your body has limits and acknowledging those limits. Physical literacy helps humans, not just athletes, recognize their body’s boundaries. As you get older, your body starts to not work as well. Everyday activities, like walking up and down stairs, can become difficult, so it is very important to know your body’s limits.

Along with physical literacy, eating habits are developed during one’s childhood. According to the authors of the first cited article, “A multilevel intervention...,” a little over a quarter (29% to be exact) of preschool students in Canada eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables and only 23% eat the recommended amount of grains (2). Children not intaking the right source of food will cause them to not be as physically strong and less fit. The lack of greens and grains could also lead to obesity, which could cause them to be insecure and less confident with the pressures that come from social media. This snowball affect issue all starts with the parents and guardians of the children. After all, they are the ones that provide their child with the food they take in. If parents are providing their children with food that is not nutritional for their child, they are inheriting these bad habits from their parents. Sure, eating some candy or out at a restaurant occasionally, is fine, but is it taking over your child’s diet?

Our society’s younger generations have established different values and habits than those that are older. Children don’t have play dates in the backyard with their best friend from school. Nowadays, children will spend their entire day inside, their eyes glued to a screen, playing video games, eating Doritos. Sometimes I think back to my childhood and compare my everyday live to children today. On occasion, I will babysit my five-year-old cousin, Jonah. He is constantly on his iPad, watching YouTube videos or playing games. I’ll give him some credit, every so often he’ll ask to go outside and jump on the trampoline, but it’s not the same. When I was Jonah’s age, my friends and I would go in the backyard, run around on the swing set, and play hide and seek. If we spent time inside, we didn’t spend much time with technology. We’d watch an episode of SpongeBob or two, then go play “house” or Polly Pockets. Our world revolves around technology and it’s effecting our children.  

The unhealthy habits and routines that our younger generations are developing will take over for the rest of their lives and can even cause them to become obese or overweight. According to A Healthier America, 17 percent of children in the United States struggle with obesity and “one in three children are either overweight or have obesity” (“Facts About Child Obesity,” 2019). These statistics are at an all-time high.  

As I’ve grown up, I noticed that throughout my own childhood, I myself developed unhealthy eating habits. As I explained before, almost every day after school, I would come home and make a plate of pizza rolls or nachos. This then transitioned over to my freshman and sophomore year of high school. It was even worse in high school because right after I had my afterschool heart attack snack, I would go straight to soccer practice, where I would then run a mile, huffing and puffing. In middle school, I would sneak bags of chips or pieces of candy to my room and go to town for the night. These awful habits were obviously in my hands; however, it was all developed from my family. Even though I was very active as a child, I still had these influences of eating unhealthy amounts of and types of food. My parents, along with my aunts and uncles, have always been big eaters and not so active. It just goes to show you that parents should take a step back, look at their diet, and take their child into consideration. Would you want your child to be eating what you’re eating? Or thinking back to physical activity. Would you want your child to have the same habits that you have?  

Social media has placed an enormous amount of pressure on children, teenagers, and young adults. Once a celebrity is photographed, the photo is uploaded to the internet, where everyone can see, and makes young adults feel the need to look like this celebrity because they have the ‘perfect body.’ What these young adults don’t know is that most, if not all, of these pictures are photoshopped. Most people looking at their favorite celebrities through social media feel insecure and less confident about their own bodies. Social media doesn’t just influence the everyday person to change themselves due to seeing others uploading edited photos. Social media encourages viewers and peers to interact with you on your post, like and comment. Your friends can tell you how good you look in that trendy outfit in the city, giving you that extra boost of confidence, or they can tell you that “you look terrible.” The obvious negative about social media is bullying. What physical literacy is made to do is to prevent things like this. You should have the confidence to post pictures of yourself, not delving too deep into the hate comments or changing yourself because Kylie Kardashian got lip injections. People endorsing physical literacy want their peers to be confident and comfortable in their own body and how their body works. In order to prevent our young people comparing themselves to celebrities and social media influencers, they need some type of reassurance that you are your own person. You can’t look at someone else an expect to look the same way. Parents should establish their children with confidence. If a child is confident within themselves, they are following the concept of physical literacy and have a lower chance of thinking less of themselves.

Although sport isn’t what physical literacy is all about, having a child that participates in sports can give them that extra boost of confidence. Of course, it also keeps them physically active and fit. When associating sport with physical literacy, it must be known that there are steps that lead to sport participation. In order for someone to participate in sports, they must learn the fundamental movements of physical literacy. A few examples of fundamental physical literacy movements are running, jumping, throwing, and catching. Once a child had learned the fundamentals, they then learn the more complex movements that are involved in sports, leading to the participation in sports. Playing sports like soccer and baseball will give students the opportunity to be physically active outside of the classroom and will generally lead them to a healthier lifestyle; however, it’s not about creating the ultimate athlete. The concept of physical literacy thinks less about competition and more about the overall wellbeing and health of a person, which supports the fact that physical literacy doesn’t necessarily focus on sport.  

Physical Education teachers are the people that first introduce physical literacy to a child. Physical Education courses should be a diverse course to give the children plenty of opportunities to find something that they feel comfortable with. Giving students the opportunity to work inside and outside is a good example of diversity in the classroom. Allowing students to have different opportunities, like working in a different environment or doing nonstandard activities, gives students the chance to find an activity that they enjoy. Once a child has found an activity that they enjoy, they will start to develop confidence, which is exactly what PE teachers are trying to achieve. This development of confidence and comfortability with a certain activity, and within themselves, makes it more likely for the child to continue being physically active for the rest of their life.  

Physical Education teachers live and teach by the means of physical literacy. They want students to be confident and motivated to be physically active, but it is hard for a child to be confident when the curriculum requires teachers to categorize students based on their performance. This makes students feel insecure and uncomfortable, exactly what teachers don’t want them feeling like.  Lundvall believes that physical education teachers should stop assessing students “based on how fast, high, or strong a student’s performance is” (116). PE teachers must think back to the idea physical literacy focusing on the development of a child and not how well or poor they perform.  PE educators want their students to develop the fundamentals movements of physical literacy and beyond. They don’t want their students to stop their growth because of a silly test in gym class telling them they aren’t fast enough.

Although Physical Education teachers have a huge impact on a child’s physical literacy, a child’s biggest influence is always a parent or guardian; furthermore, it is very likely for a child to develop habits that their parents have inherited. In order to incorporate physical literacy into a child’s life and to prevent the ongoing obesity crisis, parents should make sure that, along with themselves, their child is staying active, eating healthy foods and amounts, and having self-confidence. Doing all of these things makes it a lot easier for a family to live by the concept of physical literacy and increasing the chance that your child will live a long, happy and healthy life.  

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Annotated Bibliography Chaos

my brain trying to come up with an annotation for twelve different sources

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Prospectus with Annotated Bibliography

Introduction

How should the progress of physical literacy be observed and recorded under the conditions of our unhealthy societal habits? Due to the constant changes in our society, physical literacy is becoming a popular, yet complex concept to live by. People across the globe are becoming more aware of physical literacy, specifically because of the current obesity crisis. Our society is finally realizing the lack of physical activity in the average human’s everyday life; however, it is not just physical activity that we are lacking. Our society is unaware of how important it is to take care of yourself, whether it’s your mental or physical health. Working at my university’s recreation center, I, along with my colleagues and patrons, are very familiar with the concept of physical literacy and deal with health and wellness every day. This paper will discuss the overall idea of physical literacy. This paper will also look at the different ways physical literacy is taught in today’s education systems and how physical literacy can be integrated throughout one’s entire life.  

Background

Physical literacy is beyond the basic idea of reading, writing, and speaking. There are many different definitions of physical literacy, but they all have the same concept. Overall, physical literacy is the foundation of a healthy life. The development of physical literacy starts at a young age. Children start to learn and develop physical literacy once they start attending school, as early as preschool and or kindergarten. PE majors and teachers, exercise science majors, like health and fitness instructors, and other health and wellness academic fields must be very knowledgeable about the concept. In this case, we are talking about the fundamental movements of your body, and concepts like having confidence within yourself.  

In the article, “Physical literacy in the field of physical education – A challenge and a possibility,” Lundvall mentions Whitehead’s first definition of physical literacy discusses the idea of “physical performance aspects of movement that enable a particular goal to be achieved, or elements of movement that need attention” (114). Part of physical literacy is understanding that your body has limits and acknowledging those limits. Physical Literacy helps humans, not just athletes, recognize their body’s boundaries. As you get older, your body starts to not work as well. Everyday activities, like walking up and down stairs, can become difficult, so it is very crucial to know your body’s limits.

Physical Literacy in Physical Education

Whether you realize it or not, everyone formally learns about physical literacy in their early years of education and is developed with time and repetition. It is introduced to children at such a young age to influence them to be aware of their health for the rest of their lives. Children start learning the skills of physical literacy when they play freely and or with guidance, followed by the fundamental movements; however, Lundvall believes that physical literacy isn’t just about the fundamentals. She uses the idea of building blocks. Once you learn a basic, fundamental movement, you can learn to execute more difficult movements; for example, you can learn to do jumping jacks or ride a bike. These things require you to have balance and move specific body parts a certain way. Lundvall also argues that physical literacy focuses on individual skills; however, you must look at it with a broad view. That single skill can be utilized with other movements or everyday duties. Lundvall also describes that being motivated is an essential component of the “building blocks of physical literacy” (115). When you are no longer motivated, your self-esteem goes down, along with your self-respect.  

Once a child had learned the fundamentals, they learn the more complex movements, which can include a sport like baseball or soccer. Playing sports like soccer and baseball will give students the opportunity to be physically active outside of the classroom, boost self-esteem, confidence, and will generally lead them to a healthier lifestyle; however, it’s not about creating the ultimate athlete. The concept of physical literacy thinks less about competition and more about the overall wellbeing and health of a person.  

Physical Education courses should be a diverse course to give the children plenty of opportunities to find something that they feel comfortable with. Giving students the opportunity to work inside and outside is a good example of diversity in the classroom. Allowing students to have different opportunities, like working in a different environment or doing nonstandard activities, gives students the chance to find an activity that they enjoy. Once a child has found an activity that they enjoy, they will start to develop confidence. This development of confidence and comfortability with a certain activity, and within themselves, makes it more likely for the child to continue being physically active for the rest of their life.  

Physical Education teachers live and teach by the means of physical literacy. They want students to be confident and motivated to be physically active, but it is hard for a child to be confident when the curriculum requires teachers to categorize students based on their performance. This makes students feel insecure and uncomfortable, exactly what teachers don’t want them feeling like.  Lundvall believes that physical education teachers should stop assessing students “based on how fast, high, or strong a student’s performance is” (116). PE teachers must think back to the idea physical literacy focusing on the development of a child and not how well or poor they perform.  PE educators want their students to develop the fundamentals movements of physical literacy and beyond. They don’t want their students to stop their growth because of a silly test in gym class telling them they aren’t fast enough.  

Society’s Impact on Physical Literacy

Along with physical literacy, eating habits are developed during one’s childhood. According to the authors of the first cited article, “A multilevel intervention...,” a little over a quarter (29% to be exact) of preschool students in Canada eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables and only 23% eat the recommended amount of grains (2). Children not intaking the right source of food will cause them to not be as physically strong and less fit. The lack of greens and grains could also lead to obesity, which could cause them to be insecure and less confident with the pressures that come from social media. 

Our society’s younger generations have established different values and habits than those that are older. Children don’t have play dates in the backyard with their best friend from school. Nowadays, children will spend their entire day inside, their eyes glued to a screen, playing video games, eating Doritos. These bad habits follow children for the rest of their lives and can cause them to become obese, unless they put an end to it. Being aware of and developing physical literacy can prevent this current issue.  

Social media has placed an enormous amount of pressure on children, teenagers, and young adults. Once a celebrity is photographed, the photo is uploaded to the internet, where everyone can see, and makes young adults feel the need to look like this celebrity because they have the ‘perfect body.’ What these young adults don’t know is that most, if not all, of these pictures are photoshopped. Most people looking at their favorite celebrities through social media feel insecure and less confident about their own bodies. What physical literacy is made to do is to prevent things like this. People endorsing physical literacy want their peers to be confident and comfortable in their own body and how their body works.  

Conclusion

Teaching children the concepts of physical literacy in a way that they enjoy is a start to a healthy life. The goal of PE is to educate and familiarize students with physical literacy, with the hopes of students taking the physical activity and engage in it, in some way, for the rest of their lives. Having a good relationship with physical literacy can help you have an even better relationship with your body. It is well known that the obesity rates in humans all over the world are very high. Being familiar with physical literacy can prevent that. Developing a positive attitude towards your body will boost your confidence extremely. You’ll want to be active and explore new things. Physical literacy can boost self-esteem, develop confidence and fundamental movements that you will use for the rest of your life, and is generally key to a happy and healthy life. 

Annotated Bibliography

Advanced Solutions International, Inc. (n.d.). Physical Literacy . Retrieved October 22, 2019, from https://www.shapeamerica.org/events/physicalliteracy.aspx.

In this article, the representatives of SHAPE America discuss their definition of physical literacy and inform the reader what the national standards of physical literacy in physical education are. The organization focuses on the effect of physical literacy in the United States alone. SHAPE America explains there has been a major change to America’s standards of physical education. The term and goal of physical literacy has been changed.  They discuss the standards of physical literacy in PE teacher’s classrooms and curriculum.  

Bélanger, M., Humbert, L., Vatanparast, H., Ward, S., Muhajarine, N., Chow, A. F., … Leis, A. (2016). A multilevel intervention to increase physical activity and improve healthy eating and physical literacy among young children (ages 3-5) attending early childcare centres: the Healthy Start-Départ Santé cluster randomised controlled trial study protocol. BMC Public Health, 16(1). doi: 10.1186/s12889-016-2973-5

The authors of this article focus on the health of our world’s current children and how we can put an end to the obesity epidemic. They frequently discuss nutrition and use data from the diet of Canadian students to support their argument that our children’s health needs improvement with the help of physical literacy. The authors refer to an intervention program, Healthy Start-Départ Santé, for the majority of their argument. The program conducted a study on children in preschool or childcare systems to partake in the intervention and evaluate the outcomes. The purpose of the study is to improve their physical literacy and overall health. They supply multiple charts and diagrams explaining the study’s procedure.  

Edwards, L. C., Bryant, A. S., Keegan, R. J., Morgan, K., & Jones, A. M. (2016). Definitions, Foundations and Associations of Physical Literacy: A Systematic Review. Sports Medicine, 47(1), 113–126. doi: 10.1007/s40279-016-0560-7

The authors of this article performed a systematic review on physical literacy. They analyzed 50 articles that met their criteria: written in English, “peer reviewed, published by March 2016, and conceptualized physical literacy” (113). The researchers focused on three main areas. This helped them define physical literacy and its properties, foundations, and identity. Analyzing the 50 articles allowed for the authors, Edwards, Bryant, Keegan, Morgan, and Jones, to also identify physical literacy’s role in physical education.  

Ellerton, H. (2019, April 12). What is physical literacy and why is it important for children today? Retrieved from https://humankinetics.me/2018/06/27/what-is-physical-literacy/.

In this article, Ellerton asks her readers why physical literacy is important to children in this current era. She explains her understanding of physical literacy and refers to a physical literacy author for her definition. Ellerton identifies the present obesity epidemic and the effect that physical literacy could have on the prevention of obesity. In one section of her article, she breaks down the different environments where physical literacy can be developed with the corresponding activities that can be played in the environment. She uses a chart to display data about a group of sports or activities and compares them to the type of fundamental skills that the activity can entail. In Ellerton’s summary she engages her readers her readers by asking multiple questions about physical literacy.

George, A., Rohr, L., & Byrne, J. (2016). Impact of Nintendo Wii Games on Physical Literacy in Children: Motor Skills, Physical Fitness, Activity Behaviors, and Knowledge. Sports, 4(1), 3. doi: 10.3390/sports4010003

In this article, Amanda George, Linda Rohr, and Jeannette Byrne discuss a non-traditional way of being physically literate, playing active video games. The authors evaluate a study that examines the effect of active video games on children’s physical literacy. They predict that the children involved int eh investigation will increase physical literacy, motivation, and confidence. They use multiple tables from the experiment to show the readers the results. George, Rohr, and Byrne concluded that active video games are a good alternative to traditional physical activity.  

Guo, Y., Justice, L. M., Kaderavek, J. N., & Mcginty, A. (2010). The literacy environment of preschool classrooms: contributions to childrens emergent literacy growth. Journal of Research in Reading, 35(3), 308–327. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9817.2010.01467.x

The authors of this article conducted a study on the classroom environment and resources of physical literacy for preschoolers’ emergent literacy. They looked to answer three questions about the classroom’s environment - the relationship between the child’s physical literacy environment and increase in literacy, positives between the physical and psychological environment, and the association between physical and psychological literacy with a preschooler’s literacy improvement throughout a year of schooling. The researchers randomly selected over 200 children from the preschool classrooms. The authors used various tables to display their findings about the literacy and classroom environments.  

Lundvall, S. (2015). Physical literacy in the field of physical education – A challenge and a possibility. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 4(2), 113–118. doi: 10.1016/j.jshs.2015.02.001

In this article, Lundvall conducted a search for scholarly articles about physical literacy and analyzes reoccurring themes in the articles. She narrowed down her selection of articles to papers published fifteen years before her experiment was conducted and focused on three specific themes. She also indicates physical literacy’s role in education, evaluation, and the development in sport. The foundation of movement is emphasized in her work. She asks her readers questions that will eventually be answered throughout the paper, making it an interactive piece of text.  

Roetert, E. P., & Macdonald, L. C. (2015). Unpacking the physical literacy concept for K-12 physical education: What should we expect the learner to master? Journal of Sport and Health Science, 4(2), 108–112. doi: 10.1016/j.jshs.2015.03.002

The authors present an essay that clearly states the concept of physical literacy and its role in different countries. Physical literacy’s association to physical education is also discussed frequently throughout this paper. The authors use standards and infographics of a health specified organization in America to support the idea of physical literacy being integrated into the world’s education systems. Roetert and Macdonald discuss different ways of teaching and lessons that should be taught to children in order for them to understand physical literacy.

Savelsbergh, G. J., & Wormhoudt, R. (2018). Creating adaptive athletes: the athletic skills model for enhancing physical literacy as a foundation for expertise. Movement & Sport Sciences - Science & Motricité, (102), 31–38. doi: 10.1051/sm/2019004

Savelsbergh and Wormhoudt constructed this paper to advertise the athletic skills model (ASM) as a fabric for the enhancement and development of physical literacy. The authors support their thesis with three implications that they claim the ASM helps improve physical literacy and state the goal of ASM. Throughout the paper, the author focus on a sport standpoint, explaining that an athlete should first be well-rounded, or become a multi-athlete, followed by expertise and specialization in one sport.  

Stanec, Amanda. “PE Lesson 1: Physical Literacy Is Not Physical Activity.” Move Live Learn, 2 Dec. 2013, http://www.movelivelearn.com/discover-the-multi-faceted-elements-of-physical-literacy-to-best-enable-the-sum-of-its-parts/.

In this article, Amanda Stanec talks about her experience on the Canadian Board of Directors for Physical and Health Education. She discusses the ways that Canada defines physical literacy. She then supplies the readers with various questions that she asks herself when thinking about Canada’s program and their definition. Stanec gives PE teachers advice for how they should inform parents and their child’s development of physical literacy. At the end of her article, she asks the readers what they would change in their local school’s PE program to focus more on physical literacy.  

Sum, R. K. W., Ha, A. S. C., Cheng, C. F., Chung, P. K., Yiu, K. T. C., Kuo, C. C., … Wang, F. J. (2016). Construction and Validation of a Perceived Physical Literacy Instrument for Physical Education Teachers. Plos One, 11(5). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155610

The authors of this article construct a study to prove a PLLI for PE teachers (1). The instrument is used to look into PE teachers’ view on physical literacy. They supply multiple charts and diagrams supporting their experiment. They define the term physical literacy and its role in PE, describing that physical literacy is the goal of PE. The researchers interviewed three Hong Kong PE teachers. They also had focus group interviews to identify main components of physical literacy and concepts like confidence and communication. The authors used various charts and diagrams to support their study. They discussed the limitations in their study and state that more research should be conducted.  

Tremblay, M. S., Longmuir, P. E., Barnes, J. D., Belanger, K., Anderson, K. D., Bruner, B., … Woodruff, S. J. (2018). Physical literacy levels of Canadian children aged 8–12 years: descriptive and normative results from the RBC Learn to Play–CAPL project. BMC Public Health, 18(S2). doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5891-x

In this article, the authors discuss the physical literacy level and competence of children in Canada from the ages of 8 to 12. The physical literacy level of children in Canada is currently unknown, so the authors used data from multiple websites to establish a number. They give the readers some background information on physical literacy to help them understand why this is an important study. They also provide the readers with a diagram of the physical literacy point system, which helps the authors establish an average physical literacy level based on the children. They concluded that the steps taken in this study can be used in future assessments and supports the fact that physical literacy should be incorporated into more Canadian children’s’ lives.

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Discourse

me after reading about discourse for the twentieth time and still not understanding a single thing

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Physical Literacy’s Well-Being

Physical literacy is a growing topic all over the world. With the increasing rates of obesity, our society is finally realizing the lack of physical activity that is applied into the average human’s everyday life. Although they may not realize it, physical literacy starts to become a familiar topic with humans by the time they are in elementary school. Many students disregard the importance of physical literacy while they are in PE (Physical Education) class. They don’t reflect on what they have done during class and use it throughout their life. In fact, most students don’t enjoy PE at all; however, is physical literacy really implemented into education systems as much as they should be?

Physical literacy is beyond the basic idea of reading, writing, and speaking. There are many different definitions of physical literacy, but they all have the same concept. According to Roetert and MacDonald, Margaret Whitehead, a professor of Public Health at the University of Liverpool, “described physical literacy as the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, respond effectively and communicate, using the embodied human dimension, within a wide-range of situations and contexts.” Articles one and three also refer to Whitehead. In the first article, “Physical literacy in the field of physical education – A challenge and a possibility,” Lundvall mentions Whitehead’s first definition of physical literacy discusses the idea of “physical performance aspects of movement that enable a particular goal to be achieved, or elements of movement that need attention” (114). Part of physical literacy is understanding that your body has limits and acknowledging those limits. Physical Literacy helps humans, not just athletes, recognize their body’s boundaries. As you get older, your body starts to not work as well. Everyday activities, like walking up and down stairs, can become difficult, so it is very crucial to know your body’s limits.

According to Lundvall’s “Physical literacy in the field of physical education – A challenge and a possibility,” in 2010, Whitehead modified her definition of physical literacy to the idea of acknowledging the importance of being physically active for the duration of your life, being motivated to be physically active and having confidence in what you’re doing. The authors from the third article, “Construction and Validation of a Perceived Physical Literacy Instrument for Physical Education Teachers,” discuss a similar interpretation of physical literacy by Whitehead, including the concept of being confident with and motivated about physical literacy.  

Due to the drastic changes in our world’s society over the past few decades, physical literacy is becoming a hot topic. These changes are influencing children and teenagers to have a lack of physical activity, causing them to develop lazy tendencies. These bad habits are what starts obesity. Canada is a country that is very knowledgeable about physical literacy. Currently, Canada is experiencing high rates of obesity and physical inactivity. To help prevent these problems from getting any worse, they use physical literacy to motivate people to engage in physical activity, like sports and recreation, and they want their community to understand the poor conditions of their health.  

Lundvall conducted an experiment, researching many scholarly articles about “’physical literacy’ and ‘physical literacy and evidence”’ (114). Her main focus was on physical literacy’s research-based aspect and to discover themes that correlate with (physical education). After searching for articles, Lundvall narrowed down her search for publications for years recently published. The articles from the mid 2000s to 2015 clearly focused on physical literacy. Lundvall discovered three significant themes within these articles: the “assumptions of physical literacy and its educational role, sports development and physical literacy, and assessment and physical literacy” (114).  

The first theme that Lundvall found throughout various scholarly articles connects to the idea that in the past, physical education has not been very unified. Also, the curriculum of physical education across the world’s schooling systems are all very different. Articles with this theme report how physical literacy influences the development of the human body. Many articles refer to sociological theories. Other authors “(demonstrate) how physical literacy is part of the PE discourse” (115). This idea is related to James Gee’s article, “What Is Literacy,” which explains discourse. Discourse is a socially acceptable connection or relationship with how people, talk, act, and think that's used to indicate someone as a member of a certain social group.  Physical Education teachers live and teach by the means of physical literacy. They want students to be confident and motivated to be physically active. PE teachers want their students to develop the fundamentals movements of physical literacy and beyond. Lundvall believes that physical literacy isn’t just about the fundamentals. She uses the idea of building blocks. Once you learn a basic, fundamental movement, you can learn to execute more difficult movements; for example, you can learn to do jumping jacks or ride a bike. These things require you to have balance and move specific body parts a certain way. Lundvall also argues that physical literacy focuses on individual skills; however, you must look at it with a broad view. That single skill can be utilized with other movements or everyday duties. Lundvall also describes that being motivated is an essential component of the “building blocks of physical literacy” (115). When you are no longer motivated, your self-esteem goes down, along with your self-respect.  

There’s always a fond memory of middle school PE class playing dodgeball or wiffleball. It is very common for middle school PE classes to engage in sport games. Teachers implement these games into their classes to hopefully interest their students into playing sports for the rest of their schooling. The physical education curriculum that these middle school students were previously taught in elementary school will influence them to play sports. Playing sports will give students the opportunity to be physically active outside of the classroom, boost self-esteem, confidence, and will generally lead them to a healthier lifestyle. Although physical literacy has a great influence on whether or not a student will participate in sports, it is not the main objective of physical literacy. When people think of sports, they think about competing; however, according to Lundvall, physical literacy is focused on the “personal development and realization of individuals” (115). Don’t focus on the sport aspect of physical literacy. Teachers are to integrate the fundamental movements that the students have been learning throughout their PE course into games and activities that children enjoy. It’s not about creating the ultimate athlete. The concept of physical literacy thinks less about winning and thinks more about the overall wellbeing of a person’s health and activity.  

It has been made very clear throughout all the articles that the main goal of physical education is understanding and practicing physical literacy. In our current society, it is no longer justifiable to categorize and label human beings. This concept goes for physical education as well. Lundvall believes that physical education teachers should stop assessing students “based on how fast, high, or stong a student’s performance is” (116). As stated by the authors of the third article, “physical education is about encouraging every child and young person to become a lifelong participant in physical activity and supporting every child and young person on their physical literacy journey” (3). Categorizing people on how they physically perform in PE class is exactly what lowers students’ confidence. PE teachers must think back to the idea physical literacy focusing on the development of a child and not how well or poor they perform.  

Similar to categorizing students, PE educators tend to categorize certain activities that have things in common. Roetert and MacDonald want to steer away from these groupings. They believe that some of these activities shouldn’t be tied down to one group. This could cause students to stay in one grouping of activities and not take action in the others. This will not broaden their perspective and familiarity of physical literacy. They will lack flexibility and feel constricted to one movement. Once students engage in more than one grouping of activities, they will become adaptable and have a diverse experience with PE.  

Teaching children the concepts of physical literacy in a way that they enjoy is a start to a healthy life. The goal of PE is to educate and familiarize students with physical literacy, with the hopes of students taking the physical activity and engage in it, in some way, for the rest of their lives. Having a good relationship with physical literacy can help you have an even better relationship with your body. It is well known that the obesity rates in humans all over the world are very high. Being familiar with physical literacy can prevent that. Developing a positive attitude towards your body will boost your confidence extremely. You’ll want to be active and explore new things. Physical literacy can boost self-esteem, develop confidence and fundamental movements that you will use for the rest of your life, and is generally key to a happy and healthy life.

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First Essay

me realizing i spent forever writing about a topic that does not interest me at all 

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Reading Through the Screen

The excessive amount of technology that has been implemented into today's society has been an ongoing controversial topic. Whether it rots our brains or makes us ten times smarter, people across the globe deal with digital literacy every day. Technology has advanced greatly over the last few decades and has completely shaped how we live. Our daily routines revolve around technology. We look at our phones when we wake and when we go to bed. We can even track our calories burned every single day. The fact is, digital literacy dominates the people of our society’s everyday lives.  

In order to be successful in today’s mechanically driven world, you must be literate and have some experience with computers. Most of the time, whether you are working at your job or completing a project for school, you deal with digital literacy. It doesn’t matter how high or low of a paycheck you receive. You will deal with digital literacy; for example, employees at Taco Bell are required to read the upcoming order on a screen to ensure that they cook and prepare the correct order on time. On the other end of the spectrum, if you have a higher-ranking job than working at Taco Bell, like a CEO of a company, you are also required to digitally read and communicate.  

There’s also the other aspect of looking at a much younger population, children in school. The expectation of having computer and literacy skills have skyrocketed. Even at the age of eight, sometimes even younger, students are taught computer skills. When I was in grade school, it was required for me to take multiple years of typing classes. This class entails reading words and phrases off a computer screen and typing them in response. Sometimes the program will even give you paragraphs to read and type. It was very fast pace; therefore, my classmates and I had to retain the text quickly in order to do well in the class. For students that don’t have the opportunity to take this class, I think it is a setback in learning to have a relationship with the computer. After lots of repetition and practice, you get used to typing a particular way, but for the students that aren’t taking this class, it will be hard for them to type at a faster pace.  

Students most commonly use digital literacy when they are unsure of a question and search for the answer on a web browser. This can be very useful and is not only done by students. When attending a university, it is required to have a laptop or tablet to complete coursework and utilize it during class. Colleges like Cleveland State University operate their courses through computer programs. Cleveland State University uses a program called Blackboard. Blackboard uploads course materials that are a key role in a student’s success. Many grade schools and universities, mostly private institutions, supply students with iPads, encouraging them to read and do their homework outside of the classroom. Other students don’t bother with the readings and download games like “Subway Surfer” instead.  

Text messages are the most common types of digital literacy that are used daily. Nowadays, everyone has a cell phone. Texting can be used for a variety of things. It can be very beneficial. In some cases, getting a text could save a life; for example, if you have a home intruder, you must contact someone for help. Calling the police is your first option; however, you must stay quiet. Luckily, we have texting. In today’s modern world you can now text the police, specifically in situations like this. Although it is not often that you will come across one of these life-threatening situations, it goes to show you that texting isn’t all that bad. Of course, when you are texting your friends, it’s not the most formal form of communication, but you still need basic literacy skills. You can’t type a long rant without punctuation. It wouldn’t make any sense.  

Along with text messages, emails are also a source of communication that is used daily. Unlike text messages, emails are often used as a formal type of communication; for example, a student will email their professor a question about an assignment when they are not in class. You can’t email a professor like you would text a friend. It’s just unprofessional. In order for your email to look professional, you must know the format to set your email in. Normally, you start with a greeting, which addresses who you are speaking to. Following your greeting is your body, where you get your point across. Finally, you close your email with your name and a phrase like “thank you” or “sincerely.” If you don’t use these essential literacy skills, you will be unprofessional.  

Social media has a huge influence on the forever evolving English language. Slang is used and seen daily on social media, text messages, or conversations with friends. Considering how often humans use these phrases, they are essential in today's pop culture, but slang has been evolving for decades. One of the more recent phrases that was established from social media is “and I oop!” A viral video of a drag queen, Ms. Jasmine Masters, was in the middle of a rant and accidentally hit her genitalia on a chair. “And I oop” can be portrayed many ways and used in many different situations. It is most commonly used when someone sees or hears about something that catches them off guard; for example, you are walking around town and see your friend with their ex-boyfriend. For people like my friends and I, it is our first instinct to say, “and I oop!” This is just one of many examples of slang that have dramatically affected the new ways of language.  

If my generation lived twenty years ago when we didn’t have the current, advanced technology. We would be lost. How would we show our followers what we are eating for lunch every day? You can’t “D.M.” a guy that you think is cute. You would have to speak to him in person. Imagine if you had to read a physical newspaper to learn about the latest news like our grandparents did, and no, there is no such thing as facetime. You can’t video chat your friend and have them walk you through how to break up with your boyfriend over text. We take all of these things for granted because we use them daily.  

I can assume that most grandparents are like mine and always ask how to operate technology. Almost every time I visit my grandparents, I am asked a new question. “How do you make the words bigger?” “Can you download some music for me?” Of course, I always help, but what’s hard to admit is that I always tend to not understand why it’s so hard for my grandmother to operate an iPhone. Then again, could you imagine having to adapt to rotating landlines to portable telephones that can do almost everything that a computer can do? They went from having jobs that have little interaction with technology similar to what we have today to adapting to screens and operated machinery surrounding their workplace.  

Whether you believe the overpowering amount of technology that is available to people across the world is a threat to one’s brain, or if you believe being able to create an Excell spreadsheet makes you a genius, technology isn’t going anywhere. People are constantly reading and writing through a screen. Almost every aspect of life has been modified because of technology. There are new ways to communicate, learn, write, or generally do your job. It is expected to be digital literate today in order to be successful. Digital literacy is used every day in all different kinds of aspects.