& Ashworth Mosston Teaching Physical Education FIRST ONLINE EDITION, 2008 offers a foundation for understanding the decision-making structures that exist in all teaching/learning environments. In this thoroughly revised and streamlined edi- tion, all chapters have been updated to include hundreds of real-world examples, concise charts, practical forms, and concrete suggestions for “deliberate teaching” so that the flow of events in teaching can be understood, decision structures can Teaching Physical Education Physical Teaching be analyzed, and adjustments that are appropriate for particular classroom situa- First Online Edition, 2008Teaching Physical tions can be implemented. The decision structure as it relates to teachers and learners, the objectives (O–T–L–O) of each teaching style, and the application of each style to various activities and educational goals are described extensively. Education First Online Edition, 2008 Praise for Teaching Physical Education, FIRSTONLINEEDITION, 2008 “Wonderful examples of style applications—and plenty of them, the conceptual framework of the spectrum of teaching styles, the overall organization of the book and its layout—these strengths definitely make teaching a methods class easier...A great book for physical education teachers who want to expand their teaching style repertoire.” Carol L. Alberts, Ed.D., Hofstra University “This text provides undergraduate physical education students with a clearly written spectrum of teaching methods. The text “speaks for itself” so (as the professor) I can guide the student in practicum experience—not spend the time in the classroom. Betty A. Block, Georgia College and State University Muska Mosston Please visit us at www.aw.com/bc for more information. To order any of our products, contact our customer service department at (800) 824-7799, (201)767-5021 Sara Ashworth outside of the U.S., or visit your campus bookstore. www.aw.com/bc Teaching Physical Education First Online Edition, 2008 Muska Mosston Sara Ashworth First Online Edition of Teaching Physical Education, 2008 Second Printing 2010 © 2008 Sara Ashworth. All Rights Reserved. This online edition is protected by Copyright. This text may be used for research, teaching and private pur- poses. Any reproduction from the text of more than 600 words in any form for any purposes including, but not limited to, redistribution, resale or sublicensing is expressly forbidden. All but two printings of Teaching Physical Education Fifth Edition included accidental textual errors by the former publishing company. This web text represents a corrected version of Teaching Physical Education Fifth Edition. The Spectrum Institute for Teaching and Learning is pleased to make this first online edition of Teaching Phys- ical Education available to students, teachers, teacher educators and pedagogy scholars via the worldwide web. The intent of the Spectrum Institute’s Director is that this resource will be utilized to improve the teaching of physical education around the world. Please make proper reference when using this resource. Should you have any ques- tions as to the text or its use, please contact the copyright holder, Sara Ashworth at [email protected] or [email protected] Preface 3 Muska Mosston 1925–1994 This book is dedicated to Muska Mosston. orn in Israel to Russian immigrants, Muska grew up surrounded B by idealism and a sense of purpose. Life focused on realizing dreams, creating new opportunities, and participating in all the aspects of life required for establishing a nation. Muska was a man with myriad inter- ests; he was a concert violist, a gymnast, a soccer player, a paratrooper, a champion decathlon athlete, a horseman, a mountain climber. He partici- pated in what are now termed outward-bound challenge experiences. He played the harmonica, and he was always a flamboyant personality—rejoic- ing in life and its opportunities. He graduated with the first class at the Wingate Institute in Israel; he earned degrees from City College of New York, a doctorate from Temple University, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland. He began teaching physical educa- tion in the small farming community of Kfar Witkin Israel in the fall of 1945, with sand dunes for his gymnasium and eucalyptus trees for his equipment! After coming to the United States, he taught physics, geometry, math, Hebrew, and physical education. He directed summer camps: one for brain-injured children, another for the blind. He chaired the department of physical education at Rutgers University and was the first to change the name of a physical education department to the Department of Kinesiology & Human Movement. He trained Peace Corps volunteers. He designed play- ground and physical education equipment that invited inclusion. He had a television program, Shape-Up, on CBS in New York City for seven years. He loved physical education and the opportunities it offered for physi- cal, social, cognitive, ethical, and emotional development. When he saw children being denied opportunities to think and to move, he became out- raged, and was exasperated by colleagues who seemingly could not expand 4 Preface 5 5 6 Dedication their views of what physical education could be. He was magical with chil- dren—from top athletes to the most disabled—he would observe children, identify their strengths, their weaknesses, and then create a spectrum of developmental opportunities for them to discover themselves and rejoice in the process of learning. If success was not forthcoming, he would become engrossed, if not obsessed, in analysis until he could find the missing con- nection—the conceptual gap that prevented the child from succeeding. Muska was dedicated to the process of becoming. He could not think in a haphazard or random fashion—he needed to know the logical and sequential connections among ideas. This scientific orientation led him to seek fundamental and universal concepts like those that form the basis for Developmental Movement and The Spectrum of Teaching Styles. Developmental Movement identifies the fundamental attributes that link all physical movements, while The Spectrum of Teaching Styles identifies the underlying structure of the teaching-learning process—decision making. It is paradoxical that Muska, a person of great energy, charisma, and drama, would discover two theoretical structures that operate independently of a teacher’s idiosyncrasies. His concepts expand the base of professional knowledge, and frequently expand the personal boundaries of those who learn the non-versus paradigm. Both concepts invite deliberation. Although this emphasis on deliber- ate, conscious teaching sometimes resulted in unfounded attacks. It was repeatedly observed by Mosston and this author that the more teachers demonstrate with fidelity the knowledge of the Spectrum, the more capable and spontaneous they become in designing beneficial learning experiences. Muska Mosston fought to advance the theory and practices of physical education. He was often excluded from active membership in professional organizations by those who disagreed with his strong opinions on how to improve physical education. This exclusion did not dissuade him—he merely shifted his energies to general education and continued to scrutinize the validity of the Spectrum theory in the total school arena. Years later, invita- tions from around the world brought Muska back to his first professional love—physical education. The Spectrum of Teaching Styles has been imple- mented at all grade levels and in all subject matters. The fact that decision making is the underlying element that shapes teaching-learning events is no longer debated. Preface DEDICATION 7 Muska Mosston was a pioneer who discovered a new paradigm about teaching and learning. I feel honored and grateful to have been Muska’s colleague and friend for 25 years. In the last years of his life, he considered himself an educational ambassador, spreading the humanitarian message of the Spectrum and the ideas of the universal concepts of developmental move- ment across cultural boundaries and political agendas. He profoundly touched people’s lives. He was an inspiration, undaunted by rejection, faithful to his mission, and dedicated to improving the practices in teaching and learning. May his legacy be that he is remembered as the Discoverer of The Spec- trum of Teaching Styles: From Command to Discovery. Sara Ashworth, Ed.D. [email protected] Spectrum Teaching and Learning Institute Spectrumofteachingstyles.org Forewords he gap between what we say we want to do and what we are doing T in practice has been and still is the main problem in physical edu- cation, as it is in many branches of education. I have read numerous cur- riculum books with their goal taxonomies and subject matter lists, and cookbook style methodology books, which list different kinds of teaching methods. Although excellent analyses of goals of physical education can be found in those books, as well as detailed instructions on how to teach dif- ferent kinds of activities, the most important issue is lacking: a clear bridge between goals and actions. When I first read Muska Mosston’s book in the 1960’s I was charmed by his systematic and clear approach to bridging the gap between intention and action. There is substantial consensus among physical education experts that the field’s most important goals are to promote life-long physical activity and to support the physical, psychological