Visit The New PE
Resources for Quality Physical Education

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Reviewed Site: The New PE-Resources for Quality Physical Education

Site Content Area: “The purpose of the new PE is to "guide youngsters in the process of becoming physically active for a lifetime" - George Graham (Penn State).”  This is the guiding philosophy for this website.  He includes a variety of topics, all of which are useful in the grand scope of education.

Introduction:

This site has been developed by Dr. Matthew Cummiskey from West Chester University.

The main sections on the site include the following:

Classes: Adapted PE, Adventure Education, Behavior Management and Motivation, Curriculum and Teaching Models, Foundations of PE, Fitness, & Sport, Invasion Games, Organization and Administration, and Student Teaching.

Advocacy
Assessment
Conference Presentations
Extending PE
Fitness & Tennis
Lesson Plans/Activity Ideas
Links
Miscellaneous
PE Coordinators and Administration
Professional Resources
Technology in PE

Navigation:

The navigation is straightforward.  The main page lists the sections on the left side.  Beware that once you click on section, it takes you directly there but there is no longer a navigation menu; you will need to use your back button to return to the home page.

The Look:

The site is clean and easy on the eyes.  The background trim is a soft color, enhancing the site’s content.  Each section has its own banner logo on the top as well as an image or graphics.  It is easy to find your way around the site.

Features of the Site:

Classes: this section is geared to his students with links to his course syllabus, course documents, and assignments.  However, contained within each of these courses is a lot of fabulous information, all for the “taking” or shall we say borrowing!  He has documents regarding how to develop a curriculum, alternatives to lectures (yeah!), different approaches to activities, budgeting, the law and Physical Educators, coaching, and professional development.  I especially liked the information on writing a mission and philosophy statement; always a challenge whether for your own class, personal beliefs, or for your department or district.  The list of PowerPoints and documents is a very long list that I cannot duplicate here, but go cruise and see for yourself!

Advocacy: Includes a few links to other sites; examples of newsletters, articles supporting our profession, presentation materials you could use with your school board; and other resources.
I really like having access to many of the important documents for our field right from his site.

Assessment: This page is broken down by the NASPE Standards, with links to various assessment tools listed under each standard.  Many of them have the grade level listed; however there are quite a few that do not, so you will have to consider the one you are reviewing on its own merits.  The font is different throughout the page, it is a little squishy, and some of them do not have links associated with the list.  Since this is a work in progress, I realize that there is more work to be done to include more pieces as well as to make it a little easier to navigate.  But still a wonderful resource.

Conference Presentations:  These are his presentations from the various conferences and conventions he has been a session presenter.  If you attended any of his sessions and wanted the information, it is at your fingertips in this section.

Extending PE:  “Due to the limited instructional time in physical education, it is important to seek additional opportunities for promoting student learning beyond class time.”  Ideas of this nature are presented in this section.

Fitness & Tennis:  This page is split down the middle with tennis on one side and fitness-related information on the other side.  His tennis section has a little of everything from one school’s curriculum outline to a document with skill cues, to exams you could use (remember to cover all the content in your class though!).  The fitness side really only includes weight training information, with a sprinkling of other information.

Lesson Plans/Activity Ideas:  He is working on converting his lesson plans to digital format as well as seeking others to submit their plans to him.  Of course I’m biased to PECentral and think our lesson plans section is the best there is anywhere in the world, so although he has a few lesson plans listed, you’d be better off looking for lesson plans with us.  Maybe we could convince him to submit his to PECentral!

Links:  is what it says it is, links.  He does a nice job in breaking them into sections, which is helpful.  There are several links that were new to me, so there may be some which are new to you as well.  Certainly worth a look-see.

Miscellaneous:  This is a page full of links, documents, and presentations that he did not know where else to place. Includes are activities one could do in a classroom, make-up and rainy day ideas and policies, various paper/pencil activities, and a whole lot more.

PE Coordinators and Administration:  this section is “designed to provide resources for coordinators of physical education (department chairs, supervisors etc) and administrators to gauge the effectiveness of physical education programs and teachers.” 

Professional Resources:  This page is still in the construction phase and only has a limited number of commonly utilized documents.  I’d check back in a few months to see if it has progressed to the next level.

Conclusion:

I am pleased with the content of this site and feel it is a valuable resource for any educator whether new or a veteran teacher.  There are a lot of great documents, PowerPoints, and links.  The organization is easy to follow and the links clearly marked.  I would love to see him put a navigation system throughout the entire site so when in one section you could easily link to another without using the back button.  Overall, I would have to say this is a site that has earned its right to be bookmarked!

As always, happy surfing!