By Calvin Trampleasure, 2023
- Chapter 1: New Ways and Big Days
- Chapter 2: RUSD Becomes WCCUSD
- Chapter 3: 4 Cs Adventure in Physical Education
- Chapter 4: The 4 Cs and 101 Ways to Praise
- Chapter 5: Washington Elementary, Richmond
- Chapter 6: Kindergarten Fire and Love
- Chapter 7: Kindergarten Years, Extended Day K
- Afterword: Something Unpredictable
The 4 Cs and 101 Ways to Praise
Big Blue was the all-time favorite 4Cs adventure. Physical Education Conferences around California taught physical education in an “everyone’s a winner” way. Nobody was left out in “new games” and challenges. I learned Big Blue from Dave Nettle at a Cooperative Adventures workshop in 1992.
A car wash at San Pablo Avenue and Carlson in El Cerrito donated a couple 55-gallon blue barrels. These barrels had stored car wash soap. I took the empty barrels home and sawed off the top lid. With a quarter-inch drill bit, I randomly drilled 120 holes into the sides of the 55-gallon barrels.
I bought seven 5-gallon red buckets with metal handles. All three of my schools had a hose, so I didn’t need to buy one. I made two Big Blues, one for Sheldon and one for Dover.
King, Dover and Sheldon classes were first to try the Big Blue Challenge. A signed permission slip to participate in Big Blue was completed, and these went home a week before the Big Blue day. On the back of the slip each student drew and wrote a plan to fill big blue. Students brought an extra set of clothes including underwear and a towel on that day. Kids might get slightly wet or soaking wet on Big Blue day.
The legendary “boy who forgot his underwear” story was told to each class. Based on a true occurrence with a 5th grade boy, the story grew in colorful details with each passing year. It drew laughs and smiles and led students into learning about the mysterious “D word.”
The “D word” was included in a plan on the back of each permission slip. How would students fill Big Blue with water? How would they plug the 120 holes? How would they get the water in seven buckets from a hose 100-feet from Big Blue? How would they work together to fill Big Blue with 55-gallons of water?
The challenge was to fill Big Blue with 55-gallons of water within 25 minutes. Students who wrote the best plans on the back of the permission slip got a special prize. The “D word” was not dunk or drench. I gave just two hints as to the “D word.” It was a “science word”, and some kids would include the word “displacement” in their plan.
After about 45-gallons of water was in Big Blue, one (or two) kids would stand on a chair and climb into Big Blue to displace the water so it would spill over the top. Each class had a time for filling Big Blue. The time stopped as the water flowed over the top of the barrel. Most classes filled it in less than 20 minutes.
A fast time was 10 minutes, if there was great teamwork. All the 120 holes were plugged with sticks, foxtails or other grass. Buckets were shared. It was important to have enough water in each bucket to make the 100-foot trip from the hose to Big Blue worth it. Half-filled buckets did not carry much water. The challenge took cooperation and camaraderie.
Everyone laughed as certain students climbed into Big Blue to displace the water. As the water overflowed, the class set their record time and the water was turned off. Kids climbed out of Big Blue dripping wet and laughing. They changed into dry clothes in bathrooms and returned to class with smiles and a big memory.
“Are you still doing Big Blue?” would be the first question I would hear if I ran into a student years later out in the world.
At 1990s and 2000s CAPEHRD (California Association of Physical Education, Health, Recreation and Dance) conferences, presenters promoted challenges for children that were fun, inclusive and interesting. I attended local conferences or state conferences and collected new and inspiring ideas. Rudy Benton, Lisa Fogg, Pat Vickroy and many other amazing presenters lived in the SF Bay Area.
One year, Belinda Rector of Oakland U.S.D., presented at a Sonoma State conference. She introduced a “101 Ways to Praise” sheet. It would be something I would use the rest of my career. The list of 101 ways built a vocabulary of caring, support and fun in a class. I reformatted Belinda’s list, see below.
“A powerful agent is the right word. Whenever we come upon one of those intensely right words the resulting effect is physical as well as spiritual.” Mark Twain wrote.
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” Booker T. Washington.
101 Ways to Praise
In another workshop at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, teachers used smiley/frowny sheets. Participants would rate themselves on how they did during a game or dance with ratings of 2 smileys, 1 smiley, a straight face, or a frowny circled. A few written sentences under the circled rating allowed reflection on the experience.
If “experience is the best teacher,” then, “reflection is its twin.” This philosophy became the heart of my teaching and was the core of my Physical Education for Teachers class at Holy Names University in Oakland. It is “authentic assessment” as students reflect in writing on lessons learned from play and dance.
Students at Sheldon, Dover and King Schools started each physical education class with the I Am Somebody chant and ended it with the written self-reflection worksheet.
California’s Physical Education Standard Five is about sportsmanship and citizenship. Playing fair and respecting yourself and others is essential.
“You have taught me how to play fair, treat others with respect, to keep pursuing your goals, and to have fun,” Sheldon 6th grader Jasmine wrote. “Thank you for teaching me inspiring things…you gave me something to look forward to on Thursdays…continue to teach others to be healthy, and to be happy!”
It was the power of the I Am Somebody affirmation poem, the power of self-reflection and the power of praise that became the foundation of my style of teaching physical education. With plenty of games and dances that bring fitness and joy, play-based learning becomes genuine to both student’s hearts and minds. Most importantly it is fun. The self-reflection “smiley/frowny” worksheet on the next page was used for many years for 4th-6th grade physical education classes. The worksheet, the poem and Standard 5 became the core of my Holy Names University class, Physical Education for Teachers. From 2001-2022 I taught that class and it helped me refine my elementary teacher ability.
Praises from a former student
One of the best forms of praise a teacher can get is when former students return. In 1998, my former student Denise Woods returned to play with and sign autographs for my students. Denise was in my Nature Nuts group, and volunteered to help get the A Street Garden started at Harding School in 1989. Dr. Woods is currently the Associate Vice Chancellor | Health, Well-being & Safety at UCLA.
