MARY SPENCER RESPECT ATHLETE STORIES CANADIAN OLYMPIC SCHOOL PROGRAM. GOLD: GRADES 6 AND UP SILVER: GRADES 4 AND 5

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1 GOLD: GRADES 6 AND UP SILVER: GRADES 4 AND 5

2 Creating a Canadian Olympic Learning Environment This year s Canadian Olympic School Program (COSP) is the most comprehensive yet. Each Athlete story, featuring a well-known Canadian Olympian or Olympic hopeful, is brought to life with activities that engage students in literacy, physical activity, character challenges, numeracy extensions and audio and video podcasts. Through these values-based Athlete stories, students discover that Canadian athletes reached great success not only through tremendous physical talents, but also through character and intelligence. Complementing these captivating stories is the Summer Sports Day resource and Personal Best Challenges. Together, these resources create a foundation for teachers to inspire their students to exercise their mind, body and character. COSP is designed in accordance with the founder of the modern Olympic Movement, Pierre de Coubertin s, philosophy of Olympism. By recognizing the value of Olympians and Olympic hopefuls as role models, the program engages students with the joy found in effort while blending sport with culture and education. The Athlete stories balance intellectual instruction, cultural development and physical education. The heart of our curriculum focuses on participation, effort and the pride in knowing you have given your all to the pursuit of excellence. Olympic Values as Educational Tools The worldwide Olympic values of leadership, respect and healthy active living act as a foundation for these stories. Each Athlete story will focus on the development of a character value within your students. By engaging students in each narrative, they have the opportunity to expand their understanding of this value and to expand their moral capabilities. As well, Personal Best Challenges will challenge students to reach their personal best by applying the values in their everyday life at school, at home or in the community. Finding the Joy in Effort To mimic the physical development of Olympians, each Athlete story links students to physical activities in our Canadian Olympic resources. These movement activities will encourage students to develop physical skills over time. Students, much the same as Olympians, must first learn movement skills that enable them to balance, walk, run, jump, skip and throw proficiently. That helps set the stage for them to master more complex movement skills and become more proficient in sport. Being physically active is critical to the development of healthy students encouraging them to adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle. They can move their bodies in creative, intelligent ways that demonstrate their ability to adapt to different situations. Such individuals enjoy success in a range of physical activities, and are more likely to be motivated to adopt healthy behaviours in all aspects of life. TEACHING GUIDE FOR EDUCATORS Current curriculum theory emphasizes the importance of reinforcing value messages through narratives, storytelling, art, posters, drama, and physical movement. Activities based on the stories, events, ceremonies and symbols of the Olympic Games have schoolwide relevance. Group sizes for activities will be indicated by the following icons: Independent Activity Small Group Activity Large Group Activity Blending Sport with Culture and Education Each Athlete story is tailored to three reading levels: Bronze (grades 2 and 3), Silver (grades 4 and 5), and Gold (grades 6 and into secondary school). Each comes with progressive activities that are open- ended and tailored to address a diverse range of learning styles and proficiencies. They focus on six main facets of understanding: explaining, interpreting, applying, taking perspective, empowering and developing self- knowledge. These critical thinking skills are woven into all three stages of the learning sequence in order to promote deeper understanding of the values and concepts. Through many facets of the Canadian Olympic School Program, children and youth can connect values to their lives at home, at school and in their local community. Perhaps they can begin to see their world in new and different ways. 2

3 IT TAKES AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF HARD WORK TO MAKE IT AS AN OLYMPIAN, BUT IT IS WORTH THE SACRIFICES. CONNECTING Building a foundation for new learning PROCESSING Using strategies to acquire and use knowledge TRANSFORMING Showing understanding in a new way 15

4 Mary Spencer stands at the end of a dark tunnel. She hears the roar of the crowd. She closes her eyes. Her fingers tingle inside her boxing gloves. It is the London 2012 Olympic Games. Today is the first day of the women s Olympic boxing competition. It is also the first time women have been allowed to box in the Olympic Games. It has taken a long time for women s boxing to win respect. It has also taken Mary a long time. Mary is from the Cape Croker First Nations Reserve and grew up in Windsor, Ont. Her family didn t have a lot of money. She got in trouble at school. She even failed gym class. But her life changed the first time she stepped into a boxing ring. I saw what I could do, says Mary. I won my first bout. I loved boxing. Mary knows that she is doing more than just boxing today. She is showing the kids back home what they can do. I do a lot of work with kids, she says. I need to win for myself and for them. I want them to know that they can do something special too if they work hard. Mary is one of the best boxers in the world. In fact, Mary has been at the top of her sport for years. She has won three world titles and more than 100 bouts. THERE IS A LOT OF AMONG BOXERS BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW THAT IT TAKES A LOT OF COURAGE TO GET IN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. During all that time, boxing was the only sport in the Olympic Games that was only for men. I had hoped they would let women box at the 2008 Olympic Games, said Mary. They didn t. That was very hard to take. I just had to keep hoping for Some sports fans still don t take Mary s sport seriously. Maybe they don t like the idea of women fighting with their fists. 16

5 It was hard to gain respect when women s boxing wasn t an Olympic sport, she says. A lot of people still don t know how tough it is. That finally changed two years ago, when the International Olympic Committee announced that women could box at the London 2012 Olympic Games. But there would only be three weight classes for women. The men have ten. They did not add Mary s weight category. She had to move up a level and box heavier athletes although, Mary has stayed positive. She keeps winning. Now she is at the Olympic Games. She wants to win. But she also knows she needs to respect her opponents. Boxing is tough and dangerous. Competitors tap gloves at the start of each bout. Mary says boxers often tap gloves during the bout as well, to say good job. Boxers respect each other, she says. We all know that it takes a lot of courage to get in the ring. You see the respect we have for each other after a competition. I have never seen boxers fight outside of the ring. The cheering gets louder. Mary makes her way into the ring. She sees her opponent. Now she has to get ready to compete at the highest level. Millions of people will be watching here and on TV. Mary knows she s ready. She knows that after years of waiting and fighting for respect, it is about to arrive win or lose. 17

6 STAYING POSITIVE Staying positive at times may be hard. No matter what, you need to keep believing in you and to never lose sight of your dreams or goals. How does Mary stay positive? How do you stay positive? BEING CONFIDENT Being confident means that you believe in yourself, even when others many not believe in you. You know that you are good at some things and these things are fun to do. Respect often means knowing what is right from wrong; listening well, being nice, and making the right choices. What does it mean to be nice to someone else? 18

7 Connecting Respect Placemats Teacher explains that respect is the act of honouring other people (accepting others for who they are), and treating them with dignity (being nice to others, doing things without being asked, etc). Self-respect is accepting yourself for who you are and being proud of who you are. Move students into six small working groups. Write one of the following questions on six large sheets of papers (flip chart/ Bristol boards): - What does respecting others look like? - What does respecting others sound like (how do you see and act around them)? - What does it feel like when you are being respected (how are you treated and how do others act around you)? - What does it feel like when you are respecting someone else? - What does respecting myself look like? - What does respecting my world look like? 1. Students have three minutes with their group to write or sketch key ideas for each question. 2. On the teacher s signal, pass all the sheets clockwise so that each group can respond to a new question. Continue this until all groups have had a chance to work on each placemat. 3. Note: A carousel activity, where the students move to a posted sheet on the wall, encourages more physical activity. Students are timed to quickly walk to the next placemat. 4. With their final placemat, the group chooses one idea and reads the question and response to the rest of the class. Transforming A flip-flap book Students think about how they might be respectful to others, themselves, and their world. They make a Flip-flap book (see attached template). Beneath each flap, students can draw or write how they will practice respect in the given area. PERSONAL BEST CHALLENGES The following Personal Best Challenges by Canadian Olympians and Olympic hopefuls link to the value of Healthy Active Living: - Annamay Pierse - Catharine Pendrel - Reuben Ross - Christine Girard All challenges are available in the Canadian Olympic School Program Challenge Guide or via podcast at www. olympicschool.ca Processing Walk a mile in someone else shoes Re-read the story aloud together, or ask the students to read it silently on their own. As the class to imagine that we are asking the questions from the Connecting section to Mary Spencer (previous activity). Students brainstorm how Mary would answer the questions, using ideas from the story. Encourage the students to look closely at Mary s quotes. 19

8 FLIP-FLAP BOOK TEMPLATE: the book gets folded down the middle and cut along the two lines between I respect myself and I respect my I respect myself I respect others I respect my 20

9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Canadian Olympic School Program wishes to thank and acknowledge the contributions of the following people. Without their efforts, and creativity, this project would not have been possible. Featured Athletes Canadian Olympic Committee Graphic Designer Website Writer Jennifer Abel Mary Spencer Simon Whitfield Monique Allain Riley Denver Derek Kent Dennis Kim Erin Mathany Kate Moorhouse Pascale Seide-Legros Ben Stevenson Andy Maier Shinead D Souza Joe Barnett Renée Lung Kevin Sylvester Bruce Deacon 21