This! Is! SPARTAAAAA!!!
“We are letting parents know that today in PE class there was a dodge ball game that got a little out of control. Some kids got hit hard with the ball. Emily says she was hit but not hard. She is not hurting now. She is calm and says she is OK. (Special Area Teacher)”
How bad does a dodgeball game have to get for the teachers to start sending notes home? I’m picturing the Gone With The Wind scene where the camera pans across all the wounded soldiers in the middle of town, but with little kids with charley horses. Oh, the humanity!
I’m sure everything’s fine, but I am writing back to get more details, and to find out how the heck P.E. turned into Thunderdome today. Yow.
ETA: “She was calm through the entire incident. I’m not sure of the details. There was a sub. It sounds as if the boys just got a little of control with throwing the ball.”
Okay, good enough.
Good for her, though. It seems like even if she wasn’t hurt, it had the potential to freak her out a bit, and she sounds like she’s doing okay.
Good for her, though. It seems like even if she wasn’t hurt, it had the potential to freak her out a bit, and she sounds like she’s doing okay.
Two enters, one comes out! It looks like Emily won!
Two enters, one comes out! It looks like Emily won!
As long as she pinned it on someone else, no problem!
As long as she pinned it on someone else, no problem!
LOL!
Being blind I always dreaded dodgeball in gym. I don’t exactly know why they’d even let me play a game that required one to be able to see if a ball was coming straight at any part of your anatomy – let alone make me. But even still, I don’t recall my parents getting letters about it. And I actually got klonked on the noggin a fair number of times.
(Strangely it wasn’t until I got smacked in the face with a basketball that the school smartened up enough to put me in “special” PE, and interestingly enough we still played dodgeball in that too. I don’t get it to this day.)
LOL!
Being blind I always dreaded dodgeball in gym. I don’t exactly know why they’d even let me play a game that required one to be able to see if a ball was coming straight at any part of your anatomy – let alone make me. But even still, I don’t recall my parents getting letters about it. And I actually got klonked on the noggin a fair number of times.
(Strangely it wasn’t until I got smacked in the face with a basketball that the school smartened up enough to put me in “special” PE, and interestingly enough we still played dodgeball in that too. I don’t get it to this day.)
What the…
Why in the world would they have a blind kid play dodgeball? I think often P.E. teachers aren’t focused on the individual kids. Once when I was 13 I came to school with a second degree sunburn covering my shoulders and head, and the P.E. teacher had me stand outside in the field during softball, getting another hour’s worth of sun. My mother went to the principal’s office the next day and tore that teacher a new one. Thirty years later and she’ll still start quivering with rage if you bring it up.
Based on a couple of things Em said when she got home, I’m pursuing this a little more with the school now. I do take after my mother. Heh.
What the…
Why in the world would they have a blind kid play dodgeball? I think often P.E. teachers aren’t focused on the individual kids. Once when I was 13 I came to school with a second degree sunburn covering my shoulders and head, and the P.E. teacher had me stand outside in the field during softball, getting another hour’s worth of sun. My mother went to the principal’s office the next day and tore that teacher a new one. Thirty years later and she’ll still start quivering with rage if you bring it up.
Based on a couple of things Em said when she got home, I’m pursuing this a little more with the school now. I do take after my mother. Heh.
Yeah. I’d still like to take a dodgeball to those little kids, though. Don’t poke the mama bear’s cub!
Yeah. I’d still like to take a dodgeball to those little kids, though. Don’t poke the mama bear’s cub!
Why in the world would they have a blind kid play dodgeball?
I couldn’t begin to really know. I should admit that I do have some vision, but believe me when I say not nearly enough to be playing dodgeball with any…well, I’ll just say I shouldn’t be playing with any type of airborne object. I was also the only blind student in the entire school district and the first in many a year to be mainstreamed. So…that’s not really an excuse either, but I just write it off as ignorance.
Best of luck with the school. Glad that Emily’s ok, though!
Why in the world would they have a blind kid play dodgeball?
I couldn’t begin to really know. I should admit that I do have some vision, but believe me when I say not nearly enough to be playing dodgeball with any…well, I’ll just say I shouldn’t be playing with any type of airborne object. I was also the only blind student in the entire school district and the first in many a year to be mainstreamed. So…that’s not really an excuse either, but I just write it off as ignorance.
Best of luck with the school. Glad that Emily’s ok, though!
See, here I pictured Em sitting atop a mound of bodies calmly tossing a ball one handed.
Who run Bartertown? Em run Bartertown.
See, here I pictured Em sitting atop a mound of bodies calmly tossing a ball one handed.
Who run Bartertown? Em run Bartertown.
Looks like a few natural 20’s were rolled and confirmed. At least there was no fire involved!
Looks like a few natural 20’s were rolled and confirmed. At least there was no fire involved!
Holy Moses you’re right! Considering she’s my daughter, it’s a wonder the school didn’t burn down.
Holy Moses you’re right! Considering she’s my daughter, it’s a wonder the school didn’t burn down.
Heh.
Heh.
I hated dodgeball.
I mean, I am NOT athletic. I didn’t really like PE much at all (until high school, when I took it in the summer, which, though I hated the 2 mile walk/run every day, I liked a bit more, just b/c of what we played and being able to just go home afterward, and not mess around with needing to change there, etc.). I don’t like basketball, don’t care for tennis, etc. – but I would go ahead and play those without complaining.
But dodgeball? Throwing something that HURT if it hit you, with the GOAL to hit you? Where the faster you threw it, the more likely you were to hit the person (if your aim was good), since they’d have less chance to dodge, and, well, therefore also, the MORE it would hurt…
You could get hurt playing basketball, or volleyball, or softball, etc. But the GOAL of dodgeball is to HIT SOMEONE, often pretty hard b/c of trying to actually accomplish the goal of HITTING them.
I.HATE.DODGEBALL.
I hated dodgeball.
I mean, I am NOT athletic. I didn’t really like PE much at all (until high school, when I took it in the summer, which, though I hated the 2 mile walk/run every day, I liked a bit more, just b/c of what we played and being able to just go home afterward, and not mess around with needing to change there, etc.). I don’t like basketball, don’t care for tennis, etc. – but I would go ahead and play those without complaining.
But dodgeball? Throwing something that HURT if it hit you, with the GOAL to hit you? Where the faster you threw it, the more likely you were to hit the person (if your aim was good), since they’d have less chance to dodge, and, well, therefore also, the MORE it would hurt…
You could get hurt playing basketball, or volleyball, or softball, etc. But the GOAL of dodgeball is to HIT SOMEONE, often pretty hard b/c of trying to actually accomplish the goal of HITTING them.
I.HATE.DODGEBALL.
As my father said, “I thought they banned that!”
Apparently not.
As my father said, “I thought they banned that!”
Apparently not.
(I have a bit of a grudge against basketball, since I recall my elementary school PE teacher, the one I had from 3rd through 5th grade, telling the class once that he wasn’t going to let them leave until I made a free throw. He did finally give in and let them go, since I didn’t manage to make one, after trying repeatedly, like all that pressure HELPED…
…but I still *hate* dodgeball)
(I have a bit of a grudge against basketball, since I recall my elementary school PE teacher, the one I had from 3rd through 5th grade, telling the class once that he wasn’t going to let them leave until I made a free throw. He did finally give in and let them go, since I didn’t manage to make one, after trying repeatedly, like all that pressure HELPED…
…but I still *hate* dodgeball)
How exactly was keeping everybody until you made a free throw going to help you? Or anyone? People just do not think sometimes.
I hope he felt bad about it, at least. The optimist in me hopes he learned something.
How exactly was keeping everybody until you made a free throw going to help you? Or anyone? People just do not think sometimes.
I hope he felt bad about it, at least. The optimist in me hopes he learned something.
I’m not a “OMG ban this b/c kids might get hurt!!!” type, really – heck, if they have PE, kids might get hurt, and the LAST thing the schools should do right now is cut PE (or art, or music…). But dodgeball’s actual goal is to do something that is very very likely to cause pain at *least*, if not injury (depending on where and how hard you’re hit). That’s one I *would* get behind banning.
But it’s liked because all you have to do is divide kids into two groups, give them balls, and let them go at it. Don’t have to watch for fouls/traveling/double dribble/etc. as in basketball, nor for any number of other such things in other games. It’s very low-demand on the part of the teacher, kind of the equivalent of showing a totally unrelated movie in a class (“Today in Physical Science, we’re going to watch “Monty Python and the Holy Grail””…).
(No kidding, one of my subs did that once. Somehow, she totally missed the video on black holes [we were studying gravity] that I mentioned in my instructions and ***left on top of the VCR***, decided she’d show “Muppet Treasure Island” (a movie she carried with her, apparently), and let the class talk her into showing someone’s copy of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. With an hour and a half block class, I’m sure they got to see it all. I went ballistic when I found out the next day…)
I’m not a “OMG ban this b/c kids might get hurt!!!” type, really – heck, if they have PE, kids might get hurt, and the LAST thing the schools should do right now is cut PE (or art, or music…). But dodgeball’s actual goal is to do something that is very very likely to cause pain at *least*, if not injury (depending on where and how hard you’re hit). That’s one I *would* get behind banning.
But it’s liked because all you have to do is divide kids into two groups, give them balls, and let them go at it. Don’t have to watch for fouls/traveling/double dribble/etc. as in basketball, nor for any number of other such things in other games. It’s very low-demand on the part of the teacher, kind of the equivalent of showing a totally unrelated movie in a class (“Today in Physical Science, we’re going to watch “Monty Python and the Holy Grail””…).
(No kidding, one of my subs did that once. Somehow, she totally missed the video on black holes [we were studying gravity] that I mentioned in my instructions and ***left on top of the VCR***, decided she’d show “Muppet Treasure Island” (a movie she carried with her, apparently), and let the class talk her into showing someone’s copy of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. With an hour and a half block class, I’m sure they got to see it all. I went ballistic when I found out the next day…)
I’m sure he didn’t. He just smirked. Though at least he didn’t try that again on me (nor in our class).
I’m sure he didn’t. He just smirked. Though at least he didn’t try that again on me (nor in our class).