This document discusses teaching self-defense skills to middle school students in physical education. It outlines key aspects of the curriculum, including ensuring a safe learning environment, presenting lessons sensitively, and using a good teaching progression from explanations to basic skills to interactive activities. The progression moves from explaining what self-defense is and awareness of surroundings to introducing skills like defending against being pinned, pushed, or pulled. It also discusses the differences between bullying and hazing and how physical education can address both issues through curriculum that builds team spirit in positive ways rather than through initiation rituals.

1. Jeff Sickler
Senior Seminar
3/12/14

2. TEACHING SELF-DEFENSE TO MIDDLE SCHOOL
STUDENTS IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION
1. Learning the Environment
2. Lesson Presentation
3. A Good Teaching Progression
4. Activities

3. LEARNING THE ENVIRONMENT
 Proper learning for students.
 Skills taught in class may lead to misuse. Its not
tolerated.
 Make sure students feel safe.
 This will create different challenges for each class.

4. LESSON PRESENTATION
 Be sensitive and realistic about how to approach
topics on physical or mental abuse.
 Set the tone for the topic of Self-Defense because they
do need to be addressed.
 Let the Students Guide the discussion.
 Allow for an open discussion between tolerance and
bullying.

5. A GOOD TEACHING PROGRESSION
 Explain what Self-Defense is and why
 Help Students understand their surroundings
 Inform about dangerous settings
 Start with introducing basic self-defense skills
(without weapon)

6. ACTIVITIES
 What the teacher can stress
 Importance of Balance
 Not panicking
 The element of surprise
 How awareness can aid during the execution of the
self-defense skills being used
 Pinned against the Wall
 Being Pushed
 Being Pulled

7. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BULLYING AND HAZING?

8. WEBSTER DICTIONARY
 Hazing
 to attack repeatedly with mean put-downs or insults
 <the roughnecks on the oil rig would haze the young man for
his refined manners and educated speech
 Bullying
 to inflict physical or emotional harm upon
 <children who had been bullied by their father since infancy>

9. WEBSTER DICTIONARY
 Hazing
 deride, gibe (or jibe), jeer, mock, ridicule; annoy, bother, bug,
burn (up), chafe, fret, frost, gall, get, gnaw (at)
 Bullying
 brutalize, bully, ill-treat, ill-use, kick around, maltreat,
manhandle, mess over [slang], mishandle, mistreat, misuse

10. BULLYING AND HAZING/INITIATION IN
SCHOOLS: HOW SPORTS AND PHYSICAL
EDUCATION CAN BE PART OF THE PROBLEM AND
PART OF THE SOLUTION.
“Hazing rituals (called initiation New Zealand) like the one
described above (Duane’s fictitious) are common in high school
sports all across America. Historically they have been seen as
positive, helping athletes develop team spirit and learn
discipline. In this article I locate hazing rituals in the context of
other high school sports rituals in American school. I also
describe an incident of sports hazing at a school near my
university involving extreme physical violence and sexual
abuse, and show how this incident was interpreted by key stake
holders in the community. Because of the widespread perception
that sport in America (and probably New Zealand as well) is a
positive “character buider, . . .”

11. BULLYING AND HAZING/INITIATION IN
SCHOOLS: HOW SPORTS AND PHYSICAL
EDUCATION CAN BE PART OF THE PROBLEM AND
PART OF THE SOLUTION.
. . . Hazing and bullying in sports makes such behavior more
widely accepted. I encourage physical education teachers and
coaches to reject hazing and other forms of bullying, and suggest
proactive curriculum innovations that offer athletes more
positive alternatives for team building and personal
development.”

12. VIDEO ON HAZING
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaCUbk7oWz
c

13. REFERENCES
 Potenza, G. M., Konukman, F., Yu, J., &
Gümüşdağ, H. (2014). Teaching Self-Defense to
Middle School Students in Physical Education.
JOPERD: The Journal Of Physical Education,
Recreation & Dance, 85(1), 47-50
 Rees, C. (2010). Bullying and hazing/initiation in
schools: How sports and physical education can
be part of the problem and part of the solution.
Physical Educator - Journal Of Physical
Education New Zealand, 43(1), 24-27.