Urban Physical Education

Urban Physical Education targets the teaching circumstances and conditions of urban schools with innovative instructional practices and culturally diverse and contemporary activities. You’ll find games and modified sports from around the world as well as sport and performance activities such as urban dances, parkour, urban golf, freestyle basketball, and fitness routines.

Each of the 40 activities includes a brief description, a simplified teaching process, key instructional points, alignment with NASPE national standards, and a basic closure activity. An activity finder makes it easy to find activities to fit in your curriculum, and ready-made rubrics help you assess readiness of preservice teachers, partner and group interactions, and lesson effectiveness.

Authors Clements and Rady combine their expertise and experience to help you better understand urban school environments and become a more effective leader, instructor, and mentor to the diverse students in your school. More than an activity book, Urban Physical Education identifies the common challenges facing today’s urban physical education teachers and presents culturally responsive instructional practices developed by experienced teachers working in urban schools.

Suggestions and tools in the book will help you improve your teaching demeanor, respond to behavioral problems, implement protocols for large classes, and address the needs of English language learners. With Urban Physical Education, you’ll learn how to generate a new level of student enthusiasm and participation; develop and reinforce effective teaching practices; and enhance your existing curriculum with innovative, contemporary, and culturally diverse activities for middle and high school students.

Rhonda L. Clements, EdD, is a professor and the director of the master of arts in teaching (MAT) in physical education and sport pedagogy graduate program at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York, where she conducts research and teaches about historical and sociocultural issues in sport and physical education.

Clements is the author of nine books on movement, play, and games. She is past president of the American Association for the Child's Right to Play, a UN-recognized association composed of experts in play, games, and sports in 49 countries. The association’s primary purpose is to protect, preserve, and promote play and leisure activities throughout the world.

Clements has written numerous articles related to physical education, including 20 on sport and play factors. She is also a consultant for numerous manufacturers of sport equipment and toys and has been interviewed by more than 300 journalists regarding children's right to leisure and physical play. She has presented at 40 international or national conferences and over 60 state or local conferences on topics related to cultural understanding through play and sport. Clements lives in New York City.

Amy Meltzer Rady, EdD, is an associate professor and the director of the Physical Education Teacher Preparation program at Saint Joseph's College in Standish, Maine where she is responsible for teaching, advising, and developing courses for the students majoring in physical education. Rady was also instrumental in developing the new Health and Wellness Major at the college and has taught several of the Health courses in this curriculum.

Rady has written several articles focusing on attitudes towards physical education and activity. She is beginning international research with professional colleagues in Brazil, China, England, Israel, and the Philippines.

Rady taught at William Paterson University in the Physical Education Teacher Education Program before moving to Maine. She has extensive experience teaching physical education basic instructional classes at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York and at the SUNY at Stony Brook. She has taught physical education in public and private schools.

Rady has presented at the National Association of Kinesiology and Physical Education in Higher Education Conference: the Eastern District Association of American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, the Maine Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, the New Jersey Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, and the American Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (now SHAPE). Her presentations focus on multicultural activities and professional preparation programs. Rady has recently acquired her Bokwa Level 1 Teacher Certification. Rady lives in Maine.

Both authors are longtime member of AAHPERD (now SHAPE) and their state and local physical education associations, and both serve on the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) Diversity and Inclusiveness Task Force.