From The Trussville Tribune staff reports
MONTGOMERY –The Alabama State Department of Education has listed several children’s games that the organization deems “games or activities to avoid.” The published list of games, activities, and exercises are considered inappropriate for inclusion for students in K-12, the according to the state issued guideline.
The guidelines say games and activities are to be avoided if they have the potential to embarrass or single out a student in front of class, focus on eliminating students from participation, over-emphasize fun with no purpose or objective, lack emphasis on skill development, have a high likelihood for danger, injury, or harm, or limit maximum participation by majority of students.
Among those on the list are games that children have played for generations. Included are Crack the Whip, Dodge Ball, Doggy Doggy, Where‘s Your Bone?, Duck-Duck-Goose, Four Corners, Heads-Up, Seven-up, Line Soccer, Kickball, Messy Backyard, Musical Chairs, Pinball, Red Light, Green Light, Red Rover, Relay races, Simon Says, Spud, Steal the Bacon.
Tag is permitted, but only with modified rules that include skill enhancing stations for eliminated players to practice repetitions of a skill such as chasing, fleeing, and dodging before returning to the game.
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Additional guidelines for physical education say teachers should not withholding physical education class or recess time for students to complete unfinished school work or as a consequence for misbehavior, force students to run laps or perform push-ups because of behavioral infractions such as arriving late to class, talking without permission, or other disruptive behavior.
Warning students, due to poor behavior, of having no recess or no game time; then removing warning because of good behavior is frowned on as is having students run for losing a game or for poor performance such as missing a foul shot or dropping a football, permitting students to make negative comments about other classmates, and allowing students, rather than the teacher, to select teams or groups.