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"Book Reviews" by Sylvia Dresser * Beedy, Jeffrey Pratt. Sports Plus, Positive Learning Using Sports: Developing Youth Sports Programs that Teach Positive Values. Hamiliton, MA: Project Adventure, 1997: Dr. Beedy has had extensive experience in competitive sports as an athlete himself, coach, teacher, father and researcher. He believes that the value of competitive sports lies not in the winning, but in the lessons learned along the way. To this end, he has developed a model called PLUS - Positive Learning Using Sports - which extends the learning from the actual sport itself into the development of the whole child. The first two chapters outline the PLUS model and discuss the general potential of youth sports programs as educational tools. Then Beedy moves into the steps of the model itself - the Warm-Up, the Activity, and the Cool-Down. Theory is given as well as specific tools and techniques, such as the Full Value Contract, processing techniques, and specific scenarios to read through. Beedy then goes on to discuss the ways children learn. There are separate chapters on learning through modeling and relationships, learning through dialogue, and learning through rewards and consequences. Again, specific examples are given as well as the theory behind them. The next part of the book ties sports into character development. Discussions include developing a team philosophy, and defining a team's core values, including setting reasonable and measurable goals. Developmental levels are addressed in the following section - how to implement this model for children under eight, children eight to ten, and children ten to twelve. These levels incorporate all of the ideas discussed in the previous sections. The final section involves strategies to extend lessons learned in sports to the rest of life - at home, in the community - and at school. Suggestions are given on trying Sports PLUS into the curriculum, and incorporating the philosophy into an after school program. The appendix includes a few cooperative games and sample letters to parents. All in all, an excellent resource for anyone involved in sports programs for youth. * Kreidler, William J. and Lisa Furlong. Adventures in Peacemaking: a conflict resolution activity guide for school-age programs. Hamilton, MA: Project Adventure, 1995: As more and more schools teach skills other than the "3 R's", teachers are looking for sources of activities. This book fills that need very well for the person working with children aged 5-12 - and for the rest of the world, a little creativity could take these same activities to the level of the 3 year old, and to high school. Part One, Getting Started, covers subjects such as handling conflict and setting up themes, clubs and programs. Trouble-shooting negative behaviors is included, as well as setting guidelines for appropriate behavior. Recommendations are made as to how to run a group so that everyone, yourself included, is having fun and enjoying the activities. Many of the principles in this opening section are familiar versions of such things as the Experiential Learning Cycle and the Full Value Contract, presented in such a way as to be easily understood in the context of running the various groups described. The real meat of this book lies in Part Two, the activities section. Many familiar adventure activities and other games are presented in a clear format, easily identified as promoting cooperation, communication, expressing feelings, appreciating diversity, and conflict resolution. There is a wonderfully clear set of icons delineating age (5-8, 11-12, etc.), Type of Activity (arts and crafts, drama, games, writing, for example), and the Activity Level (from quiet to very active). Directions are clear, materials listed if necessary, and reflection topics suggested. There's also nice white space available for making notes of your own next to each activity! The last section, Peacing it all together, suggests projects for kids to implement some of the things they might have learned in the activities. Peacemaker T-shirts, a mural, posters, a robot, and the list goes on. Once again, directions are wonderfully clear. An index lists all of the activities alphabetically, along with their recommended age level and type of activity, which would be useful in building a program or in quickly finding another activity when the time frame extends longer than the plans did. A bibliography is also included. A great book for all, I can see perhaps a business running Peaceful
Birthday parties as well as a wonderful resource for teachers of all kinds
who work with kids in schools, camps, day care, and any other conceivable
setting. Now, those Mood Glasses looked really fun to make, I wonder which
page they're on??
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