With the help of an innovative new Physical Education program and a team of six cuddly gators, Shipley’s Lower School students are exercising what they’ve learned about respect and responsibility—in addition to physical fitness—in their P.E. classes.

At the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year, Usha Balamore, Assistant Head of Lower School and Director of Character Development, challenged Lower School faculty members to infuse their curriculum with lessons about respect and responsibility. Lower School Physical Education Coordinator Fred Speers met the challenge with an innovative, incentive-based program designed to promote group responsibility among students.

Speers created “The Responsibility Gators”—a team of six rubber alligators to help with the task. Each gator was assigned an identity and grade level, and was then introduced to each student via an email or letter that said, “What is group responsibility? It is a gathering of people determined to work together for the good of the group. We Gators believe that being responsible as a group makes all of us better people, and the world a better place in which to live.”

Using a system of group self-evaluation in tandem with feedback from instructors, each class grades itself in areas of participation, social interaction, and leadership. Scores are based on a list of 21 different “responsibility skills” such as taking care of equipment, playing fair, being willing to try new things, winning without boasting, losing without blaming, and being able to applaud others. The class in each grade level that earns the highest score after three evaluation periods wins a certificate and the privilege of a visit from one of the six Responsibility Gators.

“The students are very honest,” says Speers of the self-evaluations. “They’re often harder on themselves than their instructors.” And the system seems to be working. Speers has noticed a change in students’ behavior—they pick up gym equipment without being asked, they cheer on their classmates, and they remind each other about good sportsmanship.

The introduction of the Responsibility Gators to the Physical Education curriculum means that Shipley’s Lower School students aren’t just exercising their bodies in gym class. They’re exercising their ability to be responsible and respectful community members, and learning to be accountable for their behavior in group situations.