Last October I wrote my Podcast & Chill blog post inspired by the good people at Podcast Brunch Club, (think book club but for podcasts). I shared my Essential Podcast Listening for #Healthed Teachers and also a cool Spotify playlist, which you know I love doing. The blog proved to be such a popular post that I felt that it was time for a follow-up.

And so, again in the style of Podcast Brunch Club here is a themed playlist of podcasts that I have enjoyed recently that will be of particular interest to health teachers plus I’ve included questions to help you discuss your thoughts.

  

Harvard Public Health Podcast: Discrimination in America (29 minutes 10 seconds)

“African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans, and people who are LGBTQ, have anywhere from one-and-a-half to three times more discriminatory reports on every measure than whites. To be African-American, or Latino, or Native American, is a very different experience than being white in America.”

A new series of polls looked at discrimination in America on a day-to-day basis and this excellent episode from a health podcast that you MUST subscribe to re-enforced my views on the health disparities that exist in society.  You can read more on the full findings of the poll on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation site. It’s important that we allow our students to ask questions about this topic and to encourage them to advocate to reduce health inequity.

High school football makes a comeback in New Orleans (17 minutes 26 seconds)

Fascinating! After Hurricane Katrina, the state legislature took control of New Orleans’ public schools from the local school board and turned most of the schools into charters. Deciding to direct their limited funds into academic results many schools cut extracurricular activities, including football. Test scores and graduation rates went up, but thousands of mostly black teachers were dismissed and thousands of students were suspended or expelled due to zero-tolerance discipline policies. This podcast discusses the important role that extra-curricular activities play in a students experience and raises the point that to some people athletics and academics are almost binary opposites.

As health and physical educators it is important for us to advocate for what is best for our students, and narrowing what we offer students, and removing PE and athletics programs in order to boost test scores is not best for students. Here you can read more about the return of football to New Orleans schools.

The Sugar Tax: A (Short) History (27 minutes 47 seconds)

First of all – I love this podcast. I love food, and I miss England, so this podcast gives me a double fix. In this episode they talk about the recent ‘sugar tax’, it’s implementation and how it is already being seen not only as a success in terms of health but also in the way that soft drink manufacturers have complied by altering their recipes.

Berkely, California led the way here in America with a ‘sugar tax’ and one year after the introduction of the tax, this paper in the journal Plos Medicine revealed that sales of sugary drinks in Berkeley fell by 9.6%, while sales in surrounding areas with no tax rose by 6.9%.

In the UK, it was forecast that the tax would raise more than 500 GBP but because the manufacturers have reduced the amount of sugar in nearly all of their products this forecast has been halved. Notably, in England that income is being invested in schools sports and breakfast clubs.

This New Statesman article on The Science Behind Why The Sugar Tax Is A Good Idea answers some interesting questions.

Global PhysEd Voxcast: SHAPE Health TOY Kimberly Ohara-Borowski (47 minutes)

One of my highlights of #SHAPENashville was revealing the name of this years SHAPE America National Health Teacher of the Year. The field was strong and I was delighted that Kimberly Ohara was rightly acknowledged for the great things that she is doing in the classroom and beyond.

Jorge Rodriguez has worked exceptionally hard to grow this outstanding podcast and as I said in the original Podcast & Chill blog post, this podcast was “created by our community, for our community.” I wonder what the future holds for this podcast when Jorge moves to teach in Saudi Arabia next year, but I have no doubt that without his determination in growing the ‘the Voxcast’ there wouldn’t be other projects such as Justin Schleider’s new venture ‘Beyond The Game’.

Conversation Starters about The Essential Listening for #Healthed Teachers Playlist:

• How comfortable are you in discussing issues of discrimination with your students?
• Does your school encourage discussion with students on topics such as the #MeToo movement, healthcare and policing?
• What methods have you used to raise awareness of the social determinants of health with your students?

 

• What cut backs have you witnessed in education that have been justified in an attempt to improve test scores and graduation rates?
• What role does football, and athletics play in shaping the identity of your school community?

 

• Is a sugar/soda tax necessary? Shouldn’t families take more responsibility for their own lifestyle?
• What have you learned from discussions with your students regarding nutrition?
• When teaching nutrition, what NHES skills have you infused? How successful were your efforts to teach a popular content area with a skills-based approach?

 

• Kimberly’s journey towards becoming a teacher was shaped by a sports injury at a young age. What was the defining moment that pointed you in the direction of becoming a teacher?
• Kimberly attributes her recent recognition to making the move and jumping onto social media. How has social media shaped your teaching over the past few years?
• Jorge is open to interviewing anyone with a great story that will inspire and be of interest to educators. Who do you know with a story worthy of featuring on his the Voxcast?

DJ Milneshine’s Music Playlist

Take your thinking cap off and put your dancing shoes on! Our very own DJ Milneshine put together this “#Healthed” music playlist especially for #slowchathealth.

Other #slowchathealth posts you’ll like include:

Protest Songs which has another awesome Spotify playlist of songs to unleash the activist within.

9 Netflix Documentaries to Watch This Summer was written this time last year and will be updated shortly. Netflix continues to keep some great documentaries on its line up. Free professional development? Who doesn’t love that?