Two recent things that changed the way I structure my classroom-based health classes are the pandemic, with the remote/hybrid experience, and my school's transition from 40 minute periods to 85 minute periods. Both of these significant events led to me being more intentional about my planning, ensuring that I use my time with students most …
Jean-Philippe Ayotte-Beaudet, Université de Sherbrooke and Felix Berrigan, Université de Sherbrooke There is a growing interest across Canada in outdoor education that is formally integrated into school. This trend has increased since COVID-19, particularly because open-air environments significantly reduced the risks of disease transmission. Outdoor education is an umbrella term that includes many approaches and …
Is this the year in education when things get easier? I have multiple tweets from 2020, 2021, and 2022 stating that these have been the most trying of times in my 25+ years of teaching and if my social media is to be believed, we are seeing a greater number of educators walking away from …
Regular readers of the blog, particularly those who read the #Microblog posts, will know that many health teachers are under attack from community members who have taken issue with elements of our curricula. Often these efforts are well-organized, well funded, and very vocal. Often these efforts are mis-informed, seek to intentionally mis-inform, and always seek …
In a year when I've been physically and mentally challenged more than any other in my career, and I'm aware that I said something similar last summer (!), books have been a constant in my self-care armory. Intentionally carving out time for myself has boosted my health and wellness when I needed it most. Music, …
When asked what it is like to teach teenagers, I tell people it's wonderful, because I know the future will be safe in the hands of my students. Many of my students have budding advocacy traits, and see themselves as someone who will make change. For that reason, teaching advocacy skills in health class is …
To the Teacher Class of 2021/2022, In the final experience as a PhD Candidate at the University of Texas I sat impatiently waiting to be recommended by the College of Education’s Dean, Dr. Martinez, to receive my doctorate. As I sat there, UT’s Core Values were shared, and I was full of pride as I …
A principal once asked me, “Adam, how will you still impact the culture to promote health and wellness after you are gone?” This was year two of my teaching career, and I had just begun to have my head above water with middle school students and classroom management. Looking back at that moment I feel …
Continue reading How to Sustain a Culture of Health and Wellness at your School.
When my three children were learning to walk, each in their own ways and by their own timelines, they delighted in that adorable “hold both hands of a grownup while walking” thing we all do with our toddlers. But eventually, when they were ready, they learned to walk on their own. They needed to learn …
We need to share our impediments as teachers and fully disclose our struggles. We need to refrain from positioning ourselves as experts, most especially if we have secret challenges that keep us up at night. We need to speak of our shortcomings, mistakes, and battles as much as we speak of our triumphs. We also …
If you haven’t gotten on the bandwagon for Meaningful PE yet, it’s time to get on board. Meaningful PE can combine the aims of Health, PE, SEL and EDI into one simple structure. Not that any of these topics are simple, but helping a student find a place for themselves in your Health & PE …
Continue reading Supporting Meaningful PE in Health Education
Why PBL? Project Based Learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy that involves a dynamic classroom approach in which it is believed that students acquire a deeper knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges and problems. PBL often relies on students learning through inquiry, collaboration, and design thinking in order to achieve deeper understanding of complex …
Continue reading Can Project Based Learning Create More Meaningful PE?
Health and Wellbeing are universally understood concepts. While their specifics and definitions can be dissonant and intimately unique (not to mention everchanging) to the eye of the beholder, there are many commonalities that can be found between even the most diverse approaches to healthiness/wellness. These commonalities often form the basis of Health and Wellbeing education …
Continue reading Blurring the Lines: Cross-Curricular Health & Wellbeing
In writing this blog and sharing it, I know that I am speaking to friends and like-minded teachers and educators and probably athletes and/or movement activists who are already converted. Preaching to the choir, so to speak. We identify with the importance of education, we have committed our lives to work with young people and we subscribe …
What does it mean to be self-disciplined? How can we mimic this concept in the classroom? I recently read the book, “Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t, Good to Great” by Jim Collins and one of the concepts that jumped out at me right away was that of self-discipline. What is self-discipline? According …
Continue reading What Does Self-Discipline Look Like in the Classroom?
Introduction In life we all have decisions to make. Statistics say that we make about 35,000 decisions a day. Most of those 35,000 are very small choices that we make every day like, brushing our teeth, what we wear, to get on the freeway or take surface streets, and what we eat.The decisions are more …
I came across a recently published article in The Atlantic entitled “What the Fitness Industry Doesn’t Understand.” To summarize, the article is about how the fitness industry seems to miss out on connecting with the emergent fitness enthusiast due to the fact that most gyms, fitness programs, etc. cater to those who are already predisposed …
Continue reading Changing the Perception of Physical Education
Recently Florida passed a controversial bill centering on the teaching of sexual orientation in public schools. Part of the text of the bill (HB 1557) bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. Any instruction on these topics cannot occur in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally …
Education is under attack. Across the country there is a political movement to censor what we are teaching in our classrooms. Dedicated and qualified teachers are being questioned for providing guidance on how students navigate all they are exposed to through social media, the internet and in the real world. Students crave facts and credible …
I have always struggled most with teaching my English Language Learners (ELLs). Through degrees in health, PE and literacy I did not have any classes that addressed the specific needs of ELLs. We face some particular challenges as health educators with ELLs. In most classes, students have a teacher certified in TESOL to support their …
Continue reading hELLth- Supporting English language learners in General Health Education Classes
#slowchathealth 