Walking my school hallways and seeing the familiar faces of students has always been a highlight of my day. Prior to the pandemic, I would 'collect' those smiles, "hellos" and fist bumps in the same way that Sonic the Hedgehog collects rings. A walk from one end of my school to another is a guaranteed …
8 years ago I discovered a concept that switched my thinking away from setting a New Years resolution and towards something much simpler, more forgiving, and for me, more effective. Remarkably this is my 8th year of choosing a #OneWord to guide me through the year ahead. The theory behind this idea is that our …
Festive traditions come and go, but one that endures for me is the traditional 'Queen's Speech' where Queen Elizabeth (you may have seen her in The Crown) addresses the nation and reflects on the previous year addressing concerns and sharing her hopes for the people for the coming year. Here's my end of year message …
There is no doubt that 2020 will go down as one of the most memorable years of my teaching career and not necessarily for all of the right reasons. I approached 2020 full of optimism and with my traditional prediction of the HOT TOPICS for the year ahead. I predicted that skills-based health would be …
I love music. Any kind of music. I love music, just as long as it's grooving.Kenneth Gamble / Kenny Gamble / Leon Huff I've blogged about my love for music on a number of occasions, I'm listening to music as I type, and have even gone so far as to include hand-crafted Spotify playlists to …
Will your team be the first to unlock the golden egg? One of many interesting questions you may overhear from our health classroom. Teaching skills based health has many opportunities for collaboration and communication. Connecting students to functional knowledge, content and skills remains a challenge during this unique time. At the moment my 7th grade health …
I don't know about you, but I have been more reflective this year than ever before. Perhaps my pandemic reflections explain why I am appreciative of my health and that of my loved ones. Perhaps it's the loneliness of teaching remotely in front of a laptop to online students that I am thankful for teaching …
I am delighted that this week's blog post comes from CATCH, who have been promoting healthier lifestyles kids and communities through innovative initiatives and trainings for over 25 years. You might know them from their awesome CATCH My Breath JUUL & E-Cigarette Prevention Program, but their most recent initiatives highlight how they have responded to …
Education is not permission! Don’t you want your children to be autonomous, sexually fulfilled adults? Don’t you want your children to have successful and loving intimate relationships? Helping them to do so means being sex-positive. The phrase “sex-positive” in association with parenting is sometimes misunderstood as taking a permissive or “anything goes” approach to sexuality. …
International Pronouns Day occurs on the third Wednesday of October each year, and in 2020 is scheduled for Wednesday, October 21, 2020. #Slowchathealth is proud to endorse International Pronouns Day and encourages you to acknowledge and discuss the importance of personal pronouns with your students, co-workers and peers. International Pronouns Day seeks to make respecting, …
As a father to two young sons (8 and 6 year olds) I'm starting to get those 'B Questions', inquiries about about boobs, balls, butts and babies. I am thankful that my sons feel comfortable approaching me with their questions, and I hope that they always see me as an askable adult. My boys are …
During these times of stress, the intentional act of protecting one's well-being and happiness is a must-do for educators, and something that I am prioritizing more so than ever before. The additional workload of teaching remotely, while supervising a young family with their virtual learning, has led to a realization that if am not at …
Families can support kids' mental health whether they're learning remotely or at school – here's how Kids learn who they are and how to cope within their families. Thomas Barwick/Stone via Getty Images Erika Bocknek, Wayne State University The choice between in-person learning, where available, and remote learning is a fraught one for parents. Children …
With social-emotional learning very much at the fore during this remote/hybrid/pandemic period of education, I find myself focusing on the emotional wellness of my students more so than ever before. My lessons are chunked effectively, are delivered at a slower pace, and my curriculum has been well and truly "Marie Kondo'd." While mindfulness and meditation …
If you know me, you know that I like to do good for our community. This blog site started out as an opportunity for health teachers to amplify their voices among a global audience of like-minded educators, and it has done just that. We have had almost 100 blog posts contributed from teachers across America …
There's something very powerful about being observed when teaching. It puts you in a vulnerable position that Brené Brown would say opens you up to uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure. And yet, stepping out of our comfort zone and loosening control opens us up to growth and reward, and in terms of teaching that can …
Setting professional and personal goals during the pandemic might require a different focus and frame of mind. As I try and wrap my head around a remote return to school and a switch to a block schedule, it will be necessary to formulate goals that require me to grow in order to best serve my …
As a teacher of 25 years, it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that relationships with each and every student were crucial. I'd been taught HOW to teach, but I come from the era when teaching was something that we did TO students, not WITH. I come from the era that was taught …
I have a confession. I'm a hoarder, but thankfully not one of those hoarders that you see on reality TV that need an intervention and a team to come in and clean out everything I've saved over the years. I'm talking about digital hoarding, the collating of digital materials that I refer back to regularly. …
Bringing our standards-based health curriculum to life is important if we want students to make connections between the classroom and the world in which they live. We need to find ways in which students can promote healthy norms and healthy behaviors and we have to provide students with the opportunity to amplify their health-enhancing messages …
Continue reading Breathing Life into Health Skill 8: A Twist on the Traditional Field Day
