In the summer of 2016 I launched the #sendateacher initiative to raise money that would be used to support sending a teacher to the SHAPE America national conference in Boston in March. Through the sales of clothing, designed by health and PE teachers, from the #sendateacher website, 100% of the profits would go towards the goal …
Running alongside my #healthed curriculum is a long term project. For the past few semesters the theme has been advocacy as students attend to YRBS data, identify the health behaviors most concerning our school population, and undertake some awesome project based learning. Student feedback following this project is always positive and over 9 weeks I …
I'm delighted that this week's blog post comes from an educator who I really admire. Danielle Petrucci not only has an impressive Twitter bio (!) but she is doing things in the #healthed class that blow me away. Check out her blog post in which she shares an innovative way to get her students to …
As you may already know, last year I set up the #sendateacher initiative to raise money to send teachers to the SHAPE America national conference who would not typically be able to attend due to a lack of support from their school or district. Through the sale of clothing from http://www.sendateacher.com 100% of the profits …
Happy New Year and welcome to the 101st #slowchathealth blog post and the first of 2018. Last week I revealed that my #oneword for 2018 will be environment following on from provocation, advocacy, resilience and collaboration. I selected environment because I've become increasingly interested in the many intersections of health, the factors that combine to make, or break, our health. …
It’s that time of year when one of our #healthed skills, goal setting, gets a lot of media coverage. New Year’s Resolutions will be talked about at home and people will be encouraged to think of ways in which to improve themselves, usually after dwelling on their imperfections. However, because these resolutions tend to be …
Do your students know that you appreciate them? How do they know? I give thanks to my students often. I am fortunate to work in a school where the students come to class eager to learn and behavior issues are very rare and just as I am supported by the leadership within my building, the …
Welcome to the inaugural Student Voices blog post from one of my sophomore students. When it comes to attending to the health skill of advocacy, I use YRBS data to allow my students to tailor their message to a health concern that affects them and/or their peers. One of the advocacy assignments asks students to …
Some of my students create such amazing #healthed content that it is deserving of a wider audience. If you follow me on social media you know that I often tweet student work, share their podcasts, I embed their creations in my eBooks, and have even turned my favorite student quote into coffee mugs! …
I was recently given an Amazon Echo for my birthday, you know, the gadget powered by 'Alexa' and was impressed with how useful it has been around the house. I can check the weather, play a news update while getting ready for work, and control the music around my house using my Sonos speakers. Immediately …
BreakoutEDU's have gained in popularity, and while I've considered trying one with my health students, I've never got around to doing it. While I tend to look at Mark & Becky Foellmer, and Charlie Rizzuto in the USA as my go-to experts, I'm delighted that Pat Coleman from Tasmania, Australia has provided this week's …
Expressing gratitude will make you happy. Don't believe me, check out this short video from Soul Pancake and their 'Experiment in Gratitude'. For this week's #slowchathealth blog post I reached out to friends in my PLN and asked them for what are they most thankful? Oh, and stick around to the end as there is …
I'm delighted that our guest blogger this week is a health professional who I hold in the highest regard. Brian Griffith, a secondary health/PE curriculum specialist for Frederick Public School, Maryland, has the habit of dropping bombs of knowledge into every online health conversation on social media, and he's as impressive in real life. He's …
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Sometimes the subtlest of changes in your language can have an effect on your teaching, the classroom environment and the eventual outcomes. I used to ask "Any questions?" and now I ask "What questions do you have?". A simple change from a closed question to one that, sometimes with 'wait time', can elicit a more …
When Joey Feith asked me to write a guest blog post for his awesome site http://www.ThePhysicalEducator.com he suggested that I might like to consider writing about my teaching philosophy. I have to admit, I hadn't really taken much time to sit down and reflect on the related beliefs that shape the way that plan my …
This week's blog post presents you with 5 reasons to attend your state AHPERD convention. Although I have used my state of Illinois as the subject of the post, feel free to copy, paste and adapt it to suit the needs of teachers in your state. It's conference season, so let's encourage as many of …
I recently discovered Podcast Brunch Club, which is like a book club but for podcasts. Each month they collate a themed playlist of podcasts and provide discussion questions to help you discuss your thoughts. Some recent themes of note have included: Representations & Stereotypes in Pop Culture The Future of the Human Body Climate Change …
Health Literacy Month is a time for organizations and individuals to promote the importance of understandable health information and this week, SHAPE America introduced its first ever Health Education Youth Empowerment Series to help students develop the skills they need to make decisions and implement change in their own lives and the lives of others. The first unit, …
Fall sees a drop in temperatures, baseball playoffs, the return of ice hockey (Go Blackhawks!) the chance to wear the latest #sendateacher hoodie and also a glut of #physed conferences! And for many #physed and #healthed teachers it's time to renew membership of your state organization because, well, you have to be a member to …
I've been back to school for a few weeks now and am already celebrating the small victories that I'm experiencing on a daily basis. These have included: Seeing 3 girls, in Mexico soccer jerseys taking a selfie with a Mexican flag celebrating Mexican Independence Day. A great way to kick off #HispanicHeritageMonth Playing whole body …
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