I often toggle between thinking, “That lesson went well,” and “That was a disaster.” Either way, do we really know how our students feel? We certainly cannot unless we actively seek their feedback. Taking this a step further, we often have little idea what students are thinking when they are physically active outside of class. …
I once wrote a blog post about the value of revisiting saved social media posts and screenshots because sometimes "the best inspiration is already in your pocket—literally." Like many teachers, I’m a collector of great ideas. I hit save on Instagram posts that inspire me. I pin classroom strategies and eye-catching infographics to Pinterest boards I haven’t visited in months. I bookmark tweets that I know …
Continue reading Why Patintero Belongs in Your PE Curriculum
There are moments in a Physical Education class where the sights and sounds tells you everything you need to know. Laughter between rallies. Music playing while students dance and celebrate points. Teammates congratulating each other, opponents offering high-fives and bodies collapsing into giggles after long exchanges. Over the past few weeks, that has been the …
Continue reading That Was So Much Fun: Meaningful Insights From Students
Probably the most inclusive unit in our elementary schools PE is our net and wall games unit. Anyone can have a go and it doesn’t take as much running and exertion as compared to other units. The students are exposed to a wide variety of games such as badminton, pickleball, table tennis, volleyball and foot …
Continue reading Student Agency and Inclusion in Net and Wall Games
In most multi-activity curricula, when asked “what are we doing today?” the all too familiar response is “games, or aquatics, or dance and so on”. These activities are therefore “the organising centre” of your physical education programme. These are the ‘things’ we plan our lesson around them, it is the skills and techniques of these …
Continue reading Making it Count: Organizing PE Around What Really Matters
Have you ever cooked a meal that was fine but lacked that spark? It got the job done but wasn’t exciting or memorable. Teaching can feel the same way. Sure, you can throw together a lesson on the fly, and it might cover the basics. But if you really want to engage your students, you’ve …
Continue reading Spice Up Your Lessons: How Meaningful PE Ingredients Transform Teaching
What if I told you that I taught an entire PE lesson without telling my students what to do? Inspired by a conference session from Lisa Smith and Sarah Gietschier-Hartman entitled Reinventing HPE Teaching, that asked attendees to 'grow with our students' and DiSrUPt our teaching practices, I was determined to try something new with …
Continue reading Empowering Students: How I Led a PE Class Without Giving Instructions
It will come as no surprise that the book that will continue to guide me and my teaching of PE over the coming year is Meaningful Physical Education from Tim Fletcher, Déirdre Ní Chróinín, Doug Gleddie, and Stephanie Benni. The theme of Meaningful PE is eloquently defined on page 4 of the book. The primary …
Continue reading Meaningful PE Starts Here: Listening to What Students Find Relevant
I was first introduced to the concept of empathy walks/runs in William Pullen's book Running With Mindfulness. One of my #summerreads back in 2019, the book delves into the positive effects of running therapy, including anxiety relief and reduced stress by focusing on the meditative nature of exercise. There's a wealth of carefully tailored thought …
I am on the Meaningful Physical Education (MPE) Framework bandwagon. There are lots of reasons for that, but I only have 500 words so to make it short I want students “Moved to Move”. To me, the best way to do that is through meaningful connection. As more people discuss it with me, quite a …
Continue reading Making Meaningful Physical Education Elementary Friendly
Exit tickets have proven to be a vital tool to create meaningful PE. They enable student voice and for students to have a greater connection with PE as they are helping to shape the direction the learning will take. What is an exit ticket? Exit tickets are given to students to give their feedback or …
Regular readers of this site will know that I have been exploring all things #MeaningfulPE in physical education classes with my junior and senior students. This semester, my students have viewed a series of short video reflections from educators nationwide. These personal 'movement journey' narratives aim to inspire my students and expose them to diverse …
Continue reading Discovering Joy in Movement: Insights from Parents to Teenagers
Wanting to discover my students' relationship with movement and identify how movement is meaningful to them, I recently set my Lifetime Activities class an autobiographical assignment. I was inspired to do so, not only by the Doug Gleddie and Jodi Harding-Kuriger chapter in the Meaningful Physical Education book but also by a blog post from Sporticus. Doug and Jodi identify that asking …
As educators, we constantly seek ways to make learning engaging and impactful. One tool I plan on using to enhance the learning experience in my physical education classes is "back pocket questions." These are concise, thought-provoking prompts designed to spark reflection and discussion, readily available to use during class. Much like a trusted resource in …
Continue reading Back Pocket Questions: Your Secret Weapon for a More Meaningful PE Class
Last Friday, my physical education class overran...and my students didn't notice! This HAS happened before, but it's typically a rare occurrence and one that I hope to achieve more often. I think the reason for the lesson going well has something to do with the new lens through which I'm seeing a subject that I …
Continue reading Teaching Physical Education with Purpose: Embracing the Meaningful PE Approach
From all of us @meaningfulpe In our most recent work around Meaningful PE, we have tried to focus our attention on pedagogies that teachers can use to support them in prioritizing the meaningfulness that students experience in their physical education classes. The two sets we have identified are democratic and reflective pedagogies, as these often …
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