In our comfort zone we feel exactly that, comfort. However, when we step outside of our comfort zone, that is where we experience growth and reward. We frequently encourage our students to take a step (or even a leap), but when do we do so ourselves? I recently left a permanent teaching position and moved …
In a recent assignment, my students identified the benefits of comprehensive sexuality education, and their research discovered this quote from Siecus, prompting us to have a conversation about the role of language in the #HealthEd classroom, how it has changed, and how it can make a classroom more inclusive. I asked my students to consider …
It may seem hard to believe that our clitoris is designed solely for pleasure. With 8,000 nerve endings, we DOUBLE the penis, which only weighs in at a whopping 4,000. One may argue that vulva owners are as deserving or more deserving of an orgasm than penis owners. That’s one hard pill for society to …
Continue reading The Oldest Fable – Everything Wrong with the Clitoris Narrative
“What do I want my life to feel like on a daily basis and how do I get there?” I was asked this very question several years ago while attending a women’s yoga retreat in the Berkshires. It was the midway part of the weekend; we all had our journals in hand and were given …
https://soundcloud.com/james-robert-brook/health-advocacy-committee This microblog post was a featured post in #slowchathealth’s #microblogmonth event. You can search for all of the featured posts here. Please do follow each of the outstanding contributors on social media (including James Brook, the author of this post) and consider writing a microblog post of your own to be shared with the global audience of slowchathealth.com …
I was a 35-year-old, single dad thinking ‘what do I do next’. I had been a Myotherapist for 25 years, a practitioner and educator, became a Level 2 DDPYoga instructor (www.DDPY.com), but I needed more. I love teaching, health, and creating games, so I said to my child, “I am going back to school to …
Continue reading Bringing the Glitz & Glam Back in Physical Education
In part one of this blog post, I discussed the importance of aligning the purpose of the physical education class to helping students form deep connections with their physical activity. Part two will discuss a system (ROAD) that a teacher can use to facilitate this process for students in PE Record The first step in …
Continue reading How to Facilitate Deeper Connections to Physical Activity
Part 1: Aligning to a Social Emotional Lens in Physical Education According to Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle, a clearly defined purpose is at the heart of all goal-setting and system-building, and as a teacher the communication of this purpose to students and parents sets a clear expectation for how and what they will learn in …
Continue reading Aligning to a Social Emotional Lens in Physical Education
Running an organization that prioritizes self-care requires a lot. It means walking the walk, talking the talk, and not just posting how others should take care of themselves, but modeling our values in our own actions. Now if I'm being real, to be a mother, a wife, an entrepreneur, and an educator all in one …
The recent outcry over the NCAA’s unequal treatment of the men’s and women’s March Madness tournaments did not surprise me in one bit. Female athletes grow up knowing that despite equal amounts of hard work and dedication to their sports, the worth of their performance or level of respect they receive is far less than …
If I only knew 31 years ago that teaching outside could, and would, transform both me and students, I would have started doing it much sooner! This was one of my “Covid 19 Silver Linings”. I teach in an Elementary School on Long Island, New York. In the past most of my teaching was done …
The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to us how important our dimensions of wellness really are and how much they are interconnected. We’ve all had to examine and reassess our own health behaviors and analyze how we either deposit to, or make a withdrawal from, our health and well-being. It was interesting to see the response …
“What do you mean you’re fasting? You’re going to run the mile!” bellowed my seventh grade physical education teacher. I tried to formulate a response, attempting to squeeze an explanation out of me. My throat felt empty; I couldn’t find my voice. It was like a blow to my chest: I felt betrayed and speechless …
Continue reading No, Not Even Water: Why Non-Muslims Should Learn About Ramadan
After reading the book Beginners by Tom Vanderbilt, which was the slowchathealth book of the month for February of 2021, I started to get an itch to be a beginner again and try something new. When this microblog post opportunity presented itself, I knew it was something new that I had to try, I had …
My life is a musical comedy, at least that’s what my students think. One even went so far as to tell me I was better than anything on Netflix right now. I should be worried, but I am not. It was probably one of the best compliments they could give me. It means I’m relevant, …
We get it. You already know! It’s why you are here exploring blogs about health-related content. That said... please indulge us for the next 5 minutes or so. Are you floundering or flourishing right now? One of the common misconceptions we find when we present to educators around the world is that having an “others …
We all have sex education stories. Even if that education came from friends, family members, movies/tv, songs, or the internet, instead of school. We might have... Puberty stories. First date stories. Coming out stories. The Talk stories. Me too stories. Identity stories. Sex ed stories are universal - they are the stories of our bodies, …
Last year 50 educators and authors joined in with the inaugural #microblog event here on slowchathealth.com and it was a huge success, lasting just over a week and featuring voices from across the globe. Sharing bite-sized blog posts of up to 500 words, there were experienced bloggers, first-time writers, authors, teachers, and some students eager …
Do not confuse or conflate—my mantra since this seismic global shift, as I’ve been in lockdown for nearly eleven weeks with my family. Last summer, we moved from my birthplace to a new state on the other side of the country. The move (both the literal and emotional processes) was an absolute nightmare, which made …
Health & PE are often separated into two different entities in the classroom, regardless of how deeply they intertwine. Physical wellness is improved by physical activity, but can also be improved by hormone/chemical release that comes from positive thoughts, emotions & social interactions. Positive feelings are also cycled through physical movement and enjoyment of movement. …
Continue reading Haiku in Health & PE: Mindfulness in Motion
