What is it? Some say, it’s just a play day. Others would say it’s a day where students get to show off competition against others. My answer: it’s my passion. I never had an awesome Field Day going through school. Just the same thing over and over. Sure, we got to go outside all day, …
I have been teaching college sexual education for 10 years and over those years I had hoped I would hear of more students having a comprehensive sexuality education. Sadly, that has not been the case. So many wished they had learned more about sexual issues. Topping the list of topics they wished they had had …
As a past recipient of Teacher of the Year (TOY) awards, it's easy for me to say that teachers don't go into the teaching profession looking for rewards. That said, it's a wonderfully gratifying feeling when we ARE acknowledged by our peers for our efforts. I'm a teacher that has attended many conferences, values online …
Continue reading Strategies to Improve Your Teacher of the Year Awards
This year, the Elementary and Secondary Physical and Health Education departments decided to do something together to have students from both schools learning together and teaching each other. We first thought of what we called the PHE Week to be held the week before the winter holidays, however, it didn’t work out because there were …
A whistle stop tour of happiness and why we should all plan for it Happiness. What value do we place on it within our lessons? How often do we place it foremost in our planning when we’re developing our plans, our programmes or our curriculums? It's the age old question of whether our pupils need …
I had a teacher that had no idea what to do with me. As a physically handicapped student, I have had a teacher that did not know or take the time to understand what I could or could not do. I have had that teacher who told me, “Just be the all-time goalie for this …
Finding their Swish! I’ve been reflecting since the SHAPE America Convention on a speech I did at the Majors of the Year ceremony. I emphasized the role of the teacher in the success of every student in Physical Education. I also made a very bold statement. I said “No one ever said that PE had …
Launched in 2020, over 140 educators and authors have joined in with the last three #microblog events here on slowchathealth.com. All three have been a huge success, lasting a whole month and featuring voices from across the globe. Sharing bite-sized blog posts of approximately 500 words, there have been submissions from experienced bloggers, first-time writers, …
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 …
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