In a recent #Slowchathealth post, Andy Milne, shared a story about a “classroom moment” where his students took control of the learning environment and taught each other. The topic was menstruation and how to be supportive. A young man asked what more could boys do to be supportive, and this is what happened: “As I …
Continue reading Creating Environments for “Classroom Moments”
When I first wrote about using Hexagonal Thinking to help students explore the 10 Dimensions of Wellness, I shared how powerful it was to see them physically (or digitally) connecting concepts together. The beauty of the hexagon activity lies in the way students can literally move ideas around, discovering new links and debating which connections …
Continue reading Wellness Dominoes: the Ripple Effects of Wellness
Imagine you get to be the person that helps someone affirm their calling into a particular profession. Imagine that profession has impacts on each and every one of the 50 million students in today's K-12 Schools. Yes, Health Education and Physical Education Teacher Education Faculty have the best jobs in the world, but we are …
I can’t imagine what it must be like. To be a teacher in a school in 2025. As I watch the news each day I am beyond puzzled about the decisions, orders and mandates that are unfolding in our government on a regular basis. Never have we had to be so vigilant when it comes …
Outside of the Health Education classroom, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) has been relegated to the realm of "extras" – a separate curriculum, a few isolated lessons squeezed into an already packed schedule. This perception is not only inaccurate but actively hinders its transformative potential. I’m here to say what many fellow health educators might be …
I’m horrible at remembering names, which is problematic because each year I have nearly 250 new ones to learn. Yale’s Poorvu Center claims that students feel more satisfied, more accountable, more likely to seek help and more comfortable when teachers know their names. I needed to find a way to compensate for my weakness - …
Continue reading Say My Name. Say My Name: Introducing The Teacher Multi-Tool
I once adored holistic rubrics, but when my students expressed their dislike for them, it led to a transformation in my approach. Now, I am committed to single-point rubrics, and there's no turning back. They are efficient, inclusive, and genuinely centered on the students. Many insightful educators, such as those at the Cult of Pedagogy, …
Creativity is the spark that drives innovation, progress, and personal expression. But without longevity, that spark can burn out before it has a chance to ignite anything lasting. Striking a balance between pushing for creativity and sustaining your presence is essential in any field, but in the world of Health and Physical Education, it is …
I have taught middle school PE and Health Education in four countries, across three continents. Everywhere I have been, I’ve witnessed students navigating the challenges of adolescents, while learning to make sense of the world around them. The longer I teach, the more I see the role of PE and Health Education as an opportunity …
Continue reading Five Questions I Asked My Middle School Students This Year
Regular blog readers will know I am a big fan of the benefits of sleep. Not only have I blogged extensively about the topic and advocate for the benefits of sleep with my students through lessons that often lead to the creation of sleep-related advocacy podcasts, but I am also a fan of sleep myself. …
The Purchase This is what the clerk at the counter said as I was checking out with a fresh roll - okay a 6-pack - of .94-inch x 60-yard blue painter’s tape. My response was, “It’s not about what it is, but what my students and I can do with it.” If you are at …
Continue reading But It’s Just a Roll of Blue Painter’s Tape
This is my second year contributing to this blog, and I truly enjoy reading every post. They’ve been such a valuable part of my journey—helping me grow, reflect, and evolve as an educator. Without a doubt, the thing that has elevated my teaching the most is watching other teachers in action. Nine years ago, I …
I hadn’t seen this young man since the day he left our school in 5th grade. I knew he was on my son’s wrestling team. He is a sophomore wrestling varsity. Luckily for me, he just happened to get wrestler of the week so I got to see his picture with his name under it …
Continue reading 5 Years Later: You Won’t Believe What My Student Said!
There is an adage that says experience is the best teacher that you can have when you live the experience. I would agree that nothing replaces that. However, to some extent, I also know that in every field, whether it is medicine, engineering, or in my case, education, returning to the basics is paramount. People …
Managing student participation and classroom efficiency can be challenging. To address this, I introduced a team-based structure with defined roles in small teams during health instruction. This approach made class time more active, helped things run like clockwork, and got students talking, collaborating, and having fun while building their health skills. Setting It Up The …
After teaching a lesson, how often have we thought to ourselves, “My students said they loved the lesson, but they were just being nice”? Well, it's time to stop discounting the positive and bring mindfulness into our classroom by recognizing these common “thought traps!”. It’s not a secret that mental health is at the forefront …
Whenever I tell someone what I do, they look at me like they just ate thebarf jelly bean in the BeanboozledJelly Belly collection. How could you…why would you… I could never…. I get it. Teaching 8th graders can be brutal. Not many would tout their early teensyears as a time they would ever want to …
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
Make It Stick is the best education book I have ever read. The reason I love this book so much is because it so intimately connects to skills-based health education and has changed my teaching strategies forever. Peter Brown, Henry Roediger, and Mark McDaniel explain complex neuroscience in a digestible and novel way and I …
Continue reading Make it Stick in the Health Education Classroom
Almost all I think about these days is class culture, and I know I am not alone. For me, this means a culture that builds trust, embraces confusion, encourages attention and sparks curiosity and joy, After 30+ years as a high school English teacher, creating and sustaining this culture is simultaneously more difficult and more …
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