Art is a powerful tool for cultivating health and well-being. Students can explore complex issues, express emotions, and advocate for positive change by creating, performing, and responding to art. This process fosters critical thinking, health-enhancing behaviors, and effective communication, essential skills that support our health and wellness. Analyzing Influences In a world of constant connectivity, …
Continue reading Fostering Deeper Connection: Art’s Impact on Health Education
Hey there! As a health teacher at Chestnut Hill Middle School, I’ve had the chance to work with some amazing students and watch them grow, learn, and figure out the many things that make up their health—both social, mental and physical. It’s a fun, but sometimes tricky time in their lives, right? With everything going …
In this guest blog post, Matt Hagedorn explores how AI is revolutionizing education, particularly for health and PE teachers. Drawing from his own tech-savvy background, he highlights six must-try AI tools that save time, enhance student engagement, and streamline lesson planning. I still remember the first time I held an iPhone. It wasn’t just another …
Continue reading The AI Assist: Powering Purposeful Teaching
As educators, our journeys are defined by growth, reflection, and transformation, and each stage of our career tells its own story. In my NYSAHPERD keynote speech, I explored six stages of teaching, drawing on my personal experiences and insights from nearly three decades in education. I labeled the first stage, “Aspiration and Entry,” which will …
Continue reading Where It All Began: Navigating the Early Stage of Teaching – A Keynote Excerpt
A positive school culture creates an environment where students feel safe, respected, and encouraged to take risks in their learning. Establishing a shared school mission, values and behaviors focused on academic and social-emotional success for every student. Building and maintaining meaningful relationships among teachers and staff and creating an environment where all members feel safe, …
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
Three years ago, our district took a deep dive into Disciplinary Literacy. We had the opportunity to learn from and with renowned disciplinary literacy expert and author ReLeah Lent, who led our professional learning at Brecksville-Broadview Hts. MS. Teachers were divided into three cohorts with a mix of disciplines. As an encore teacher in education, …
Continue reading Ignite Deep Learning in Skills-Based Health Education
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 …
This blog post comes just in time for #BackToSchool and is being shared due to the interest in a tweet/X of mine that proved to be quite popular. I'm not an 'Icebreaker' kind of person, more of a 'Community-Builder', and as such, each of my initial activities with a new group of students is purpose-driven …
It's another summer of sport, filled with athletes performing to their potential. European soccer teams are in town for their preseason tours, NFL athletes are at training camp, and NBA preseason dates were just released. As summer winds down and the new school year looms, teachers, like athletes, can benefit from a well-structured preseason routine. …
Continue reading Ready to Teach? Your Preseason Training Guide
We build on serotonin filled moments not just fueled by physical movement,but by the social and emotionalthat transforms the actions to magical.Magical moments like a potion wash over thememotionally and physicallyif we let it bewhat it can be.It’s what happens when our teaching transcends the boundaries of lessons and block plans.Where classmates become allies and …
Being intentional with how and where we allocate our focus can be challenging and overwhelming in our hectic, busy lives. It is easy for me to experience cognitive overload … so many books, articles, blogs, workshops; so much to learn and think about! It’s exciting and daunting at the same time, often resulting in an …
As human beings it is easy to get tunnel vision and only see the world through our own lens. We take in information, compare it to what we already know, and then create meaning out of it. The problem when teaching is that our experiences and abilities are not the same as our students and …
I became a Health and Physical Educator to help make a difference for everyone I come into contact with. There are times when you do not think you are making a positive impact on your students; however that is far from the case. You get to serve so many roles with your students, from teacher, …
According to an article from Edutopia; Brain Breaks are “planned learning activity shifts that mobilize different networks of the brain.” (Willis 2016) A while back I was scrolling through social media posts and saw a response from Andy Milne. He suggested that brain breaks should be called brain boosts. This perspective helped me see a …
“Hey, Coach! If you were going to punish us, how would you do it?” “Huh?” I glance up as one of my sophomores, new to the team, looks over the workout plan for the week. “Why would I punish you?” “You know, if we mess up.” (Full blown ‘I dare you grin’ here). “It’s not …
1. Understanding Intersectionality in Health Education Intersectionality is a critical framework in health education that examines how various social identities (e.g., race, gender, class, sexuality) intersect to influence individual experiences of health and healthcare. By recognizing these overlapping identities, educators and policymakers can better address the nuanced needs of diverse populations. 2. The Role of …
Continue reading Intersectionality in Health Education: Leading with Love and Equity
There are many ways to ensure equitable experiences for all students in physical education. One effective approach is to remove or modify activities and games that involve eliminating students from play. Games that require students to sit out after not meeting a certain criteria, such as being tagged or dropping a ball, can induce feelings …
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