There are so many great ideas out there that it's impossible to action each one of them immediately, and as such, hiding away at the back of my brain is a vast collection of pedagogical curiosities waiting to be rediscovered. Like the clutter on my desk, I know where each item is and know I'll …
Continue reading From Pedagogical Curiosity to Classroom Reality: How I Embraced Hexagonal Thinking
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
School initiatives come and go as communities seek to address the needs of their students both now and in the future. Recently, my school launched an initiative that, along with implementing restorative practices, will foster a sense of school community and ensure that all students are supported. The initiative will help our students become better …
This week's blog post comes from Kate Macmorn, the Communications Director for the American Medical Resource Institute (AMRI) where they’ve trained over a million healthcare professionals to study for, earn and maintain life support certifications that allow them to better respond to cardiac emergencies. Have you ever been in a situation where someone suddenly collapsed …
Continue reading CPR Training: Why You and Your Teenage Students Need It
Changing the game in physical education is a commitment to upgrading the experiences we offer students in Physical Education. All kids deserve to be physically educated in an environment that promotes physical, psychological, social, and cognitive growth and safety. I want to live in a world where every child feels empowered to move, has a …
Continue reading Change the Game: Learner-Centered Approaches to Teaching PE
As we know, all too well, the last few years have been incredibly disruptive. However, I think there were several positives that can be taken away from teaching during this era. I empathise with beginning teachers and how incredibly hard establishing oneself must have been / continue to be. But, I do hope some of …
Over the last few years of teaching I have worked to be intentional with teaching practices when it comes to amplifying student voice and choice in the classroom. This shift in my teaching has really changed the learning experience for my students. I hope to share why this is so important to do in a …
Continue reading Increasing Student Voice and Choice in the Health Classroom
Regular readers of the blog will know just how much I love music. Previously I have written about how I listen to calming music when grading student work, when changing the state of the room (inspired by Mike Kuczala), when introducing a new topic in class and when riding my Peloton. I've added awesome Spotify …
Two recent things that changed the way I structure my classroom-based health classes are the pandemic, with the remote/hybrid experience, and my school's transition from 40 minute periods to 85 minute periods. Both of these significant events led to me being more intentional about my planning, ensuring that I use my time with students most …
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 …
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
Technology, Entertainment, Design. With over 50,000 given at 10,000+ events since the program launched in 2009, there are many great TED talks you can weave into your #HealthEd class. TED talks allow me to bring diverse voices into the classroom, with speakers sharing stories of experiences that I will never have. You can use these …
A few years ago, I was teaching my favorite reproduction activity to a class of middle school students. We walked through a “normal” 28 day menstrual cycle, showed ovulation happening around day 14 or 15, and talked about what might happen if sperm were present in the fallopian tubes at the same time as an …
Last week, two of my high school seniors approached me. The Supreme Court draft opinion that portended the overturn of Roe v. Wade - the landmark ruling which had made abortion a constitutional right in 1973 - had just been leaked, and they wanted to discuss what this meant. I teach comprehensive sex education and …
Continue reading Addressing the Future of Abortion With Students
Since the pandemic we have seen an alarming increase in children experiencing anxiety and stress along with a decrease in positive social-emotional response. During the pandemic children were taught virtually with little to no in- person social interactions with children their own age. This has led to a rise in children struggling to self-regulate and …
Continue reading Students in Action: Mental Health Awareness & Practicing Mindfulness
For the last twenty years I’ve focused my professional life on pedagogical change. First, mine and now other peoples and mine. For the last twelve years (or four thousand, six hundred and twenty-three consecutive days to be precise [as of 3rd May 2022]) I’ve reflectively journaled on that change. The key thing I think I’ve …
I want to start out by sharing that I am by no means an expert on the topic of sketchnotes and visual note-taking. However, if you are anything like me and are constantly looking for new strategies to try with your students then sketchnotes might be worth a try. For several years I’ve tried to …
In my health classes I teach about stress relief. After having 3 children of my own, I realized that I needed to practice what I preach. I needed something for me, something to help relief stress. The first thing I started doing was origami. I did teach this practice in my health classes. It was …
In advance of a new school year, is your classroom environment set, with behavioral expectations and social contracts laminated and proudly displayed so that students know exactly what they need to do in order to meet your pre-set expectations? Has your 'classroom cathedral' already been built, ready for new inhabitants? No, mine neither. I don't …
Continue reading The Importance of Creating a Full Value Contract with Your Students
#slowchathealth 