Every Day Begins with Laundry
Habits and attitudes. At its core, this is what teaching comes down to. Do you know how to break them? Do you know how to build them? How do you feel about the things you do every day? Are they… Read more ›
Category Archives: planning
Architecture of a Body-Centric PE Lesson (Part 2)
To recap Part One: Create a sense of intrigue Provide multiple points of entry Establish pockets of safety Ask instead of assume This sh*t’s hard (which is why so few do it) After the weight shift lesson , three of… Read more ›
A Perceived Philosophical Conflict
I am the only female in my high school PE department. It’s been this way for 20 years. The one time another female came in she tried to out-alpha the football coach and got removed from teaching PE and placed… Read more ›
The Conundrum of Community
To belong implies a selection was made. There was a choice and options. In my rugby years, making the Select Side was a sign of being elite. You were one of the best in your region. You were chosen from… Read more ›
The Problem with ‘Meaningful Phys Ed’
As I start to look outward in my professional career, I keep running into this study about Meaningful Experiences in Physical Education and Youth Sport. In it, “five themes were identified as central influences to young people’s meaningful experiences in… Read more ›
Bringing Feeling Into Physical Education: A Presentation
From October 17th, 2020, a month into the school year and six months into the COVID pandemic. SLIDESHOW PDF
Pause & Keep Listening
Some quick context about the current teaching/ learning parameters of Distance Learning for the district I work for. 1. Block classes meet four times per week. There are four total classes per day, and teachers teach three of these sections… Read more ›
A Chance for Change
Typically, when I write, I try to give an overview of a completed loop of learning: this is where I started, this is where I went, and this is what I found. As a public educator in the midst the… Read more ›
Knowing What to Do
How do people know what to do when their structure of doing is removed? If they had choice and input to create the structure they lived within, and it served them well — fostering security and growth — they would… Read more ›
Shifting Classes Toward Students
Three years in the making, I became clear on the name for my class and what I hoped it could offer students. Up until this time, I got the same kind of kid – ones who prioritized learning and understanding… Read more ›
The Awesome Power of Interest
Being interested lets a concept captivate you. It makes learning effortless. The desire to know is sought out. It involves the curious in an unconditioned quest for more. Something. Anything other than what currently is. Doing becomes a compelling deed,… Read more ›
Certs, Workshops, and Continuing Ed
Information is a tease that lures you to attach yourself with a particular paradigm. The consequence of consuming the free tastes is that you are left deficient. Once sampled, you’re not entirely sure what you just had, but you do… Read more ›
Letting Them Lead
Three months into the new school year, everything seems easier. As encouraging as my findings from the first year were, I wanted to further minimize my influence over their minds. To instigate thinking, one must ask provocative questions that the… Read more ›
Changing the Culture of Physical Education
I’ve been teaching PE for thirteen years. When I entered, I did what those around me were doing. I had been an athlete. I had great fun and success through sport, and I wanted to share this experience with the… Read more ›
“It’s all made up stuff.”
As practioners and coaches, teachers and students, we are constantly seeking out information to make us better at what we are trying to do. We stalk and search. If only we could see and know, then we could do. Despite… Read more ›
Minimizing Sport in Physical Education
featured photo credit: theindianschool.in I’ve had the good fortune to work at an arts school the last eight years. The students, many disenfranchised with Physical Education in the past, were open and willing to trying different things. I’m not… Read more ›
Time Constraints Kill Curiosity
For a very long time, my ability to do work was my defining feature. I needed to get stuff done to prove myself capable and worthwhile. When I was younger my Mom made us chores lists. She wrote them on… Read more ›
Finding Awareness and Creativity in the Quiet
Not long ago, I was that person who spent *hours* creating the perfect workout playlist. I knew exactly which movements I would perform and how long my gym session would be. I’d time the up songs with the hardest part… Read more ›
Measurements, Motivation, and Goals
Losing weight won’t make you a hero. It’ll trap you in a way. To keep it off or keep up the facade that because you’re thin everything’s great. If you’re assuming that reaching that body weight goal is going to… Read more ›
Wanting Without Action
It’s become very apparent that there is a lack of ‘want’ in our younger generation. I don’t dare say they’re not dreamers, but is seems they are content to live in a world of dreams while their reality is steeped in… Read more ›
Paralyzed by Goals and Planning
To get yourself out of a rut you have to want something. You have to want that something enough to elicit a change. This is no easy task. Truth be told, people get comfortable staying where they are, even if… Read more ›