Meaningful PE
-
Challenge in PE
Recently, our PE Department offered Choice Units to our Grade 7-8 population. We have themed these options around a central focus – this time it was Individual Pursuit – and we offered a range of opportunities for student choice. I intend to blog about my units in a separate post, but I was able to offer Running and Climbing as two of the choices to my different classes. We have three or four teachers in the same block, allowing us to offer 3 or 4 options to students as part of Choice. The feedback from several of my Runners and Climbers is that they felt motivated by choosing something that…
-
Day 13: Tingly feelings
One of the big conversations I have enjoyed as I have unpacked LAMPE‘s Meaningful PE and the pillars they have shared is to try and explain what is meant by Delight. Delight is not the same as joy or fun and it is important to try and distinguish between the difference. Kretchmar’s writings mention fun regularly, this is how he has explained fun: “Things that are fun are often temporary, and they are usually not meaningful. Fun can be used like a band-aid, something that covers over a sore but doesn’t affect a lasting cure. Fun is used by physical educators to mask what could be a distasteful experience. One involving effort,…
-
Legacy
” I’m Just a PE Teacher” How many of you have been in a situation where you have defended yourself with this statement. At PHASE-AP recently, Carlos Galvez and I hosted a conversation with a room full of people talking about how we can add-on to what we do to advocate for PE at various levels. We shared the common feelings that PE teachers have – feeling marginalised, left out of ‘core’ teacher conversations, left in the Gym, far away from the epi-centre of the school and staffrooms, not valued or understood by parents, administrators and other teachers. Pushed into coaching roles and not given the time to teach. Left…
-
PHASE-AP 2019
This year I have been very excited to return to Hong Kong and to HKIS to present at the PHASE-Asia Pacific Conference. I want to thank all those who came along to my sessions for their energy and willingness to engage in a learning conversation with others for the great questions and dialogue that we have shared as a group. I am always interested in how these sessions can be more relevant and meaningful to those who come along – please do feel free to share with me here or by email or on twitter (or in-person). These are the links to the resources that I shared either in my…
-
Constantly on the Move…
The PE Institute held in Asheville, NC offered me opportunities to connect and listen to some new PE and Health people and leaders in the Physed field in the USA and Canada. I hope to unpack some of the ideas and reflections that are resonating with me as I go back to work at ISB in Beijing this week. I have blogged in the past about chaos and order and about how I really struggle with some big issues in my present workplace. I am a planner, I like to really think about what I am teaching; why I am teaching it and have a very rough guide of the…
-
Challenge – final reflection
This year, my professional goal has stemmed around trying to unpack the Challenge for my students in my learning opportunities and to consider whether I am challenging all of my students as they start wherever they are and (hopefully) move forward along a continuum of learning that is relevant to them and includes Movement Competence and Social Interaction. I have not set up my year with very robust scientific research… I have used surveys from Tripod to measure where I was initially (through the eyes of my students) and also in May 2019 to see if there was any growth. I shared the results of the survey with my students…
-
Professional Growth 2018-19 Part 3 – Challenge in PE
What does it mean to Challenge yourself as a student in your PE classes? What are we asking of our students? How are we offering a safe place for them to be challenged? How are we arming students with grit and resilience and the ability to push beyond a comfort zone to test themselves in a relevant way in our classes? Twitter regularly has threads of people who really did not enjoy their PE (or are not enjoying PE) and as I scroll down and read I am constantly disheartened by what I read. How truly awful to have had a teacher who could create lifelong aversion to movement. Or…
-
PE Proposal #2
Wealth by Reiterlied CC BY SA It takes a village to raise a child – this saying has come back to me after a week of amazing conversations from Beijing to Saudi Arabia – social media and our #Physed village have come out in full support. My most favourite conversations are ones that are not affirming but rather ask a lot of questions or share research that allows time for more discussion and more questions. I really value these interactions and have found it very reflective as I consider both the scheduling chats (how will we make this new timetable work for our PE students and staff?) that I have…