It's been ages since I've blogged, but I'm happy to be back at it. In particular, I'm thrilled to be teaching PE again. It's been over 5 years since I last taught PE regularly. Over the past 5 years, I have been a pedagogical coordinator and a coach for teachers. Although I still have this role, due to COVID, our teachers are very spread out across the school. There was a need for another PE teacher, so I gladly jumped on board to take a few classes this year. It is a great way for me to stay connected to teaching and gain a deeper insight into the day-to-day challenges that teachers face ..read more

Most educators understand the importance of differentiating their instruction and task expectations in order to meet the diverse needs of their learners. As well, most educators understand that voice and choice is an important part of the teaching process. Being explicit and specific about how students can find their own entry point into learning in a unit requires a carefully thought-out plan by teachers. Teachers must create powerful learning opportunities that match where the students are at and where they need to go next in regards to their learning. Students need to have multiple entry ..read more

The single subjects are a great vehicle for teachers to deliver learning experiences in the arts, maker space/design, world language and in PE that are meaningful and purposeful. Drama, music, visual arts, world languages and PE are often viewed as being secondary in nature and on the fringes of a school’s curriculum, but these disciplines provide essential learning for students that can have a profound impact on their life both inside and outside the walls of their school. There is so much inspiration that can be found in these disciplines that help to ignite passions that can stay with a y ..read more

Setting the Scene If you are reading this blog post, chances are you are either deeply immersed in the start of another school year or about to be. Just this week, our new school director, reminded us that the beginning of the school year is truly a fresh start. A new beginning that allows us to reframe, reorganize, and recalibrate. It’s not about reinventing the wheel, but more so a time to reflect and refine what we do in order to impact student learning on a deeper level. When we find ourselves thinking about these things, we tap into new levels of inspiration, purpose and hope. How can th ..read more

Over the past few years, I have tried to understand, on a much deeper level, the Meaningful PE framework in order to make more sense of each of the 5 features that this framework is structured on. ​ Truth be told, I’ve developed a strong interest in unpacking this framework on a deeper level in order to better understand how it can be applied in the teaching and learning taking place in PE. It has led me down multiple paths and has sparked some great discussions with Dr. Tim Fletcher, Dr. Doug Gleddie, and other educators that I know who strongly believe in this framework and the positive imp ..read more

As I reflect back on a recent podcast that I recorded with Dr. Scott Kretchmar, I’m constantly drawn back to the reference he made in the episode to ‘keeping our playgrounds alive as long as possible’. Scott spoke in-depth about his aging body and how he has to continually reframe and rewrite his own ongoing story of physical activity and movement. His own narrative has shifted, but his commitment to helping physical educators understand what meaningful movement experiences are in PE still burns brightly for Scott. When working with PE teachers and students, I’m inspired, on a daily basis, to ..read more

Using stories as a provocation to better engage young learners in PE Photo credit: Joan Almon from Adventure: The Value of Risk in Children's Play Creating meaningful and relevant movement opportunities for our young students is directly dependent on our ability to spark curiosity, wonder, imagination, and joy in their learning on a daily basis.  Inspiring movement and physical activity can be purposefully planned for through the use of specific provocations that help to capture our young learner’s imaginations as early as possible in the units that we teach. I’m lucky to  work very ..read more

Creating meaningful learning experiences in physical education must begin with engaging our students as quickly as possible in the unit. Regardless of the unit being taught, beginning with a rich and powerful provocation can help to create the emotional hooks necessary to inspire movement at a level that is just right for each of our students. This is something we take very seriously in our physical education program at Gardens Elementary School. Taking the necessary time and energy to pre-plan is an essential part of the design process when it comes to the units that we teach. See th ..read more

Creating Meaningful Experiences on the Bike Over the past 9 weeks, the grade 5 students at Gardens Elementary School took part in an intensive cycling unit that began with the students identifying how challenging different types of riding can be for them. We felt that starting the unit off with getting the students to reflect on their own level of skill was a great place to begin as it would ultimately set in motion a path of self-directed learning that is based on students finding their own entry point into the unit itself. Some of the challenges that they came up with can be seen in th ..read more

“FOOPO, Fear Of Other People’s Opinions” ~Michael Gervais There are people in the world who care about everybody’s opinion of them, both personally and professionally. On the flip side, there are people who have a “I don’t give a shit attitude about what anyone thinks”. In both cases, this is extreme thinking because on one hand, being overly consumed with what everyone thinks about us or our work crushes any hope we have of living authentically and truly being ourselves. When we do not live authentically, it’s impossible to produce our best work and to make the difference that we are mean ..read more