The #PhysEd Show

Here is the recording from our latest #PEChat Radio Hour! For this episode, #PEChat host Elyse Loughlin interviews Joey Feith (that's me!) on Twitter Spaces. This episode focuses on what physical educators can do to help support the development of a growth mindset within their students. In the episode, we explore: • The differences between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. • How mindsets affect our meaning systems and behaviours. • How teachers can design physical environments that support a growth mindset. • How peer attitudes and behaviours affect the development of a growth mindset. • The different ways that teachers communicate their belief in a growth mindset and how that can affect students. • Simple, evidence-based growth mindset interventions that work. Thanks for tuning in! Happy Teaching! ---- Show Notes

“If you don't do the work, then you don't get the grade.” The saddest part about that cringe-worthy sentence is that I've said it to students before. Early on in my career, I had no idea how to motivate students in my teaching. I'd do my best to plan fun lessons, but I'd resort to a “carrots and sticks” approach when dealing with unmotivated students. The problem is that controlling students with rewards and consequences only leads to higher levels of anxiety, boredom, or alienation. It robs students of their natural love for learning and the feelings of joy, enthusiasm, and interest that once came with it. Knowing this impact, how can we best support student motivation in our lessons? Self-determination theory looks at human motivation and tries to understand the factors that push or prevent people from wanting to learn and grow. The theory argues that intrinsic motivation is sustained by satisfying three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In this episode, we will take a look at how we can use self-determination theory to increase student motivation in P.E. I did my best to tie theory to practice and I'm convinced that you will have a few new strategies in your tool belt after listening to this podcast. Thanks for tuning in! Happy Teaching! ---- Show Notes

The 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing are underway and - as I write this - Norway is at the top of the medal standings. Again. Norway is a bit of an anomaly: it's a relatively small country at 5.3 million people (which ranks it #119 in the world based on population size), yet somehow it is an Olympic beast. Prior to the games in Beijing beginning, Norway had 368 medals at the Winter Olympic Games (132 gold, 125 silver, 111 bronze). That count ranks them in the number one spot in all-time medal winners at the Winter Olympics, ahead of the United States (305) and Germany (240). So what's going on here? What makes Norway so successful at the Olympics and what can we - as physical educators - take away from their approach? In this episode, I'll be breaking down Norway's philosophy of "The Joy Of Sport For All" and sharing what PE can take away from the nation's approach to create safer, friendlier, more meaningful experiences for our students.

Physical literacy is the foundation of physical education. As physical educators, it is our job to nurture our students' physical literacy through meaningful, effective learning experiences. However, there is a common mistake that many PE teachers make that can severely hamper the impact of their teaching: They focus too much on the physical domain of physical literacy. Physical literacy exists across four domains: physical, cognitive, affective, and behavioural. Therefore, we need to look beyond the physical aspects of learning in order to best serve our students. It took me a while to realize this in my own teaching. However, that realization is what led me to eventually start focusing on three key areas of learning: skills, knowledge, and understanding. In this episode, I'll be breaking down the difference between the three and walking you through how they can help you maximize the impact of your teaching! ________________________________________

Here is the recording from our latest #PEChat Radio Hour! For this episode, I connected with Mark Friedrich on Twitter Spaces. Mark Friedrich is an Adventure Education and Health Education teacher at Millburn High School in Millburn, New Jersey. Mark has been a member of Millburn's Health & PE Department for 16 years. During those years, he has created an Adventure Education program that is not only one of the largest in his state, it's also the envy of many educators out there (this guy included). Mark was named the 2016 NJAHPERD Secondary Physical Education Teacher of the Year and he was also the recipient of the 2021 SHAPE America Joy of Effort Award, which honors individuals who, by performance and style, have personified the concept that the effort made to enrich the goals and objectives of health and physical education, physical activity, dance, and sport is a labor of love, inspired by commitment and dedication. When he's not helping students through high-ropes courses, chasing snakes out of his teaching space, or participating in Tough Mudders, Mark travels across the US to present to local, state, and national organizations on the topics of teambuilding, icebreaker activities, problem solving, trust building, and adventure games. It was an absolute honour to have Mark as our guest for #PEChat Radio Hour and I'm so glad he got to melt our faces - or at least our ears - with his incredible passion for Adventure Education.

Here is the recording from our first-ever #PEChat Radio Hour! For this episode, I connected with Karl Mercuri on Twitter Spaces. Karl Mercuri is the Social and Emotional Learning Coordinator at The Priory School and a private SEL consultant across schools here in the Greater Montreal area. Originally from Melbourne (Australia), Karl actually started his career teaching physical education there. Earlier in his career, Karl was a facilitator of Kidsmatter (now Be You): a Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework that is implemented throughout Australia. He has dedicated his career to supporting effective social and emotional learning in schools. From studying challenging behaviours, to being trained in positive psychology, to completing courses in emotional intelligence and - more recently - training with The Mehrit Centre in self-regulation: Karl has an absolute wealth of knowledge and experience that he can share with the world and I am so excited to have him on the show.

This is a recap of our latest #pechat that took place on Twitter Spaces! For this #pechat, we hosted a #PhysEd Pub PD: a Space where physical education teachers get to hang out, take turns sharing ideas, and learning from each other. Shout out to all of the awesome teachers who stepped up and shared an idea during the chat: • Nathan (@PENathan) who shared an idea on how we can highlight physical activity opportunities that exist our communities. • Travis (@NorthShoreVB) who shared a game called "Softi Keep Away" that his students love. • Karl (@Karl_Mercuri) who shared insight into the value of performing emotional check-ins throughout your lessons. • Dan (@gym_stover) who shared a great way to strengthen relationships at the start of each lesson. • Kate (@KateCoxPE) who shared how she has focused on infusing her lessons and activities with fun! • Jo (@LovePhyEd) who shared some insight into her adventure education lessons and talked about meaningful PE. This was the very first #PhysEd Pub PD that I've hosted as a #pechat and I already can't wait until the next one! I hope that you can join us for the live show on Twitter Spaces. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @phys_educator to be able to join in!

The school year is coming to an end. If you're an elementary school teacher, that means that Field Day season is about to begin! Having taught elementary school physical education for the past ten years, I've had the responsibility of planning a whole-school Field Day event each school year. Planning an event of this size - with all of its moving parts - can be intimidating. That being said, I decided to sit down and create a walkthrough on how I went about planning my take on Field Day: The Interplanetary Games. In this episode, you'll learn about: • The context and origin of my Field Day model. • How we divided the entire school up into Field Day teams. • How we used friendly competition to bring students together across grades. • How we ensured that each station ran like a well-oiled machine. • The logistics involved in making sure the day was a success. • The activities we included in our Field Day plans. • Some tips that I have for teachers getting started with their first Field Day planning. This episode is accompanied by a show notes blog post in which you'll find additional details, images, and resources that complement what you'll hear about here. Find the show notes here: https://thephysicaleducator.com/2021/05/07/the-interplanetary-games-field-day/ Thanks so much for subscribing, listening, and sharing!

For the past 10 years, I've used the month of May to bring my school community together through a variety of health-based programs, challenges, and advocacy pieces. I call the whole initiative "Health Month" and it honestly helped transform the way my school focused on health and wellness. Health Month is an opportunity for you to boost your program's visibility, strengthen partnerships and relationships with families, engage your faculty, and - most importantly - create fun, memorable, learning-based experiences for your students! The initiative can be broken down into five parts:

Here's a different kind of episode! Think of this as "Story Time with Joey". I recently got to hear my friend/mentor Artie Kamiya share a story he called "The Boy, The Rope, & The Truth". The story touched on the lasting impact that teachers can have on the lives of the students they teach. For today's story time episode, I wanted to share a few stories from my teaching that highlighted the role of our work as educators and how it goes beyond just standards and outcomes. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for listening, subscribing, and sharing! Happy Teaching!

Not all moments in our teaching feel like big wins. Sometimes they feel like bellyflops.

This is a pretty personal episode for me. I'll be opening up and letting you into some of the health issues that I have been living with. I'll also be sharing what I've done in order to prioritize my health and my family. You can find a transcript of this podcast here: https://thephysicaleducator.com/2021/01/18/begin-again/ Here are some important resources for anyone who may be suffering from the state of their mental health: Canada Suicide Prevention Service Phone: 833-456-4566 SMS: 45645 US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Phone: 1-800-273-8255 Thank you for your support and kindness!

I oftentimes have to resist the urge to spend time talking about tech. I could waste hours and hours on sites like Product Hunt and YourStack where professionals share insights into the apps they include in their workflows (their tech "stacks"). That being said, it's January and I was looking for a fun way to shake the last remaining holiday vibes and get my mind back into content creation mode. I decided now would be a fine time to sit down and share the apps, tools, gadgets, and gizmos that I made the most use of in 2020. Be sure to check out the blog post I typed up to complement this episode of The #PhysEd Show Podcast in which I share links to everything I mentioned! Show Notes: https://thephysicaleducator.com/2021/01/08/2020-apps-tools-i-use-the-most/

In this episode of The #PhysEd Show Podcast, I'll be sharing the strategy that we developed to help ensure that our students had access to engaging, fun, and safe recess experiences as they returned to school this fall in the middle of the COVID-19 global pandemic. By the end of this episode, you will be able to: Understand why recess needs to be a part of the school day at your school. Know what the experts are saying in regards to COVID-19 recommendations for recess. Be able to list a few key strategies/considerations for implementing safe, meaningful, and fun recess at your school in this COVID-19 reality. This episode is completed by a show notes blog post in which you will be able to find additional information, resources, links, and graphics that will help you better understand and review some of the ideas that I share here. You can find the blog post here.

Learn more about the standards-based striking and fielding games unit that I designed for my grade 6 students in this episode of The #PhysEd Show Podcast! This episode will walk you through - step-by-step - the process I use to design standards-based units for my physical education program. In it, you will learn: The SHAPE America grade-level outcomes that I built this unit around. How I determined the evidence of learning I would seek out throughout the unit. The assessment tools I created/used to capture that evidence. The learning activities I built to help students develop the skills, knowledge, and understandings outlined in the grade-level outcomes. This podcast was recorded to complement the MASSIVE Teacher Pack blog post that I wrote for this unit. Be sure to check that post out to learn more! Show Links: ⚾️The Striking & Fielding Games Teacher Pack (Blog Post)

Learn more about how I organized a virtual running event for my school's community during the spring lockdown of 2020.

Learn more about how you can use the jigsaw method - a cooperative learning strategy - to help your students feel more engaged, active, and valued in your lessons!

Learn more about you can gradually and purposefully integrate technology into your teaching in this episode of The #PhysEd Show!

Learn more about how to set clear intentions for learning in your physical education lessons in this episode of The #PhysEd Show!

Learn more about how to set effective, measurable goals for your professional growth as a physical education teacher in this episode of The #PhysEd Show!

For years now, I've wanted to have my students assess my teaching in order to help me set better goals for my professional development. This past June, in a year that involved a huge amount of personal and professional changes in my life that I feared had an negative impact on my teaching, I had my grade six class anonymously assess my teaching. Listen in to learn more about what they were asked, how they answered, and where I'll be going from here!

As a soon-to-be dad, I've been thinking a lot lately about how I am going to help raise my son into a physically literate individual. To learn more about physical literacy from a parent's perspective, I invited Dr. Amanda Stanec onto the show. Listen in to learn more about physical literacy, the community players who influence the development of it, and the role that parents can play to help their children value and participate in physical activity.

In this episode, I invited Terri Drain onto the show to share her thoughts, ideas, and experience in regards to assessment for learning. Listen in to learn more about the difference between assessment FOR learning and assessment OF learning, to hear about what assessment for learning can look like in a physical education lesson, and to figure out what steps you can be taking today in order to make assessment for learning a part of your teaching practice!

In this very first podcast episode of The #PhysEd Show, I share one of my favourite teaching tactics: Walk & Talks! Listen in to learn how I use this tactic in my teaching and how I plan on improving the procedures surrounding it in order to create opportunities for student conversations that are both equitable and deep!