I am going to start out with the Gold Nugget of the Week.  This will be an addition to my blog where I will share something fantastic that I have come across. This week we have Vicky Goodyear’s VLOG. Watch if you want great pd on physical education. #slowchatpe APPROVED! (need I say more?)

I have just had the pleasure of watching @doug_Gleddie keynote at the IAHPERD CONVENTION thanks to @bulliskari and periscope.  His keynote had several aspects to it that made it outstanding.  The first thing he did was use research to make sure he kept his audience’s engagement.  He accomplished this by getting the whole crowd up and participating in a song of Alive, Awake, Alert, Enthusiastic which he stole from the Girl Scouts.  The song had the crowd singing, clapping, and moving with the moves from Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.  After the song he even commented that he had their attention for 17 more minutes.  That was a great way of reinforcing what we already know. Getting humans up and moving refocuses their attention. It does about 20 other great things for our body, but for educators we need to remember our students (our audience) simply shouldn’t be sitting for long periods of time. It doesn’t matter the level of engagement or empowerment of the students.

The second part of his keynote that I enjoyed was his use of humor. Humor helps students learn.   “In other words, if you’re listening just auditorily in a classroom, one small part of the brain lights up, but humor maximizes learning and strengthens memories.” People listen when you use humor. We all know the dangers of sarcasm and humor that can be taken the wrong way, but we also know that humor breaks down barriers and makes things more fun. Learning should be fun. Why wouldn’t we use humor?

The final takeaway that everyone should know is that physical literacy is a journey.  It is an ever changing unquantifiable concept that will differ for every individual. Phecanada.ca defines it as, “Individuals who are physically literate move with competence and confidence in a wide variety of physical activities in multiple environments that benefit the healthy development of the whole person.” You can see why it would be so hard to say I have arrived at physical literacy. What we can do is keep that goal in mind. The greatest line of his keynote was, “”We are all physical literacy travel agents.”

This concept of being a physical literacy travel agent makes sense to me. Physical education teachers point their students in the direction of movement. We then combine movement with various other physical, social, emotional, and cognitive skills to help students on their own road to physical literacy. We can’t teach physical literacy. We can’t force students to engage in movement outside our classes. What we can do is show them the why, the how, the when, and the where.  We start them on the journey in primary school and continue to guide them throughout the rest of their school years. We wear a million hats as a teacher.  Add travel agent to the list!

Q1: What are your views on physical literacy? #slowchatpe

Q2: How do you use humor to keep your audience engaged? #slowchatpe

Q3: What brain boosts do you use to keep your audience refocused?

Q4: What is the best way to assess a student’s physical literacy journey? #slowchatpe

Q5: What are the best resources for physical literacy? #slowchatpe