The internet has changed my world. Check that the internet has changed the world. Crazier yet the internet is redefining what my world is. Friday night was going well. My kids ate dinner and I had just cleaned the kitchen. We went downstairs and my wife said something wild was going on in Paris. She showed me a video that was posted on Facebook about an explosion that had happened. Most people have probably seen the clip of the soccer game where the explosion was clearly heard. That was where the internet and social media first started to be a game changer.

I googled soccer game, Paris, attack, and the early reports were filtering in that there was a terrorist attack and that hostages were taken. There was no waiting for the news that night or the newspaper tomorrow. We expect this instantaneous response to news now. It was not too long ago that this wasn’t the case.

My next step was going to Twitter and clicking on the Moments option on the bottom. This allowed me to see Tweets related to the bombing as well as my regular feed. This was one of the first times I had used this option. It kept me up to date with the events but did not overload me with drivel that the talking heads would spit out just to say something. This is something that I will be using again in the future (not just for horrific events).

An amazing thing occurred during this tragedy. “Some Twitter users in the city immediately began using the hashtag #PorteOuverte, or “open door,” to offer their homes as a shelter for those afraid to be on the streets with nowhere to go.” (Eggert, 2015) I had not heard about something this wonderful happening before. Maha Bali (Bali_Maha) informed me about this event in Australia which is extremely similar. Both events show that when people are needed the most they find a way to come through. Social media is allowing aid to happen instantaneously. 

Just when things are at their worst and I worry about the world imploding, I think of Mr. Roger’s mom’s words to him.

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” To this day, especially in times of “disaster,” I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.” (link) 

Social media has many pitfalls, but it also has so much potential to bring us together. People opened their doors to anyone that needed safety during a time of need. They did not care about race, religion, gender, or any other dividing factor.

The hostage situation came to an end. This would have normally been the end of my journey. News articles would summarize what happened and I may or may not have read them. Ordinarily I would have been overloaded and stayed away from the negativity. Times are a changing. I opened up Voxer and @JustinAion was ranting about how the media was running with the story but routinely ignores what goes in Syria and other countries every day and how many people died in those countries from bombings that gain no traction in our mainstream media. This made me think. How much does the media control what I see and therefore what I think? Do Americans only worry about “civilized” countries? Do they ignore countries that don’t look and act like them? Are we desensitized to everything; or is it simply that we don’t care when people from other countries we deem lower than us kill each other? Is it elitism that causes us to ignore the world’s problems or is it something far worse? Could it be that we just don’t care about people that we don’t deem “refined”?

Social media played another key role for people who were in Paris or had connections to people in Paris. Facebook set up their site so that people could find out if their loved ones were safe. (link) This is another way that social media can be used to help people. Think about how very useful this would have been on 9/11 when people had to wait hours or a full day to find out if their loved ones were safe. The rampant use of cell phones makes this process so much more effective now.

After the attacks there were multiple tweets and pics about crowds of people gathering together to show support. I used the Periscope live video app to watch this happen live. That is amazing. Talk about the best way to create empathy!! These people became so much more real whn I am watching this unfold live.

My journey through this event was not finished yet. Social media still had one last influence on me. This came in the form of a blog written by Maha Bali which you should read here. Her blog raised so many points that mainstream media would have never touched on. She writes, “Because the sad thing about empathy is that we are more likely to be empathetic toward people who remind us of ourselves.” She is right. It is much easier for me to put myself in someone’s shoes that it is for me to relate to strangers. By strangers, I mean people that don’t look or act like me. I can relate those that look and act like me which is why Paris seemed so wild to me. These were people who were just like me and had no reason to die. The problem with that thinking is that by default I am saying that all the stories that I ignore about other people have died in bombings do not deserve the same empathy or respect. 

The only way to combat that is to make sure that we have people we interact with that don’t look and act like us. This allows us to see everyone as humans and create empathy. This oversimplifies a complex subject, but it is definitely a starting point in relating to those who are different from us. Maha’s blog has so many more points that I could have written my entire blog just in response to it. I highly recommend you read it.

Let me summarize how the internet and social media played such an important role in this event. It started with the everyone sharing the news on various social media outlets. Twitter played a pivotal role in providing people safe places during the event. Facebook created a way for people to find out if their loved ones were accounted for. Twitter moments allowed their users to be kept up to date. The discussions on Voxer, Twitter, and Facebook allowed people to voice their views that would have never been posted on mainstream media. Periscope allowed me to see the gathering of the crowds via a live feed. Blogs have been and are being, written which will push our thinking much further than anything that will be written in the associated press. The internet and social media have changed how I view the world by allowing the perspectives of others in. My world will never be the same. 

Q1: How do you build empathy for all people even the ones who differ from you? #slowchatpe

Q2: What are your thoughts on the moments function of Twitter? #slowchatpe

Q3: How could you aid people during a tragedy using social media? #slowchatpe

Q4: What did you use to keep yourself informed about during the bombing? #slowchatpe

Q5: Whose blog or tweets should people read to expand their views on an event? #slowchatpe

I have an announcement that may shock the world. You don’t see the real Twitter. You see a polished politically correct version of Twitter. The real Twitter occurs in direct message groups. Direct message groups can be started by one person. It can be a group of two people up to I don’t know how many. I have been in one with at least 20 people. If you want to know more about it click this link here https://about.twitter.com/directmessages.

The great thing and the lousy thing about Twitter is that it is an open forum. Anyone can and should jump in at any point in time. It was hilarious to `read during an argument one party sounding off that other people jumped into their argument. That is the whole beauty about Twitter. Everyone can see your tweets and respond to them. The lousy part occurs when people use fake accounts to make heinous comments. Every explicitly racist, sexist, moronic tweet all came from fake accounts. I can’t take people seriously who use fake accounts unless your job is tied to your comments.

So what happens in the real Twitter? The real Twitter has people having civil conversations without the worry that someone will misinterpret their comments or jump halfway in ruin the whole flow of things. The real Twitter has cursing, honest ideas, and best of all no limits to the amount you can write. Groups of people can communicate in a safe environment that won’t get them fired!!

If you feel that you want to discuss something with a group of people in a more private arena look into setting up a direct message group and take sensitive topics out of the public and into the safe confines of the direct message. If you want to connect with me add me to a direct message thread!!!

Q1: Why do you send a direct message on Twitter? #slowchatpe

Q2: Are you in any direct message groups? Why do you take it private? #slowchatpe

Q3: What do you love about the public nature of Twitter? #slowchatpe

Q4: What would you like Twitter to change? #slowchatpe

Q5: Who do you follow that argues the most on Twitter? #slowchatpe

There is a pandemic that needs to be addressed. Something we have all done at some point and time. A thing that is so tiny in the grand scheme of life that we overlook the need to follow proper procedures. That thing is giving credit where credit is due. Specifically giving credit and social media when we borrow and broadcast other people’s images, ideas, and content. Everyone scrounge around Twitter, Facebook, and Voxer looking for gold nuggets from others. Why wouldn’t you? That’s the best thing about being connected. The problem arises when we don’t give credit to the originators when we do.

Most people who know me understand that I hate the idea of paying for lesson plans. We create them for free using nlpc.us and share them using the #physed shared Google drive. The drive also has posters, images, and videos. While they are free they come with a cost. The cost as you will read below is real, although it is not always monetary. I am worried that the creators of original content are going to stop being so free with sharing if we do not stem the tide of plagiarism and content theft.

This week I am going to let the innovators do the talking. Each one of these teachers has contributed significantly to the #physed community in one-way shape or form. They have created numerous resources that have helped change the image of the #physed community.

They are going to tell you why it is so important that we give them the credit they are due.

Here is an excerpt from an email I received from @joeyfeith this week in regards to him reacting to people using his work without giving him due credit. Joey is an OG of the social media #physed community:

I know what you are saying: “it’s a sign of respect”, “it’s just sharing good practices”, “it’s just getting the word out to more people”.

That’s what this community used to be about (and, really, still is in a lot of ways): teachers getting excited about new ideas and sharing them with others. However, back then there were fewer incidents involving people omitting the sources of their inspiration. People would get credit for everything they did and, rather than recreating someone’s work or posting it on your own site, people would go out of their way to link back to other teachers’ blogs and websites so that new people could discover them. It worked, it was beautiful, and it was what inspired me to keep at it.

But, lately, I don’t see so much of that. Not just in regards to my own work, but with others too. It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Credit seems like such a silly thing. What’s the big deal, anyway? Ideas are ideas and everything gets remixed. This is the Internet we’re talking about.

That’s really easy to say when you don’t know the process behind making those ideas a reality. The process that involves a moment of clarity, the struggle and frustration of making the thing you see in your head a tangible resource, and then the hesitation in regards to “do I make this free or do I sell this? Screw it, I’ll make it free!”

It is hard to explain how much of my soul has been put into making ThePhysicalEducator.com be something and helping raise awareness for our online community. It’s hard to explain it. It’s not something that anybody but me can measure. I do measure it, though. I measure it in the amount of friends I’ve lost because I couldn’t figure out how to balance my social/work life. I measure it in the amount of nights my wife sleeps alone or how many weekends she spends wishing we were out doing stuff as I work on building stuff and getting it right (well, trying to). I measure it in the missed family opportunities and the money “lost” (there are a lot more costs involved than people know).

All of these I measure, and all I have asked for to balance it out is some credit. Call me vain, call me a jerk, call me whatever… the credit is enough to keep me going when I really don’t feel like it (which has been more and more often ever since last year).

Terri Drain (@terridr99) is another innovator in the #physed world. She created some great videos and podcasts for physical education teachers to unpack standards and also created the website beyondkickball.com. Her story is similar to countless others I have encountered on this subject.

Terri: I discovered that someone copied several pages from my website and used them as their own. I had to ask them to take it down. It created a very awkward situation.

Me (doing my best psychiatrist impersonation): How did that make you feel?

Terri: Disappointed in the fact some people think it’s okay to lift someone else’s work.

Me: Did it make you think about not wanting to share or keeping things to yourself, or doing something differently in the future because of it?

Terri: Philosophically I believe, probably like you and most people out there, we are going to move forward as a profession when we share and learn from each other. I’m determined as ever to share but always preface any workshop that I do with you are welcome to use my stuff, but you need to give credit from where you got it.

Ben Pirillo (@coachpirillo) is one of my favorite creators in the entire world. He creates youtube dance videos that are so easy to follow and fun to watch. He also creates a ton of other activities that he gives out for free and some that he posts on teachers pay teachers which you can check out here. (these are not lesson plans but actual lesson activities that he created so don’t call me a hypocrite) He also runs a sweet #physed website you can check out here.

Ben: If it’s stuff that is on my teach #phsyed Weebly site or the videos it’s fine as long as they are citing where they got it from. Just like you would cite a source if you were writing a paper. I have had a few people that I have seen use my activities that I am selling putting pictures out on Twitter and not giving me credit for my ideas. In addition, you should ask the person who created the content for permission to share.

Me: Tell me how it made you feel when you found this out.

Ben: I was frustrated. Really? I created that idea and I developed it. If you don’t want to buy it that’s fine, but don’t post it online and not give me credit to me. It gets even worse when people are liking it and retweeting it. If it gets to the point where I see my items being used and not citing where they come from I will stop sharing things in that way. I would do my videos, but it would definitely hinder what I am willing to share.

Lynn Burrows is a physical educator from Colorado. She runs a fantastic site you can see here. Lynn presents around the country.

When it comes to people “stealing your ideas” without giving credit I think a couple things happen. Initially, people cite your resource. They then share that idea with four people or maybe 100 people. Some of those may cite you some won’t. The next generation has no idea where the ideas came from. I’m not saying it’s all innocent but when people get further away from the original source of the information they lose the sighting of it.

I love Lynn. She is one of the sweetest people in the world. I try to emulate her outlook on life. She really sees people as people and not the physical shell they occupy. This is an important point to remember. People are not maliciously stealing ideas and attempting to steal credit. We have to remember some people may not know or be able to find out the original source of information. This is not a free pass to excuse them. It is a rational explanation of why some ideas are not attributed to the originators.

Sarah G-H (@GHSaysRockChalk) is an innovator and member of the @PHYSEDagogy team. (No one knows how to say it. They even messed it up on their own podcast interview!) She opened up about just exactly how hard it is to let go of content that she creates and how horrible it is to find out that your ideas are being stolen and people are taking the credit for it. Sarah also explains how copyright infringement and plagiarism are serious violations of people’s time and energy.

I’m very protective of the things I create for my students and am very cautious when sharing resources on Twitter. I understand there are members of the #PhysEd community that believe in #SharingIsCaring and #TogetherWeAreStronger, but sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) I’m really uncomfortable sharing things that take me hours to create.

Earlier this year I discovered that entire sections of my school website (the site my students and parents can view) were stolen and re-published on another site. Screenshots from that site were shared on Twitter and Facebook and that teacher received a ton of credit for work they didn’t produce. I ended up confronting that teacher and we had a very awkward conversation. I do believe we should always give credit to our sources, whether we use a quote on a blog, borrow an idea from a friend, or adopt a new teaching idea.

#PhysEd resources should be free, but that doesn’t mean they don’t come at a price. I spend hours every night working on things for my classes. My husband makes sure I have time to work by cooking dinner, cleaning the kitchen, and making our lunches for the following day. He packs our sons’ backpacks, asks me if I need any help with anything, and checks to make sure I’m not forgetting anything.

When I share snippets of the things I’m doing in class, it’s incredibly frustrating when I receive messages asking me to share an entire resource that took me hours to create. “Hey, can I have a copy of that?” “Can you send me all of your rubrics?” “Can I have your lesson plans?” I know this may sound really selfish, but it’s really, really hard for me to share things that take me so much time and effort to create.

Why would we not give Sarah the credit she deserves when she does share her work when it is clearly so hard for her to part with it? I believe more people find it harder to share their resources than let on.

Andy Vasily (@andyvasily) is one of the most gifted educators I have come in contact with. His ability to bring the curriculum alive to the students is something I will be attempting to replicate for my entire teaching career. Andy is now a #physed consultant that travels the world lifting the profession of education to new levels. His words always come from a place of empathy and understanding.

When I first saw all of the discussion this week on Twitter about the issue of people not crediting who they get their ideas, resources, and inspiration from, I must say that it struck a chord with me. I think that it is critically important to look at this issue from all angles, especially from the perspectives of those whose work has been taken without being given due recognition. When I read the part from Joey’s email that Justin posted above, I think that he (Joey) brings up hugely valid points when it comes to the incredibly hard work that goes into maintaining and developing a website, taking our ideas and making them into tangible resources, and sharing good teaching practice in general. Joey has been instrumental in changing the face of physical education as have many of the educators mentioned in Justin’s blog post here. Every single one of them has been doing their own part in bringing attention to the need of transforming the way physical education is delivered. They are not the only ones, there are so many others on Twitter as well.

Lynn B, Ben P, Terri D, Kevin T, and Sarah G also all shared snippets into their own stories and when questionable conduct has occurred in regards to the taking or borrowing of their ideas. I’m of the mindset that we must share our best work and in so doing, we can hopefully inspire change in the practice of other educators which ultimately impacts and enhances student learning for the best.

I’m also a huge believer in the laws of abundance, meaning that when we give all of ourselves and share our work, it will always come back to us ten-fold in variety of ways that end up making a difference in our own lives. Despite having a law of abundance type attitude when it comes to sharing thoughts and resources so freely, it can certainly hurt when someone else just takes these ideas and runs with them without acknowledging where they got the ideas or inspiration from.

As an avid blogger myself, I have put a tremendous amount of time and energy into my work, into sharing my practice, resources, and ideas. And as Joey states, credit seems silly at times. Why is it necessary really? Everybody is taking ideas off the internet and making them into their own. However, at the heart of it, receiving credit can make a big difference in motivating those who share their ideas and resources so freely to continue doing the great work that they do. When someone’s work has been impacted by another or an idea, resource, or thought taken, giving credit is the right thing to do. There is an excellent book that I want to recommend to everyone that deals with the idea of good theft and bad theft. “Steal Like a Artist” was a New York Times best seller authored by Austin Kleon. You can find it here. I highly recommend reading this book as it puts the idea of good theft and bad theft into genuine perspective.

I was once collaborating with a fellow teacher from another international school about an idea that I had. I wanted this teacher to try it out so that I could actually see whether or not the idea worked outside of my own teaching space. We were rolling out the idea during similar units that we were teaching simultaneously. The plan was to collaborate and share how things were going during the unit, but due to time constraints, we never got the chance to connect again. You can imagine how I felt a few months later to find out that this teacher had taken the idea and guest blogged about it on a well-known educational organization’s website without referencing the fact that it was my idea in the first place and that we had been working together on it. This person essentially stole the idea and wrote as if it was theirs all along. It was frustrating and hurt a great deal. This is just one example, but there have been others as well.

So, I can sympathize with Joey and all the others mentioned in the post as I have also experienced times in the past that my work and ideas have been taken. However, in moving forward, I believe that we can all learn from these experiences and I’d like to thank Justin for sharing this topic on his blog, but to also thank Joey for sharing his genuine thoughts as well as the others.

It’s essential to understand and realize the importance of crediting others when necessary. It is critical to ask ourselves to what extent the ideas of others drives our teaching practice and whether or not we have authentically recognized those who have inspired us to be better at what we do and given credit where credit is due. Ultimately each and every one of us knows whether or not we’ve done this.

My final innovator is the king of creation in my opinion. His website is second to none. If you can think of an app or resource to use in physical education his website has reviewed. He has authored numerous books which I have shelled out my hard earned money for. I personally recommend the Great Games Handbook. His dice digital book puts some great twists on games that you wouldn’t think of. No, I am not his agent nor do I make any money off of his sales! His name is Kevin Tiller. My favorite story about Kevin and people stealing his material was when he was in a voxer group and someone was talking about this great game they had just learned at a conference. He kindly stated that the game they were referencing was straight out of his first book!

For me to sit down and write a book takes a lot of time. Not just time to write it. I mean the thinking process that goes into how I want the book to be designed, what the cover looks like, and how the layout is. The first book I wrote took me ten years. The second book took me a year. It is a very meticulous process where everything has to be symmetrical, colorful, eye appealing, as well as have solid content. It takes a ton of time. You want it to be high quality if your name is going to be attached to it. That being said I see people on Twitter referencing a game that I know is mine that they didn’t cite as being from Phys. Ed. Review. I always call them on it. I say hey that’s one of mine! Just to say give credit where credit is due. When I find something worth sharing I credit them. I mean my website has a ton of content that I share from other people!! I always give reference and credit where credit is due.

If you think about it is a violation of copyright. In all of the books I have written, there is a copyright. If someone doesn’t reference my book that is the issue. Not someone just taking the idea and using it. The internet has so many resources out there that people think it is fair game. They say no one is going to sue me or know one will know. We need to do the right thing even when no one else is looking.

Recently someone asked me if they could purchase 15 of my books and resell them at a conference. I never got back to them and gave them permission. They ordered the books. I think some people want a piece of the glory after I did all the work. If I was out that conference I would ask them did the author give you permission to sell these? If not I wouldn’t buy it. I am hoping other people read this because we should have kindness and courtesy. Instead of reselling my books why don’t you invite me to your conference or put a link to the site where I am selling the book.

Hopefully, the innovators above have impressed you enough to want to cite your sources. You may be saying to yourself right now that I don’t use any of this to make any money. That is the impression I was under. I always thought they couldn’t sue me because I didn’t make any money off of the image or source. I was wrong:

“Fifth Myth: You can use another person’s ‘work’ so long as you don’t make any financial gain or profit from it. This is definitely wrong and false. You are breaching Copyright whether you make money or not! You cannot use the argument that you are giving the Copyright owner free advertising or that you came up with the ‘lucrative’ idea and you will share it with the Copyright owner – any and all profits you make would be taken into account by a court if you were sued. And irrespective of whether you make any money, you are still breaching Copyright. The defining issue is not financial gain but the actual breach. Find your own images and content to use and ideas to make money from.” http://legal123.com.au/how-to-guide/copyright-infringement-myths-vs-facts-infographic/

Richard Byrne (@rmbyrne) has a great article on how to search for images that are allowed to be used for noncommercial use here. It is vitally important that we only take images and cite the source.

How should we cite sources on social media? Here are a couple of great ideas I saw in this blog recently:

To Cite Someone’s Content on Twitter:

Simply include a “via @username” somewhere in the tweet. If you’re retweeting someone’s content but you edit their original tweet, be sure to change “RT” to “MT,” which stands for “modified tweet.”

To Cite Someone’s Content on Facebook:

Facebook makes it pretty easy to give credit when you’re sharing someone else’s content right from their own timeline — they have a ‘Share’ button ready and waiting for you, and they make it easy to see the originating URL, originating sharer, as well as the names of people who shared it.

I don’t believe that most people are actively stealing credit for other people’s work. (except for the people the innovators talked about above) Most people fall into the trap of seeing ideas online and implementing them. (which is what we want) In their excitement to share, they forget to credit where they got it from. In some cases, they may credit their source, but that is not the source of origination for that idea or image. My point in this blog is not to create a culture where every word and thought has to be attributed to others. The point is to do your best to give the credit to where the credit is due. Credit is the new currency in our new world of free sharing. It is the fuel and motivation that keeps the innovators pushing their new materials out.

My guess is that most innovators & creators want to change the world and make it better. When people have attributed the idea back to the original source that person gets confirmation that what they are doing is helping change the world. Is it is more than just that pat on the back or the likes and favorites on social media. I am sure they love to see an idea generated created a better experience for students.

My final thoughts are to the innovators. I believe that most people are not stealing your ideas on purpose. They are genuinely excited to be doing new and different things all the time. If you see someone using your material reach out to them in the most discrete way and kindly ask them to acknowledge where the ideas and content originated. Start out from the position that the individual did realize they were doing something wrong. We do not want to crush individuals that are attempting to make their world a better place. As one man said always choose humanity over ideology.

Q1: How important is citing your resources to you? #slowchatpe

Q2: Did you ever have someone take your ideas and not give you credit? #slowchatpe

Q3: What makes you want to share ideas on social media? #slowchatpe

Q4: How do you come up with new ideas or lessons? #slowchatpe

Q5: Who is an innovator we should connect with? #slowchatpe

What was the last movie that changed your thinking? Was it Fight Club like @sarahdateechur or maybe it was the Matrix? Perhaps you are wondering if we are a dream within a dream within a dream? The movie that changed my thinking came from a recommendation on Twitter. @Sisyphus and I were having a conversation about socialism. (not getting political here) Someone in the feed mentioned to me to see the movie I Am. I did. Now my mind is trying to sort it all out. Here is a quick summary of the movie.

“I AM is an utterly engaging and entertaining non-fiction film that poses two practical and provocative questions: what’s wrong with our world, and what can we do to make it better?   The filmmaker behind the inquiry is Tom Shadyac, one of Hollywood’s leading comedy practitioners and the creative force behind such blockbusters as “Ace Ventura,” “Liar Liar,” “The Nutty Professor,” and “Bruce Almighty.”   However, in I AM, Shadyac steps in front of the camera to recount what happened to him after a cycling accident left him incapacitated, possibly for good. Though he ultimately recovered, he emerged with a new sense of purpose, determined to share his own awakening to his prior life of excess and greed, and to investigate how he as an individual, and we as a race, could improve the way we live and walk in the world.

Armed with nothing but his innate curiosity and a small crew to film his adventures, Shadyac set out on a twenty-first century quest for enlightenment.  Meeting with a variety of thinkers and doers–remarkable men and women from the worlds of science, philosophy, academia, and faith–including such luminaries as David Suzuki, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Lynne McTaggart, Ray Anderson, John Francis, Coleman Barks, and Marc Ian Barasch –  Shadyac appears on-screen as character, commentator, guide, and even, at times, guinea pig. An irrepressible “Everyman” who asks tough questions, but offers no easy answers, he takes the audience to places it has never been before, and presents even familiar phenomena in completely new and different ways.  The result is a fresh, energetic, and life-affirming film that challenges our preconceptions about human behavior while simultaneously celebrating the indomitable human spirit.” http://www.iamthedoc.com/thefilm/

One great point I walked away is that the heart is more important in leading us through life than the brain. Compassion and emotion affect our bodies and may affect outside of our body. He illustrates the point by showing how his emotions affect a bowl of yogurt. It is no secret that stress and worry can cause disease and physical pain. Can our heart and emotions play a part in the physical world?

The greatest part of the movie is that cooperation not competition is how nature functions. Mr. Shadyac illustrates this by showing insects, birds, deer, and fish all working together. This is where the mind bomb was dropped. He stated that Darwin only talked about survival of the fittest twice, but wrote about love 95 times in the book The Descent of Man. That is a pretty significant difference.

I think about my privilege a lot. Would I be able to get ahead in life if I did not have the love and support of my family growing up? Would I have been able to go to college? The cooperation it took from my family and community in order for me to succeed is miraculous. I firmly believe we need to work together in order to achieve. This can be at the micro level of a household or the macro level of a country. Our country thrives on competition yet cooperation is the only thing that enables us to live quality lives. Corporations have grown so big that they don’t care about the individual at all. Have school systems done the same? Have we put our students into a competition ring where we measure them against each other? Have school systems grown so big that we can’t change them so we keep ignoring the individuals that need the most help?

The movie makes me question how connected to each other are we? I am not talking about social media connections or even family connections. I am talking broader connections. Connections outside your church, mosque, synagogue, yoga studio or any other physical space where we connect to other people. How much does my action in Trenton, New Jersey affect someone in Tokyo? What influence do I have on people in my own town? Think about this fact, “The reality is that the odds of breathing a single molecule of air that once passed through the lungs of Jesus, even in a single one of your breaths, is near certainty. The odds of encountering even one of those molecules within your entire lifetime is even more certain.” http://goo.gl/lkqHvP What does that mean for us? Nothing it was just a cool fact.

The movie leaves me feeling scared about the fate of man (and woman) kind. It also leads me to believe that helping other people has never been more needed in the history of the human race than it is right now. Watch the movie and Tweet or Vox me with your thoughts!

Q1: What does education do to support the idea that we are all connected in one way shape or form? #slowchatpe

Q2: How does your school make sure that your staff stays connected as people and not just coworkers? #slowchatpe

Q3: What do you do in your class to make them realize your class depends on cooperation in order for everyone to succeed? #slowchatpe

Q4: Do you feel that American life is more about cooperation or competition? #slowchatpe

Q5: Who in your PLN is your connector? The one who knows people. #slowchatpe

This weekend I was privileged enough to attend and present at the Colonial Technology Conference at William Penn High School in New Castle Delaware. People love to make fun of Delaware. It is one of the smallest states in the union and gets a really bad rap due to the infamous Wayne’s World bit. Doug Timm has been single-handedly changing the way educators perceive Delaware. His dedication to his #cddolphins is second to none. What I love about Doug is that he thinks globally but works locally. He doesn’t post to social media about what he is doing. His posts highlight what his students are doing. We have talked many times about how important it is to actually walk the walk and not just talk the talk. People came from Texas, NJ, and Virginia, (@techedupteacher, @sarahdateechur, @nicholasendlich, @theEdsanet, @btcostello, and myself) all to attend and present the conference because of Principal Timm. That is the kind of inspiring and dedicated leader he is. Not only does he inspire teachers, his call to arms should have all administrators rallying around their staff’s and showing what great things they are doing. Read more his charge here. 

The drive down to the conference was enjoyable. I was able to vox with @nicholasendlich and @btcostello all the way down. This prepped me for the learning I was about to encounter. I arrived early to hang out with @theEdsanteT and @rosy_burke who decided to roll in late and leave me hanging by myself. This was fine as I was able to eat like a pig and not have to worry about talking with my mouth full. The food choices were superb. They had a healthy option of fruit, a decent option of bagels, and the dreaded donuts. Coffee was in full supply and this made me very happy. Nick and Brian rolled in and we started talking and laughing early and often.

Richard Byrne (@rmbyrne) was the keynote speaker. I have followed him for years and knew that his site freetech4teachers.com was second to none. This man pushes out content like no other. His youtube channel has how-to videos that make tech so easy. We were able to talk before his keynote and he was personable and entertaining. His keynote went off with a couple of technological hitches which he handled like the pro he is. The highlight of his speech was when he told teachers to share their plans and not just on teachers pay teachers. This is a philosophy that I have embraced and trumpeted myself over the years. Lift education up. Help students from all over the world by sharing what we are doing for FREE. Rant over.

Richard’s session on creating videos and pictures was very informative. I have been to conferences where I have not learned a ton. This was not the case on Saturday. When you go to youtube and hit upload there is a slew of options. One of the best options is to create a photo slideshow. Click here  to see how to do it. The slideshow took seconds to create and there are over 150,000 free songs to choose from. I was so excited to learn about this that I created this video after my family went to sleep the night of the conference. I highly recommend you follow Richard on Twitter and follow his youtube channel.

Lunch was fun. There were plenty of food, drinks, and connections being made. The afternoon presenters each was introduced and told to speak about their sessions. Some people danced in while others did this:

The conference was awesome and I was stoked to learn a lot. All of that paled in comparison to the fact that I was able to spend quality time with Nick, Rosy, Brian, Doug, Amanda, Sarah, and Lori. Relationships mean the world to me. Without them, we are just boats floating along an endless ocean. Together we are a fleet that can watch out for the wrath of Poseidon and help each other achieve the impossible. Thank you Doug, and the Colonial School District for allowing me to attend and present at this wonderful conference.

Q1: How often do you use Youtube to show videos in your class? #slowchatpe

Q2: Do you use youtube to create content for your students? Examples? #slowchatpe

Q3: How have you used youtube to create PD for educators? Examples? #slowchatpe

Q4: How do your students use youtube in your class? #slowchatpe

Q5: What youtube channels do you follow? #slowchatpe

This month’s blog challenge by @iamwill is finding our purpose. What is my purpose? This has changed over the years. I started out with the purpose of increasing student’s physical skills through practice and games. This started out well enough until I realized this was a poor purpose. Students don’t need their physical skills improved through practice and games. Students need to understand how these skills will benefit them now as well as in the future. That still isn’t my purpose in teaching, though. My new purpose is to create a positive association with movement for my students. That is my main purpose in teaching. I have many other things that I want to teach my students, but nothing is more important than them believing that moving is fun and wanting to do it on their own.

My die hard physical education community members might give me pushback on this. They will tell me that physical literacy is the most important thing we should be teaching students. Others will tell me that if the students don’t understand why they should move we will lose them. They would all be correct as well because physical literacy and the why help create that positive association with movement. When students feel they can do a variety of physical activities well, they will be more apt to look upon movement in a positive light. In the same vein, when students understand that moving will make them smarter, healthier, and happier that will also create a positive association with movement.

My purpose is simple. Create a fun atmosphere where students will learn why movement is important, become skilled at a variety of physical activities, and believe that movement is one piece of the happiness pie. If I am able to do that as a physical education teacher I have succeeded. Not only have I succeeded I will be able to die knowing that I made a positive difference in thousands of people’s lives. That makes me happy.

Q1: What is your purpose in your current job? #slowchatpe

Q2: How did you first figure out what your purpose was? #slowchatpe

Q3: Has your purpose changed over the years? #slowchatpe

Q4: How do you ensure that you are achieving your purpose? #slowchatpe

Q5: Who do you follow on social media that helps you achieve your purpose? #slowchatpe

Growing up I hated the Dave Matthews Band. I had never really heard them or given them much of a chance. I hated them because everyone and their mother loved them. Looking back this was a dumb reason to not give a band a chance. It did make me realize that some part of me was always going to rebel against the what I felt were the norms of society. This carries over to education and my teaching.

My classes are loud with music and tons of movement. You are probably thinking well you teach physical education this makes sense. However, my health classes are loud and filled with music as well. I have been using brain boosts and movement in my health classes years before @gonoodle improperly mislabeled them brain breaks! This ran counter to every class that I had taken as a student and almost all of them that I had observed as an adult. Classroom management used to be how well you could have students sit in a desk and listen to you. It is starting to catch on now that this is not the best way to teach. I didn’t need a book or an expert to tell me that. Did we need studies to remind us how much it sucked sitting for long periods of time listening to a teacher drone on and on when we were kids? This is just one educational norm that needed to broken.

The dress code that schools adhere to is hilarious to me. Does wearing a suit make you a better administrator? Do uncomfortable shoes allow you to move around the building better as you visit classrooms? Oh, you have to show parents and other stakeholders that you are in charge. The suit shows that. It is impossible to be unintelligent or be a poor administrator if you are wearing one. But society expects administrators to dress a certain way to be taken seriously. It wasn’t long ago that businessmen all had to wear suits. That has changed. Check out this article. I really loved Steve Job’s suits. Oh, wait. This is another educational norm that needs to be broken.

Teachers must dress up. You can only wear jeans on Friday. The ability of a teacher changes with the attire they don. Fridays they teach at a much lower caliber because they are “dressed down”. Does that mean that 20% of the year teachers aren’t being as effective as they should be? It wasn’t that long ago that women were told they had to wear dresses. Did their ability to teach decrease when they were “allowed” to wear dress clothes that weren’t dresses? Yup, you guessed it. Another educational norm that needs to be broken.

Do I even want to get into student dress codes? It discriminates against girls at an alarming rate. There is article after article about dress codes and rape culture. This article explains how a dress code that limits what a girl can wear puts boys educations ahead of girls. This article shows how forcing girls to dress a certain way puts the onus on them that their body is the problem. We hear how boys can’t control it or they are biologically programmed a certain way. This is the same mentality that allows 1 in 5 girls to be sexually assaulted in college. Society needs to change the way they look at what girls wear and what is appropriate. Education needs to take a hard look at what their hidden curriculum is really saying to both boys and girls.

My counterculture rebel attitude doesn’t stop there. Let’s look at all the great phrases and buzzwords that have taken control over education. Grit, rigor, growth mindset, connected educator, for the students, and so on and so on. When these ideas reach the tipping point they become watered down versions of their origins. I love the growth mindset. It has become so overused and watered down that even Carol Dweck went back and revisited it and found fatal flaws with how it was being used. It has become a reason to tell students it is ok that they are not learning because they are working hard. Check her article out here. It seems that the more something catches on the less effective it becomes.

My point to this blog is that I will always be on the outside looking in. I won’t have a seat at the cool table. I will always be that cynic that sees what everyone else is doing and see if that is really the best way to do things. Usually, it isn’t. Do you want to be a cool kid sitting at the cool kid table or do you want to make your own table and force them to sit with you?

Q1: What is the band you love to hate because everyone else loves them? #slowchatpe
Q2: How do you feel about the dress code for teachers at your school? #slowchatpe
Q3: Do you think the dress code for students discriminates against girls? #slowchatpe
Q4: What buzzword do you think is overused and under practiced? #slowchatpe
Q5: Who is the cynic that you follow that will always alert you to the problems of education? #slowchatpe