As I have moved through my teaching career, I have tried many new things, taken risks, made mistakes, had great victories, and fallen on my face. From this, I have learned a great deal.  These are the top topics that impacted my understanding of physical education and influenced the evolution of my teaching practice.

Because we want the best for our students we aim to create Quality Physical Education Programs in out schools.   

Because we want the best for our students, we aim to help create competent, confident and motivated individuals who have the ability to be active in a variety of environments and enjoy, value and appreciate physical activity throughout their lifetime.

Teaching with a purpose. A well-planned program with clear, intentional learning goals is a powerful way to provide quality health and physical education. Teaching with purpose means that lessons, activities, and assessments are connected to meaningful outcomes and contribute to students’ growth and understanding. For me, teaching with purpose involves more than simply delivering content — it’s about designing learning experiences that build competence, confidence, and motivation to be active for life. It means:

• Maintaining an outcome-based focus, so students understand why they’re learning and how it connects to their well-being.

• Creating targeted learning tasks and progressions that meet students where they are and guide them toward deeper skill development.

• Using meaningful assessment that provides feedback before, during, and after learning to support reflection and growth.

Students engaged in inquiry-based learning develop higher-order thinking skills such as analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating, and reflecting, and they become more independent as they take responsibility for their own learning. As students pose their own questions, their curiosity is piqued, and as a result, they are more engaged in the learning process. Throughout the inquiry process, students also learn and practice collaboration and communication skills. An excerpt from UNDERSTANDING INQUIRY IN HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION.

Understanding the concepts of Movement Education, assists in the understanding of movement competence within Physical Literacy.  In Alberta, movement education concepts are key in almost half of the grade 7 to 12 basic skills Activity outcomes within the Physical Education Program of Studies. Also related to Movement Education are the Elements of Dance

"HOW" we teach. The impact of utilizing a variety of teaching models and matching the model that best fits the outcome, the students, and the activity.  For example, a Teaching Games for Understanding or Game Sense model is well suited for teaching strategy in game situations.  A Cooperative Learning or Sports Education Model is well suited for leadership and followership, or assuming various roles in physical activity.   A Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility model targets the cooperation outcomes in the Alberta Program of Studies. 

Components of  the Teaching for Understanding Models that I utilize regularly include:

• Learning through doing.  Students love to play, and this model provides just that, targeted learning opportunities through games and dance.

• Time on task. Modifying and simplifying games so that they target the development of specific skills and/or strategies and provide students with time on task regardless of their skill level.

• Inquiry connection.  The use of guiding questions to help lead students to the purpose or targeted learning of the activity, and the power of students coming to an understanding of concepts rather than the teacher delivering it. 

• Highlighting transferability of skills (through the classification of games), the confidence this builds, and it's the connection of the concept of transferable skills to the concepts of Physical Literacy

Components of  the Teaching for Understanding Models that I utilize regularly include:

• The use of guiding questions to help lead students to the purpose or targeted learning learning of activity and the power of students coming to an understanding of concepts rather than the teacher delivering it. 

Change your thoughts, change your world.  This is a great reminder of our own mindset and how we give feedback or “praise” to our students. Understanding the characteristics of growth and a fixed mindset brought a new level of awareness to how I communicated with the students and how I encouraged them to communicate with themselves and others.

I was struggling with what I was observing on a student fitness challenge day.  The challenge consisted of a race between classes to see which class could complete a series of exercises first.  What hurt my HPE heart was the inability for everyone to feel successful in the activity, the students who were put on display if they were slower than the rest, and the poor technique the students were demonstrating (and, as a result, the reduced benefit of the activity the students were realizing). A simple change made all the difference. Rather than a race to finish first, students were awarded a point for every time anyone in the class demonstrated quality technique or effort that pushed their personal limits.  The points were tallied up after the fitness challenge was complete.  The change in the student motivation and engagement was HUGE; everyone had the opportunity to be successful, and this is a great example of goal orientation (task) vs ego-based motivation.

“Fundamental movement skills are very important in the physical development of a child. When a child is confident and competent with these skills, they can develop sport-specific and complex movement skills that allow them to enjoy sport and physical activity. Most importantly, having a firm grasp of the fundamental movement skills and being physically literate leads a child to enjoy a long life of physical activity.” coach.ca

Setting a goal to choose activities that maximize time on task for students.  Asking oneself, how often does a task allow a student to participate and in this participation, what skills are they able to effectively practice?

For example, considering:

• How many players are on teams in games?  Small-sided games can provide excellent opportunities for time on task.

• What rules can be put in place to maximize participation or specific skill practice (while not segregating or marginalizing groups, such as a rule that states that you need to pass to a girl before you can score)?

• What are the skill levels of the players on teams, and how does this impact the ability of each team member to participate?

• Games that eliminate participants will typically eliminate the players who need the most practice of the activity skills.  Are there ways that game or activity rules can be modified to remove situations where players are eliminated from participation or for a period of time during a game?  If elimination is a part of a game, how do players “get back in” and is this process equitable? For example, are players reintroduced in the order they were eliminated, or does a friend need to save a player, and if so, what role do interpersonal relationships, or skill level play in a student's participation time (and emotional wellbeing)? 

in the words of Michelangelo "Ancora Imparo"  I'm still learning