HPEC Conference 2023 News, Lethbridge May 4-6, 2023:

 

HPEC Conference 2023 News, Lethbridge May 4-6, 2023:

Do you want your conference fee covered by HPEC? 

Apply for a grant to have the chance of winning a free HPEC conference registration.

Apply Here:

HPEC Membership Conference Grant - deadline to apply is January 15: http://www.hpec.ab.ca/hpec-membership-conference-grant17

HPEC Pre-Service Teacher Grant - deadline to apply to January 15:

http://www.hpec.ab.ca/hpec-pre-service-teacher-grant17

Conference Keynote:   Laval St. Germain

Pre-Conference Sessions: Thursday, May 4, 2023

Conference Sessions: More details to come!

Conference Registration: Coming Soon!

Conference Socials:

Thursday May 4, 2023 Evening HPEC Past President Reception

Friday May 5, 2023 HPEC Conference Friday Evening Social

Theme: Beach party

For all HPEC Conference 2023 Details visit:

https://www.hpec.ab.ca/hpec-2023-conference

Physical Education Resources for National Indigenous Peoples Day – June 21

Submitted by: Sonia Sheehan, HPEC Vice President Communications

In recent years I have explored ways I can include Indigenous knowledge, traditions, activities, and games into my elementary physical education teaching.  With National Indigenous Peoples Day approaching on June 21, sharing what I have learned seems timely.  My exploration into Indigenous knowledge, traditions, activities, and games began with attending professional development sessions and searching for appropriate resources to strengthen my understanding of Indigenous Games.  Once I increased my knowledge of Indigenous Games, I investigated what could I share with my students.  With most of the Indigenous activities and games being “new” to me, my students and I learned alongside each other as we participated in the activities and games for the first time together.  Quickly we found a sense of community, enjoyment, pride and practicality in the activities and games we played.  I would like to thank all the people who have shared their traditional knowledge with me through workshops, online resources, and videos.  Here are a few of my favourite Indigenous Games, Activities and Resources I would like to pass along to you:

1.     Sharing Circle, a traditional way to provide an opportunity for all to share promoting equality, trust, respect, honesty, and a sense of community. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQKI4L4LbKo

2.     Tatanka, Tatanka, a traditional game simulating the buffalo hunt with the head buffalo, Tatanka, trying to tag all the other buffalo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACuk8myj8ZQ

3.     Run and Scream, a traditional Blackfoot game teaching tolerance, patience, and the importance of lung capacity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWLj7vPU4CU

4.     The Blackfoot Movement Story, found on Be Fit for Life Resource webpage, provides a link between movement and learning about traditional Indigenous culture and knowledge.  http://befitforlife.ca/resources/blackfootstory

5.     The Blackfoot Movement Story Extension Resource, also found on the Be Fit for Life webpage, provides nature inspired activities that reinforce the Blackfoot Movement Story. https://d10k7k7mywg42z.cloudfront.net/assets/5f8dec7f76ed7f059e04228c/Blackfoot_story_extension_resource_draft2.pdf

6.     Animal Muk, an Inuit game, played in a circle formation where the person in the middle makes animal noises to try to make the people in the circle laugh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf4KWIkw30U

7.     An Amazing Resource to support teaching Traditional Games: Be Fit for Life: Move and Play through Traditional Games Lesson Plans: http://befitforlife.ca/resources/move-and-play-through-traditional-games

Recently I attended the Ever Active Schools Shaping the Future Conference and the closing keynote by Dr. Pamela Toulouse on the topic of “Embedding Truth and Reconciliation in K – 12” finished with a powerful video showcasing a group of Indigenous youth performing a song.  The lyrics of the song offer a valuable resource to help educate our students.  This video is the N’we Jinan Artists with students selected from the Surrey School District in British Columbia performing, “Show us the way”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV9AUQoqfAc

Wishing you and your students an educational National Indigenous Peoples Day!

9th Annual Physical Education Summer Symposium

Date:           Tuesday August 23, 2022

Time:          9:00am – 12:00pm  

Location:    FFCA SWE Campus – 898 Sylvester Cres. S.W. Calgary

                   Session 1: 9:00am-9:55am

                   Session 2: 10:00am-10:55am

                   Session 3: 11:00am-11:55am

Session presenters include: FFCA Physical Education Specialists, Athletics Alberta Mini Legends Program and Ever Active Schools.

 Please join us for this excellent physical education professional development opportunity on Tuesday August 23 at FFCA SWE Campus, 898 Sylvester Cres. S.W.  There is no cost to participate in this event.  Please complete your registration through the google link:

Registration Link:

https://forms.gle/hD5XUCUnmGySKKtY9

.**In registering for this workshop you are voluntarily providing your personal information and consenting to its collection, use and disclosure for all purposes connected with our participation as a member of the workshop. **

   Session Descriptions:

1	Session #1: 9:00am- 9:55am Session Title: Amazing New Games from Physical Education Social Media Connections  Presenter:  Sonia Sheehan, FFCA Southwest Elementary Campus Physical Education Specialist, HPEC Vice President Communications Description: Twitter is an excellent professional development tool.  Come to this session to learn some amazing new games that I discovered while following physical education teachers from across the globe.  The games have been tried and tested with my own students (K-4, but can be adapted to higher grades) and have proven to be some of the new favorite games students are asking to play.  Some of the games will include: Life Sized Battleship, Team Guard Your Castle, Bank it - Bounce it - Make it, Star Wars, Sinker Ship, Cannonball, Spin the Pin, the use of scorekeeper XL, and Frogger.  Connections to the new Alberta Physical Education and Wellness curriculum will be highlighted.   (indoor session)
2	Session #1: 9:00am- 9:55am Session Title: Introducing the NEW Outdoor Learning Quickdraw! Presenter: Kaitlyn Mitchell, Ever Active Schools Health and Wellness Consultant Description: Ever Active Schools’ newest resource is the Outdoor Learning Quickdraw.  Formatted as a deck of cards like our popular Physical Literacy and Social and Emotional Learning resources, the Quickdraw is designed to help teachers in any subject area with planning outdoor activities; from a one-time lesson to building a whole unit.  Come prepared to go outside and try activities from each of the four suits: Physical Literacy, Teamwork, Outdoor Skills and Environmental Action.    (outdoor session)
3	Session #2: 10:00am – 10:55am Session Title: Lacrosse Presenter: Brain Broad, FFCA NWE Campus Physical Education Specialist Description: Want to learn how to teach a great sport to your students? Lacrosse is an exciting sport that can be learned by most grades. Learn how to teach a non contact version of this game, and tons of mini games. Your students will learn both hand-eye-coordination and invasion game strategies and tactics. It is also one of Canada’s national sports and will fulfill the cultural games section of the new Physical Education and Wellness curriculum.    (indoor session)

4	Session #2: 10:00am – 10:55am Session Title: Become Legendary with the Mini Legends Program (brought to you by Athletics Alberta) Presenter: Tracy Lockwood, Athletics Alberta  Description:  Teaching the basics of Track & Field is extremely important for the development of Physical Literacy. The activities you lead and the skills you teach will build the foundation upon which countless sport and physical activity skills will be developed. Get ready to "become legendary" because in this session, you will participate in track and field-type activities from the Athletics Alberta Mini Legends Program. These activities teach the fundamental movement skills of running, jumping, throwing and so much more!   (outdoor session)
5	Session #3: 11:00-11:55am Session Title:  K – 4 Spatial Awareness Games That Hit A High Number of the New Curriculum Outcomes Presenter: Melissa Brooks and Andrea Wilcox, FFCA Northeast/ Southeast Elementary Campus’ Physical Education Specialists Description:  Join us for a session of low organized games that surprisingly match a large number of outcomes of the new curriculum. Old favorites like Giant, Wizards & Elves, Charlie Wants a Home, Squirrels tails, Bench ball, Catch 5, relay races and others have a function both during class and for recess play. How each game connects to the curriculum will also be explored so you will not only walk away from the session with some game ideas but hopefully a better understanding of the Physical Education outcomes of the new Physical Education and Wellness curriculum.     (indoor session)
6	Session #3: 11:00-11:55am Session Title: OUTDOOR GAMES  Presenter: Lara Talamini and Jason Deis, FFCA North Middle School Campus Physical Education Specialists Description: You can never have too many outdoor games up your sleeve! In this session we will run through a variety of games that can be played outside (or some inside, too), with minimal or basic equipment. They work for both large and small groups, and can be used with students of any age. We will also show you how to make connections to the new Grade 5 and 6 PE curriculum. Come prepared to join in and try each of the games with your colleagues!   (outdoor session)

        

Teaching Sexual Health Online Workshops

Submitted by: Jocelyn Graham, MSc, Health Promotion Facilitator, Alberta Health Services

Whether you cringe or are ecstatic, teaching sexual health is one of the most important subjects that will impact students for the rest of their lives. We want to bring you all the help we can and that’s why we are excited to announce that our free online workshops are back! This series of sessions is designed to support Alberta teachers in teaching the human sexuality outcomes and to improve knowledge, skills and comfort in the classroom.

There are 6 sessions to choose from in the April workshop series. Each Zoom session is from 3:30-5:00 pm. Teachers can sign up for the complete series or register for any combination of sessions individually. There is no obligation to attend every session – just pick the ones that are relevant to you!

More information and registration is here: https://teachingsexualhealth.ca/teachers/sexual-health-education/teacher-workshops/

·         Why Sexual Health Education Matters – Tuesday  Apr 5

·         Sex Ed for Today’s Classrooms – Wednesday Apr 6 

·         How to Answer Questions in Sexual Health Classes – Wednesday Apr 13

·         Teaching Jr High Sexual Health with Confidence – Wednesday Apr 20

·         Teaching Elementary Sexual Health with Confidence – Tuesday Apr 26 

·         Teaching CALM Sexual Health with Confidence – Wednesday Apr 27

If you have any questions, please email us at: tsh@ahs.ca

Fostering resilience in schools and classrooms: 10 ways to help students thrive

 Submitted By: Norah Fines, RD 

Health Promotion Facilitator, School Health & Wellness Promotion, Alberta Health Services

As the COVID-19 pandemic approaches its third year, Alberta school communities are looking ahead to a brighter future. Research from across the province demonstrates that students have experienced increases in a number of mental health concerns, such as stress, anxiety, low motivation, hopelessness, aggression, bullying, self-harm and suicidal ideation during the pandemic¹. Schools will continue to play an essential role in supporting the mental health and well-being of students. This task may feel daunting for just one individual, however simple actions can have a big impact on students’ mental health and well-being. To help educators in Alberta, AHS has a new website, Healthier Together Schools, which offers evidence-based strategies for improving school wellness in the areas of mental health, physical activity and nutrition. The Take Action cards include a wealth of ideas, resources, and background information to support whole school, universal approaches to health and wellness.

Here are ten tangible ideas that you can use to support student mental health and resilience in your school and classroom:

1.         Set up peaceful places, including virtual platforms, for students to take time away, talk through challenges, or calm down. Welcome everyone

2.        Make sure all students have an adult ally - Set up advisory time, where small groups of students have designated time to connect with a school staff member who checks in with them daily (if possible) and acts as their advisor and champion throughout the school experience. Support healthy relationships

3.        Work with students to co-develop agreements about school norms. These are statements generated by students and agreed on by the school community to describe 'the way things are around here.’ Support healthy relationships

4.        Facilitate youth action projects so students feel listened to, valued, and respected. Help them identify issues that matter to them, support them to collect perspectives from peers, and empower them to create meaningful change. Amplify student voice

5.         Take mindfulness to the next level, by encouraging students to reflect on mindfulness practices – they can log or chart their experiences, journal or talk to an Elder or trusted adult. Try mindful practices

6.        Learn about the evidence-based, high-quality learning opportunities and classroom ready resources available to you. Start with those from the Alberta Mental Health Literacy Project, offered by Alberta Health Services in partnership with school authorities. Build mental health literacy

7.         Role model social emotional skills in your interactions with students. For example, show your class how you handle frustration, and how you calm down. Develop social emotional skills

        Physical activity, especially in outdoor settings, also plays an important role in promoting mental health, reducing stress and supporting students’ well-being². To round out the list of ten ideas, here are three more tips for inspiring students to be more active throughout the school day:

8.         Be intentional about connecting with students who may not have had positive, inclusive recess experiences (like those new to Canada or those who have a physical disability). Engage diverse student leaders as a core strategy for re-activating recess and to get kids moving more throughout the school day. Reimagine Recess

9.         Plan short bouts or bursts of physical activity for when students’ energy or attention levels drop. If you’re already a physical activity burst guru, mentor another teacher at your school to incorporate more movement in their day.  Move more, Sit Less

10.     Take a small step by moving a daily activity from your classroom outside. Take a leap to learn from the land and honour reconciliation. Embrace Nature

Remember, no matter how young or old we are, how tall or small, or where we come from in the world, our mental health is on a continuum.  Daily actions in the classroom environment can have a big impact on how a student manages their stress, how they see themselves fitting in the world around them, and how they develop lifelong skills that support positive mental health.

             1. Children’s Services. (2021, December 16). Child and youth well-being review final report. Alberta Government. Retrieved January 10, 2022, from https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/child-and-youth-well-being-review-final-report/resource/b7f863bf-43af-44ec-8897-b0dafc341665

2. Vaillancourt, T. et al. (2021, August). Children and Schools During COVID-19 and Beyond: Engagement and Connection Through Opportunity. Royal Society of Canada. Retrieved January 10, 2022, from C&S PB_EN_0.pdf (rsc-src.ca)

 

Teaching Elementary PE During the Pandemic

 Submitted by: Jillian Shaw, HPEC Secretary

This may be a huge challenge for several people as you are working with a population that is still trying to understand the world around them. Constantly repeating yourself saying things like: hands out of your mouth, don’t touch that, hands to yourself, etc. and on top of what we were originally worried about regarding germs were being shared, now we add COVID-19 on top of it. 

I am a K-4 PE teacher in Calgary. My school has roughly 400 students who get PE 4 or 5 times a week. Each class I teach is 30 minutes long and has anywhere between 40-60 students. Since two classes are in the gym at the same time, I teach with the divider down so students stay within their cohort. This has created some challenges but after teaching like this for 2 years, I have developed some strategies to make it more manageable. Here are some tips that I have implemented in my elementary PE program to assist in sanitizing, minimizing contact, and maximizing the fun!

Establish Routine

Since my classes go by quickly I need time to sanitize equipment before the next class uses the equipment. I have set up a routine with my students, so they are engaged in an activity while I finish sanitizing equipment. Each week we have an exercise of the week. This exercise can be anything (lunges, plank, burpees, etc.). At the beginning of the week, I will go over specific things to look for in the exercise (flat back, arm or leg position, etc.). Students partner up and provide feedback to their partner about how to improve their form. Throughout the week the partnership will develop goals for each other and work on their functional fitness. After that warm-up activity, we will move on to the game which is focused on our unit at the time. This is where most of the equipment will be used. To wrap up the class students will place the equipment in the “yucky bucket” to get sanitized and then we will play a tag game. To avoid tagging each other, we play “everyone is it” and kick hula hoops along the floor to tag people. If a hoop hits your foot then you are tagged. While students are playing tag I can begin sanitizing the equipment for the next class.

Don’t cancel just modify

The pandemic has made us rethink how we teach and has potentially led to the cancellation of activities. One thing that I have challenged myself to do is not cancel PE or school activities, just rethink and modify how we go about them. For example, I know my students love tag but we were unable to play it the traditional way. By adding in the hula hoops my students almost prefer it to traditional tag. It allows them to jump, dodge, and add a different type of strategy. For our year-end play day, we did a “choose your challenge”. As a staff, we created a list of challenges for classes to perform on our play day and a folder where teachers dropped photos in. The following day we had a virtual assembly and shared a video that had all the pictures that were taken throughout the day. By doing this students/classes were given choice in what challenges they wanted to dive into and do it at their own pace. It did not look like our traditional play day but the feedback from students and staff was remarkable. 

Go easy on yourself

If you are anything like me, there have been several times where you have gotten frustrated because you think the program you are offering isn’t that great or you know how awesome your program/games were pre-pandemic. The thing that I remind myself of during these times is thinking about what is important. The first thing that is important to me is relationship building. Even though my programming may look different, am I still able to build those meaningful relationships with my students? Second, I look at the programming and think of the big picture. Are my students having a positive experience in PE and feeling safe? If the answer is yes to both of these questions, then we are in great shape! I prioritize these questions and the rest is just me being hard on myself. So take some time to reflect on your students and how they are reacting to your program rather than focusing on yourself and how you feel about the program. 

These 3 tips have helped me navigate teaching PE during the pandemic and I hope they have sparked some ideas for yourself or at the least made you feel like you are not alone in navigating how to teach PE during the pandemic.

Personal Relevance in Elementary Years

Submitted by: Ty Riddick, HPEC Treasurer

The positive impact of personally relevant learning on student motivation is not new. Students desire an emotional connection to their learning and in its absence, are unlikely to remain engaged and put forth their best effort (Bernard, 2010).

A more difficult question is how do we make Physical Education relevant to elementary aged students? Sport philosopher Scott Kretchmar (2008) outlined concerns that learning outcomes in Elementary Physical Education (ESPE) were becoming too utilitarian in purpose. In an effort to do our part in preventing childhood obesity, lessons are focused on having students be as active as possible, get their heart rates high and in some contexts monitor step counts so students may learn about the importance of cardiovascular health and a healthy lifestyle. However, Kretchmar (2008) suggests that while students are likely able to understand that movement is beneficial to health, they are not willing to sacrifice present enjoyment and view the risks of the future as simply too far off to be meaningful.     

When I first began teaching a decade ago, many of my learning goals were focused on the transferability of skills. The majority of each lesson was devoted to skill development as an essential foundation of more formalized sport activities. I wanted students to understand that by first acquiring these foundational and transferable skills, that they will be able to participate in a wider variety of sports in the future. However, while there is little debate on whether fundamental skills are transferable or not, we also know that sport is so much more than just a collection of skills. This decontextualized and skill-focused environment is not seen as meaningful or motivating to students and is unlikely to produce the intended outcomes of participation outside of the classroom (Tinning, 2010).

In my previous teaching as well as the health-oriented environments, movement is seen as useful or as something we should do, but how do these lessons connect to students' lives as they currently are?

Below are three examples of how I’ve attempted to facilitate more personally relevant learning for my students. These snapshots of my teaching shouldn’t imply that these are the best or only ways to help students find relevance in their learning. The decisions within these units and their outcomes were made with respect to the time, facilities, resources etc. we have available and of course with our students in mind.

Unit: Who We Are in the Outdoors (Grade 3-6)

Big Idea: Reflecting on our experiences can affect the relationship we feel to movement in the outdoors.

Description: In this unit we first sampled different ways we could engage with the trails near our campus. We walked, we ran and explored activities such as a scavenger hunt. At the end of these initial lessons, we reflected on what we liked and disliked about each activity as well as what we may find meaningful about them. As we progressed through the unit, students used the whiteboard (shown below) to indicate 1) which trail they were going on 2) whether they were going to walk, run or search and 3) what was their intention; to be social, challenge themselves, for pleasure or to explore.

Unit: Throwing & Catching (Grade 1-2)

Big Idea: Challenging myself is essential to my growth as an individual.

Description: In this unit, students explored the concept of ‘just-right’ challenge and how those can help us grow as individuals. Students began by rotating through various throwing target games. At the end of the lessons students used numbered stickers to indicate which one was the most challenging and least challenging. Later we used the Goldilocks’ analogy to understand what 'just-right' meant. A challenge that wasn’t too hard or too easy but required some persistence to eventually be successful. As we progressed, students learned to modify throwing tasks to find their zone of 'just-right' challenge. At the end of the unit, they created their own ‘just-right’ throwing & catching activity and taught it to another classmate. 

 

Unit: Badminton (Grade 3-6)

Big Idea: By improving our skills we are empowered to engage in activities in ways that are meaningful to us.

Description: After a few initial lessons, students began completing a road map to improvement by first selecting an area of growth (i.e. serving or more consistent contact). It was important that their goal served the purpose for which they wished to engage in badminton. Some students' goals were for the purpose of winning more points so they could be more successful during competition. Other students' goals would help them engage in badminton socially, where the object of the game was to maintain a rally as long as possible or play recreationally where points are won but no score is kept. As students progressed towards their goal, they were grouped with students who found similar things meaningful about badminton. Students who wished to be social were allowed to be and students who wanted to be competitive participated in either doubles or singles tournaments.  

References

Bernard, S. (2010, December 1). Science shows making lessons relevant really matters. Edutopia.                https://www.edutopia.org/neuroscience-brain-based-learning-relevance-improves-engagement

Kretchmar, R. S. (2008). The increasing utility of elementary school physical education:

            A mixed blessing and unique challenge. The Elementary School Journal, 108(3), 161–170.

Tinning, R. (2010). Pedagogy and Human Movement: Theory, Practice, Research. New York,

            NY: Routledge.