The Kindness Tree

Submitted by: Suzanne Beckett, HPEC Treasurer 

During these trying times, it is important to take a moment to remind yourself there is still so much good in the world and within ourselves. Try this little exercise, adapted from, Breath Like a Bear by Kira Willey,  to help reset your soul and refocus your mindset to one of gratitude and kindness.

Imagine you’re a tree. You have roots growing down into the earth, holding your trunk steady and strong. Your branches are reaching up high. 

As we perform acts of kindness for others, our branches spread out and grow. As others perform acts of kindness for us, our roots grow stronger and hold us steady. 

Spread your arms tall and wide like branches as you think of something kind you’ve done for someone. Maybe you helped someone in your family with something, or you helped a colleague at work. 

Press your feet into the ground, like roots pressing deep, and think of something kind someone else did for you. How did it make you feel? 

Now think of something kind that you haven’t done yet, but you will, the next time you have the chance. Is there someone you could help, or say some kind words to? Doing so will make your branches spread even wider, and may encourage others to be kind as well, growing their trees. 

Take a deep breath and one last stretch of your arms and pressing down into your feet. Relax and shake it out. 

7th Annual PE Summer Symposium Session Rewind

Each August a group of dedicated physical education teachers bring their collective knowledge and efforts together to host a PE Summer Symposium which serves as a "no cost" professional development opportunity for teachers.  This event serves as a kick start to the school year for many teachers.  The symposium has been taking place for the past 7 years.  Usually the PE Summer Symposium is hosted at Mount Royal University in Calgary, but with the pandemic restrictions in place for August 2020, a move to a virtual symposium format was necessary.  

August 24 to August 28, 2020 the 7th Annual PE Summer Symposium, Virtual Edition, took place.  HPEC, EAS, AHS, MRU and FFCA all shared best practices in the areas of health and physical education during the symposium.  The sessions provided through pre-recorded videos to over 160 teachers included topics in the following areas: physical distancing activities, creating gifs, using social media in PE to enhance student engagement, online PE learning, recipe lesson card plans, exploring the 2.4km walk zone around home and school, assessment for elementary physical education, cooperative games, benefits of spending time outdoors, and staff and student wellness.  

The 11 sessions offered during the 7th Annual PE Summer Symposium are available here for your viewing and professional development needs.  

The 8th Annual PE Summer Symposium is tentatively scheduled for August 2021.  Watch for details regarding the 8th Annual PE Summer Symposium to be released in May or June 2021.

Session Title: Physical Distancing PE Activities

Presenter: Sonia Sheehan, FFCA SWE Campus

Session Video Link with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUyry2aGYLE

Session Title:  GIF what?

Presenter: Chris Shaw, FFCA SMS Campus 

Session Video Link: Link to Video: What the GIF?

Session Title:  Using Social Media to Get Students Active: #active365

Presenter: Lisa Taylor, PE specialist, PhD Student, HPEC Calgary Regional Rep

Session Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E80IE6lQP2M

Session Google Doc link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V5MQ2JXxLFFDzYjia6f1f5aGbnNVZfh6XYdIMlAm8ig/edit?usp=sharing

Session Title: Outdoor Indigenous Games

Presenter: Brian Broad, FFCA NWE Campus

Session Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5OXrwb9s8o

Session Title: 8 Weeks of Learning From Home

Presenter: Lara Talamini, FFCA NMS Campus

Session Video Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Qvo9WBTPKGlfA8M-NYn9whzW5iieHQCUi54Es_4ynkI/edit?usp=sharing

Session Title: Increasing an Appetite for PE - You Have the Tools, We Have the Recipes!

Presenter: Ever Active Schools

Session Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PqMfitKpPc

Session Title:Explore Your 2.4

Presenter: Ever Active Schools

Session Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmM8rvFvqt0

Session Title: Simple Assessment Strategies for Elementary PE

Presenter: Melissa Brooks, FFCA NEE Campus

Session Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQbcmzQZ00E&t=3s

Session Title:Cooperative Games

Presenter: Andrea Wilcox, FFCA SEE Campus

Session Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL3AdWREsJ4&feature=youtu.be

Session Title: Nature Rx: The benefits of spending time outdoors

Presenter: Shannon Kell, Mount Royal University

Session Video link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w5pJuAxSL_zEfwCZ4vqyjEFXr06Mp3iN/view

Session Title: Staff and Student Wellness

Presenter: Justine 0”Leary - Alberta Health Services

Session Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sun9QqG4eaM&feature=youtu.be

https://docs.google.com/document/d/178lA6KcKz-L_jfQhOAjVpegpysYbtW2tmUbAiGEsZgg/edit?usp=sharing

Reimaging Outdoor School Spaces to Enhance the Delivery of Quality Physical Education

 Submitted by: Sonia Sheehan, HPEC Vice President Communications and Physical Education Specialist at FFCA SWE Campus

The unprecedented end of the 2019-2020 school year with all classes finishing online, required the need for teachers to readjust and reimagine what the 2020-2021 school year would look like.  Teaching physical education outside seemed to be a positive direction to move forward with.  However, the ability to teach successfully outside regularly was a dilemma that required a solution.  Maintaining active participation in physical education class, while helping students keep their 2m physical distance was part of that challenge.  Strategically placed pavement painting on the tarmac at a Calgary school enabled a reimaging of the outdoor school space to allow for the continued delivery of quality physical education.

The school tarmac was a blank canvas ready to be transformed into a new thoughtfully designed learning space.  Some key elements that required consideration during the design process included: 2m distance between movement stations for students, appropriate elementary grade level designs, colour coordinated features, a variety of intentional movement opportunities and home base circles to allow students to have a safe (physically distanced) location to begin and end each class.

Researching painting and stencil options followed by measuring available dimensions of the tarmac resulted in a planning strategy and design including the paint, stencils and equipment. Approximately 40 hours were devoted to planning, designing and painting the tarmac.  The end result was a reimagined functional outdoor learning space that was safe for everyone during the global pandemic. 

The tarmac painting features include:

·       48 numbered and colour coordinated (red, blue, green, yellow, purple, orange) home base circles 2m apart. All colours correspond with the six equipment colours used regularly.

·       250m footprint loop around the perimeter of the activity space, 6 footprints = 2m distance

·       6 colour coordinated 4 squares games each 2m apart

·       8 station fitness circuit with 2m distance between each station

·       8 different fundamental locomotor skill words spaced 2m apart

·       54 colour coordinated solid shapes (circles, squares, stars, diamonds, pentagons, hearts) spaced 2m apart

·       2 lane 30m track with a start end, finish end and an agility ladder in the middle of the track – 2m distance between the middle of each track lane

·       26 letters of the alphabet 2m apart to serve as a physically distanced line up location

The tarmac design has been a successful project and has enhanced the delivery of quality outdoor physical education classes.  The newly painted tarmac is an asset when teaching during the current pandemic, but the value of the reimagined outdoor learning space will be seen in many years to come.  Take a tour of the tarmac by watching the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAGnKcS25kc

7th Annual Physical Education Summer Symposium – Virtual Edition

             

Presented by: FFCA, MRU, and HPEC

The Week of Monday August 24 to Friday August 28, 2020

Please join us for this excellent physical education professional development opportunity during the week of August 24 – 28, 2020.  There is no cost to participate in this event.  Please complete your registration through the google link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdH0xq_wLe2HqmJduZG4BRzt6sIlkEwPOUl6Uq8IG3DZWeryA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1

Receive Session Videos links delivered directly to your inbox during the Symposium Week.  Throughout the week of August 24 – 28, all registrants will receive daily video links to the 7^th Annual Physical Education Summer Symposium sessions.  Each session will be delivered in a 15 minute video.  Watch the session videos at a time that is convenient for you.  All session videos will be sent to all symposium registrants. Session presenters include: FFCA Physical Education Teachers, HPEC Regional Representatives, MRU Professors, Ever Active Schools Facilitators and Alberta Health Services Health Promotion Facilitators.  To be part of the 7^th Annual Physical Education Summer Symposium, Virtual Edition, sign up through the google form link.  Thank you goes out to all the individuals and organizations who have taken the time to provide sessions for this event.

7^th Annual Physical Education Summer Symposium Sessions:

1	Session Title: Physical Distancing PE Activities Presenter: Sonia Sheehan, FFCA SWE Campus Description:  This session will take you through some activities you can do with your students when planning for physical education classes with physical distancing.  The focus will be on engaging students, disguising fitness and gamification.  Whether you are teaching from home, teaching at school with physical distancing conditions in place or teaching with no restrictions, these activities will actively hook your students into your PE lesson.  Some activities may include: Heads or Tails, Black or Red, Active Eggs, Deal or No Deal, RPS Challenges and more.
2	Session Title:  GIF what? Presenter: Chris Shaw, FFCA SMS Campus  Description: Gif stands for graphics interchange format.  GIF is basically a compressed video which uses less frames but maintains the quality of the images; so doing more with less!  Through this session you will learn how to take every day videos and turn them into GIFs.  Using these GIFs teachers will be able to create interactive PowerPoints to add to engagement in student learning.
3	Session Title:  Using Social Media to Get Students Active: #active365 Presenter: Lisa Taylor, PE specialist, PhD Student, HPEC Calgary Regional Rep Description: This session describes a project that gets students to use their mobile devices to capture images of themselves being active, for marks. Done with secondary students (grades 7-12), and directly linked to curricular objectives, #active365 can embrace your students' engagement with social media, taking selfies, and use them towards grades that you can back up. You will leave this session with an understanding as to how you can set up this challenge right away, with minimal effort! I will also provide a Google Doc link to a poster that will describe the challenge for students.
4	Session Title: Outdoor Indigenous Games Presenter: Brian Broad, FFCA NWE Campus Description: Do you feel like you should have more indigenous culture in your PE program, and are worried about possible social distancing and students sharing equipment? In this session you will learn fun and engaging indigenous games that students will want to play again and again and can be used outdoors with large groups of students, with no equipment.
5	Session Title: Fitness Goal Setting Presenter: Lara Talamini, FFCA NMS Campus Description: With potential physical distancing requirements and maybe even the extension of learning from home programming into the new school year, teachers are looking for new ways to support their students in living a healthy and active lifestyle.  This session will share some planning tools to help your students to identify, set and achieve personal fitness goals. I will share information appropriate for both elementary and middle school.
6	Session Title: Increasing an Appetite for PE - You Have the Tools, We Have the Recipes! Presenter: Ever Active Schools Description: Recently, Ever Active Schools uploaded free, downloadable physical education lesson plans, developed for teachers, by teachers using a creative recipe card format. Offering lesson plans in English for grades K to 12 and French for grades K to 6, these resources are aligned with the current Alberta curriculum offering six lesson ideas for each of the five teaching units, as well as bonus DPA ideas for grades K to 6. Our session will guide you through sample lessons and demonstrate possible delivery methods whether you are at home, in the school, or in an alternative environment.
7	Session Title: Explore Your 2.4 Presenter: Ever Active Schools Description: You might have noticed in the past 4 to 6 months, more families are using their own communities to get out and get active. Let's take that one step further. Let's explore active travel as a viable, healthier transportation option that starts anywhere within 2.4kms of our home and/or school. For many school districts 2.4 km is the distance that is used to mark the furthest extent of a walk zone. Ever Active Schools, along with #GETKIDSOUT, are encouraging you to explore your 2.4. It's the perfect way to get out, and see what’s in your very own community.
8	Session Title: Simple Assessment Strategies for Elementary PE Presenter: Melissa Brooks, FFCA NEE Campus Description: You can use these easy assessment strategies in the gymnasium, in a classroom or over remote learning to support student skill practice, reflection, self assessment or summative assessment.
9	Session Title: Cooperative Games Presenter: Andrea Wilcox, FFCA SEE Campus Description: Here is a variety of Cooperative games you could play with your students, some online and some for when we can meet in person again. These games get them working in teams and using the collective ideas to solve the problem.
10	Session Title: Nature Rx: The Benefits of Spending Time Outdoors Presenter: Shannon Kell, Mount Royal University Description:  We have limited COVID-approved places to play and relax besides our own homes. The outdoors provide a fantastic alternative to staying indoors, with proven benefits to our health and wellbeing. This session will provide you with a summary of the research regarding the benefits of spending time in nature whether you choose to be active or sedentary, alone or with others. We might even begin to consider how schools can use the outdoors to help with re-opening safely.
11	Session Title: Staff and Student Wellness Presenter: Justine O’Leary, Alberta Health Services Description: In this session you will learn about the role that positive psychology plays in helping you to be happier and healthier. We will examine quick and simple techniques for improving your wellness and share helpful resources that can support you and your students to be happier and healthier.

                                                             

 

                                           

Youth Vaping: Your Questions Answered

Submitted by: Dawn Fortune & Jill Lambden, Team Members of Alberta Health Services’ School Health & Wellness Promotion Team, with support from the AHS Provincial Tobacco Reduction Program

Vaping is a hot topic these days. Sometimes it seems like everywhere you look, there’s a new story about vaping rates, vaping-related illness, or vaping-related policy changes.

Like many concerned adults, teachers are trying to understand the ins-and-outs of vaping trends, especially when it comes to their students.

Read on to learn more about what you can do to boost your knowledge and skills for quality conversations about vaping – with your students, their families, and others in the school community.

What is vaping, anyway?            

Vaping is the act of inhaling and exhaling an aerosol produced by a vaping device. Common names for vaping devices include: e-hookahs, electronic or e-cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), vape pens, or vapes. Vaping devices have a battery, a reservoir to hold a liquid solution, a heating element, and a mouthpiece. The heating element heats the liquid solution into vapors, which then condense into aerosols and are inhaled through the mouthpiece.

What’s in the vaping liquid? 

It is hard to know what exactly is in vaping solution (often called e-juice or e-liquid) – Health Canada is still working toward labeling regulations. The liquid solution varies in composition but is usually propylene glycol and/or vegetable glycerin based, combined with flavor. E-liquid may also contain nicotine, varying from low levels to more than what is found in a typical cigarette. 

Is vaping dangerous?

Vaping increases a person’s exposure to chemicals that have health risks. E-cigarettes are a relatively new product and more research is needed in order to learn about the risks. Given what we do know so far, the Government of Canada recommends that non-smokers, people who are pregnant, and young people should not vape.

As a teacher, what can I do about students’ vaping?

As an educator, what you do matters. Here are some ways you can be involved:

·         Share information about vaping that is science-based and credible. Great classroom resources can be found on AlbertaQuits.ca. Seeing through the vape, an online learning module for teachers, can help build your own background knowledge about vaping.

·         Talk to students about vaping in a supportive and non-judgmental way. Talking with your teen about vaping: A tip sheet for parents, available in both French and English, offers helpful advice to get the conversation going.

·         Help students build social emotional skills so they’re better able to make decisions, resist peer influence, and achieve their goals. CASEL is the perfect place to learn more.

·         Help students who are already vaping to find support to quit. Students can access the AHS Addiction Help Line, a free, confidential service from AHS.  You can also contact your local AHS Addiction and Mental Health Office to find out what other supports are available in your community. Check out our list of services by AHS zone here.

Student Leadership Experience - Conference Grant Recipient Reflection by Maya Leszkowski

Student Leadership Experience

Submitted by: 2019 Student Leadership Conference Grant Recipient: Maya Leszkowski

As a becoming teacher, leadership is an unspoken characteristic that is
necessary to be a great educator. My first through when I hear the word “leadership” is
a person who is in charge, takes control of a room and is a natural at being a leader.
Upon attending the SLE, I never thought of myself as a leader. Although my profession
requires a certain degree of leadership to lead a classroom, however; I didn’t think of
myself as a leader as I usually keep to myself and don't find myself often leading a
group of people that are not children within a classroom. During this experience each
group had to come up with a group name that was related to their group colour. My
colour was blue, the name we came up with was “blue wave” with a slogan, “creating
ripples”. Our reasoning behind being a blue wave and the slogan relating to creating
ripples was because of what our group believed leadership is. The definition of
leadership to us was the ability to have an affect on others and share these abilities of
kindness, humbleness, being able to listen and think critically.

At the SLE, I learnt that I in fact am a leader. I discovered that leaders are not
only people who can naturally take control of a group of people or a situation. A leader
is someone who can listen, provide advice or opinions and most of all grow as an
individual. At the SLE I took part in activities that were outside of my comfort zone.
Activities such as canoeing blindfolded, rafting up to twelve canoes together in the
water, doing a high ropes course and working with a group of strangers on trust building
activities.Many of the activities that we took part in were focused around health and
physical education and were held outside. Being outside and getting active played a
role in my ability to reflect and keep an open mind. With the activities we did and time
we took to reflect I was able to disconnect from my everyday life as a student and focus
on how to better myself and be able to reflect on the experiences I was having.

Through these activities and many more I was able to discover the activities that
are needed to be a good leader. Including the realization of my strengths as a leader
and how I can use my strengths in my future career. As a future teacher I would like to
help students realize their potential as individuals. After attending the SLE I myself was
able to gain confidence in myself. I would like to be able to give students the same
experience within my classroom, to gain confidence in themselves and to recognize
their strengths and use those to become a leader.

Best Practices to Support Mental Health for Children and Youth… Toxic and Tolerable Stress: Developing Healthy Coping Strategies

Best Practices to Support Mental Health for Children and Youth… Toxic and Tolerable Stress: Developing Healthy Coping Strategies

Part 4 of a 4 Part Series

Submitted by: Stacey Hannay, HPEC Comprehensive School Health

The future of any society depends on its ability to foster the healthy development of the next generation and our classrooms can be this perfect storm. As teachers we often hear children/students in the halls echo “I am so stressed out”, or “I am freaking out”, which can be some of the telltale signs, however, approximately 1 in 5 Canadian children are affected by a mental health issue, stress being top of that list, and sometimes going completely unnoticed.

Extensive research on the biology of stress now shows that healthy development can be derailed by excessive or prolonged activation of stress response systems in the body and brain. Such toxic stress can have damaging effects on learning, behavior, and health across the lifespan. So what is a teacher to do? As caregivers to our students for a large portion of their developmental years what resources best fit the bill?

As the final succession of our four part series, we will open up the notion of ‘confidence’ in teaching, exploring factors that contribute to mental health and wellness; the journey into being a student’s greatest mental health asset. This series will walk teachers through the use of strategies that promote mental health and wellness, starting with the different types of stress and how some stress can be helpful in building children’s/student’s resiliency and future success.

As we close this series, I would like to thank Priscilla Asamoah (MEd, RPC) from Alberta Health Services (AHS) in our rich discussions on “best practices” for teachers’ in their passage to unpacking and supporting mental health for students. Should you wish to delve deeper into some of the other comprehensive school health topics covered in AHS’s caregiver series, I would strongly encourage you to checkout their Mental Health Literacy Series.

Harvard Center for the Developing Child (2017):

https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/toxic-stress/

Teen Mental Health:

http://teenmentalhealth.org/care/educators/

Mental Health Literacy Series: https://www.cyfcaregivereducation.ca/videos

Toxic and Tolerable Stress: Developing Healthy Coping Strategies

Caregiver Handout:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BQrGgWLwzyBufKawVa-KX98C-CO09eC3/view

Video:

https://youtu.be/ZMgxSV1jmk0