MAHPERD "Voices From The field"
In this podcast, you will hear from educators and professionals in the field sharing their insights and experiences in the HPE (Health Physical Education) and allied fields. I hope you find this podcast informative, and inspiring. Learn about best practices and tools that you can implement in your teaching practice. We want to know not only what you do, but also the action steps you took to get you where you are. The Status Quo is not in our vocabulary folks, my guests are leaders in the field who are taking action to make an impact in their respective fields. If you have any questions or would like to be a guest on the show email mahperdpodcast@gmail.com
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got" Henry Ford
MAHPERD "Voices From The field"
Digital Resources, Leadership, and Advocacy in PE:
The power of quality physical education reaches far beyond the gymnasium walls. When students experience meaningful, well-designed PE programs, they become lifelong advocates for the profession as future parents, school board members, and community leaders.
In this enlightening conversation with Mark and Becky Foellmer, we explore how technology and collaboration are transforming physical education. The Foellmer's, retired educators who now dedicate themselves to leadership roles in professional organizations, share their journey from classroom teachers to creators of CBHPE.org—a free resource platform that has helped nearly 900,000 visitors access user friendly teaching materials.
What began as "Chromebooks in Health PE" has evolved into "Collaboration Builds Health PE," reflecting the site's true purpose: creating a space where educators freely share, modify, and implement resources without barriers. Unlike static PDFs, these materials can be tailored to meet diverse student needs, embodying universal design for learning principles.
The conversation delves into practical advocacy approaches that begin with excellent teaching. "Those students are future decision makers," Mark notes, explaining how quality PE programs naturally cultivate advocates who will influence policy. Simple actions like inviting classroom teachers to observe engaging activities can be just as impactful as "formal" advocacy events.
For new professionals, the Foellmer's offer invaluable advice about leveraging technology to enhance activity time and building professional connections. They share how artificial intelligence can serve as a virtual colleague for PE teachers, helping with everything from crafting concise communications to generating lesson ideas.
Perhaps most inspiring is their commitment to mentoring young professionals. While retired educators have valuable experience to contribute, they recognize that leadership positions need active teachers who understand current classroom realities.
Whether you're a veteran educator or just starting your career, this conversation will leave you with practical strategies for advocacy, technology integration, and professional growth—all aimed at providing every student with quality physical education experiences that last a lifetime.
Resources:
Hello and welcome to Voices from the Field, a MAHPERD podcast where we talk with educators in the field to hear about their perspectives and experiences. My name is Jake Bersin, advocacy Chair for MAHPERD, and today I have the pleasure of speaking with Mark and Becky Foellmer. Mark has a BA in PE and his Master's in Sports Management and was a middle school PE teacher and coach for over 20 years before retiring. He has served in many state and national leadership roles, including currently as a SHAPE Midwest District Director in the IAHPERD Health Moves Minds Joint Projects Chair and was a 2019 IAHPERD President. He has presented at numerous state conventions and conferences president. He has presented at numerous state conventions and conferences National PE Institute and Shape America National Conventions, to name a few. Mark has authored a number of articles, a shape position statement and sections of health PE books and was the 2018 SHAPE Midwest District Middle School Teacher of the Year and is a co-creator of CBHPEorg. That is a curation of free resources in a makerspace for health and PE teachers. It's an awesome resource.
Jake:Becky has a BA in math and a BS in Masters of Science in Physical Education. Formerly a middle school mathematics teacher, computer teacher and coach, she has most recently served as a K-8 instructional technology coach, becky has presented at numerous PE and technology PD sessions, workshops and trainings locally and at the state and national level. She is a co-creator of cbhpeorg again, a creation of free resources and a makerspace for health and PE teachers. She has authored many resources for health and PE teachers. Becky also currently serves as the IAHPERD technology chair and is on the IAHPERD and SHAPE Midwest EDI committees, was the 2019 president of the Northeastern District of IAHPERD and serves on the SHAPE Midwest Leadership Council. What an introduction. Welcome, mark and Becky. It's so exciting to be in this space with you and thank you so much for saying yes to the podcast.
Jake:Before we get started, I'd like to ask my guest a basic question what's making you smile these days?
Speaker 2:Well, for me, it's the weather. Weather, because we're finally having warm weather, and I am a warm weather person. So the fact that I can get out and about and um and be able to enjoy this weather, plant flowers and all that, that's that's what's making me smile that's good.
Speaker 2:And then, to follow up with that, just recently we had a really nice day. We went to the ball game and it was with our grandkids. Our grandkids are always making us smile, awesome weather and grandkids.
Jake:So your grandkids in? Are they teenagers?
Speaker 3:yet are they younger little little two-year-olds and an eight-year-old, yep oh wow, okay, so, okay, so that's awesome, and another one on the way.
Jake:Congratulations!. That's exciting. So, mark and Becky, tell us more about how you started your education journey. What does it look like?
Speaker 2:Well, for me, I was really, interested in sports my whole life, but as a kid girls were not allowed to participate in sports.
Speaker 2:So as a young person and wanting to participate in sports, I actually was able to do some things in junior high where I was like a statistician for the basketball team and things like that.
Speaker 2:So, you know, the coaches saw that I was interested and tried to get me involved in some way.
Speaker 2:What ended up happening then is, as I got older, I was always interested in math and I had a really great high school math teacher who I really respected, and then a high school PE teacher, and those two people happened to be married and so the PE teacher was the one who actually wound up getting tennis for girls at the high school for the first time. My junior year so kind of that ability that I I sort of got um motivated by the fact that she worked so very, very hard to allow us to have that opportunity, um, and so I kind of ended up doing both of those things, which was teaching math and coaching, and, uh, you know, we ended up then getting track and field the end of my junior year and then my senior year we got volleyball, so that kind of was the impetus for me to go into education and try to be, you know, help others be able to participate in the same kinds of things that I had the fortune, the good fortune, to participate in.
Jake:So it was really those two teachers that kind of inspired you and helped lead the way from from their encouragement and you you mentioned that she got, or he got, tennis right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was. It was the female PE teacher and then the the husband was the math teacher. The math teacher Okay, yeah, so I just really respected them as a couple and all that they did. Math teacher, okay, yeah, so I just really respected them as a couple and all that they did. He actually was the boys tennis coach also, so, um, yeah, they were.
Jake:They were definitely a huge inspiration for you... this is why you got started teaching math. That's in awesome. Yeah, starting as a statistician and now now look where you are that's right that that's great. How about Mark? How about yourself?
Speaker 3:Actually, I didn't really start my journey in education.
Speaker 3:I actually wanted to be involved with recreation or have a background in education, in recreation itself, work for a park district. And as I was, it was my sophomore year in college and there was a class Now leading up to that, while I was in high school, you know, I did some coaching, you know, with little youth sports, that sort of thing,
Speaker 3:When I was in college the changing moment was an adapted class, I had.. and every week on a Wednesday evening we were paired up with a student or a child, I should say because we weren't, it wasn't education based a child that had a challenge and you would work with them on whatever activity they wanted to do. And it was in the pool where the kids are all splashing around with their university student doing whatever they want to do hit beach balls in the air, whatever. And the student that I was paired up with was actually very interested in just trying to learn how to swim, you know, teaching very basic strokes, moving a little bit further away from the wall and attempting that stroke and having the opportunity to work with that child.
Speaker 3:And I said, you know, maybe I don't really want to go into education or into in recreation. I had the, you know a little bit of exposure in the in the coaching realm. So I thought, hmm, maybe I need to start exploring physical education and I enjoyed sports, participated in sports and sports teams and that was the impetus to change my major and go into physical education.
Jake:What a great story. So you had the opportunity, in addition to some of your friends to do this, to work with students in this setting, and then, whatever happened if you don't mind me asking with this student, did they fall in love with swimming? How did it go?
Speaker 3:Yeah, he actually did. He did a really nice job mastering some of those strokes and we all know, obviously, how important having the skill of swimming is and but you know, really, to have that person, that individual again, rather than frolicking in the water, was so, so set on trying to learn how to swim. And the response that I saw that I got in just doing some very basic front crawl strokes with the student oh my gosh, this is my calling. I felt it at that moment.
Jake:Absolutely. What a great story. Thank you both for sharing. So, mark and Becky, I know you're in leadership roles now. Right, you've taught a while. You're both retired. You put in many years what's a typical day look like for you, or maybe just a non-typical day. So take us, take our listeners, through that. What are your roles? What do?
Speaker 3:you do Well yeah, I'll get it started For me. I'm a workout person, so I always got to get my workout in. I get my cup of coffee and I get my workout in. But then and I don't mean to speak for Becky, but we have lots and lots of meetings throughout the day. The majority of the meetings that we have are in the evening, so it's not unusual for us one of us to have something get started at three o'clock, and it's not unusual for us to have a meeting that begins at eight o'clock in the evening and doesn't end until nine o'clock. For me personally, it is a matter of preparing for those meetings, whether it's as a presenter, because there's a point in the agenda that I'm responsible for, or as because I'm a chair of several groups, and not only is a matter of developing the agenda, but leading that charge, leading that meeting, um. So those are as part of someone who's heavily involved or engaged with leadership activities.
Speaker 2:that's, that's a really big part of my day, um he's not mentioning all of the meetings that happen before the meeting, like the meetings to get you ready for the actual meeting. Right and, like a lot of the roles that he has with Shape America, do require quite a few meetings before the actual meeting.
Jake:Right, preparation Right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and obviously that all goes into to the work of whether it's the agenda or the work that leads up to whatever that committee is involved or trying to deal with various things really keeps, keeps, at least me, very, very busy and at times I do say wow, I thought I was retired.
Speaker 2:I think I'm actually putting in a little bit more time than I used to we've always said, one of the big difficulties with being retired is there's no end to your work day, right? So it's hard often for us to figure out okay, when are we done working for today? Because, especially because we do have so many nighttime meetings, it just the day just never really seems to end. So that is something we have to work on and do better at. We do struggle with it, but you know, for me my days are very similar to Mark's in that I also am prepping for various meetings. You know that's that's probably our biggest role. But then we also are both. We both post on social media for multiple accounts. So doing that posting is also a large job. I spend many, many hours preparing graphics for whatever it is that we happen to be promoting at that particular point in time. So graphics definitely keep me very, very busy. And then the other piece is when we're presenting at conferences and things we're often practicing prepping those sessions that we're presenting at conferences.
Jake:So that's interesting. I'm going to ask a couple of questions that are not on the script. One you've been involved in Twitter chats I think we've been on a few in the past and that's something one of the great ways to advocate for the profession just to get to know other colleagues out there and what they're doing, and I think that's been very helpful that you set up that platform. So you mentioned going to conferences. What are some of the topics that you talk about at the conferences? What are some of the things you discuss or things you lead?
Speaker 2:Like, our main topic is the website and just navigating it, because as it's gotten bigger it's harder, harder to know how to navigate it. So that is one thing. But we also do assessment sessions. So that is one thing, but we also do assessment sessions. We do sessions on advocacy. At Shape National in Baltimore we did a session on advocacy. We do sessions on something called HyperDocs, which are just sort of opportunities
Speaker 2:for students to learn in sort of a different way, and we have lots and lots of those. We used to do a lot of breakout EDU sessions. We aren't doing those too much anymore. We do. Paddle Slam is another one that we did for a period of time and we do periodically when we feel like doing an activity session, because most of our sessions are not activity sessions.
Speaker 3:So we've done a wide range, because we've also done professional development for school districts as well.
Jake:I see.
Speaker 3:There's obviously the planning process that goes into that, whether it's a two hour or a full day professional development offering, and then that obviously is tailored to that school district's needs. We do meet with those leaders, whether it's the department chair or whether it's a curriculum director in that school district, and then we find out, okay, what are you looking for here? And develop that I guess you would call it a presentation, but that professional development for that district.
Jake:Right, and it's so important too, as you know, that they have somebody that's in their content field and they're not getting something that's not related. So, and that's great that you're able to provide that and, as you mentioned, it's tailored to what they need, what their goals are. That's fantastic. So you mentioned advocacy earlier and that was actually my next question. Where do you see some of the biggest needs for advocacy are in our profession? That was kind of a big question.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, no, this is it's so.
Speaker 3:It's such an important question and in fact, as Becky mentioned, we do a whole session on that and it can. You can break those parts down into smaller pieces and do a whole session on that. My first, my first biggest piece with advocacy is making sure that we, as professionals in the health and physical education field, are delivering a high quality program to our students, because that first impact that you have with advocacy is, we have to remember those students are future decision makers, right? We have to remember those students are future decision makers, right? They're going to be the parents, future parents. They're going to be the future school board members, maybe potentially administrators in a school and even locally elected officials. That will all have or play a role in the future of health and physical education within a school. So if we all do a really good job and deliver a high quality health and physical education program, we are already starting on that advocacy journey with those individuals that will eventually become, as I mentioned, future decision makers. And that is just a huge piece. And talk about grassroots level.
Speaker 3:And it's something that we all can do. I think many times when we bring up the word advocacy, people will sometimes think, oh well, that's going to our state capitol and talking to the elected officials there, or going off to Washington DC and having meetings with elected officials there. And it doesn't have to be that.
Speaker 2:In fact, the most impactful advocacy efforts are done at that local level and we all have the opportunity to be able to to do that, to advocate at that grassroots level I agree, sorry, go ahead even simple things like like making sure that, like, if you're doing a drumming unit cardio drumming unit why not invite some of the teachers in when they're on their plan period if they want to join the class? Like you can do so many just very simple things that have a huge impact in terms of how people view health and physical education. So those are the kinds of things that really have the biggest impact. And then you know, doing things like going to state and national advocacy events are fantastic. I mean, they're amazing opportunities, but it's not necessary to do that to be a huge advocate.
Speaker 3:And I'll add just, for instance, just doing this podcast that goes out to the public right podcast that goes out to the public right, and just like with our Twitter chats, you know, I'll notice certain accounts that are lurking during a chat and when you look up, oh, that's an assistant principal at this particular school district. So, and I'm sure there are moments in time when someone will drop in and notice this podcast that you offer and listen in on it, and this is a wonderful opportunity for us to be able to advocate for our profession.
Jake:Absolutely, and you said a lot of really important points. It doesn't have to be complex. It's just the day in and day out stuff. Becky, you mentioned inviting other teachers or colleagues into the classroom, into the gymnasium. That's fantastic, such a simple thing. It doesn't have to be complex for advocacy, but although it is nice to get out there and speak at the state house if you can, but there's many ways to advocate, so that's great. So let's talk a little bit about this website. You've developed this awesome website, cbhpe. Tell our listeners I've been on it. I think it's fantastic. I've used it in common assessments in my district. But tell our listeners what it is, where they can find it and basically the gist of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it kind of helps to know sort of the history which is we. We were. This is about 10 years ago a little over 10 years ago Now, I think. We were going to conferences and we just noticed that everywhere we were going, the only the only sort of discussions about technology seemed to be around either heart rate monitors or iPad apps. And in the Chicago area in particular, almost all of our school districts or a very large percentage of our school districts particularly at the time were all Chromebook districts. Chromebook districts and my concern with the fact that so many sessions in conferences were centered around iPad apps was I was very concerned that health and physical educators would feel like, well, I'm a Chromebook district so I can't do any of this.
Speaker 2:And so we kind of set out with the idea of let's start to gather resources that you can use on any device. It's not device specific and that's one of the negative parts about apps is A oftentimes they cost. And B you know they're device specific, device specific. So we wanted to really look for as many, look for and create and encourage people to create as many resources as possible that would be accessible to anyone. We did not want it to, we didn't want anything to get in the way of people using these resources. So we didn't want cost. We didn't want there to ever be a cost. We didn't want you to have to create an account in any way if you don't want to. We didn't want. We wanted to make them super freely available. So they're mostly in Google because everybody can have access to that. Anyone can have an account, regardless of whether your school does or doesn't. So that was kind of the path that we went down initially.
Speaker 2:So initially the concept with the CB comes from Chromebooks, because it was Chromebooks and health and PE. Now, as time has gone on, we actually now consider it to be collaboration builds health and PE, because it really doesn't have to be anything Chromebook related at all. All of the resources, or almost all of the resources that we have there are accessible on any device. We try to test that out on multiple devices and so on. When we do share stuff and a lot of people and basically I just look for good stuff out there and if I see something that I think should be lifted up and provided and make sure that more people see it and provided and make sure that more people see it, I will just ask the author if they are willing to share it, if it's okay if we post it, obviously with credits and so on, and you know people are super generous. The HPE profession, I can't even there's no other area.
Jake:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:No other area that's comparable.
Jake:I would agree, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so you know, I just ask folks and if they're willing, and some people if they have their own website and they're able to post it there. I generally don't ask those folks if they have a way to get it out, but my goal is just to amplify what they're doing and also to give them the opportunity to say, hey, you know, I can use this with my students. That's wonderful, but if I get it out there, there could be thousands of students benefiting from something that I've created. And I don't know about you, but I think all of us as educators need those feel good moments very, very badly. So if we can amplify those messages and get them out there and make them available and let people see, what does quality health, skills-based health and quality PE what does it really look like?
Speaker 2:You know, part of our goal is to show people how this can look, and a lot of times you might take a resource and you might, you might not. It might not end up looking the same way that it did when you got it, but because you've changed it to meet your students' needs. And that's the idea. We want you to have a resource that's editable, so that the vast majority of our resources can be edited and you know you can make it your own, you can make it work for your students. That's that's the idea. I mean. You know you get something from a resource that's a PDF, for example, and it's. You have to use it just the way it is and you have to use it just the way it is, it's not helpful.
Speaker 2:We need things that we can mold to what we're doing, and that really has been the goal and, like I said, people are so so, so kind and share so much work and are more than willing to help get it out there, because we all, you know, in the the end, we're all working towards one goal and that's having all students have a quality, especially a quality PE program, because we know that that's an area we, you know we've been lacking in and or ability to modify it to meet their classroom and students' needs.
Speaker 3:It elevates that particular whether it's a lesson plan or idea to whole new levels and it's so cool over time to watch something that was here when it was first shared or posted and then how it layers up into all these oh my God, this is amazing and material and resources that other teachers can use, and it is incredible to see how creative minds that are in the health and physical education field. I say this a lot when I see especially adaptive physical education teachers. You know what I'm so happy they're in our field, but you know what? All adapt our lessons to meet our students' needs. So we all have a little bit of that inside of us and it's just really neat to see everything get leveled up.
Jake:But you're now helping the teachers that have that creativity be even more creative. But you're now helping the teachers that have that creativity be even more creative. The visuals and the GIFs in the movies. You know we all have ELL learners. We all have learners that learn in different ways. Talk about UDL. You eliminated all those barriers that could have happened and are now allowing the teachers who have access to use it like you said, mark in a way that fits their students' needs, and then make the iteration to make it better. Every year it gets better. Every time they use it it gets better. And it's also like you said, it's not a PDF. They can copy it, they can make it theirs. It's just a wonderful resource. So I really appreciate you providing a platform for all of us to have access to that. So, talking about technology and resources, what are your thoughts about AI as a way to support learners? It's a big topic coming up.
Speaker 3:It is you know, and truthfully for me, that my use of AI really is. With all of the email context that I have in the roles that I play right now, it is important for me to be concise and get to the point, and prior to the use of AI, you know it took me too many words to get to where I needed to get to right and you lose your audience in that sense, and so it has helped me become a more effective leader in the fact that it helps me minimize all the texts and get to the exact point that I need to get to, whether it's making a point or asking for assistance.
Jake:Make it more concise and kind of leave out those extra words that don't have to be there, because you're right as a leader and as someone who's constantly communicating. We want to get right to the point. We've all heard that saying this meeting could have been an
Speaker 2:You know what I'm trying to say?
Jake:Yeah, so you use it, mark, as a way to kind of make the messaging more concise. Okay, how about Becky? What are your thoughts on it?
Speaker 2:I mean my opinion on any tech tool, no matter what it is, whether it's AI, whether it's gifts, whether it's video, whether whatever is. As educators, we have an obligation, in my opinion, to use every tool that's available to us to help students learn. If we are not choosing to use those tools that are available to us, we probably aren't helping our students learn as well as we could, probably aren't helping our students learn as well as we could. So, for to me, you know, ai is a tool and it's another tool. We have lots and lots and lots of tools at our disposal, and anytime that we can take advantage of that to help kids learn, it's a good thing, in my opinion. I do understand. For a lot of teachers, ai just feels like oh my gosh, it's another thing. It's another thing I have to try to figure out. It's another thing that's going to make that I have to learn, that I have to put time and effort into. The one thing I'll say about AI is it is just like with the vast majority of tech tools If you do put a little bit of time and effort into understanding how you can take advantage of it, it pays off big time over time. So you know, I mean, I use it a ton. I actually use it a lot in.
Speaker 2:I have kind of a side gig doing a website for a school district and then also obviously, cbhp, and periodically I need to write code, and I'm not great at writing code, so I am able to really take advantage of AI to do things with.
Speaker 2:You know, here's this code and you know even something as simple as just because of the, because of the platform that we're using with my school district website, it doesn't allow me to do a lot of things that I want to do, and so I have to use code to get it, to get it to do what I want it to do, and I can just use AI to write the code in the way that I need it.
Speaker 2:So if it's left aligning and I need it center aligned, I can just tell AI hey, write this code so that it's center aligned, and it takes me two seconds, as opposed to me having to try to look it up and find what specific code is missing because of the way that that website functions. So I'm able to take advantage of it. You know, technically, but as far as students go, you know doing things like. You know, write a lesson plan for teaching, teaching throwing with second graders. You can ask it to do that and of course, no, it's not going to be perfect, but it'll at least give you sort of a process, a procedure, and it'll give you some thoughts about what right, and it's almost like having a.
Speaker 2:so here's the thing in PE, I feel like a lot of people are in that job all by themselves. There are a lot of people they're the only PE teacher in that building they don't have somebody to sort of, you know, knock ideas around with, and AI can be that other person that you can kind of knock ideas around with. I mean, there's it's kind of like like having another person there and you know that's it's. That's very, very positive. And I use AI for goofy things too. You know creating. You know images.
Speaker 2:You know we were, we've been doing those bobblehead images and those blister pack images and they're just fun and and students love that kind of stuff. You know, if they see that, or if their teacher has a student of the week and they make a blister pack of the student of the week, think of how cool that would be for a kid. So there's just so many things. You know, again, I am not a very creative person. So, going back to our discussion about creativity, you know, for me, one of the things I think I love about sharing all these resources of people is that it makes me look a lot more creative than I actually am, because I actually can steal from all these other people all these ideas that I personally would not come up with, and that's kind of what AI does too.
Jake:You know, you mentioned, you know, having, like another colleague, sometimes we're on our own island by ourselves. That's a really interesting way to look at this and, mark, you use it more like say was how you use it and what you input is very important and that's the output you're going to get. So if you really want to get good output, you got to put in details and specifics of what you want to get out. So am I on the right track?
Speaker 2:Yes, and actually that's such a great tip for people because you know it's kind of interesting. I think it makes you think more deeply about what you're doing. So even that aspect even if you didn't get anything out of the AI, just the fact that you have to think about it more carefully and put that detail in to the prompt in order to get a good response is valuable to you as a person, because you're really reflecting when you're doing that absolutely it's.
Jake:It's a good part of the process to to get used to. Yeah, no great point, great point. Um becky mark, what advice would you give to someone new entering our field?
Speaker 3:the first piece. That was a game changer for me. So something that I would share with someone just entering into the field is, if you can get your hands on a projector that's, as I said, a game changer for me to display information that you might not be comfortable in presenting or demonstrating yourself. It can help as far as classroom management is concerned, because we know from using it that students are so focused in on that screen that it allows, while they're watching an activity or a demonstration of a skill, it allows you to be floating around within the students or among the students, and not only can you give them one-on-one help or assistance, but it also allows you to have some of those conversations that develop on relationships with your students.
Jake:Definitely.
Speaker 3:And the other piece of the puzzle there is, please know that use of technology.
Speaker 3:I think that mind thought is shifted these days, but initially it was well, I don't want kids on screens anymore and it takes away from my activity time, and I beg to differ there. It actually brings back and supplies more activity time. And the quick example there is you know something as simple as if you have to take attendance, okay, you get them in their squads, they sit in their squads and you're going through, and maybe even by the time you get towards the end, that first group of people that you checked off. Now they're starting to squirm around in their seats and you've got to get them refocused. And instead, if I can have an instant activity up on the wall and they're engaged with that and I can still do my attendance job or duties that I have to do, now I've gotten them engaged, they're moving right from the get go, I can do my thing, and and yet I gained back those two to four minutes of when I might have lost activity time. So that's, that's the biggest piece.
Speaker 2:And then yeah, for me I would say with new people coming into the field is just get connected. You know, do everything you can to get connected. Whatever social media platform is like, your deal make sure that you're. You can use it personally if you want to, but you know, make sure that you're connecting professionally with those accounts that make the best sense to you. So it's going to be your state organization, it's going to be obviously Shape America, and then start following people who are sharing.
Speaker 2:There's nothing like having the opportunity to get to know these people online. Much like us and you, you know, we've only known each other online. We've never had the opportunity to meet in person. But when you finally get to that conference where you are together in person, it's just so great to finally be able to meet those people in person. And when you've already established some sort of relationship, just even things like you know, if you're a young professional, just asking someone a question about an activity that they've done, it shows interest. People love being asked about you know something that they've done, and so I just think, as a young professional, trying to get yourself connected in as many ways as you can with others in the field is just absolutely huge and it will just I think it will impact your satisfaction with the job immensely.
Jake:All great stuff, all great stuff. And I, mark, I really like what you said too about it frees the teacher up to give the student that feedback and kind of that one-on-one they don't have to manage and you're doing two things at once. They're getting active and you're doing whatever, either working with them or taking attendance. So that's really a good way to look at that, because I do hear teachers say that too. Oh, it's, the technology is too much screen time, but really, it's, it's, it's. It's not about that, it's about getting them active, building that relationship, and this is a way to help build that relationship. So great points from both of you. What are some? I'm sure you have a lot of programs or initiatives you've led. What's, what's one that you you're really proud of? Um, I know, um, you're involved with shape. You have your own state organization. Tell us, tell our listeners, about one that comes to mind well myself.
Speaker 2:I think it's not really a program or an initiative. It's really just sort of a goal that we've had over these this, you know, last 10 years or so of trying to get more young professionals involved in leadership roles and presenting and all of that kind of thing. And we're just really proud of our group of IAFERD members that are very, very active in the field. Lots of leadership roles all over the place state, national level, presenting and we just feel really strongly and this is not a knock against the leadership at state organizations, but for years and years and years, you know, oftentimes the state leadership is people like us who are retired.
Jake:And that's.
Speaker 2:it's necessary because we have the time. However, it can't be all people who are retired, because you just lose track of what's going on in the field, and it doesn't take long of being out of the field to lose track, especially if you're not going to lots of conferences. One of the reasons we go as much as we do is just so that we're in touch, because we don't feel like we should continue in leadership roles if we're not in touch with what's going on in the field and and it can't be just in our own state.
Speaker 2:It has to be, you know, because you know you get so many great ideas from so many different. You know places that you can attend things and um. So really I think our focus has really been on trying to get younger people, new people involved, people who are in the field, who can really shape. You know how things look going forward and you know I think we're really, really excited about all the people that we have involved.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and it's really a gift that gives back to you because it allows us to stay engaged, it keeps us in touch with the profession and all the changes that are out there. When we go to sessions, you know we're just like all of the active teachers working. We're going through that schedule, going, oh this looks like an awesome session. I'm going to this and because we're a couple, obviously we can divide and conquer and get to as many things as we possibly can. And again you go back to that building relationships and connecting with people. To have those, I'll run up to a presenter and say this was amazing. Hey, what about this? Can you give me more background information? And so it allows us to continue to grow and learn as well.
Speaker 2:And a really good example of that is it's kind of funny because we have a member on our IAFERD EDI committee who is on that committee with us, because I actually saw a session of hers at Shape Cleveland and I was just blown away by it. I'm like, oh my gosh, we have to have her on our EDI committee. But I didn't. I hadn't known before that she was presenting on those topics. It just that's. That was my fault. But it's just funny because it took going to a national convention and seeing her present and realizing, oh my gosh, we need her. Just funny because it took going to a national convention and seeing her present and realizing, oh my gosh, we need her on this committee.
Speaker 2:She's got a wealth of knowledge and it's just things like that that you realize it's why you have to get out there, Cause you never know, there's just so many, there's some. There's another individual who I connected with on social media and I was able to connect him with the Western District Director to get him involved in leadership out there, because they need some leadership positions filled out there, and I was able to get them connected at Shape Baltimore and it's just you just never know, like where all these connections are going to come from. And it's just, you just never know, like, where all these connections are going to come from, and it's just, it's really fun and exciting.
Jake:That's so cool. And I do have to say, I appreciate the fact that you both are willing to serve and but also make that connection, because that's also as leaders like yourselves connecting the people at the right time and being humble and asking questions that's so important. I mean, that's all. I can't stress that enough. I used to work downtown, so I get I used to oversee the 40 plus teachers in my district, so I get how important it is to make those connections and if you're not there, you don't have the opportunity to make those connections. So, also allowing the younger generation to kind of have input too, I'm on a couple boards and there's some people that are older, all mixed ages, but yeah, I totally agree with you how important it is to get people from all ages, all backgrounds, all perspectives, around the same table, connecting around the issues that matter. So so good for you for, for, for doing that. It's a very reflective approach, so I appreciate that.
Jake:So we're coming down to the end of the podcast. Let's talk about common questions you might get. Actually, you're, you're retired now but what are some questions you get in general when you go to, like, presentations, talking? What are some questions that people have of you?
Speaker 2:For me. I get a lot of questions because we have a like larger and larger. I realized that you know like if somebody is looking for a specific thing, it may or may not. They may or may not find it, depending on how people have titled their resource and so on. And so if somebody has looked through the site and hasn't been able to find what they're looking for, you know they can just ask me and I generally can direct them right away to where it's located. So I get you know. I get all kinds of questions about resources. You know a lot of resource, a lot of questions about like assessments and standards stuff. We have a lot of resources for for doing standards work, for creating curriculum and so on. So I mean those are the kinds of questions that I get the most, which is related to where they can find things on CBHPE and then getting involved with leadership roles. Mark gets that a lot.
Speaker 3:I think, in following up on what Becky said, what is key there is listening to what the individuals have to say, including what their questions are, because that leads to so many things, for instance, as Becky is able to address some of those needs on the website.
Speaker 3:Or what I find fascinating is having the ability to make so many connections with our leadership roles, and where I'm going with this is I was able to, at Baltimore, talk to four future professionals and listen to some of the conversations they had about their they were both from two universities and are leaders in their health and physical education club and hearing some of the concerns they had have been introduced to and have worked with, I was able to connect the dots for them so that they could hopefully experience more success with their health and PE clubs, and it just in something as simple as fundraising, so that they can have the ability to send more of their future professionals within that university club to their state organizations convention, and so just being able to, as I said, listen and then use those connections or resources that I've been able to develop and putting them in touch, oh that's, that's a-win for everybody, in my mind.
Jake:Definitely that's a great feeling too. I'm sure they were excited to have that ability to make those connections with you, so that's really fantastic.
Speaker 2:Awesome I'll say on that topic is I greatly appreciate when people ask us questions, because if I don't have the answer, I know it's something for me to go out there and look for the answer for. So I know, like when people ask questions, that's when I realize, oh, you know it might be, oh, that's not something we have on the site. I need to either create it or look for it or go out there and research it and put it together myself or what have you. So people asking questions is how a lot of the resources exist there, you know.
Speaker 2:So someone asked a question about like way, way, way, way long time ago, you know, we didn't have a gift library. You know. I mean, at the very beginning there was no gift library and it was like everyone was. We were all talking about the fact that, oh great, I can go out and I can find these gifts, but it takes a lot of time to go out and do all the research. So that was why the gift library became a thing, because it was like let's put this together so that people can just go there and scroll through you know, 300 exercise gifts and pick out what they need, and they can, they'll have it ready to go and if they want to create their own gifts.
Speaker 2:Later they can, but at least initially they don't have to do all that upfront work.
Jake:And you teach them how to create the gifts right.
Speaker 2:And there's a lot of tutorials on your website.
Jake:That's interesting. So many of many of the resources on the website are probably from questions that folks have asked and that's really cool and it's constantly getting updated. How many visitors have? I know you have a counter right. How many visitors have visited? I don't know. I think it's constantly getting updated. How many visitors have? I know you have a counter right. How many visitors have visited? I don't know.
Speaker 2:I think it's around 800,000, maybe 800,000, something like.
Speaker 3:It's around 900.
Jake:That is fantastic 828,000 Wow, awesome, awesome stories. Well, one more question, becky and Mark what do you hope to see in the future? What goals do you have? It could be professional or personal, whatever you want to share.
Speaker 3:That gets me excited and learning from them and then, if it's possible to get them engaged with leadership roles, I think that's fantastic as well.. be able to have a part in this amazing field.
Speaker 2:You know, and really I mean like the overarching gigantic goal that we all have, which is really the base of advocacy, is just having every child actually have a quality PE program you know, and a good skills-based health class.
Speaker 2:I mean, we just, we just want that for kids. It's so important you think about, like with health, entire educational career, and that experience is is critical. It's going to be their base for their entire life in terms of mental well-being, physical well-being. You know, it's just so so, so, important, and we just want to make sure that everything we're doing is hopefully contributing to students getting a good education, and that really is just our main focus is just doing what we can in our little way to, you know, impact what's going on in those classrooms you know, impact what's going on in those classrooms.
Jake:Well said, both of you, you know it's all about the students and the experience they have. If it's positive, they're going to grow up and share that and develop those knowledge and skills, and so it's so critical, as you both mentioned, and as you both have done and continue to do so. Mark and Becky, I can't thank you enough for sharing your experience and expertise with us and our listeners.
Jake:You definitely expanded my brain, so I thank you so much for being involved in sharing this space. Listeners, if you have any questions, you can always email us at mayfordpodcasts at gmailcom. We're going to have this episode uploaded soon. Going to have this episode uploaded soon. We're also asking our listeners to leave a review if this podcast has been helpful in supporting you in any way whatsoever, because it does help other folks find it. Thank you all for listening. Have a great week and we will be back soon.
