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Fit Connection
Fit Connection is a podcast and video series that aims to build community among Health and PE educators by highlighting amazing teachers and administrators and sharing opportunities for growth and professional development. The show is hosted by Stevie Ray Gray, who teaches at Short Pump Elementary School in Henrico County, and whose infectious curiosity puts his guests at ease. The podcast is produced by Blue Ridge PBS in collaboration with the Virginia Department of Education.
Fit Connection
Episode 106: Getting the most from APHERD and Professional Development Opportunities
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Fit Connection host Stevie Ray Gray sat down with Jessica Bayliss, the current president of the Virginia chapter of the Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. This lively chat focuses on how HPE teachers can get the most from the association and best practices in professional development in a subject area that sometimes feels neglected.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8hPJ0AXcmEQ
Hey everybody, it's time to get off of the sideline and into the game. I am Stevie Ray Gray, and this is connections. Today, we're talking development. Uh, not motor skill development or even social emotional development, but professional development for us teachers. And I've got a certified expert on the subject today. Hey, Jess, how are you doing? Good, Stevie. How are you? I'm so good. Thanks for coming on with us today. Happy to be here. So I do a really quick intro for everybody. So can you just tell us your whole name and where you teach or what you teach?
SPEAKER_03Definitely. So my name is Jessica Bayliss. I am not actually a current educator, but I did teach middle school health and PE for eight years prior to switching careers and going into corporate training. And I currently work for Amazon Robotics.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. What do you do for Amazon Robotics?
SPEAKER_03I'm a learning program manager. So now I teach I teach adults how to use robots. It sounds really fancy, but yeah, I'm still a teacher. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02Well, today we are talking about professional development and how important it is. And I just want you to start off by I know that you partake in a lot of professional development around the state and around the country. Um, can you just pretend like I'm a brand new teacher and tell everybody why it's important to seek out professional development opportunities?
SPEAKER_03I am somebody who is a continuous learner. We talk about Clifton's strengths and how each of us kind of show up in our work and our personal connections with each other. And I'm a big believer that we never stop growing, we never stop learning, and we never stop improving. And professional development is how we do that. And not all professional development is created equal, though. There's a lot that we go to, especially as PE teachers, that isn't built for us. And so it's important to find the PD that it's actually going to benefit us and we can immediately apply into our classrooms. And so I'm I'm really passionate about developing and finding and connecting folks with high quality professional development.
SPEAKER_02That is a great point. Like as current teachers, a lot of the opportunities that are given to us just don't make sense in our teaching areas, right? So what would you say, like how you said high quality professional development? What does high quality PD look like in the health and physical education field?
SPEAKER_03For me, I think high quality is in not just in the delivery, but also in the content. So we find a lot of folks they present really well, but I can't actually go back and use what they gave me in my classroom. High quality PD is somebody that's making sure that what they're presenting is standards-based, whether that's for our Virginia SOLs, the shape national standards, your grade level outcomes, and tying it back in to those standards so that we can make sure that our kids are getting high quality PE consistently every day or every time we see them at least. Um, and just making sure that uh it's it's relatable, it's something I can implement. Do I have access to the equipment that the presenter is showing me? How can I get creative with equipment if I don't have what the presenter has? And how can I be more uh resourceful with the resources that I do have, whether that's funding or multi-purpose equipment and things of that nature.
SPEAKER_01Right. Now you know that I deliver professional developments often. Yeah, yeah. So I hope that I'm not one of those friends that doesn't make it true.
SPEAKER_03Oh my goodness. No, we don't have that problem in Virginia.
SPEAKER_02Oh, hopefully not, right? We do have a lot of high-quality professional development in this case. We are lucky in that regard. Um, so you're talking about like presenters making things relatable. Uh, have you ever been in a session where uh maybe a presenter, you know, was just kind of deadpan in it? Or I guess what makes a uh a session memorable for you? That's one of the like the biggest ones that you remember and like why, I guess.
SPEAKER_03My favorite presentation I ever went to. This is not a plug. I know I'm associated with Virginia Aford, but Mark.
SPEAKER_02We're gonna talk about that in a little bit.
SPEAKER_03Did a Quidditch session, and I had already been teaching Quidditch to my students. I loved teaching Quidditch, but he dressed up as a wizard and had a whole show that went with teaching Quidditch, and I will never forget that PD as long as I live. I couldn't tell you if I learned anything new, but I can tell you I had a lot of fun, and I definitely took more with me back to my room and changed the way that I played Quidditch with my students. But to this day, probably that was that would be one of the top PDs I ever went to.
SPEAKER_02I do remember that through this. It's awesome. Came out of his Dumbledoor, he had like the big beard on. Yes, and he would play these awesome games with his high school students. Yes. Or they would just run around on uh, what do you have? The the pillow hockey sticks, right?
SPEAKER_03He had he used pillow hockey sticks. He said you could use a pool noodle. They had if you got really creative, you could actually get brooms. Um, uh you could have done the what is now really popular, the horse riding that you could do it on that. I mean, you could do it on anything.
SPEAKER_02So you mentioned Virginia Ackford. Can you please? I I think you've got a just a little bit of stake in that organization. Can you tell us a little bit about what that is?
SPEAKER_03Well, I guess. Um, Virginia Aford is the Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. We service teachers across the state of Virginia in a number of different ways. One is through membership, one is through professional development. And I'm currently serving as the president of this organization. And one of the things I'm really passionate about.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for your service. Thank you.
SPEAKER_03Thank you. Uh one of the things I'm really passionate about doing is really building up our membership resources. And a lot of that revolves around not just um things that you can download and take with you, but the professional development opportunities that we offer, who we partner with, and really trying to expand this, uh, not just in what we offer, but where we offer it. And so making sure we're doing a better job of hitting folks across the state and not being localized in one area, offering webinars as opposed to in-person PDs, because that's not always something that our folks can access. And so trying to diversify the types of professional development we offer and making sure that we're maintaining a quality standard when we do it.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome. And thank you so much again for serving on the community. I am also a member. It's a great professional development organization. If you're not, if you're in Virginia and you're not on it, you should probably hop on. Um, so speaking of providing all this stuff for all the different regions, where might you see um a big gap between like what kind of professional development is offered to teachers? And it could be like countywide or statewide or even nationally, and like what they actually need. Yeah, I think like lots of little sessions about like quick hitter activities and and and oh, this is a cool way to teach uh this SOL, but what would like a veteran teacher need versus what a brand new teacher needs versus somebody in the middle, you know?
SPEAKER_03Yes. So this is actually a passion project of mine. So I'm gonna do a little bit of a plug, but I'm trying not to be pitchy, I promise. One of the gaps I see especially is we get a lot of really cool activities, but how do you put all of these pieces together to create a unit or to create a year-long curriculum plan to follow, making sure that you're you're maintaining standards-based high-quality physical education? And so, one of the resources I'm looking to build for Virginia AFord members is these curriculum maps that are based on the Virginia State Standards and the Shape America national standards and grade level outcomes, to not just say, okay, these are the skills you teach, and like here's one cool activity, but how do you tie that together realistically across a year? And so we're building curriculum maps that are based on a variety of models. Some elementary, for example, some might meet um twice a week for 30 minutes, some might meet once a week for 50 minutes. That changes how a teacher teaches. And so, how can we develop curriculum models for folks to follow that match the way that they teach instead of just throwing out a bunch of standards and a bunch of objectives and saying, figure it out, especially for our young teachers. Um, so our younger teachers, they need more support, they need more resources to get started. Mentorship is a big one. Connecting with veteran teachers is super helpful, but sometimes you don't have the ability to do that in the moment. And so we need to have resources for these young professionals to help kickstart their careers. And for our veteran teachers, we need to uh help them better understand how to stay connected to the latest and greatest, right? You know, the they offer the experience and the trial and error and the battles that can help a young teacher be successful early on. But the young teachers also have a ton of new ideas and new ways of thinking and new ways of doing things that veteran teachers are going to benefit from. How can we bring all those folks together and allow them to teach each other and offer this development? And so I think that's a key to being successful in and also, like I said earlier, getting better about bringing professional development to areas of the state, not being focused in one area. Virginia Aford, I love what we do. We're a little guilty of this. We've been very heavy in the Virginia Beach and Central Virginia regions. We need to branch out more. We need to make more of an effort to get into the Shenandoah Valley and Southwest Virginia and offer professional developments in those areas. And we've been doing that lately, which is great. And so continuing that drive and that initiative to make sure we're reaching professionals statewide and not just in certain localities.
SPEAKER_02So, what do you think would be like the best way to go about doing that? Do you just reach out to teachers in the area? Do you have that kind of mentor program like across the state? Would that be a way that we could get into the like southwestern and the western parts of the state?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So one of the things we started off, we just did a huge restructure of the organization. And part of what we did is on our board of directors, we added regional representatives. And these are based on the Virginia Health Districts. So now we have five representatives across the state. And that's what their job is. It's to reach out to teachers in their area, it's to find out what they need, find out what professional development they want, bring that information to us so that we can use our resources to help get it there. We have an awesome program called OPEP that is designed to pay to have professional developments hosted. We just hosted one in Salem a couple weeks ago, and it was a huge success. And we want to do it. We just need to know that people want it. Another way that we try to connect with folks is through our city county supervisors and connecting with them to find out hey, what kind of professional developments are you offering to the teachers in your districts? How can we help? What are some areas that are missing? Can we get more involved in your back to school week? How can we have one of our trainers come in and help you lead a PD that is geared for PE teachers and not, you know, English? Not no disrespect to English. I love English. My husband's English maker. But it's not PE, right? So it's like, how can we make it specific to what we need? So I don't just don't want any shape going to English. We love English.
SPEAKER_02Uh that is a good question, though. Like when you go to the city of supervisors, how do you make the case for uh PE-specific professional development when you know general ed gets they have to offer the same things? Like we all are competing for the same time and money. My wife is also a fourth grade teacher, and we will have conversations all the time. You know, if I didn't go to this conference or this um conference over here, I don't know where I'm gonna get these recertification points from. So how do you how can we, I guess, be a bigger proponent for that in counties and around the around the state?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly. And our teaching and learning division is part of this restructure. One of the things that they've brought forward this year is they want to partner with universities to and and other teaching professionals to develop webinars that we can host on our website that folks can can watch on their own time and then offer those recertification points for it. And so we're trying to get creative with how we're reaching folks and trying to make sure that it's accessible regardless of where folks are located across the state.
SPEAKER_02I think the recertification points, now that we both touched on it, is is a big it's a big part of professional development, right? I if you have a license, you need to get relicensure, and in order to do that, you have to have X amount of points over X amount of years. Um it's it's almost I don't want to say unfair, but it's difficult for a health and physical education teacher to reach that level. Um if you and I will put you on the spot right here, if you if you could think of a way to like redesign how health and physical education teachers get can get those certification points. Uh, do you have any idea what that might look like?
SPEAKER_03I think it's a lot of advocacy work. It's advocating to our city county supervisors and to our principals and our administrators that RPD is just as valuable. And we prove that through high-quality health and PE programming. We go to our principals and we say, hey, this is what I'm doing. These are my standards. So many administrators don't even know that we have standards of learning. And it's not malicious. They just don't know what they don't know. And so we need to advocate for ourselves, we need to advocate for our programs, and then we need to demonstrate the value to our students. We know what we do holds value. We know that health and wellness is a lifelong endeavor. This is gonna stick with our kids when they're no longer kids anymore. They're gonna be adults entering the world as they age. We know how much movement impacts the quality of our life, both physically and mentally. And so advocating to the people that can pay for us to go to these developments, who can cover our trainings, you know, talk to your PTA or PTO. It's it kind of varies by counting what we call it, or but talk to them. I I mean, I can't tell you how much money I was able to get to sponsor me going to bigger conferences just by asking the question and showing, hey, this is why I want to go. This is what I'm gonna bring back. A lot of these organizations have letters that you can present to your administrators to help demonstrate the value of attending that conference and why they should help you pay or give you the time off. Finding subs is a huge issue that I'm hearing about nowadays. I don't want to be delusional and say I know because I've left the classroom since that's become a bigger issue. But okay, yeah, you can go, but you have to find your own sub. Well, how do we do that? And so there's definitely barriers that we need to be aware of, but advocating for what we do and demonstrating high-quality PE, I think is the biggest kickoff. And then really you got to follow through. And we we we have to hold ourselves accountable to follow through.
SPEAKER_02That's true. Uh you mentioned your big conferences, and conferences and and are a really good way to get professional development as well. Yeah. What are some of the big conferences that that you've been able to attend?
SPEAKER_03So I have been fortunate enough. I obviously have been to the Virginia Aford Convention. Um, I'm a little partial, I'm a little biased, um, but I've also been to other fabulous conferences. Jane, you puts on the Health and Physical Activity Institute every summer, which is a phenomenal conference. It's local in Virginia, very easy to get to. And then we also have our national organizations, whether that's the National Association for Health and Physical Literacy, the NAHPL, they just hosted theirs a couple weeks ago. You also have Shape America, which hosts their convention annually. And these are major conventions where you can find folks from all over the country, both presenting, just networking and meeting new people. I was able to attend, I've been to two Shape conferences. I was, they were still Aford in Charlotte when I was a grad student. And then I was also back at Shape when they were in Tampa in 2019. And then I can't even count how many times I've gone to Virginia Aford or HPAI. But then there's also great conferences in our neighboring states, Maryland and North Carolina, the PE Institute that North Carolina hosts every summer. Um, so there's a plus there's so many uh chances to participate and to get involved that are decently close. And I I highly, highly recommend finding the right conference and and going because there's there's no downside. You're gonna learn something.
SPEAKER_02We can say that so much, but like I've been to a couple of national conferences too. I go to the JMU one every summer and the Virginia A for one every fall. But how do and we see the benefit because we've been to them, we pick up things, we take them back. How do we and other professionals go about getting our peers there with us? You're teaching with a group, say three or four people, you're the only one going out to all these conferences, you're coming back with a bunch of stuff, but you can't seem to quite convince the rest of your crew to go out. Like, how what advice would you have for somebody who's in that situation?
SPEAKER_03I would say the biggest barrier I have found is cost. So anytime I would go to friends or colleagues and say, hey, are you are you gonna come? Even just locally, Virginia Aford, hey, are you gonna come? I mean, I don't want to pay for two nights of a hotel. Like that's a that's a lot. And so I think just encouraging folks of of letting them know, hey, you don't necessarily have to pay for it. Go to your PTA, go to your county supervisor, see if they can help out. Um, part of you know, the the downside to the associations is in order to stay offering these awesome activities, we have we have to charge people to make it happen. And so finding the balance from an association perspective of, okay, what do we need to stay in existence versus how low can we get it so that folks can realistically attend? I know that's a big issue with the big conferences like Shape. I mean, when I went to Shape Tampa, I was able to afford it because I had PTA cover my conference fee, my admin covered my sub, and my dad happened to have hotel points to put me up for a week and I only had to pay for my flight. But that's still an expensive flight. And so when we think about those barriers, or you know, they can't find a sub, they don't have administrative support. You know, how do you convince somebody to take a day without pay to go to do professional development? I don't know that I have the answer for that, if I'm being honest. All I can say is keep encouraging, keep asking, keep poking the bear, and you know, just break them down a little bit until they say yes and then they go with you.
SPEAKER_01I think that's probably the perfect one.
SPEAKER_03Just keep it probably not the most professional answer, but it's the wrestling.
SPEAKER_02Like sometimes you have to give them a little bit of a push or a show.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. Nominate them for an award so they have to show up, you know?
SPEAKER_02Like or just connect it back to teaching somehow. Like, oh, we've got these new health education standards, and I'm sure that we're gonna get a bunch of ideas about how to put them into our classroom.
SPEAKER_03Well, and some people also that I worked with colleagues, it's they didn't feel like they had to go because they knew I was gonna go, and then I'd come back and I'd share everything, which is true, and that's good. But me sharing it secondhand is not the same. Like I am not gonna pretend I'm as exciting as the people that I see present. I did not dress up as a wizard when I came back and told my colleagues about Quidditch. Did we all still play Quidditch? Did they engage in the lesson? Did they do it with their classes? Yes, they did, which is cool. But it's not the same thing, and we know that. And so it's you know, trying to convince folks that that it's worth their time. It's it's it's a tough question. I don't know that I have I have the answer, but we just gotta keep trying because we know it's worth it. So just keep keep telling them.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Um, I don't really have anything else to say to you about that. That was awesome. Do you have any other plugs for Virginia Aver?
SPEAKER_03Uh, no, I mean, no, no big plugs. All I know is, you know, we we as an association have been working really hard to to rebrand, reformat, and and change the way that we're doing things. I don't want to, it's a phenomenal organization. I don't want to shade, but we were kind of behind the times and we're working really hard to get caught up with the times and reinventing ourselves and making sure that we're actually serving the membership. And so we're we're looking to do a lot. It's a great time to get involved, whether that's just becoming a member so you can access all the free stuff we're making, whether that's, you know, saying, hey, I want to get more involved. Can I be on a committee or can I join the board? Yes, come talk to us. Or even if it's just, hey, you know, check out the awards that we offer. If you want to give yourself an award, nominate yourself or nominate of a colleague that you think does exceptional work. We want all of it. We just want people to know that we're here. We want people to know that we're here for them and that we want to help them be the best health PE, rec, dance teachers that they can be. And that's that's why we exist. So come come talk to us about PD and let us get you hooked up with the right people.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It just give you the opportunity to grow and to learn as a teacher. Exactly. We can learn some new things. We could teach old dogs new tricks. Is that it? Exactly. New dogs, new tricks.
SPEAKER_03Old dogs, new tricks, old dogs, new tricks. You even got me, you got me psyched up. No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02All right. Well, I want to say thank you so much to our guest today, Melvin President. Jessica, thank you so much. Besty, give a little high-five over there. And thank you so much, you dear listener, for spending a little time with us today. Uh, keep those heart rates as high as your spirits, and we'll see you next time on the next lap of Fit Connected.
SPEAKER_00Fit Connected is produced by Blue Ridge PBS in collaboration with the Virginia Department of Education, hosted by Stevie Wright Gray, with assistance from V D O E L Physical, Family Life, and Primer Education Coordinator Jen Vetter. The Blue Ridge PBS production staff includes podcast producer Andy DePew, editor Calvin Luffrood, Senior Graphics Producer Jay Prater, and Director of Educational Innovation Tom Landon. Subscribe to the Fit Connection Podcast on Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music, and the Blue Ridge Echo YouTube channel.