The Supersized PhysEd Podcast
The Supersized Physed Podcast is dedicated to providing new ideas, activities and inspiration to our physical education field. Each week a new episode about various physed topics comes out, sometimes with a guest, sometimes it's just me!
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The Supersized PhysEd Podcast
Creating an Engaging and Positive PE Experience with Michael Todisco: "Amazing Race" and much more!
Hello Friends of PE Nation!
My interview today with Michael Todisco was incredible! I think we share a brain! The conversation reveals the powerful impact of relationship-building in physical education, focusing on creating a fun and engaging environment. We explore strategies for managing large classes and the importance of student ownership, alongside reflections on teaching practices and the overall goal of fostering well-rounded individuals.
• Importance of building student relationships
• Strategies for managing large classes effectively
• Importance of fun in PE as a teaching tool
• The role of reflections and teaching flexibility in lesson planning
• Creating ownership and accountability among students
• Emphasizing sportsmanship and teamwork as learning outcomes
• The role of PE in instilling character and life skills
• Innovative teaching methods and incorporating cultural elements
Take care,
Dave
Links to activities Michael discussed on his "Amazing Race":
Race Around the World Presentation
Oodles of Noodles
Blind Catches
Team Rope Running
Statue of Liberty
Reach out to Michael:
Email: michael.todisco@smusd.org
Twitter/X: @MichaelTodisco1
Join my Substack newsletter, where I share PE tips, games and strategies.
FREE Physed E-Book on setting up your program: https://supersizedphysed.us18.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=289486a5abf1f1b55de651a5e&id=4c476cb01
My website: https://www.supersizedphysed.com
Website for the book: https://www.teacherchefhockeyplayerbook.com/
Hello and welcome to the Supersize Phys Ed podcast. My name is Dave and today I want to tell you about a podcast. I did recently an interview I did with Michael Tedesco and him and I just connected and clicked on so many levels as far as our overall PE philosophy and just things we want for our students, and he also, just like all the other interviews I've been doing recently, he's given me a lot of things to think about, a lot of some games to implement. He's just provided a lot of you know, nuggets of information and wisdom and I really want you to tune into this and get your notepads ready, because I was writing down all sorts of information and I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed my conversation with Michael. So, without further ado, here we go.
Speaker 1:All right, here I am with Michael Tedisco. How are you today? I'm doing well, dave. Thanks for having me. Of course, I'm glad to finally meet you in person after kind of a back and forth trying to get to know you a little bit on just email and things like that. So good to see your face and talk to you. Can you tell us where you're from and just give us a brief bio of who Michael Tedisco is?
Speaker 2:Sure, currently I'm in San Marcos Unified School District, which is in the northern part of San Diego, like 30 minutes from the city. I'm a K to five health and PE teacher at Knob Hill Elementary School Full time there. I'm in currently in my ninth year. Before that, it was a lot of moving around and piecing together part-time PE positions. I started actually my student teaching and teaching in New Jersey back in 2009. And then I spent some time in Orange County and now we've kind of settled in San Diego, like I said, and now I'm in my ninth year. So it's all been in the elementary PE space.
Speaker 2:I've not been in the high school's teaching since my student teaching days, but actually I coach high school football, so I just finished my 16th year of doing that. So my teaching and coaching are about the same around 16 years and it's nice because I'm all tucked into one place right now. I coach at one of the high schools in our it's a big district. I coach at one of the high schools, our kids go to the schools in this district different schools and I teach at one of the elementary schools. So it's kind of all wrapped into one right now. But my journey was I'm a career changer. I did a couple of things before I got into teaching which I wouldn't trade for anything. I think it's given me a really great understanding and appreciation of of being around kids and teaching.
Speaker 1:Awesome. So do you? Did you ever teach your own children? Cause I taught my children in elementary school, or is that not something that you're smiling it?
Speaker 2:could be. I never did. There was thoughts of my youngest coming to the school I'm currently at, but we did like to homeschool where we live, which is on the other side of town, so I've never, never done that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean there's pluses and minuses. I was just kind of wondering. I didn't know the answer to that. So yeah, Can you kind of describe your PE space and kind of what your day looks like?
Speaker 2:describe your PE space and kind of what your day looks like. Sure, yeah. So in California the minutes are 200 every 10 days. So basically I get a hundred minutes a week with each kid, so two 50 minute classes, so everybody. We have a TK, which we do not see, but kindergarten through fifth grade, I see them all for two 50 minute blocks a week and what that does is give the teachers basically their prep time. So when I see the kids it's in really big groups.
Speaker 2:So I started teaching in New Jersey and, you know, due to the weather, like every elementary school, I have a nice, you know gymnasium that is used for PE 90% of the time and, like you, would go outside when it was a really nice day in the spring and the kids were excited about it Out here. Obviously it's a lot different, like you know. Like you, I, we live outside. My environment is I got a really big field, I got a big blacktop area, but obviously there's a lot of times of the day where I'm sharing it with recess and I see big groups. My average group is probably, I would say, 60. I usually see at least two sections at a time, like two first grades or two second grades. Sometimes, like I see three third grades this year, or I see three first grades and numbers get to about 75.
Speaker 2:So there's myself and there's another gentleman with me. Shout out to Mr G Jamel Novalosco, who has been there with me for a couple of years now. He went to the school, he's got great ties there, so he's there with me kind of full time, so it's just me and him all day for all our students and he's. He's really, really good. I've been lucky to have some great co-teachers and aides along the way, some who have moved or gone on to be PE teachers themselves. So I think he's sticking around for a while and he's really amazing with the kids and it helps to sometimes split the groups up. So I do have some good space, but I do see some huge numbers of kids at a time.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I think we're alike in that regards, at least the ratios a little bit. So, yeah, it's so important to have a helper, a para, an aide, to be involved. And how do you make that happen? Because and the reason I'm asking this is because I have the same again, a lot of of the same things going on with I have two paras and my one para has been there actually before I got there, so he's been there about five or six years this is my fourth year at my current school.
Speaker 1:But the other para has kind of been a rotating door and I've lost a lot of good ones, like you have to teaching positions and other things. Again, they've gone on to great things, but I keep losing them. And now I have a new one and he's he's doing fine, but he's, you know, he's new to the field and it's taken a little bit. But I also see people not utilizing their paras and their aids. So how do you get them involved? Like, how do you? I know you only have one, but how do you? What's your communication like with him? Or how do you go about giving him activities or jobs or roles, his role, I guess. How do you define that role?
Speaker 2:I think when he first started he was kind of like, just hey, whatever you need me to do, I can do it. And it sort of felt like everything was coming from me and I had been used to. To another aid who gone on to be a PE teacher. I could bounce stuff up and say, hey, mark, what do you think of this? Or and it's always great, as you know like for to see it through somebody else's eyes or through another lens.
Speaker 2:So when, when Mr G started out, I think it was a lot of uh he, he didn't feel like he could give a lot of input. It was a lot of me just kind of doing everything Right. And then, over time, as he thinks, I think he got more comfortable. I would give him groups of just like you know, maybe like a tag game or something like that that the kids would know and he was familiar with. And now it's become to the point where it's a really great partnership where I can have something ready to go or, you know, I can ask him something he's got some really great insight on. Well, let's do this or let's try that, or I don't know about that one. I don't think that went too well. So he's just over time, has just bought in and feels more invested.
Speaker 2:So I don't know if that answers the question, but I did feel at the beginning, where I was looking for more feedback, it was just like hey, I'm just here to do whatever you need me to do and whatever you want to do is fine.
Speaker 2:Now he's not. Now he's feel very comfortable coming to me and saying you know, let's try this or let's change this, or the distance between these throws is too far. So I think that may have just happened organically. Um, you know, I I don't want to be the kind of person who says, hey, I just need to do this, and I want him to have ownership, which is why, although he's kind of an aid I I don't say that term a lot I kind of act like he's another teacher helping me teach PE, because I want the kids to feel that way as well. I mean, they understand I'm the teacher and I sort of you know, run the program, but I want them to also look at him with equal clout. So I think it's just happened organically, dave, where he's kind of felt like he can provide some feedback and be constructive, and it's not going to like hurt my feelings.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I think that's a perfect answer, and and what I heard from you is what I actually was thinking about when you said about, like, like the ownership piece, if, if and I'm just saying this because I've seen this before also, or maybe it's almost like's, almost, like you have a teacher you know way up on high and the pairs are either they don't know what they're supposed to do or they're not invested in it, or they're. They haven't been giving, they haven't been given the job or the role. Here's what I need you to do and give them some freedom with it too. It sounds like you do that as well, where it's like okay, they have input, and so they feel like they're part of the program, not just like I don't know just a piece of your program. I guess they're part of the whole program.
Speaker 1:So, going on that, though, let me step back a second, because I like what you told me, actually before we started recording, about how you were in New Jersey and you had your own gymnasium, right, and now you're outside the whole time. So this might answer my question, but you know what's something you wish you had, and now that you've seen kind of both sides of it in your program. It could. It could even just be equipment or money, or maybe it is a gymnasium. What is it that you wish you had, that you don't have for your program, for your students?
Speaker 2:I think there's always. You know, I I have an indoor space nowadays, but it comes down to it's a classroom and, as you know, we talked about 60 kids, 70 kids. That's not normally what a classroom is equipped for. So it's great that when it gets super hot or it rains, I have a place to take those kids. But the reality is in a traditional classroom there's not enough space for 60 kids to move and especially when it's bigger kids like I get fourth and fifth graders in there, like it's, and you know, and we have a we were sharing a wall with a third grade classroom that is trying to do academics in there. Like you know, for a lot of reasons, it's just hard for me to plan a lesson in there. So I guess I would say better, better indoor space, like we're in the midst of.
Speaker 2:We're one of the older schools in the district, so a bill was just passed where they're going to start to kind of take down the old school and build a new one. I don't know if it's going to happen, but but a more, a larger multipurpose space that would allow me to take that number of kids inside and have them move freely. Probably would be great, and I don't even have a classroom every year. It really just depends on you know the ratio of students and if we lose a fifth grade section, my principal I come and say, hey, I think I have a room for you this year. But sometimes it happens at the 11th hour and I've gone years where I have no indoor space. So what I do is I have to push into the teacher's rooms and usually split the kids up and I'll give Mr G a group and hey, you go in this teacher's room and I go in another one.
Speaker 2:So I think more practical space for a PE classroom. But unfortunately, I think what happens is I don't know about you, but sometimes I'm always fighting the battle of legitimacy with PE. Sometimes I'm always fighting the battle of legitimacy with PE and sometimes it's looked at as just a prep time for the teachers versus like value, valuable, rich education time. So I don't think there's a lot of thought into hey, like we really need to get an indoor space that can be actually used for like really good PE activity. So I think that would probably be the number one goal. I would ask in my current situation yeah, now, going off of that that's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good segue into some things I was thinking about to ask you. So, first of all, what do you do when because this, this is always a big thing with teachers in Florida or California, wherever that have outside space? Obviously the weather's a problem sometimes. In the beginning of the school year we were inside because now, the heat index is a big thing. It's always been a big thing. But as far as them tracking it and making a certain thing or a certain standard or a certain level where you have to be inside, if it's at 104, which for us is hot, we have to be inside. In's at 104, which is for us, which is it's hot, yeah, we have to be inside. So in the beginning of the school year we were. We have third grade and then kindergarten at the very end of the school day, which is awful, by the way, having kindergarten at the end. I'm used to having the beginning and it's so much better, even the teachers agree, the kindergarten teachers.
Speaker 1:But what do you do? Cause we were inside, for I mean the first month of school, third and kindergarten were inside almost every day, and in the beginning we would be together in the media center. We'd all go in the media center and so then you got the. Fortunately I have a very nice librarian and you know she's very accommodating, but you know it gets loud. We don't want to be loud in there. It's a library and then, and sometimes we have a cafeteria in the morning, but a lot of times we can't because kids are eating. So then we started pushing in again, like you said, to the classrooms, and the teachers don't love that because that's their, that's their planning time. So I guess, circling back to this whole long thing, but what are some of the things you do during rainy days or any kind of weather days? We have to be inside. What, what? What are some of the things you do during rainy days or any kind of weather days? We have to be inside? What are some things that you might do with a class of 60 kids?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, like you said, we had some runs at the beginning of the year too, with hot weather and end of the day kids weren't getting outside and we had some wildfire issues where the air quality wasn't good and we had to move them. I think beginning of the year what kind of bought me some time was. I was like, okay, like we're going to be going over expectations and you know water breaks, bathroom breaks, all this stuff, so I'm like we're going to be sitting outside doing it anyway. So I probably just talked a little slower and went over it a little bit more on the inside. So that was a good buy-in.
Speaker 2:Um. We do a lot of um. I have a really good cup stacking collection, so a lot of times we'll do cup stacking tournaments. I have um, I have like little portable nets and paddles, so like ping pong, table tennis, I don't know what you want to call it. Yeah, we'll do a lot of that. Now again, it's hard in the classroom because you got like you know you put a couple desks together. Usually we'll get like a doubles game going on and maybe we'll play to like three and then if you win you can stay on the table and if you lose, you're out. The next group is going in, so students who aren't playing maybe, are keeping score or watching. You know a lot of board games, uh. So I try to sort of justify the board games as on. Like we are working on sportsmanship, yeah, working on, we are working on that, uh, social, emotional piece.
Speaker 2:Um, I do have a lot of like uh, move the marble and lego type activities, um, that I let the kids use. Now that can be a little stressful because trying to get all those pieces organized and put back at the end of a class is, um, very challenging. So maybe with the little ones I don't. There's certain games I don't bring because trying to get all those pieces organized and put back at the end of a class is very challenging. So maybe with the little ones I don't, there's certain games I don't bring out because they do involve so many little pieces. You know, again, beginning of the year, maybe like some teamwork games, easy games, where like we're in a line and we're like passing the ball over our head or we're passing, you know, side to side and we're trying to make sure it doesn't hit the ground. Then we get students involved like that. So it was a chance to work on a little bit of cooperation.
Speaker 2:I can't remember the name of the game now, dave, where everybody has their head. It's not. It's seven up or no. It's not the game. I think that you're going to think of it. Everybody puts their head down.
Speaker 2:I tap, I tap one person on the shoulder and then I call out a group. I think they have to be an animal. Oh, it's a dog, cat or chicken, and everybody has to, has to, pick an animal, and they don't say it. So you decide which one you're going to be. Everybody puts their head down and I tap one person on the shoulder and everybody keeps their head. Then I say, if you're a dog, get up and move. And everybody keeps their head down. I say, if you're a dog, get up and move. So all the dogs get up and move, but nobody's looking. So then so they're only. And if you're a chicken, get up and move. If you're a cat, get up and move. So they're trying to figure out who's the person I tapped on the shoulder and basically they're doing that by figuring out who's moving when he calls, like this, certain type of animals.
Speaker 2:I can't remember exactly, that's a rough estimate, but it was a really good game and the kids loved it and I could play it over and over. You know bingo, uh, an active bingo game was a big one for me. I actually stumbled upon this during COVID. It was when I go to starting COVID, because I was really struggling online and, as you know, like yeah, online, wow, no, you talked about juggling. I was a horrible juggler. I tried that too. I was terrible. I was terrible.
Speaker 2:But I was trying to teach online. We would lose, like balled up. So I would tell him, go get a pair of socks and ball them up, crumple up a paper ball, and I, I would like hit a wall because I'm I, I wasn't great at it. So it was like hard for me to teach and you'd lose. You know what I mean. And the kids, yeah, sock would go under the bed. You know the dog would come in and grab the paper ball, like that's a whole nother, whole, nother thing.
Speaker 2:But anyway, the bingo is always a good one, an active bingo. So I found these cards online, laminated them and I would call out a random exercise and they would have to do the exercise to get bingo and I would have a little prize box that I would be able to get something for. So that became a really big one last year. Uh, the indoor bingo games and that was great on COVID because if I had, kids would win on virtual. You know, there would be times they would come into the school to pick up things and they can get a prize for winning the bingo game. So I would have I was reaching, you know St Patrick's day bingo, we got an Easter bingo, we got this and that, so that was a and that, so that was a, and that became a big hit last year. That was a good indoor game that got the kids moving and and got everybody involved.
Speaker 1:So I love that. I'm gonna have to steal that game. That's see, that's what I'm talking about. That's a yeah, I was trying to pull that out of you and that was great. Uh, no, really, really it's. That's awesome, because I I'm always looking for things inside, especially. Uh, we do some uh. A lot of times it's kind of like what you said there's things you have to go over anyway. So maybe inside you can kind of cover a lot of that.
Speaker 1:I do a lot of the standards, like a lot of the nutrition stuff, a lot of muscles, and you know the body, the heart, you know that kind of stuff inside, because I'm like in the beginning of the year and at the end of the year in Florida it's like all rain and heat, and so I'm not saying I don't talk about nutrition the rest of the year, but you know I'll talk about in depth more when we're inside. But we'll also move around. We'll do, um, I usually do like a brain pop or something in the beginning, um, answer questions, go over that, and then we'll do some, like you said, like movement stuff. We might do a go noodle also or a just dance thing, things like that that the kids enjoy and uh, but I like that, that the kids enjoy, but I like that game. That sounds like fun. What do you call it? The dog chicken? What was that?
Speaker 2:I think it's the dog, cat and chicken. I'll have to find it and remember.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I have to remember where I pulled it from, but the kids really enjoyed it and obviously you know the part was making sure they're not looking when it's not there and then not looking when it's that's not there and then when they move, see who's changing seats. But it's, it's a, it's a good one, and again it doesn't get super loud, which again, I don't know about you, but I'm always worried about somebody on the other side adjoining wall, although they're very understanding and and considerate, but I also, at the same time, can't be making a whole lot of racket in there.
Speaker 1:so yeah, exactly. So, um, this is something we kind of talked about before sorry recording, but it still goes on about the PE space and I mentioned how you know, you know I taught history, I transitioned. It was it was a rough, rough time. It was the year after COVID, I guess the 2020 to 2021. And that's when I left my school and went to. I went to actually uh, teach history for half a year. It was a rough, rough year for me until I found this position, which is perfect for me, and so when I went to teach history, I mean I noticed that classrooms are different.
Speaker 1:Obviously, there's different chairs, there's different whatever setups, there's different technology, maybe a little bit. But I mean, classroom is a classroom. Like I can, you know, I walked in there on the first day and I knew what material I was going to teach. I had it, you know, on a whatever Google slides, things like that. Like I can just go into any classroom pretty much and teach, whereas a PE space is totally different. So, again, I don't remember what we were talking about before, but can you kind of describe the difference between you know, having your own space and then you know you have recess, we have after school. Like Can you talk about that a little bit? How you know your PE space isn't always just like you know, everybody's PE space isn't exactly the same and you have to kind of adapt to that. It's just something we were talking about beforehand.
Speaker 2:I want to kind of get you to. One of the things for me is like the prepping like an activity. Like when I taught in New Jersey and I knew like I'm going to close up that gym at the end of the day and nobody's going in until the next morning, I could get everything out there and everything set up for what I wanted to look like for the following day An outdoor classroom. I simply I just can't do that. You know, it gets wet overnight, there's condensation, there's moisture. You know, sometimes kids jump the fence and they vandalize and they take stuff. So it's not like I can spend my end of my day getting everything ready for the next day. The best I can do is sort of get it organized in my room. So the morning of, I mean, and my and my, my aid, my co-teacher is doing he helps with drop-off duty in the cafeteria. So, for instance, I see my kids starting at 8.50. He's probably walking down the steps at 8.55.
Speaker 2:So, it's me and a lot of kids and I get a lot of help Like my students are amazing. I have some amazing students right now. It's a group of fourth grade girls who feel like it's their job. Every morning they are coming to help me Perfect. Right now it's a group of fourth grade girls who feel like it's their job. Every morning they are coming to help me Perfect.
Speaker 2:But the mornings are running around with my hair on fire, getting everything set up for what I want to do, and developmentally it changes. You know, dave, what I'm doing with the fifth graders at 850, I'm not doing with the second graders at 1030. Exactly. So I got to have all the other stuff ready to go so I can quickly switch out the games, and sometimes it's like I want to be on the grass, but guess what, in the morning it's really wet or it rained a little bit overnight. I got to go to the blacktop. Can I do this activity on the blacktop now, or is there too much of a safety risk of somebody falling and getting hurt? So it's that constant movement of you. Know what am I going to do? Where am I going to do it? Do I have time to move all the stuff from one part of the field to the other. You know I mean things happen. A student gets sick on the blacktop and there's, you know, they threw up out there. So I can't use that area and I got to transition back to the field.
Speaker 2:So those are some daily challenges that probably, like you, like we kind of just end up rolling with it. Like you just can't sit there and get set up in this, like I had this activity set up today. I don't know what I'm going to do. Like it's almost like you know you can't let them see you sweat. Like if the kids see your frustration over something like that, then it's almost their reason to just go off and just lose it and be a little bit crazy and and I just don't want that to happen. So you know we might be moving and we might be constantly changing things around. It's's just kind of the nature of the job and at the end of the day, again, like I can't leave anything out there. Everything's got to go up. I put, I put signs on a wall, I use that. I Velcro up there, put them up every day, take them down every day. You know what I mean? Um, so there's that there's that constant challenge of uh, every day is setting up again brand new and, as you know, there's some extensive setups and I wish I could put it out one day and leave it out for the next two or three days, and it's just, you know, constantly taking it back and forth.
Speaker 2:But I'm, I'm, I'm really blessed with having so many helpers at my school and I think you talked about this before like you know, having ownership and the kids love like having that. What, mr, can I do to help? What can I do to help? And I have, again, they feel like it's their job, like they're coming in the morning. Sorry, mr t, I'm late. You know, my, my little sister couldn't get out of bed today. I'm like you don't have to apologize. Like you're here to help me, like if you show up, great. Like if you don't, I can't be mad at you. So, uh, it only gets done because I have amazing group of helpers that are that spend the morning, you know, and they're very good. You know I need these hula hoops over there, these poly spots or these jerseys, and they're really good at, you know, probably listening to me frantically, you know boss them around in the morning to sort of get things set up, but it's, it's a challenge, and student helpers are are really, uh, are irreplaceable for me.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's amazing. And as you're talking, I thought about three or four questions because they were just that was very no, no, that was very insightful is, and one of the things let's, let's talk about that. Ending part there, because I agree, having students, uh, help, having student helpers or students, you know, soon have students having ownership of your program. They feel like they're, they're part of it, just like we talk about the paras or the aids, and because I have a lot of good students as well that you know I could, I say this a lot um, there's kids I can give my car keys to and just be like, hey, can you want my car and get my wallet? And those are the kind of kids, absolutely kind of kids, that are on it all the time and I love having those.
Speaker 1:And yeah, you're going to get some kids that they don't want to help, they don't want to do anything. That's okay, but you have your core kids that buy in, that really want to help. And so that kind of leads me to a couple of different questions Creating that culture, or just can you talk about the importance of that or building from the ground up, like, how did you do that? From you said this is your ninth year there. Yes, you have to probably have to think back a while, but can you think of anything that again, I'm trying to make this actionable for, especially for the younger teachers coming up? Can you talk about that, just building from day one, or even from week one?
Speaker 2:you know, the first week of school. That's a great question. I I'm not sure I can promise a short answer, dave, but that's it. No, it's okay, go ahead, go for it. That's a great question and I think, um, you know, when I got there I had had some experience, so I can, I can remember when I got interviewed and got the job and I sort of was leaving my uh, my old position, i'm'm like, let me stop by this school now that I got the job and it was near the end of the year, I was going to start the next school year, let me just take a look around and see what they have.
Speaker 2:And you know, like as a p teacher, when you've done it for a little while, like you can look around and say like, okay, like I can, what I have here equipment wise, like I can start with this, or this is what I feel like I need. And I remember the principal at the time, who's since retired, opened up the PE room and I looked in there and I said, oh gosh, like I was like I'm not sure I can work with this here, like I just didn't see a lot of equipment and again, like first year teacher, I couldn't make that quick scan. But quickly I looked in that room and thought, well, I'm, I'm, I'm going to need some things. I'm not going to have them right away. So that was my first thought. Is is like like physically? For me it's like do I have enough equipment for the kids? Because I'm not a tyrant about like MVPA. Like you know, I go to conferences. I've been fortunate enough to speak at the shape national conference last year and this and that but and a lot of it was MVPA. I'm not like a tyrant about it, but but I do want my kids to be moving. You know what I mean. Like when we're done talking it's like, okay, let's get up and move. So for me it was like I got to get stuff here to get these kids moving, and you know so from from physically, from a standpoint, you kind of you make what you make do with what you have. But also it was like, you know, trying to buy some stuff quickly to get the program going. And you know, I think when I started I had bounced around a lot and I sort of felt like boy, if I ever get my own program, like this is, this is, I think, what I want it to look like I had done it long enough, where I felt like this is what I wanted to look like.
Speaker 2:And for me, I think the big culture, things all along and I still say it to my kids is like, as long as I'm here, like we're never going to not have fun, like like we're absolutely learning out here. And, yeah, sometimes I get mad, sometimes I ask them to do stuff. That's not easy, it's physically challenging, it's mentally challenging, but I want it to be fun. And sometimes I put myself in my kid's shoes and say, if I was walking out to MrP, mr T's PE class, I want to be excited, I want to be like, oh, I can't wait till this 50 minutes is over and I, I think I feel like I have that excitement.
Speaker 2:But again, it took time and I just think, knowing that fun was going to be one of the tenants of what I wanted. And maybe it's my football coaching background and coaching, like you know, football, where there's it's so much bigger than just one person. But I mean teamwork and sportsmanship. If we talk about it, dave, is like what I like, what I'm all about, like like we're like you know, banging the kids over the head with teamwork and sportsmanship all the time. So I don't know if I visually knew that what I wanted it to be, but that's what I wanted it to be. I wanted it to always be fun, I wanted it to be teamwork and sportsmanship and I wanted it to be like we're just trying to crank out good kids, like I always say like man, we're going to teach you some throwing. If you want to get really good at throwing, you probably want to go play baseball after school. I mean, I'm not here to make you a great pitcher, I'm going to give you some really rudimentary skills.
Speaker 2:You know, my job is we're trying to make really good. You know and maybe it sounds cliche, but I firmly believe this Like we're really trying to make good kids. You know, I think I'm in a great school but I also have so many single, single parent households. You know I mean there's not a lot of fathers that are around. So me and Mr G think our number one job is being a mentor to these kids that don't get that. So and for me, I think we're just teaching it through the medium of like movement and sports. You know, like that's what we're teaching. That's the only way I'm using to teach, but it's really about trying to get to the kids and get to know the kids and make them good students.
Speaker 2:So I don't know if that answers the question, but I just knew when I started out that if I was going to get somewhere and get continuity, I always wanted it to be fun. I wanted to make sure teamwork and sportsmanship, because I felt like nobody really is going to be working or living in a vacuum. I know I used to have this conversation with our kids. You know they want to be a YouTube influencer and they want to be on social media and we would tell them like that's great, but they have support staff too. They have people they have to work with. So they're not going to sit in my room and be a social media influencer Like no, you're going to have to interact, you're going to have to be part of a team.
Speaker 2:So I think those are the big tenants that I always wanted it to look like and there's always room to grow.
Speaker 2:But I feel like I am pretty proud, from the first day we opened up that door, to physically what that PE room looks like and what it does now, and like what the program looked like, because you know, when you start out and teachers come up and say, oh, we weren't doing this before, you were here, like I like hearing that, but I also know it's not just me. It's been a lot of people over the years that have helped it get to that stage, including amazing teachers I've worked with. So I think for me I don't know if I envisioned it being here right now, but I think kids are happy to come to PE and that's what I wanted. I don't want to turn them off, I don't want them to be glad when PE is over and I don't want to be done with it when they go to middle school. So I don't know if that answers the question, but that's really, you know, a couple of the big things for me.
Speaker 1:That's perfect. I actually gave you a. That was a. It was kind of a big question. I gave you like a very broad question Um, what I?
Speaker 1:I think you and I are a lot more alike than I realized as far as philosophy and um, because I'm not I'm not a standards tyrant. I hate to say that now I do cover this. I mean I'm not either. Really we do cover the standards, but that's why, if, even if you know, I've put out maybe gosh, it's gotta be close to 300 episodes of and I, I hardly ever talk about standards, I mean, and it's not because they're not important, but it's because I think, well, fun you had, you had in the word that I think fun is the most important thing. And I tell the students all the time it's kind of like what you just said.
Speaker 1:You know, I might not. I mean it'd be cool if I taught the next LeBron James, michael Jordan, tom Brady, whoever, but the odds on that are so rare and I'd rather teach you the basic skills. I mean, if you become the greatest, that's awesome, I love it. However, I'd rather help you become a better person and it's kind of like that. It's almost exactly what you said, but that I've said a bunch of times to my students yeah, you know. So, no, I love that. It's, it's, it's perfect, and that's what I want for my students as well.
Speaker 1:I want to make well-rounded people. You know what I mean. They don't have to be the best kicker in the world and kickball, like, does that really matter? I mean the basic skills. Yes, if you're the greatest kickball player in the world, congratulations. I mean like, so yeah, but if you're a great person, that's what's more important. And on the flip side, I tell them if you're the best, you know we do the chute ball term I talk about a lot. If you're the best chute ball player, you know we do the chute ball term I talk about a lot. If you're the best chute ball player but you don't share the ball and you're you're mean to your or you're not showing good sportsmanship, you're not nice to your teammates, like that's a complete opposite. I'd rather you be an okay player that treats people well and it shares the ball and it's nice to people and whatever that whole thing. Yeah, to me that's way more important and I'm it sounds like you agree with that.
Speaker 2:And I just think really quick just to piggyback off what you said. Like, like this conversation comes around like report card time and grades probably for PE aren't huge in elementary school but we give like letter grades and I always tell the kids like man, I've kind of gone back and forth. Sometimes when we sit down as an elementary PE group, because I'm one one of there's 12 elementary schools in our district, so sometimes we'll sit down as a group and talk about things and some teachers are big on well, I'm grading on, you know the standards I'm grading on Can they make an underhand throw, you know, can they step with their opposite foot? And I'm like I don't, like that's great, but I don't care about it.
Speaker 2:Like, and I'll tell the kids when I'm doing grades, like you could be an amazing runner, you could be this great thrower, but if you're not a really great person, and I don't like how you talk to your students or players on your team, like you're not getting a good grade, like I'm not really worried how great of an athlete you are, like that's if it happens, good. But it's really about how are you talking to teammates, how are you talking to us? Are you respecting the equipment Like that for me is the number one thing and if you happen to jump really far or kick the ball really far, like that's just a bonus. But that's really not what I grade on and that's really not like what the most important thing is. And I mean, you know, some of my kids are, happen to be good athletes and this and that, but again, that's not really the end goal for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and again, when I say I don't care, I mean I do care about the standards and we do cover them. But you know it's all encompassing, like, if you're teaching I don't know, you're teaching hockey you're going to hit a lot of the standards, you know, and we're still talking about nutrition. We're still talking about all that stuff and standards, you know, and we're still talking about nutrition. We're still talking about all that stuff. And I still go through most of the well, I go through standards. I just don't focus. My whole thing isn't about that. And I know some teachers are really good at that. By the way, like online there's, there's teachers that are amazing at unpacking the standards and, you know, making it perfect and it just. It's just not me, especially with the big groups too's not easy with large groups. Yeah, who hit on, uh, even like the question, like the feedback from the students, like I do a lot of large group. Um, you know question and answer kind of thing, where it's like you know thumbs up, thumbs down, or you know, give me one through four. Uh, you know as far as answers, or you know they can pick their ability levels, let's say, on jump roping, then go to this corner this, corner, things like that. So they're self-assessing. They're also more group assessing. I tried oh man, this is so difficult. I tried a long time ago to do portfolios, what they call like sportfolios, like online stuff, and I had to get kids into my. At the time I had a decent office at my former school and a few computers and they'll log in and I mean, you're talking a hundred plus kids trying to do that and it just it's just not practical and it's not time efficient. So it just kind of going back to what we're talking about with standards and getting kids moving more than you know. Can you step with the correct foot? And yes, I'll. By the way, I'll show that I see kids still doing that and I'll correct them right then. And there I'll be like, hey, try it this way. Is it going to affect their overall grade? No, as long as they're trying and they're doing what you said as far as treating each other respectfully. So I did want to go back to something else you said, because it's again. I should have written this down, and so I don't remember exactly how you said it and it was a while ago, but it had to do with when we talked about, um, the like the weather happening or somebody has an like it pukes all over. You gotta go somewhere else. Yeah, I don't remember exactly what you said, but it was along the lines of improv. I feel like I'm master of the improv.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you have to kind of just come up with a, a game real quick, or a place to be real quick, what is well. Yeah, I know you can tell them where I'm going this up. Give me, if you can like, a go-to, because I have like activities I want to say in my back pocket, almost where it's like oh my gosh, if something happens, I know I could play this right away there. There's certain games and I talked about my last podcast and things like that. I don't want to keep saying the same games over and over again, but I'll just briefly say the names of them. It's Rollout and Prairie Dog Pickoff, which I learned from Joey Fyfe. Those are my go-to games.
Speaker 1:If I have to just real quick go somewhere and play these games, do go somewhere and play these games. Um, do you have any of those where you or even have a kind of rock paper scissor game that I learned at a camp? It's got to be well, I know what year it was, it was 1999. It's called tractor buoy sea monster and it's just like rock paper scissors. Okay. So I have a few go-to games which maybe I'll have to go through that some podcast. Just explain that. It's real simple. But do you have any games like that where it's just like man, all of a sudden there's a? Well, we have, we've had Bobcat sightings, which one side, things like that. Yeah, do you have anything like that where it's like in the split second? Here's a game I could play.
Speaker 2:I mean toss three is a really quick, easy game that I do which is just um and I use like Gator skin ball, I like little fluff yarn balls, I've used um, wiffle balls, sometimes tennis balls, and basically it's find a partner. You work on three throws and catches. Now it's the odd number three because somebody you know, somebody ends up with the ball, somebody doesn't, so the person with the ball has to walk around looking for a new partner that doesn't have a ball. The person that doesn't, that ends up without the ball, has to walk on looking for somebody with a ball. So yeah, they're working on throwing and catching. Yeah, they're working on kind of meeting new people or, if it's later in the year, finding new friends to work with and it's a quick little throwing and catching game. You know I don't need a lot of space for it. If I have a bag of Gator skin balls, which are usually pretty close because I use them so much.
Speaker 2:It's a quick game I can set up. When I taught it originally with some of the younger ones it's hard because if they don't end up with the ball they don't do a great job of going around looking for. They sort of stand there and I do this like funny impression, where I put my hands in my pocket, I stand there looking at the ground and I'm like then you come over and say, mr T, I don't have anybody to throw with. I'm like, well, you're kind of just standing there looking at the ground, so it's like you put your hand up. I need a partner with a ball, I need a partner without a ball.
Speaker 2:And then we've tried to do like kick three, where you put the ball on the ground, you kick it back and forth three times, not as controlled as the throwing, because you know kind of ball goes all over the place. But yeah, it is a, it is a quick game we can set up, you know. Um, you said rock paper scissors. Like rock paper scissors, olympics is a good, quick one where there's like a bronze silver. I, I can tell you you've heard it before right, everybody starts is that the hula hoops and they have to move to the.
Speaker 2:I usually, just sometimes, I'll do like just the three lines on a basketball court, or one end line is the bronze metal, silver is the middle and gold is the other one, and everybody starts at bronze and they play. If they win, they move up to silver, if they win, move up to gold. If they lose, it's silver, they go back down the bronze and there's a little jogging in between and they're playing with different students. And the other thing I've done is I call like a full body, rock, paper scissors, so they don't just use their hands. I have them go back to back and and and on.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, we're probably. We don't. Usually we try not to shoot anymore. Yeah, exactly you know what I mean. So it's rock, paper scissors go, which is which is sometimes hard for me to remember, not to say so I have them turn back and they say rock, paper, scissors, go. And they quickly turn on and face each other and like rock they. They crouch down really low and put their hands over their head.
Speaker 2:Scissors. I have them cross their hands like this and paper to put their hands up really tall. So for me it just has them moving a little bit more versus just using their hands. So I call it full body rock paper scissors. So we'll play rock paper scissors Olympics. We'll play rock paper scissors baseball, where they run around the bases if they win.
Speaker 2:And again, I like the full body one because it gets them a little bit more engaged in there and they're just moving a little bit more, you know, and it just adds a little bit more. So those are some quick. You know very little to no equipment games that most of the kids have learned at some point. You know there's a tag game I heard you say crossover that my kids absolutely love. I mean, if we don't have the cones set up, we don't the jerseys out there. It's it's hard to get into it in like two minutes but it is like it is a go-to game that the kids love to do and if I happen to not be there, or me and mr gr aren't there, that's a game that a sub can come in and teach pretty easily.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I love it. Yeah, we've done, uh, the rock paper scissors, the movement, one like you were talking about, which is awesome, the kids love that. And yeah, the rock, I've. I guess I have to the tractor, buoy sea monsters like that too, where it's just different track. Yeah, I forgot about the toss three. I played that at a convention. Is that what you call it, toss three? Or?
Speaker 1:three or toss three I gotta, I gotta get my kids playing that again, cause that's a. I remember playing that like a again as an adult, like a teacher at a teacher convention. I'm like, oh, that's cool, maybe it was shaped Tampa a few years ago or whatever. But yeah, I gotta, I like that.
Speaker 2:It's really good. It's great for the younger ones to get them to know each other. The older ones I challenge them to move a little bit farther apart, without getting crazy with the long throw. The little ones will stay closer together, which is fine. The older ones I want to challenge them, if we play that, to move farther apart. If we're doing like a touch football unit, which the fourth and fifth graders love there's a lot of lead-up games to that and that's one of them. I'll do it and we'll just use like footballs and different soft foot, you know, nerve footballs to a rubber football, different things, so nice, they get used to things. And again, I like it gives a lot of kids, a lot of chances, a lot of reps, right, you know they can throw, you know as they want with who they want. So it's it's, it's very it's a very open-ended activity.
Speaker 1:Perfect, all right. So I got a few more for you. You ready, sure? Um, so what makes you, or what is your superpower? What makes you unique? I guess, in the pe space, like what, what do you think you bring differently? And I guess, as an example for me, I think I try to create experiences, like, I think, between my mascot, webster and and you know, the shoot ball tournament. Like I try to bring extra experiences for the kids with martial arts. I used to have a bike trailer, but that wasn't just mine, it was the district and we teach them how to ride bikes. I'm not saying nobody else does that, but I'm just saying that's my favorite thing, that's the thing I think I'm good at. What makes, what makes you unique, or what is your superpower? Oh man, dave, that's a tough question.
Speaker 2:Um, it's tough to think about that, isn't it? I want to think of some of my personal strengths, but you're kind of leading me down the path of like I try to. I talked earlier about like putting myself in the shoes of my kids when they're walking out. It went to be like a 50 minute dread. I want them to be excited about what we're doing. So I think it has become experiences like the touch. Football is a big one.
Speaker 2:Um, I, I've, I've did a summer Olympics unit, which I only do when, when they happen in the world. So my first big unit out of the gate for third, fourth and fifth grade was summer Olympics, nice. So I had the kids pick countries they wanted to represent. Um, I made the teams. We did, you know, different track and field events. We did kickball, we did soccer, we did a three-on-three basketball. I keep track of medals, like I had. I got these little sticker flags on amazon, so outside of my office I kept track of how many medals each team won gold, silver, bronze, based upon countries. So I think it is experiences for me.
Speaker 2:I spoke a little bit about I was fortunate in the last two years I spoke at our uh K, for it's called the California state convention, and I spoke at the shape American Cleveland last year on my, which has become my baby, my amazing race unit, my, which has become my baby, my amazing race unit. Um, tell me about that, which it's kind of based off of the TV show and it's funny Cause I'm not I'm not like a huge watcher of it, but I love the concept and my wife and I used to watch it. So it's a unit I do with my third, fourth and fifth graders where I make the teams. Like it takes some time Like I spend a weekend, dave, probably like an, probably an hour, to put together like a teams. Like it takes some time, like I spend a weekend, dave, probably like an, probably an hour to put together like teams for like two grade, two sections, you know, mixing up the grades and putting the team's abilities. So I make these teams and I announced the teams and the kids come up with selling names for their, you know, for their amazing race team, and we do a ton of different challenges and and we pretend travel. So like I have this big map outside of my room with like these uh, push pin magnets I use and we like, we pretend like we will. You know, for instance, like a lesson would be. They would come out and they'd sit in their teams and I would say, okay, we're traveling to, you know, australia today, and I might ask them, like what the capital is? Um, I spend a little bit more time on that with the fourth and fifth, not the third so much, maybe, like just the country. So that day we joke around like we're in Australia, we're going to, we could talk with Australian accent.
Speaker 2:I'll give them different challenges that the team has to do and every day something different. Um, and it depends on, like you know, uh, what are we doing right now? We just did, uh, they had to do tooth. They had to do like a hockey shot challenge where everybody has to make a hockey shot from a different poly spot into the goal and they could only use each poly spot one time. So they have to figure out, you know, the closer ones, maybe the, the players who don't, you know, play that well or play that much, and they had to do this. Then they had to run over at another part of this field where mr g wasn't do this mat down. So these big long, they fold out in four squares, these mats, these pliable mats. So I made them balance it on their heads without using their hands for one minute, and I have these timers, so one person on the team times them and they have to do it for a minute. If it starts to fall off, they use their hands, they start over. So you know, and usually once they're done with that and make them run a lap around our track and the team's not done to, the last person checks in, which is like an amazing race term at the finish line yeah, and and and we. We keep track of points based upon where you finish. It's a really big deal.
Speaker 2:Kids have different motivations for wanting to do good in PE. Some kids are competitive, they want to win, other ones want to have fun. The winners of this amazing race, when it's all over, like the winning team, like I, buy them lunch from a restaurant off campus and they come out and eat it. And second place gets ice cream popsicles and third gets extra recess. So different things hit for different kids and we have so many different challenges.
Speaker 2:Like you know, I have one called this will drive you nuts, where I have these big home Depot buckets and they're filled with nothing but plastic packing peanuts and me and Mr G put a black Sharpie dot and only three of the plastic packing peanuts. And me and mr g put a black sharpie dot and only three of the plastic packing peanuts. Wow, but they have to. They have to dig through the bucket and find those three without any of the packing peanuts hitting the ground, because if they do, we give them like a 30 second penalty. And I have videos of all this because I had to present this. Oh, you got to show me this, you got to send me this. I will you know. So they're looking for this packing peanut and it's so I talked earlier about like teamwork and sportsmanship and like like that is what it's about for me. So I mean, I can go on and on.
Speaker 2:You know, we do so many different challenges with the amazing race and I try to switch it up from year to year, um, doing different things, and I love it because it's not just it's not just like sports things. You know I do this like there's this magic 15 where I have these amazing race envelopes. I found that Amazon. We hide them all over the outdoors and each team has to find one and inside our numbers and equation signs and they have to make an equation that equals 15. Equation signs and they have to make an equation that equals 15. So I think the kids like it because sometimes it's mental, sometimes it's physical. You know the places we traveled to. I always have a challenge with them at the end of the unit where they have to either match up the countries and the capitals or I, like I, did this game like keep, leave no stone unturned. Well, I had like hundreds, of hundreds of poly spots on the field and underneath some of them is a country and a capital and they had a match up, picking up only one poly spot at a time. They had a match to country in the capital. Love that, that sort of thing. So that has become my baby.
Speaker 2:And it was funny day because I was wasn't sure I was going to do it this year, because I'm like, let's do the summer olymp, cause we just had the summer Olympics. I'm like I said to Mr G man, I don't know if we're gonna have time, something's got to go. And I wasn't going to do the amazing race and the kids were like, oh, we can't. It's my fifth grade year, it's my last year. So I think, like you, it's become experiences and I want kids to leave being like man. You know I really enjoyed that amazing race or I really enjoyed those summer Olympics. You know we do the touch football like we end up with this big Superbowl and all the kids come out from the smaller grades and their teachers sit around the field and they watch it and they have kind of like your jukeball I think yeah, it sounds like it, yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:My big thing with that is, uh, when we do that unit, you know each team picks their captains. They have a medic. So if there's any minor injuries, don't come to me, go to my first aid kit, get somebody a band-aid, get somebody a tissue. Yeah, we have an equipment manager. They get the jerseys for the team, they put the jerseys away, so everybody kind of has a job. That's like that sport, edmar it is.
Speaker 1:it is. That's what I do with the shoot ball, so I love what you're saying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think for me it's become those are the big things and it's. And yet teams want to win and kids want to win, but like we really spend a lot of time on the sportsmanship and the teamwork and shining light on, hey, we saw this today and this was a good example of it, and then there was some of this going on. That wasn't a good example. So I guess, for me, it it it has become experiences and I think that's the kids getting excited coming out today, Like I don't know what amazing race challenge we're going to have today, Like it might be a really super tough one. Sometimes they don't love it you know what I mean, yeah, but I think at the end of the day, they, they, they appreciate even in the moment they're not enjoying.
Speaker 2:Looking for those three packing peanuts and it's a little windy, you know what I mean and they're kind of blowing. It's like, okay, you got a 30 second break timeout, like those peanuts hit the ground and you know that kind of thing. So that's that's become exciting to get those things planned out for the kids. And when I go over some of the instructions, I just see the looks on the faces and they're starting to think and how can we get this done? I mean, that's, that's become the big thing. So I think for me it has become like the experiences, but it didn't happen like that overnight. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:yeah, well, I don't mean to steal your um answer, but it sounds like it sounds like again, we're on the same page with that stuff.
Speaker 1:You know I have students that you know I'll see. I I work at the, the local arena, so I'll see them in a hockey game or something or a concert, and they're in high school or college now, and I actually have students that are way older than that, but these are the ones I see and they'll be like oh man, I remember that Again, that shoot ball tournament, and again they're not going to remember. I say this all the time and I feel like a broken record, but they're not going to remember. If you teach, I mean it's a good thing you teach them the, the parts of the body or this and that, but they're gonna remember your touch football unit, they're gonna remember your amazing race, they're gonna remember that kind of stuff and that's, and how much they loved pe.
Speaker 1:Um, because I get a lot of kids that come back, uh, or not necessarily come back, but either well, I'll see him somewhere and I'll be like, oh, how's pe going? And some of them have great experiences, but a lot of them are like, eh, we don't do much. Or in middle school, high school, it depends on the teacher. There's a lot of great middle school and high school PE teachers, but I also have seen a lot of them that just kind of I don't want to say roll out the ball you know, that kind of thing and it's sad to me, but it's also it's nice to hear them say, hey, I remember this tournament, I remember.
Speaker 1:You know it's a crazy thing we did. I remember the mascot, webster or whatever. You know, yeah, um, so I'll even see kids at um. It's funny, my daughter plays uh, uh. She's in seventh grade and she's got done playing uh, volleyball. I mean her at her school and I'll see some of my kids there and uh, they'll. Sometimes, during the breaks in between the volleyball games or when there's a timeout, they'll play like. They'll play like the ymca, they'll play some of the songs that I played. I mean not that I'm unique, it's playing ymca. But they'll look at me and I'll be like come on, I want to see you. I know you can dance at this to the song. I've seen you do it before. Um, just things like that. It's just, it's just fun to, to, to see them, you know, have again. We give them the experiences, hopefully, and help them have fun, and then they take that with them um, to middle school and beyond, I guess I, I feel the same.
Speaker 2:I, you, you, I get those same experiences. And I have kids who come back. They're they're not at my school, but they come back to pick up a younger brother or sister. And, and my first question, how is PE? And I mean, I have a son. You know, I have a son in seventh grade right now. He didn't have a great. He had a great elementary school experience. His teacher was great. He didn't have a great sixth grade PE experience and I just feel, like you know, we maybe I can't speak for everybody I have a lot of freedom on what I can do and I feel like middle school is bound to a little bit more of a tighter curriculum maybe.
Speaker 2:And I always say to my wife like, she's always like, oh, I'm not sure you would go over well in middle school. She's like the kids would love you, she's like, but you would be doing some stuff that would be like not traditional, right, me too, but but I just I don't. You know, I think that's the thing. Like you said, experience is like I try to be outside the box and be a little bit more non-traditional and, and I don't know if that's a, I don't know if that's a uh creation of you know me growing up in a long, long time ago, going to elementary school or what.
Speaker 2:But I just realized I'm trying to do some different stuff and every I always say to the kids now, like, not everybody out is going to love what we're doing, some of you will, some of you won't, but something we do this year is really going to resonate with you. Like you know, we got a big audience. I'm not going to get 70 out of 70. Yes, I love this today. Slam dunk 100. It's not going to happen, but I'm hoping most of them do and at some point that's going to build into good experiences for everybody. But we're in a unique position, I think, to have that freedom to do some different things that I just don't hear being done as kids sort of move on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, man, I love talking to you about this stuff. This is, I think-.
Speaker 2:I do too.
Speaker 1:I'm really enjoying it. We might have to come back and do a part two at some point. Definitely, let's do this. Um, so I have two more for you, let's just so. What advice would you give to a first year teacher? I asked this a lot because I again, I want to. You know, as I'm getting older I guess you're, I'm sure you're not but as I'm getting older, you know, I want to try to help out. I'm just kidding. I want to try to help out as many people as we can, even people that just starting. You know some people. I didn't teach PE. Let's see my first year. I was like 38 when I started teaching PE, I think something like that, 39. So I was, I mean, I taught in the classroom, but so I guess a first year teacher doesn't have to be a fresh out of college, but a first year teacher. It doesn't have to be a fresh out of college, but a first year teacher. What advice would you give them?
Speaker 2:Or if you had to start over, it's funny you say that Cause, like I said in our introduction day, like I was kind of a career changer and I thank my wife for she was the impetus behind you know, getting out of what I was doing and just kind of going through the motions and getting into teaching and coaching. Cause it kind of started out out with what do you want to do? And I was like, well, I want to coach football. And she was like, well, you probably need to teach because that's not going to, you know, be the only gateway. So she's the impetus behind me making this career change. So, like you, I was 36 when I went back, got my, you know, master's degree, was sitting in these classrooms with 19 and 21 year old kids at night, you know, classes. So I started out later, which I think was a benefit for me because I had some life experiences.
Speaker 2:I mean, I guess I would say for a younger teacher and I mean I'm still I say this all the time like I'm making a billion mistakes a day, so I want to keep on learning and I clearly don't have all the answers um, I just think for younger teachers I would say, definitely try some things and take some chances and don't don't just do games that maybe you did or were taught to you. I mean, I don't know like I think I heard you say it in one of your posts lately. You know, like the student teaching environment doesn't really prepare you for like what. You're going to go out there and practically do no, because things are going to happen that you don't learn in the classroom. Yeah, and I would definitely say, take some chances. I would say, try some new things and really I would say, spend some time, either mentally or at the end of the day, writing down like kind of what worked and what didn't, because, like I said, the amazing race unit sounds great, but there are still days I come in and I say, oh, we got it. Tomorrow it's going to look different because this wasn't that good. So I think the ability to be able to constantly try new stuff and tweak stuff and find some time to reflect and and okay, this was good, this, this totally bombed.
Speaker 2:And, and I and I think the other thing is just if, if you feel like you're going to stay there, like you really got to try to get to know the kids I mean, that's the relationships is what, what makes it happen, you know when we, when, when you and I, when we can push kids to do things, or you know, I think it's because that relationship is there and I think that's the big thing is to just try to get to know the kids you know and be yourself and I think you've said that too, cause it's really easy to try to be somebody else and just just try to be yourself. You know, I mean I, I always say once I had my own kids. I became a better teacher because I, I very quickly realized what you know kids are coming to school and all these different things going on at home, and I know as a parent how it is sometimes. You know what I mean Piecing things together. So for me, I think I became a better teacher when I had kids.
Speaker 2:But I, that's not a great piece of advice If you're single. I just think just try to be yourself and just spend some time reflecting on what went well and what didn't. Just take some chances. I mean one of my great mentors a long time ago, like you know, not to be a little what we did. He's like it's just PEs, like if we mess it up, we can do it again tomorrow. He's like it's not a breaker. So just try new stuff and don't be afraid to go back and say, hey, you know what? This wasn't very good last time, so we're going to try it this time, a little different.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, that's perfect. Like I said, you and I are on the same wavelength. I think I'm a lot of these things seriously, um. So first of all, thank you so much for doing this and like we're definitely gonna do this again because I definitely want to.
Speaker 2:This has been a blast.
Speaker 1:I feel like really that's the surface I, I do too. I'm looking at the time. I'm like, I know, first start this. I'm like, oh, let's just go half an hour, but man, yeah, I'll tell you what you've provided so many great stories, games, you know, wisdom, I feel like for for everybody listening. Yeah, thank you so much. Like I said, and we will definitely do this sometime soon because we we do need to keep going. This is, this is part one for you and I of many.
Speaker 2:I would absolutely, I would absolutely love to dave. I had a, I had a blast. I think, like you, we could probably go for another hour and wouldn't even realize it exactly so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so yeah, thank you, michael. We'll talk soon. I appreciate it. Thank you everybody for tuning in today. I really do appreciate it, as always, go to supersizefizedcom for more information or check out my new sub stack. It is a an app, a kind of a website newsletter that you can log on to to get the the latest articles I've written and newsletters, and I just love free to be a part of the Substack community. So take care, pe Nation, have a great day, week, weekend, whenever you listen to this, and let's keep pushing our profession forward. Thank you, bye.
