Midyear Check-In For PE Teachers

What's up PE Nation!

Today I take a hard look at what’s working and what needs work across our PE program, from a new student leadership system to weather-bent units, a missed grant, a messy Turkey Trot tally, and a post-surgery plan that turns warmups into student-led moments. Reflection sets the tone, action steps make it real.

• leadership program wristbands
• weather disruptions forcing spiraled units and flexible pacing
• missed grant prompting fundraisers and sharper proposals
• turkey trot run-in-one-day success with flawed lap counting

This and more on today's episode. Take time to reflect on your program and make steps to improve going into the new year.

Take care,

Dave

-Kindergarten PE Games and Activities ebook ($3.99 for 10 activities)

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Grab my free copy of the Outside PE Checklist as a reference that includes equipment, procedures, transitions, and other essentials for successful outdoor teaching

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-Paperback or download: HERE

-Amazon Ebook: HERE

Chapters

• 0:03 Welcome And Purpose Of Reflection
• 2:08 Launching The Student Leadership Belts
• 5:01 Wins And Gaps In Leadership Program
• 7:36 Units Derailed By Florida Weather
• 10:11 Spiraling Curriculum And Pacing
• 10:11 Grants Missed And Funding Rethink
• 12:54 Rebuilding Through Fundraisers And Better Grants
• 12:54 Turkey Trot Format And Fixes
• 16:14 Counting Laps Fairly Next Year
• 16:14 Surgery, Boundaries, And Student Leaders
• 19:38 Cowbell Tip And Closing CTAs

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:03

Hello and welcome to the Super Size for Zed podcast. My name is Dave, and today I want to go through some mid-year reflection with all of you. And I think it's important to do that with any program in any phase of your program or your life or your career. So let's do that right now. So without further ado, here we go. R I P-E-Nation, welcome in. So reflecting is very important. And I know some of you probably journal and you have notebooks, and I do as well. I don't journal as much as I used to or as I should. So I'm just going to reflect right here. But reflection is a very important uh piece of uh well, let's let's just keep it at your teaching, I guess. Um it's very important to look back and see what went well, what did not work at all, and what you need to uh change or make better. So I'm gonna go through some things that have happened this school year and just tell you how it's gone. And I put some podcasts out about some of these things, and you know, it's not always sunshine and rainbows. It's just not. Now, sometimes it is. I'll give you that, but sometimes it's not. And um, you know, I want to go through some things and how I can make them better. And I think that's important to look back and just say, hey, let's let's change this, let's make it better in this way. And that's how you become a better teacher by um, you know, not just saying, well, that one, you know, just that's over, whatever, or I'm awesome. You know, like let's try to keep better getting better each time. So I will make this a boomer and I'll give you five things that I'm gonna reflect on, but I also want you to think about your program because this isn't about me, this is about you and me and how we can make our programs better.

SPEAKER_00: 2:03

So here's number one. So number one is my leadership program.

SPEAKER_01: 2:12

Man, I was so excited about this thing. I was so excited. And if you haven't listened in or read what I put out, um, I think it was this summer, it was before the school year started. I kind of saw this well, I kind of stole this idea a little bit um from a place, but then I well made it my own. So what I did was this I wanted to empower students to earn levels like in martial arts, because I'm a black belt in karate, and I just wanted them to learn how to uh pace themselves and um be consistent over time and work hard for a goal. And so I developed a five belt system. And when I say belts, they're actually wristbands I I um purchased. I have white, uh white belts at the beginning, uh, then green, then orange, then purple, then black. And I'm not gonna go into every detail here because that'll be a whole podcast I already did, but definitely check that out in the I'll put in the show notes. So the leadership program, it's it's based on uh, you know, students giving their best effort, like all the time, and they're helping each other and they're being uh good leaders and demonstrate uh games and uh qualities that we want to see in PE, sportsmanship, teamwork, um, just helpfulness, good, you know, just being graceful, whether you win or lose. I know it's a big one. And they can earn things as well that can earn them to be one of my safety patrollers or field day helper, or just a like a referee in a game, or a captain in the game. Now, we don't do captains like, you know, kindergarten kickball captains, but uh something like that, where they get to pick maybe a friend or two to be on their team, things like that. So I was really excited about it. I developed it for third, fourth, and fifth, and the third graders all start out with no belts, and then after a week or two of going over the rules, like reinforcing things, they can earn their white belt and then go from there. And the fourth and fifth graders are kind of grandfathered in this year because, you know, I'm starting it. I want to make it where they start at third grade, but but obviously I already have fourth and fifth graders. So man, I was so excited about this. I was. And it started off kind of rough where I didn't I want to get started and it uh my administration was kind of like, oh yeah, maybe, and uh sure. And um, so I started without their permission kind of thing, um, which I shouldn't have, but I was getting a little frustrated. I'm not gonna I'm just gonna be honest. Um, you know, I just want to start it. I was being impatient and I should have waited. But um we got it going, um, and that was fine. But you know, so I I've noticed some of my students, they're like, oh, I lost my wristband. And because all I said was, you know, you gotta like, let's bring them, wear them during class. And wear them if you're safety patrollers, wear them at your post. Because I want the younger kids, because my safety patrol are all fourth or fifth graders, I want my younger students to see, hey, I, you know, I could earn this level, and you know, these are kids I can look up to. Well, I noticed that some students, a lot of students just don't wear them, or they're like, oh, I lost mine, or my dog ate it, or whatever. And it's like, well, you know, I just the lack of um, I mean, some students are all in on it, but there's a lot of students that don't care at all. And that I don't know, it kind of bothered me, I guess. And by the way, sorry, they are mowing the lawnshood right now, so I'm gonna pause it when I need to. And if it gets too loud, I'm I apologize. But of course, when I'm podcasting, they want to mow the lawn. You know, that's the best time for them to do it. Now, there are some really good things to this program. So as of right now, there's only about 10 black belts in the whole school. And those are fifth graders, that's the highest they can go. And my fourth graders, the highest they can be right now, is uh orange, but they can uh get to purple by the end of fourth grade because it's a time thing, too. It's a consistency thing. And I feel like I don't know, there's times when I'm really disappointed that the kids aren't all into it. And a lot of third graders are into it because they know that that's what they're all starting at at basically white belt. Where some of the fourth and fifth graders, I don't know, they maybe they feel like we didn't put them as high as they wanted to be or something like that. But we're trying to be as honest as we can with where they are in their journeys. So it's been good and bad, I guess, frustrating, but also uh positive for some students. I think there's some students are really trying, like they're really trying their best to be helpful. They try they do their best every day. One of the things is the thing is they have to bring their water bottles every day. So, um, you know, just being prepared, you know, that kind of thing. So there's good and bad. Um, I don't say good and bad, but there's, you know, positive and negatives to it. I think as we move along with it, I think it'll get better. Um, especially when the current third graders keep moving up, I think that's gonna work better than the kids that are were kind of grandfathered in with fourth and fifth grade. So that's my reflection, I guess, to start with on the leadership program.

SPEAKER_00: 7:27

The uh, you know, the good, the bad, and the not so great or not, yeah. All right, next up are just my units in general.

SPEAKER_01: 7:38

So this is something that can you can look at as a general thing. I know a lot of you did not do the leadership program, but any program, you could just think about um, you know, how it's been going. So my units in general, I there's always a problem with the weather in Florida in the beginning of the school year. And so I never get the things accomplished, all the things accomplished that I want to get um before Christmas break. Now, right now I'm recording it during Thanksgiving break, this podcast, but even now I feel like we're behind. Like I'm trying to get the fifth graders ready for a chook ball tournament in in the spring, and they're just not they're not ready yet. And it's not their fault that we just had a lot of rainy days. We've had a lot of heat index days, and that that's a that was a new thing like starting last year, where they couldn't be outside if it's over 104 degrees, which I know sounds like a crazy amount, which it is, it's very hot, but we've always monitored our students and kept them in the shade and got them water and just kept them out, you know, for 10 minutes at a time or whatever. And so, you know, we've had to be inside a lot this year. And if you're an outside school, that's not a good thing. So again, I'd say we're be definitely behind, but you know, that's okay. I'm trying to give myself some grace. I'm trying to give my students uh just the best, you know, program they can have, the best education they can have. And it's not always easy, like I said, with these rainy days, heat days, lightnings in the area all of a sudden. Um, just things happen. And so to try to be prepared for that and maybe even try to condense the units down a little bit, or try to make it a more of a spiraling curriculum. That's what I've been trying to do in the past couple of years, where, you know, the fourth and fifth graders, they might not get as much basketball, but they're getting invasion game strategy at the same time. They're getting the chokeball, they're getting ultimate football or ultimate ball, whatever, you know, they're getting ultimate frisbee. Um, they're getting other things the younger students aren't getting. And it's if I so if I can't finish in a school year a certain amount of uh units, I'll spiral that to the next year or make it certain grade levels get certain things. And, you know, that's just how it is. And at the end of the year, we have the same problem. We have a lot of rainy days in May with in Florida, a lot of heat, and so a lot of things, activities, things going on. Um, so it's it just be patient with yourself, is what I'm trying to say. I always try to have a plan, I always try to plan it out, but it doesn't always work.

SPEAKER_00: 10:06

And that's number two.

SPEAKER_01: 10:11

Number three are the grants and the grants I did not get this year. So every year I write grants for I've written grants for the rail yard obstacle course, uh like three times and I've gotten it. Uh just different sections of it at my both of my schools, brain balls, um, technology, um, just all sorts of stuff. And this year I didn't get it. I wrote it for cup stacking, like more timers and just just more stuff, just for my cup stacking club and for my PE program. And I wrote a good one, I thought. And every, every year I get, I get it. I'm like, oh, I got this, no problem, right? And then I received an email saying I didn't get it. I mean, I didn't even ask for like a lot of money. Last year I got a, you know, got my inflatable Gagaball pit for like almost three grand. This was um, you know,$1,500 for again, good timers and cups and all sorts of stuff. And I didn't get it. There's a um, this is a whole nother thing, but there's a uh like a foundation that works with our district. Every year they they put this out. So you have a chance to write it every single year. And I was just, I was kind of shocked. I'm not gonna lie. I I almost got a big ego. I'm like, oh, I always get it. Oh, of course I'm gonna get it. And when I didn't get it, I was really, I mean, I I was shocked. I was bummed out. And now, you know, I don't, we don't get a lot of money um in general. Like I just don't get it. I have to like, um, so I have to be creative now. I have to, um, I'm gonna sell some cup stacks from uh the Speed Stack company. And based on the fundraiser, you know, we make, we'll get some, you know, not a lot, but we'll get some uh sets and some timers and things like that from the proceeds. And, you know, again, I just gotta be creative now. And I have to kind of regroup and, you know, uh refocus next year for my grant writing. Um, it doesn't have to be cups, but whatever I write the grant on, I gotta be better. And I gotta, I again, I thought I wrote a good grant, but apparently I didn't didn't. I mean, I had a great title. I used ChatGPT, which might be the problem, actually. I used ChatGPT to help with titles and um some uh just some help and to rephrase things, but maybe they thought, well, this guy looks like he's just using ChatGPT, which I wasn't, but I was using it to help. And I wonder if that was part of the problem, but that's part of the reflection process, right? That's what I'm talking about is thinking about, well, what did I do wrong? I've I've got it like 10 years in a row that I've tried and I didn't get it this time. So, anyways, um, that's my reflection on grant writing and just um working to build my program up with uh, you know, funds from other places and how I can be creative.

SPEAKER_00: 12:54

So the fourth one I'm gonna talk about is what just happened, uh, I mean, less than a week ago.

SPEAKER_01: 13:00

It was the turkey trot. And there's definitely some positives and some, well, especially one, I think one big negative um or big thing we could change for next year that can make it way better. So last year we did the turkey trot in two days, and it was kind of a disaster, I'm not gonna lie, because I had what I wanted to do. There's three, three factors here. What I want to do, what my principal wanted me to do, and what the PTO wanted me to do. And none of them quite matched up. They they just didn't. And it was kind of a mess. Um, I don't want to get into all that. It just was a mess. And let's just say um it wasn't the winners were maybe we were right, maybe we weren't. Um we did pop school sticks when they walked when they went on the track and we counted, but some of them maybe might have got a head start because we can't just we had to stagger kids and you know there's we don't have timers on them. We do the best we can to find winners. Um again, that's a whole other thing. And I just put out a podcast recently on um the turkey trot itself and how we ran it. So this this is more of a reflection of what we can do better and what went really well. So, first, um, what I think went really well was we did it in one day. Um it was a lot of kids. We had art, music, and stem out there with um, you know, helping out, monitoring the kids. We had uh boys go on the track first, all the boys in let's say one grade level, let's say uh whatever, kindergarten. All the boys went out. And while that was going on, the girls got some free time inside, like where the courts are in the pavilion, and the boys are on the track, which is right next to it. And the girls, uh, we actually did a everybody got a pop school as well, a freezy pop as well. Yes, at nine o'clock in the morning we do freezy pops. And then they they would run for in well, for the younger kids, 15 minutes, and we counted uh the laps by they had a note card and the the parent volunteers would put a little hash mark on it. Um, and that would be their that'd be their laps. And at the end we count them up, and then the girls would go out and the boys would get the free time, that kind of deal. And with the older kids, it was more like 18 minutes. So it was a little bit longer, and we found winners, but the one thing I'll definitely change for next year, because if something we were gonna originally do is do stamps on a note card. You know, they go around, they get a uh stamp, and some of the well, between administration and PTO, I guess the stamps, the self, uh not the ones you have to put on a pad and then go to the stamp or to the card, but the ones are just like you just stamp. Um they're like you don't have to re-ink them. I guess they they're not that much money, but I guess they want to save some money and not buy them. So they did the hash marks with markers. Well, that was to me the big flaw because they some of the hash marks were not they were hard to read. Um they were like, they weren't like, you know, where you put hash marks like four in a row and then you cross go across it and that makes five because kids are going fast and they don't want to wait. And the parents were doing the best they could and just kind of giving hash marks. But there were hash marks that were like crisscrossed, there were random marks on cards, and we're like, I don't know, is that a lap? Who who knows? So we think we got the winners correct, but we're not positive. And it's things like that that I want to make sure we we clean up for next year because I want to make sure if we find a winner, which I don't care, by the way, if there's a winner or not, but my they want to do prizes, like the administration wants to do prizes and things like that. I want to make sure it's correct. And I'm not positive if it was. I mean, I'm pretty sure it was right, but I'm not positive.

SPEAKER_00: 16:42

And so that um is one thing I want to change for the turkey trot. The final thing is um my surgery.

SPEAKER_01: 16:52

And it's funny, again, I I'm telling all of you about my surgery. I cut I kept it a secret from like everybody forever. And then I then at the end I was just like telling everybody like, hey, yeah, I'm having surgery Friday. So the day after the turkey trot, which is only a few days ago, as I'm recording this, I'm recording this on what's today? Today's Tuesday. And my surgery was on Friday. I had a hernia surgery, and I was in a lot of pain going up to it. Like just teaching wise, it would come and go. And there were times when I was just in a lot of pain teaching. And I'm hoping and thinking moving forward, it's not going to be there anymore because I had the surgery. But right now I'm, you know, I'm in some pain and I have been for a few days. And I'm not allowed to lift anything heavy or do anything crazy for at least a couple weeks. So here's what I'm thinking. I just thought about this yesterday, especially with the warmups. I love to do the warmups with the kids where I'm jumping around and doing the uh whatever, let's just say jump and jacks or just, you know, jump and twist or just in the air doing stuff. And so what I'm thinking of going back to the leadership program is with third, fourth, and fifth grade, actually just having a conversation with them, saying, hey guys, because they don't know I had surgery, and just telling them, hey, you know, I I just had surgery. I can't be doing this. And so I need some people, some boys and girls to step up. And if you want to do the uh the exercise up front, I'll help kind of like guide you. But if you want to lead that for the students, you know, that could be something, you know, they can they can earn or they can, if they want to do it, they can do it. Um, we do have a couple music mixes where they know how to do it, uh, definitely. And they they do run it sometimes, the kids, but I'm always in there doing it with them. And I just can't, at least for the first uh week we come back from school um until I go to the doctors and they clear me. Um so, you know, I'm thinking, well, that could be the best way to empower students is just to have a conversation. Now, I'm not gonna do it with kindergarten and even first, maybe not even second, but definitely third, fourth, and fifth who have the wristbands, a leadership program, and be like, hey, if you're if you're interested in this, you know, we'll pick a few kids or whatever. I might even just say, if you're wearing your wristbands, come on up to the front. And if you want to do it, you can help me lead it, that kind of thing. So I'm turning something uh, you know, not negative, but something that's not normal for my program and empowering the students to help me with it. And I I know they're gonna step up. I know they will. So that's my um my surgery reflection, and I'm excited about that. I'm excited to give the students a chance to do different things, to earn different um things around uh the school and the program, and maybe level up a belt. And that's number five. And now it's time for your cowbell tip of the day. All right, so your tip of the day is to reflect on your program. Reflect before the Christmas break and just about how it's going, what what went really well. There's lots of things that went well in my program, and I'm sure in yours, and what you can do differently, or how you can make the next part, the second part of the school year even better. And just take a deep look. I know a lot of you did not have surgery like I did, but you had, you know, different things go really well or go wrong, and not in a bad way, but just not go the way you want it to go. So reflect, maybe write it down or talk it out like I'm doing right now. This is my therapy right now, is talking to you. And, you know, make a plan going forward. And that's one of the most important things make a plan to move forward with your program. And that is your cowbell tip of the day. Thank you everybody for tuning in today. I really do appreciate it. As always, go to super sizefized.com for more information, or check out everything in the show notes. There's different links to articles and different uh courses, some free and some like very low budget. Just if you want to support the show to my uh my book, my courses. Um, again, check those out. I'd love for you to uh um definitely rate the show. Just click on the link down there if you can give us a good ranking, a good uh star ranking. It'll take three and a half seconds. Um that'd be great. That'd help support the show just for free. And with that, PE Nation, have a great day, week, weekend, whenever you're listening to this. You guys and girls are awesome. And let's keep pushing our profession forward.