What are Your 2015 PE Resolutions?

I’ve found that the best way to make New Year plans and resolutions is to think back to my last year’s resolutions. Did I stick with my resolutions or somehow seem to forget them? I start my asking my wife who is a retired principal a simple question, “Is there something you suggest for all teachers?”  Typically, she responds with the suggestion to ponder the question, “What will your students remember after they leave your school and graduate?” My wife isn’t a PE person, but she has guided me in many decisions by sharing her administrative perspective. One resolution that I used for many years was don’t tell me what you do, but show me results. Not games, nor gimmicks. Just prove to me what you do and show me the evidence.

Health and PE teachers hold the key to student success. Students should know about their body and how to take care of it, and as health or PE teachers we can help them with this. This includes using heart rate monitors, prescribing fitness regimens, teaching nutrition and doing all that we can to help our students stay healthy for a lifetime. Our role is to guide them on the path of discovery to making healthy choices, staying active, choosing to join gyms, and participating in their communities as citizens of the world. Through their behaviors our students should display an important message to the health care system.

Today, more than ever before, we can help fight the obesity dilemma and show the value of physical education. It’s our time to step on the soapbox and pound the steps of state legislators and show others what we as physical educators can do. My personal resolution is to continue to remain as an advocate for all we do as physical education teachers and explore all possible avenues to garner support. And we need to go beyond recognizing the hundreds of awesome teachers on Facebook and thousands of top notch teachers across the country: It is our job to help change the behaviors of those teachers who don’t understand what quality PE is, and others who are either lazy or don’t care.

I’ve learned that the best way to make a healthy New Year resolution and keep it is to stay active. I encourage you to find ways, regardless of the weather, to set an example for your neighborhood, community, or special interest group. Set up a walking club that meets weekly and track results with an app, such as Map My Run. Use a pedometer, Fit Bit or anything that can be used to post results. This will be an incentive to continue throughout the year and beyond. When the weather worsens, use your imagination and use some makeshift or regulation snowshoes to get outside.

Volunteer. Participate in charity walks or help with scoring, selling, being a race marshal or even writing an article for the newspaper. Get involved in anything that promotes physical activity and healthy choices. Be visible, be an advocate in any way you can. It doesn’t matter if you are walking, running, biking or kayaking. Be a Pied Piper, a leader who others want to follow. In short, be a positive personal role model.

Some resolutions come up every year: Travel more, save money, cut stress, quit smoking, drink less alcohol and more get sleep are just a few. I’ve had success taking a family approach to New Year’s resolution setting getting everyone to agree to plan a meal with choose healthy selections, engage in outdoor activities, take a class together, and workout as a team.

When the weather changes, especially in the Northeast or anywhere where conditions are severe, it’s easy to find an excuse to not exercise. One way to combat that is to make a fitness calendar with activities that be done both inside and outside the home. This will be a twelve-month plan that can track the entire family or just an individual. Include skills and tasks, nutrition and technology, on your calendar. Fooducate, an app that will help plan meals and grade food choices, can be found at the App Store (Apple), or check out similar apps for Android devices.

The so-called technology craze is still running hard, and even preschoolers know their way around an iPad. There are a myriad of ways to track fitness and healthy choices. The challenge is to do this daily if we want to keep our health promoting resolutions going. Most apps have a history folder that will keep all the results handy each day. They will show if there has been an improvement or what needs more attention. Hopefully, this will be an incentive to never miss a day. Be active, stay active!

Below are a few apps you might like to checkout:

• Cardiograph- checks heart rate
• Motion X/24/7- tracks steps, heart rate, and sleep habits
• QR Reader- scans QR codes
• How to Cook Everything- plan meals with healthy choices
• Apps Gone Free- free apps every day

Socialization is one health promoting resolution easily overlooked. Find new ways to meet new friends and find out what is going on outside the fitness class or gym. There will be a host of opportunities to meet and greet at holiday functions and parties. That may not seem important, but in the mix of conversation you’ll meet people from different job areas with different perspectives. I’ve found that by listening to their exploits and skills, I’ve learned ways to use their experience in handling employees, decorum, accounting, technology, and scheduling demands that have helped me stay on task.

Meeting the “public” is also an opportune time to share what we do and offer suggestions and provide information about physical education. Take a moment and think about this: What would your “elevator speech” (the short time an elevator takes between about three floors) be? Hopefully, it wouldn’t be about the value of dodgeball or games, but rather describe a unique physical activity focused curriculum that provides results and answers to the health care crisis. That should get their attention, instead of the image sadly portrayed in Hollywood movies, such as Dodgeball and Bad Teacher or other insults included in TV programs that too frequently degrade us as not very bright gym teachers. The point is – choose every opportunity or situation you encounter and it an important resolution to become a sales person for health and fitness in 2015.

Advocacy is a resolution that should be at the top of every physical educator’s New Year Resolution list. This can take many forms including publishing a school webpage, podcasting, volunteering to talk at a PTA meeting, writing an article for the local newspaper, blogging, and joining local and national associations. It also means standing proud for the PE profession in political forums and following legislation that may directly affect standards, pensions, job security, and all educational programs affecting our ability to teach well.

In 2015, I encourage you to seek out opportunities to make a difference in a child’s life. WE are more than PE and Health teachers. Throughout the school year we wear many hats, sometimes part-time doctors, psychologists, guidance counselors, nurses, technology experts, arbitrators and parents to our students. To make that happen more efficiently, we need to expand our educational pursuits, attend conferences and conventions, and take school credits that aren’t associated directly with PE or Health classes. In other words, we need to search out and find options that will make us well rounded. This is a perfect fit for another resolution and one that is a day-by-day path toward excellence.

Final thoughts: One of my personal resolutions for 2015 other than doing more to advocate for physical education, is finding the strength and skills to help others. Since retiring in 2012 I’ve tried to do more to help others and especially to share ideas with teaching colleagues. If somebody needs help I try to find information for them. I’ve traveled a long road from communicating on pe-digest in the mid-1990s and have never looked back. Being a part of the online PE community started a new page in my life I feel like I’ve learned from the best of the best. It’s given me the strength, knowledge, motivation, and hope that made me a better teacher. So, as a parting thought and another resolution – PASS IT ALONG. Make a pact with yourself that from the very first day of teaching to the very last day, you’ll strive to keep the same imagination, creativity, and excitement when teaching that never wavers. It works!