Can you believe it's been over two months since we last gathered for our state conference?! We cannot wait to reconnect at Spooky Nook Sports this December 1st and 2nd for our 101 annual state conference. Before we do, we need your help! We want to ensure the conference and professional development we provide is everything you expect it to be. There are two ways to share your feedback with us:
As our organization celebrates its 100th year, we are taking time to pause, focus and celebrate. The landscape of Health and Physical Education has been challenged and changed drastically in recent times and is more than ever a priority needed in our schools. After two school years of navigating this new landscape, we are more than ever grateful to celebrate our teachers, membership, and those who have served our organization.
So, are you ready to join us in person to celebrate?!
By definition a summit is:
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When we tried to think of a name for the relaunch of our professional journal, it only seemed fitting that after a year of what seemed like uphill climbing, we landed on the name, The Summit. While we saw metaphors in the first two parts of the definition, we had our “A-HA!” moment with the third...a meeting between people interested in the same subject. Over 6,300 of you supported our efforts in advocating for Health and Physical Education this year when proposed legislation threatened to cut programs in lieu of athletic substitution. Hundreds of teachers join us monthly, (virtually!) while watching live webinars, or catching up with the recordings later. For the past 100 years, HPE teachers have rallied together at our conferences and workshops to ensure they have access to the most up-to practices, content, and resources to continue their own professional growth. So yes, The Summit just felt right. |
SHAPE PA is excited to announce a new committee designed to meet the needs of our future professional members! The Future Professionals Advisory Committee (FPAC) is composed of a student representative from five Pennsylvania universities with Health and Physical Education teacher preparation programs; East Stroudsburg University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Lock Haven University, Slippery Rock University, and West Chester University.
Members of this committee will serve as liaisons between SHAPE PA and their universities. Their duties include monthly zoom meetings, reporting back to their universities, creating professional development opportunities for our future professionals through SHAPE PA, and assisting in projects and tasks assigned by the SHAPE PA Board of Directors (BOD).
As teachers, we constantly have little reminders that remind us why we do what we do. An email from a former student now pursuing a degree in education because of you. A handmade card from a student. A phone call from a parent thanking you for the support and encouragement you gave their child. Those little moments have BIG impacts.
As we were gearing up to launch our online learning series, we wanted to find a way to say THANK YOU to you, our membership for standing by. As an organization, we've faced a lot of challenges and changes. You were there with us through it all.
If anything we learned anything in that year that shall remain nameless, it’s fair to say we learned A LOT, and perhaps, are still processing those lessons. One big take-away as an organization we have is the gratitude for those teachers, former board members, and volunteers who helped us get here. Where is here you may ask? To our 100th year!!! It’s time to celebrate (big time!) our past, present and keep building a strong future. So guess what? We are going to do just that.
Oh, the irony that a rollercoaster of a year marked 2020 shares the same numbers as what ophthalmologists use to mark normal vision, 20/20.
I don’t know about you, but personally, for me looking back on the past 4-ish months I somehow feel that time has flown and it’s also stood still. How is that possible?
2020, a new decade. Time to reflect, make changes and look for new ways to improve what we want to do heading into the future. That is exactly what PSAHPERD did as it assigned an Ad Hoc Awards Committee to review all our awards and protocols to meet our mission. We wanted to continue to recognize our deserving Health Education and Physical Education teachers throughout PA. We are also striving to streamline the application and evaluation process by updating our criteria, applications, and rubrics.
Cindy Allen, Judy Conroy, Fran Cleland Donnelly, Craig Kemmlein. Colleen Wegimont, and Margie Wuestner have been working over the past few months on this task. As the chair of this committee, I have been blessed to work with these amazing and dedicated professionals.
Has this conversation happened in your faculty rooms? “They don’t understand what we do in our physical education classes.” “They” could be administrators, school board members, or parents. “They” often make assumptions about what physical education is like based on their own experiences in school. “They” are often decision makers whose very decisions can make it hard to grow.
What if you could offer insight into your philosophy and what happens in your class? Sharing what you do creates opportunities for learning for all stakeholders. “They” would gain an understanding of your thoughts, how you help your students, and what your students are learning. George Couros says about blogging, “When we see ‘sharing’ as something that both supports and pushes us to be better, the big winner will always be the students.” I think we can all agree the students are why we do what we do.
