All Physical Education/Health workshops will be held at Tewksbury Memorial High School. Tewksbury Memorial High School is located at 320 Pleasant St., Tewkbsury MA.
Lunch will be available onsite for $5 (cash only).
Session 1: 8:30-9:30
PEH1: Networking: Various facilitators
PEH2: Collecting Data with Heart Tech Plus: Rich Butterfield M.Ed.
The Heart Tech Plus system is an innovative approach for the convergence of the latest wrist-based fitness monitoring technology with robust software that works together to simultaneously measure, track, and correlate a student’s health data with their academic success from kindergarten to college. Using the system, you can monitor each student’s activity and exercise intensity during PE classes and track and monitor their progress. You can keep a record of of each student’s data and a daily report can also be sent to the parents. Lastly, the Heart Tech Plus system enables teachers and administrators to measure their physical education program’s effectiveness.
PEH3: Risky Business: Catherine Dhingra, MS, Officer Kelley Tobyne, Officer Jason Skillings
This session focuses on how to utilize local & regional Youth Risk Behavior Data trends to develop programs to help address issues such as substance use, bullying, and mental health: emphasizing school district, police, & community collaborations.
PEH4: Explore the Mindful Minute: Elizabeth Fulks
Come explore how Mindfulness and Meditation can enhance learning, decrease stress and anxiety, build resilience and self esteem and improve social skills while developing coping mechanisms for aggression and hostility for both students and educators. We can all benefit from mindfulness and learning how to live in the present. Participants will learn how the Mindful Minute is being used in a Middle School Health class, how it can be adapted for all ages and levels and discover ways to make connections between the ancient practice of meditation and yoga to create a safe and peaceful learning environment. Research backs this “new” trend and the success it has had in improving student behavior. Come learn how a Mindful Minute can help your students and enjoy a Mindful Meditation of your own during this session.
PEH5: Best Practices and Strategies in Teaching Coping Skills: Moya Charig, Tracey Germain, Kristen Lyons
This presentation will share strategies that help students improve their positive coping skills. Once learned, these coping skills can reduce feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. The presentation will begin by sharing the evidence-based curriculum that is used to identify how prevalent feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression are within your student-population. Next, presenters will share “best practices” that help students develop their positive coping skills. Some examples would be: creating a “coping skills tool-box,” taking part in “coping skills stations,” and using mindfulness apps that can help reduce feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. If you feel like your students could benefit from improved coping skills, this presentation is for you!!
Session 2: 9:45-10:45
PEH6: The Solution Station: Kayla Grover
The Solution Station is an area that students can reference during class time that reinforces 21st century skills like; critical thinking, problem solving, personal expression, communication, collaboration and more. At the station, students refer to posters with helpful strategies on how to communicate, what to say, and what to do if a problem arises and how they can solve it on their own. You will learn how you can incorporate it into your gym, how it aligns with not only our standards, but our teacher evaluation as well. Together lets teach our students how to express themselves and effectively communicate to solve their own problems.
PEH7: Cooperative Games in Physical Education: Linda Jowett, Garrett McCarthy
Want some ideas on how students can work together to solve a group challenge? This session will demonstrate ways your students will collaborate, communicate, cooperate and problem solve through different challenges. Don’t have a ton of equipment or space? This session is designed with little equipment and space needed for these innovative group challenges.
PEH8: Designing a Skills Based Health Education Curriculum (9:45-11:15): Sarah Benes EdD, CHES
Skills-Based Curriculum Building- Are you ready to focus on skills? Have you started revising your curriculum but want some support or affirmation? If you already have an understanding of skills-based health education and are ready to dive in to curriculum building by developing a scope and sequence and planning units – this is the session for you! Bring any work you have started or start from scratch. Either way, be ready to work and begin transitioning to a skills-based approach.
PEH9: “13 Reasons Why” presented by the Samaritans of the Merrimack Valley: Deborah Helms
Join Deborah Helms in a conversation about the Netflix Documentary “13 Reasons Why” to learn how to engage staff, students and families about the documentary. This session will give you strategies to host family nights, work with students in health classes, and help staff to understand the complexity of the documentary and how to have healthy conversations with students.
PEH19: Instant Activities for Elementary Level Students: Ellen Bissaillon
Good bye jumping jacks and hello Instant Activities! After years (decades) of leading warm-up exercises I made the switch to Instant Activities and you can too. Involve students in vigorous movement as quickly as possible and they are ready to catch their breath and listen to the day’s lesson. The presentation will open with the how and why of Instant Activities then move into 3 easy to use examples. We will finish by opening the floor to share workshop participants’ favorite tried and true activities. More time: let’s check the internet to plan for next week’s class.
10:45-12:00 Lunch
Session 3: 12:15-1:15
PEH10: Inclusion Rowing for Middle School PE & After School Programs: Marlene Duerr, Ellen Minzner
Indoor rowing is a safe, low impact activity that builds fitness and confidence in your students. This workshop will introduce teachers to indoor rowing machines using the curriculum developed by Community Rowing Inc for the Boston Public Schools.Teachers learn how to safely use indoor rowing machines for in class activities, and all activities can accommodate students with intellectual or physical disabilities. Workshop participants will take part in an inclusive rowing activity and will receive information and materials on how to bring indoor rowing to their schools and classrooms.
PEH11: Line Dance & Ballroom Dance: Deanne Clark
This presentation will give an introduction to teaching line dance and ballroom dance. Line dance is a fun social dance often used with large groups, but can also have fitness benefits. Ballroom dance, despite being a slower pace, helps improve coordination and communication between partners. Dance concepts can easily modified to all levels of students.
PEH12: Crosswalking NHS and SEL Competencies: John Crocker, Jeff Osgood
This session will provide a blueprint for school districts looking to improve SEL instruction in their schools. Attendees will walk away with an understanding of the close connection between CASEL competencies and the National Health Education Standards, and give health and guidance staff the opportunity to discuss next steps in a coordinated effort to improve SEL instruction.
PEH13: Mock Car Crash: Planning and execution of a drinking and driving docudrama: Matthew Dibble, Maura Duah-Asamoah, Rebecca Kobrenski
This session will focus on the planning and execution of a mock car crash. This Drinking and Driving Docudrama is a mock alcohol-related crash, yet addresses many more social issues beyond drinking and driving and dives into the realities and consequences of what a tragedy like this has on a school community. The session will include video clips from past Chelmsford High School Mock Car Crash events, a time line of how to plan a mock car crash leading up to the event, and a timeline for the day of the event. Also included are the connections with the school and community, student involvement, school staff involvement and the importance of secrecy. Information for the day of the event will also be shared such as the technology involved, pre-accident assembly, the accident itself, the post-accident mock wake, the post-accident speaker/assembly, and breakout sessions.
PEH14: Program Design and Alternative Training Methods: Greg Gibbs,MS
This session will provide an analysis of alternative programming design solutions for youth taking into account: training age, rate of adaptation, time to train, training experiences. In addition, this session will breakdown proper applications of various training modalities and when it’s appropriate to use them. Exploration of improper application of exercises in relation to the correct anatomical make up of the various joints in the body will also be highlighted.
Session 4: 1:30-2:30
PEH15: Elementary Physical Education Standards Based Report Cards: Katie Simes
Do you want to learn how to make your elementary physical education report card standards based? Come to this session to learn how to make your report card standards based by collaborating with colleagues, choosing standards that work best for your curriculum, using the National Standards Outcomes as a guide, and developing common assessments across all standards being assessed.
PEH16: Technology for Assessment in P.E.: Using Plickers to Improve Your Teaching: Ken Greenberg, M.S., M.Ed
This workshop is intended to give a basic knowledge of how to use the Plickers app and technology to collect data to better inform your daily teaching and lesson planning. We will start with a very basic overview of the role technology can play in Physical Education and some of the common obstacles P.E. teachers face when thinking of integrating technology into their daily classes. The focus will quickly shift to the Plickers app. We will spend time learning how the app works and designing ,standards based, Plickers assessment questions. The workshop will wrap up by showing creative ways other P.E. teachers have been able to use the app in their classrooms and a brainstorming session on other ways Plickers could be used.
PEH17: Assessment in Skills Based Health Education: Sarah Benes EdD, CHES
Assessment in Skills-Based Health Education- Assessment in Skills-Based Health Education A key aspect of skills-based health education is assessment. Developing authentic, performance based assessments can be challenging. This interactive session is designed to help you develop assessments for your curriculum. We will cover some key information and strategies but most of the time will be spent working on assessments for your curriculum.
PEH18: Getting to the Core with Pilates: Lynne Archambault
Pilates is a system of exercises created to strengthen, elongate, and re-balance the body. Focusing on the core, it increases flexibility, posture, and helps improve the mind-body connection. This session will demonstrate a fun, way to introduce a wide array of students to different forms of exercise and movement in a physical education setting.