Calling Bull$h!T in PHYSED

9/27/2017

My summer project: Replacing the dirt around my dry well from erosion from increased rain fall in Maryland this summer. Mike Rowe would have been proud of this dirt job.

I am huge fan of 60 minutes on Sunday night. When I was younger I got mad when NFL football games would run long and delay the start of the show because I always loved the storytelling of “A Few Minutes” with Andy Rooney. I have always liked old curmudgeons from the greatest generation. He worked hard at CBS and didn’t have a problem speaking his mind in front of millions of viewers. He received positive messages of support and negative letters of disagreement all the time from fans but he would always continue writing a new story each week. I hope Andy Rooney would appreciate this blog post.

Calling Bull$h!T(BS) In Physical Education

Each week I put in 50 plus hour work weeks for the profession that I love called Physical Education. I start the morning with coffee and the Twitter feed to see the creative posts of my friends and positive echo chamber. I then Vox after getting ready at home with my small group of PhysEd Republic before heading to school. At school each lesson is designed using a backwards design model with quality and appropriate practices. Each lesson could be used as a formal observation for my rating. I do this because my students deserve quality instruction so that they learn and comprehend the skills and concepts needed to grow into adulthood. After school I respond to emails from other educators and companies that are making progressive changes in our field. The work continues throughout the evening after the kids bath and bedtime. I love my profession but I am growing tired of the BS. The types of educators and organization below, it's time to call out your BS.

The Michael Jordans
These are the educators that know more about their shoe game and fantasy football teams then the content that they should be teaching. They waste their planning time checking ESPN and worrying about plays for the amazing varsity sports team that is 5-5 this season. We need these educators to change or get out of our profession. Please use your time wisely before your ESPN addiction leads you to a casino addiction like Mike.

American Help It Self Association
The association that help support our profession for many years has gotten greedy. They have chosen profits over helping our profession and our students. While SHAPE does need to clean up their mess in Reston, AHA just put the knife in the back of our professional organization and business partner. We need to work out a new contract or find another partnership that values health and physical education professionals.

Professor Dysfunction
Your job is help produce quality future candidates for the field of physical education but you choose to focus on what you like and the educational models from thirty years ago. You stress the importance of punctuality and quality instruction but you can’t communicate with mentor teachers guiding your interns in the school based setting. Purple ditto copies from the 80’s shouldn’t be your tools loaded into Google Drive for interns. Also, students need to learn all current teaching models not just the models from thirty years ago when you were in graduate school.

The Blind Administrator
These are the administrators that believe their programs are awesome and current when in reality their programs are a hot mess from the 80’s. They think GaGa ball is an appropriate practice since they are still listening to the Lady Gaga CD from her world tour a few years ago. Please use your dial up modem and search AOL for current best practice of the SHAPE America website or other great publications. Just please stay off the PE Central Facebook page.

We need to address this BS before we are all working at Planet Fitness as a grunt monitor in 2029 or in a cubicle like Office Space.

Did anybody see my red stapler?
Rich

4 Comments

justin schleider link

9/27/2017 06:02:02 pm

As always respect the work you do. I don't know any answers to the problems you name. The hard part is the people that read your blog probably aren't the ones that need your advice the most. The American Heart Association killed us. My rep emailed me about a date and I told her I can not participate this year until I see what the new deal they get in place is. Keep digging sir.

Judy LoBianco

9/27/2017 07:41:01 pm

Hi Rich!
Thanks so much for your blog post -they are always so thought-provoking and exciting to read. Of course I just want to respond to the section entitled "American Help It Self Association"

I want to assure you and the followers of the blog that the dedicated SHAPE America staff members and volunteers on our various councils and Board of Directors would disagree that we are helping ourselves to greedy money endeavors. Those of us who serve and work for SHAPE America do so because we believe wholeheartedly in the mission of our profession. Countless hours of service by me and my colleagues are a testament to the beliefs we have that there is nothing more important than the health literacy and physical literacy of every child in this country. Our staff, in particular, could be no more invested than to give their life's work every single day to this mission.
I want you to know Rich, that I truly appreciate you, for challenging all of our thinking around these difficult issues.

Rich

9/28/2017 03:24:26 am

Judy,

I believe that current board is working hard for our profession and do truly appreciate your service. The reason I started writing this blog series was because of the professionals that expressed concern that SHAPE America was struggling. I talk with educators often about these problems and voice the concerns of membership that are in positions that can’t speak their opinions. While AHA has helped the community over the years, we have helped them keep their net profits above 770 million dollar each year by marking to students and parents. Our own research shows that the American diet more than the lack of exercise contributes to heart disease. Both groups have vested interest in the fundraiser since the funding helps provide revenue for day to day operations for both organizations.

The partnership needs to be questioned when one group tells the other group that they are are going to lose a large amount of income. Most state organizations just lost 40% to 50% percent of their budget for this 2017-2018 budget year. This means that SHAPE lost a good amount of their income too.

I agree the boards decision to terminate the former CEO contract after learning of the agreement that he signed with AHA. I just hope the current board and new CEO can find a way to revise the contract. Also can we get rid of the state contract line about AHA being the only fundraising source for the organizations. The states are going to revolt over time if they can fund their local organizations or they are going to go bankrupt.

You are awesome.

Fran Cleland

9/28/2017 12:38:38 pm

Hi Rich,

I would like to chime in to your conversation re: American Help It Self Association and as well as Professor Dysfunction given I have an vested interest in both.

Please understand that SHAPE America always considers their members first and foremost. The current situation with AHA is challenging however please know that SHAPE America will do their very best to negotiate a beneficial contract. It is key that AHA recognize the value teachers provide and I am sure this will be key in our future negotiations. There are many other intricacies involved in this negotiation as you can well imagine. The new SHAPE CEO as well as the Board will always strive to do what is in the best interests of its members and state affiliates. It is critical that we all continue to elevate our profession and communicate in a constructive manner on social media.

Re: dysfunctional professors. This is my 28th year in higher education and I pride myself in staying current. I am not sure who you are targeting, but D2L, TK20, Google hangouts, synchronous and asynchronous group online chats, & Kahoots provide just a glimpse into current technologies that aid our instruction. My students know backward design, know the value of examining their impact on student learning via formative and summative assessments as well as current models of instruction (e.g., FLIP model in Maine). There are many teaching behaviors that will remain throughout the ages such as descriptive and prescriptive feedback, maximizing practice time, differentiating instruction and the like. I spent over four years writing the 5th edition of a 2017 textbook and that alone demands reading current research and studying current best practices. So, perhaps you should consider further study about how teacher education is conducted at accredited institutions.

Finally, I must compliment you on your creative writing style. You have a unique skill set.

Best regards,
Dr. Fran Cleland
SHAPE America President

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