The National PE Institute was such an amazing conference for me both educationally, socially, and professionally. You can read about my entire experience here, however in this blog post, I want to share the top 3 things I learned that I will take back with me from the break out sessions.

The top 3 things I learned and will bring back with me from the conference are:

1. Inquiry based learning. Nathan Horne spoke on this subject. Nathan has an awesome site that you can check out – IPhys-Ed.com This is a quote from Nathan that really stuck with me:

“What happens if every time we said teaching instead we said learning”.

One idea I already have about using inquiry is to post questions about the five components of fitness. Each cone will be dedicated to a component of fitness. There will also be equipment at each cone. The students will build a stage of an obstacle course by answering the question by using the equipment to build that stage of the obstacle course. The students will teach the rest of the class how they will travel through their stage of the obstacle course and how it addresses that specific component of fitness.

2. Standards Based Grading and Instruction. Sarah Gietschier-Hartman presented on this subject. I already use 4 point rubrics in my physical education classes but the “AHA” moment (and there were several) that I took away from Sarah’s session was how to use kid-friendly and parent friendly terms for the levels of Mastery.

This is what Sarah shared:
• Exceptional level – Wow!
• Proficient level – Got it!
• Making Progress – Getting There!
• Not Yet – I do not know this, yet. I do not understand this, yet. I cannot do this, yet.

3. Jigsaw method in physical education. Dr. Ash Casey presented on this. I am going to use this strategy to empower my students to be in charge of their own learning and work cooperatively as a group.

About the Author: Crystal Gorwitz is a Physical Education/Health Education Teacher at Hortonville Middle School in Hortonville, Wisconsin.