New Years Resolutions: How Do We Get Students to Buy In?

Christmas is over and most people are setting their sights on the future and that means New Year's Resolutions! We all know how hard it can be to stick to a resolution as adults so how on earth are we supposed to get our students to buy into goal setting and a fresh start!? Let's start with what we know and then come with a solution to the problem.

Keep in mind I am approaching this from a health and phys. ed perspective, but there ideas and guidelines can apply to many aspect of the educational experience.

 According to Forbes, it's estimated that more than 40 percent of Americans make some sort of New Year's Resolution annually. Of those resolutions, the top ten include three major health goals; losing weight (1), staying fit and healthy (5), and quitting smoking (7). In reality, it's estimated that only eight percent of individuals actually succeed in meeting their resolutions. We as educators may fall into this conundrum ourselves! So how do we set a good example for our students?


Keep It Simple. Too often, our resolutions involve a complete makeover of some aspect of our lives and too much change at one time is difficult to maintain. This is even more important for our students! When we talk to them about New Year's Resolutions and setting appropriate fitness goals, we also have to talk about what makes goals appropriate and attainable. Starting off with a goal of going to the gym for an hour everyday to improve muscular strength and endurance will not be attainable and sets the student up to fail. Instead, break the goal down and determine how often a student can realistically get to gym, how much time they can spend there, and what knowledge they have of weight training to successfully complete a workout. Ensure they take their goals home to discuss with a parent! Parental involvement is key for our students to succeed in any classroom, but especially when we look at impacting their lives outside of the classroom.

The Bottom Line... Keep goals simple to start and add on to them later once the simple goals have been met.

Develop a Plan Generic goals often fail because there is no specific criteria to hold us accountable. "I want to lose weight" or "I want to improve my cardiovascular endurance" are not sufficient resolutions because it provides no details in how to obtain them. It is critical to talk to students about SMART Goals (specific, measureable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound). Developing a plan to match your goal will help you stay motivated and hold you accountable. Help students develop plans in class to help obtain their goals. Provide feedback and suggestions before sending it home to show parents.

The Bottom Line... S.M.A.R.T guidelines for goal setting will help students develop a plan to increase their likelihood of success.

Check In Often. When students know that you have a vested interest in their goals and what they are trying to accomplish, they're more motivated to succeed. Schedule weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly check-ins to see how students are doing. This is an excellent opportunity to provide feedback, support, advice, modify goals, and to celebrate their accomplishments! You can even make up your own classroom achievement award to give to students who meet their resolutions.

The Bottom Line... Be there as a support for your students and celebrate their accomplishments!

Be a Role Model.The best way to motivate students is to show them how you're working on accomplishing your own resolutions. So long as you feel comfortable, share what your resolutions are with your students, check-in with them, and ask them to help reach your goals. I am only in my fourth year of teaching, but I have found that being honest and appropriately open with my students helps them feel safer in my classroom and more willing to share their own experiences. Goal setting and New Year's Resolutions provide the perfect opportunity to collaborate with students to reach common goals.

The Bottom Line... Be the example for your students.

No matter what resolutions you and your students may be embarking on for 2017, remember to follow this simple advice. Resolutions don't have to be overwhelming if they're thought out, organized, and attainable. Remember to go over SMART Goals with your students and check-in often. Many blessings to each of you as we enter 2017!

Teachers Pay Teachers Holiday Linky Party!

To quote one of my favorite holiday films, "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!" Clearly Buddy the Elf wasn't a Teachers Pay Teachers seller because we all know the best way to spread Christmas cheer is by sharing resources for all to hear (er, see).

With that being said, let's get right to the main event. I am launching my first {ever} Linky Party! I have participated in many amazing Linky's in the past and I'm thrilled to be able to host my first one with you all.

For this linky I am asking all participants to post one FREE holiday themed resource and one PAID holiday themed resource. They can be Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or general winter themed. Once you have posted your two links, I humbly ask you to share this post with friends, fellow teachers, and other Teacher Pay Teachers sellers! A special thank you to Ashley Hughes for the border frame and clip art used for the graphic on this post.

If you would like to make this Link Up extra special, I ask you to choose one of the following causes {or a cause of your own} to donate to when you download a free resource. Each of these causes has a special place in my heart!

Alzheimer's Association | St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital | Heifer International 

Let's get this Linky Started!

An InLinkz Link-up

Giving Thanks & Tips to my {100} Followers!

Wow! I am blown away by how dramatically Teachers Pay Teachers has impacted my life in such a short amount of time. I began this journey in January 2016 and have loved every minute of it since!

As a way to say thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this process, I have a new, free product available in my store! I'll give a little more detail on this later on.

Teachers Pay Teachers has been such a wonderful outlet for me over the past year. I've always thought I wasn't a creative person or that artistic things weren't for me and TpT has showed me how wrong I was! This journey hasn't just been about selling products, although that has certainly been an added benefit. Becoming a TpT seller has made me a better teacher in my classroom! If I'm teaching a lesson I think to myself, if I made this lesson would someone want to buy it? If the answer is yes, woo hoo! If the answer is no, then why am I teaching this way? Is it benefiting my students? Is is keeping them engaged? How can I make this better for them? It truly makes me think about how I am delivering content and to challenge the status quo!

My department has noticed these changes, as has my administration! My co-workers will even come to me with ideas they've done in their own classrooms and say, "You should make this for your store!" I'll go to them and say I've made a new resource and I want to try it out with our classes before posting it for sale and they always say yes. I could not be more blessed to have so much support for what I'm doing.

With all of this being said, I wanted to share some tips and tricks I've learned from so many amazing sellers along the way for any educators who are interested in becoming a TpT seller or who are just getting started.

1. Become a Premium Seller - Immediately: I read this everywhere and thankfully listened! I purchased my membership on January 16, 2016 and it was scary. I hadn't sold a single product, but everyone was advising that it would pay for itself in the first month. They were right! In my first real month of sales (February 2016) I sold $122 worth of products and took home $103.39 in earned income. If I had still been a basic seller, I would have earned $61. Going premium is worth every penny!


2. Get on the Forums: The TpT Forums are without a doubt the best thing that ever happened to me as a new seller! There is so much information here to read up on. You can ask your own questions, introduce yourself, connect with other sellers, and so much more! Be sure to read through before asking a question though, there is a very good chance the information is already there!


3. Invest in Versatile Clip Art: Another tip I received was to pay for quality clip art. There is a lot of clip art that you can get for free, but having the improved quality for a small selection when you first get started is incredibly helpful! I invested in sports themed clip art and have used it in so many of my resources since then. Find what clip art you think you'll use the most and make the purchase. I have many sellers who I revisit because I love their work so much!
   
   
   
   
   
   Sonya DeHart Designs | Ashley Hughes | Away with the Pixels | The Clipart Factory


4. Invest in Font Options: There are a tone of sellers who makes fonts, but let me save you some time and money. Kimberly Geswein is the only font store you will ever need. She was everything. When you see a font other sellers are using an you think to yourself, where did they get that!? I will bet you 9.9 out of 10 times, it's from Kimberly Geswein. You can download all of her fonts for free for personal use only. She then offers font licenses to purchase for $5 which allows you to use her font in your TpT products. Now, this is the good part. She offers a lifetime all fonts license for $299. Don't have $299 sitting around? If you purchase 60 single font license for $5, contact her so she can verify your purchases, and she will give you her all fonts license. Basically, she's offering you a payment plan!  She offers a free font pairing guide to help show you how to pair fonts for a good visual aesthetic. She is awesome!
   
   Note: I'm working on my payment plan as we speak {slowly, but surely}... I can't wait to have unlimited use of her fonts! In order to use this method effectively (or if you've already purchased single font licenses) you'll need to purchase additional single font licenses. Do not purchase the $299 all font license at one time if you've already purchased a single font license, because you'll essentially be losing what you've already paid for. For example, I personally have purchased six single use font licenses. I would want to pay for 54 more individual licenses and contact Kimberly instead of buying the $299 license because I would be losing $30 I've already paid.


5. Hold Off on Social Media: Everyone I spoke to advised me to hold off on social media and I didn't listen. I tried to pin, tweet and blog immediately after becoming a seller and it was a mistake. I was overwhelmed trying to keep up with everything and I believe that my sales and product line suffered because of it. I am a just shy of a year in now and I've just started utilizing social media to the fullest! My blog is updated weekly, I tweet and post to Instagram what my classes are doing daily, and I can Pinterest like a pro! I would recommend having 10-15 solid resources in your store before you start utilizing Pinterest, 30-40 solid products before using twitter, and waiting until you feel comfortable utilizing your products in your classroom before moving on to Instagram and Facebook.


6. Understand Copyright Laws: I did a lot of research on copyright and trademark laws before creating my products. There is a ton of information out there and it is important to the integrity of your work, as well as the integrity of Teachers Pay Teachers. It's also very frustrating for those of us who know what the laws say to scroll through TpT and see blatant violations everywhere. If there is something popular with kids that is produced or manufactured by a major company, it's likely copyrighted or trademarked. Just because you see someone else selling it on TpT, doesn't mean it's okay or legal. Teachers Pay Teachers offers help directly from their site here.


7. Make Good Covers & Brand Yourself: This is important on TpT for many resources! When potential buyers are scrolling through a long search for a product you want to be able to catch their eye! Colorful, easy to read covers are an excellent way to entice buyers to view your product. Be consistent with your covers so buyers know, "Oh, that's a {insert seller} product!"


8. Find Your Niche: Find what you are passionate about when thinking of products for your store! If you try to make products about things you're not knowledgeable or experienced in, it will show in the product. Don't try to fit into the crowd, make resources you can make well regardless of what category that places you in!


9. Purchase a Seller's Kit or Binder: Let's be honest here, if you're new to TpT or thinking about becoming a seller, you likely have no clue what you're doing. I certainly didn't! There is nothing wrong with being new and purchasing a sellers kit or binder is so helpful! I purchased mine here and it has kept me so organized! I can track my sales by month, quarter, and year round. I can track what I've purchased, what I want to blog, I can plan out resources and units, and so much more.


10. Understand TpT Etiquette & Common Decency: You're going to log in and see so many great ideas! Maybe you've been a buyer and you've decided to create your own store or maybe you're scrolling through the search for inspiration. Whatever you're doing it's important to ensure you're not just re-making other sellers resources and selling them as your own! All of your products should be your own unique creation that add to what the rest of the community has already created, not a copycat that hurts other sellers.


11. Read the Terms of Service Agreements: Every seller should have a terms of service (TOS) agreement within their downloads. Read them. Clip art especially has specific conditions for using that source in other products you create. Read them carefully and follow their instructions so you are not violating their TOS.


12. Make a Terms of Service Agreement: Protect your work and include a TOS agreement with every product download. This allows you to back up a claim made against another seller if you ever need to. Not only that, it helps buyers understand what your rules are so they can use your resources appropriately. 

There are many more tips I can provide, but I believe this is a good base for anyone just getting started. I have learned so much along this journey and if you're considering selling on TpT I highly recommend it! If you ever want to ask me specific questions, please feel free to e-mail me at sassypeteach@gmail.com.

As a thank you to my followers, check out my latest freebie here. I hope you enjoy utilizing these frames in your future TpT creations!

VAHPERD Review Series Part 4: The Brain Game Challange

I am so excited to share my final session review from the 2016 VAHPERD Conference! This presentation was created by Andrea Samsky and I have to say that there is not a more creative person teaching HPE in this universe! For example, when she teaches soccer in class, every piece of equipment takes on a role in the circulatory system (i.e. the balls are oxygen) and she utilizes these pieces to teach two or more concepts at once. My mind was truly blown! I could have stayed and talked to her for HOURS to listen to all of the ways she incorporates health concepts into the PE realm for her elementary students. If you are ever in search of creative ideas for your HPE classroom, reach out to Andrea, she is phenomenal!

Well now that you've heard about how wonderful Andrea is, let me give you all the skinny on what she taught us at VAHPERD to prove it! This lesson was created for elementary students, but after going through it with her, these can easily be adapted to fit the middle school classroom. This activity is called the Brain Game Challenge and works with a station system and worksheet to get kids building, moving, and learning throughout the classroom. I did mark this as a freebie, but there are components you will need before taking this into class and I'll warn you, it requires some work, but the payoff is worth it!

Equipment:

1. Pool noodles cut into 1/2 inch sections (approximately 23 per group)
2. Rope (approximately 24-36 inches long) per group
3. Printed worksheets (one per group)
4. Pens/Pencils (one per group)
5. Station Cards
6. Cones (one per station)
7. Hula Hoops (one per group)

Setup:

1. Stations should be spread apart around the outside of your safe space with all necessary equipment.
2. Each group should find a hula hoop with their equipment placed inside of it.

Recommendations:

1. If possible, try to keep group sizes between 3-5 so students are actively involved.
2. Number your station cards so they match the question on the worksheet. You don't want students spending five minutes at a station sitting and staring at the worksheet trying to figure out where the answer is - keep it simple for them.
3. Avoid making every individual child fill out their own sheet - it keeps them still for longer bouts of time.
4. Move around throughout the activity and check on student learning and retention.
5. Review at the end of class while keeping kids active.

     If you would like to see the PDF files of her station cards or worksheet, please shoot me an e-mail at sassypeteach@gmail.com. If you know of an easy way to upload those files directly to blogger  as a PDF, please let me know! I'm still learning and can admit, I'm not sure of the best way to get you that information. You can see in the sample below that the set she gave us is for lower elementary! Over Christmas break, I will be working on a middle school version for those of us who may be interested!

     Don't forget to submit your ideas for my TpT store by December 20! E-mail sassypeteach@gmail.com with your submissions and check out the entries and rewards post here! Until next time :)

All I Want For Christmas Is...

I'm making a list and checking it twice, I promise to make what ever you like, any resource you can think of!

Welcome back everyone! This week I really want to do something special for you guys as my followers. Drum roll please...

I want to find out what resources you want to see me create! As we enter the holiday season, I will have much more free time on my hands to get crafting on TpT and what better way to utilize that time than by helping you all! Not to mention, if you offer a suggestion for a resource you would love to see, there will be an added benefit for you. As a TpT seller, I'm constantly trying to think of new and exciting products for my followers and I really want to hear from you! What products do you want to see created? What will you utilize most in your classroom? What are you dying to have, but don't have time to create on your own? I want to know it all! So without further ado, let's get into how this will work and what you can expect from me!

1. E-mail your new resource idea that you would love to see me create to sassypeteach@gmail.com. I humbly ask to keep these ideas health and PE related as that is my specialty.
2. Be creative! It can be a holiday specific item, a general classroom item, health, PE, the sky is the limit.
3. Be as specific or broad as you'd like with your request. Please keep in mind that if you have a specific vision for a project I want to know so I can give you exactly what you're looking for.
4. Be sure to leave your TpT store name or the name you would like to see credited in the creation of the project.

1. I will create your resource and place it in my store for purchase, BUT...
2. I will send you a copy of the resource FOR FREE as a way to say thank you for the idea!
3. Credit given to you in the product download!

1. Please submit your project idea by December 20, 2016. This will allow me the time I need to create your idea.

My goal is to fill my store with products that will benefit the entire HPE community! We teach such a valuable subject to our students and my goal is to help all educators achieve greatness in the classroom.

So from the Sassy PE Teacher to you this holiday season, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and Happy Kwanzaa. I hope each of you are blessed throughout this holiday season and beyond.

Note: Special thanks to Ashley Hughes for the header borders, as well as the primary picture background and clip art.

VAHPERD Ideas Worth Sharing Part 3: Music Like You've Never Heard Before

Welcome back for part three of my VAHPERD review series! I am so excited to share this session with you all as it blew my mind when I sat through it. This edition is all about music in PE, how to edit it with iTunes, and the legality of it all. This amazing session was titled Music, Let's Get Your Gym Rocking and was presented by Patrick Lynch of Hampton County Public Schools. He was generous enough to include tutorial videos for those of us that attended! That means you'll get to read and see how to remix all of your songs for future classes.

The most useful thing we learned about during this session was how to edit track lengths in iTunes. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted to use a song that I know the kids will love, only to find it uses bad language and an edited version isn't available. If only I could shorten it to the first thirty seconds or use a small segment somewhere within the track... WELL NOW I KNOW HOW thanks to Patrick.

Converting Songs from YouTube to an MP3 File (legally):

1. Go to www.YouTube.com and search for a song you would like to convert.
2. Once you have found the song you are looking for, copy the URL link from the top of the browser.
3. Visit http://convert2mp3.net/en/ and input the URL you copied from the YouTube video into the "Insert video link (URL) and select format" box.
4. The video will convert and give you the option to provide the artist name and song title. This will be automatically filled in, but you have the opportunity to edit the names if you'd like to.
5. Click continue and you will see a "download"button. Click download and the file will save to your computer.
6. Open iTunes and select File and select upload file.

Confused? Don't be because you will find Patrick's step-by-step guide on how to do everything I've just mentioned. Start this video from the beginning and pause around the 4:00 minute mark to read the next section.

Editing Songs in iTunes:

1. Select the song you would like to edit.
2. Right click, select get info and then select options
3. Once here select Adjust equalizers and then select start & stop time {this allows you to fully edit the track}
4. Select the portion of the song you'd like to use {Example: Start at 1:30 | End at 1:55}
5. Select Input into playlist when you're ready to use

Your track is now ready to play for the times you selected! Like all good things however, there is a con to this method. The song is shortened no matter what until you either make a copy of the track or go through the steps above and reset the settings you've used. Luckily, Patrick taught us how to make this transition simple:

1. You can change the track back to its original formatting after use
   OR
   
   Skipping the original steps above...
2. Select the song you would like to edit.
3. Right click, select options, and then select AAC version.
   
   OR
   
   Using the steps above and working with the already edited version...
4. Select the edited track, select file, and select create AAC version
5. Rename files to say something different (i.e. Uptown Funk - Workout)

This second process allows you to keep your original file untouched, while creating a new file to use in playlists for your classroom. Confused? Not to worry, below you will find Patrick's step-by-step guide on how to do everything I've just mentioned. Skip to the 4:00 minute mark in the video to specifically see how to cut songs in iTunes.

Why does any of this matter?

Music is an essential component to each of our HPE classrooms. We have the power to change the environment we create with every song and activity. Music helps students connect to our content and express themselves while participating in activity.

Below are some ideas on how to utilize music in your classroom using these tools:

1. Workouts: Make an uptempo song clip that last 20 seconds for the students to be working throughout, followed by a 10 second slower tempo for a break or transition phase.
2. Stations: You could also use 1 minute long clips to signal for station rotations - when the song changes, students know to switch
3. Full Song Workouts: Certain songs that use the same word repeatedly are awesome for warm-ups and small workouts throughout class. For example, AC/DC's Thunderstruck says the word Thunder 33 times. When they hear the word, they perform an exercise you've specified (like a burpee), while the rest of the song is playing they perform a lower intensity movement (like a high knees march).

FitnessGram Will Never Be the Same:

Finally, how many of you have the Pacer test track memorized? Let's just be honest and admit that we all do. We hate the musical background it has and the kids do too... So let me (er, Patrick) rock your world with the following information:

YOU CAN PUT YOUR OWN MUSIC OVER THE PACER TRACK.

What!? Yes, you read that correctly. Check out the video below as Patrick shows you how to utilize Garage Band to rearrange the tragic background music of the pacer.

I hope each of you found the information from this session as amazing and life changing as I did! It has taken me a few tries to get the directions right so if you try it out and struggle with it, just know to keep trying! The more you do it, the more natural the process will become, and the more your students will enjoy music in your classroom!

Check back next week for the final part of my VAHPERD review series to learn all about an incredible central nervous system integrated activity {drum roll please...} that can be used for middle AND elementary students (with minor adaptations)!

VAHPERD Ideas Worth Sharing Part 2: Chicken Football

Last week I shared part one of my VAHPERD Review Series and this week I'm back to share another favorite! I can't wait to use in my classroom, especially as I move in to football lead up games after Thanksgiving Break. Like Crazy Kickball, this game was taught during the "Best We've Ever Seen" presentation. Unfortunately the original source of the game was not cited when presented, but we share free tools and ideas in the PE community all the time, so thank you to the creator of this awesome lead-up game. The name sounds a little strange, but this game is great for teaching so many football concepts!

This game is a great lead-up game for football because it works on moving up and down the field, while downs and yardage can easily be incorporated to advance the concept for middle school students. 

Equipment: 4-6 chickens or other item (footballs were not recommended because students tend to throw them and you may need more than 4-6 depending on your class size)

Recommendations: No more than 3-4 team members per group to avoid to much wait time.

Directions: Start with two groups facing each other on opposite sides of the "field" and the chicken in the middle. When groups start, the first member in line for each team will run to the center and rock, paper, scissors. The winner of one round will pick up the chicken and try to run into the opposing teams end zone. The non-winner must return to the end of their line. The next person in line of the non-winning team can run out to meet the winner with the chicken as soon as their teammate is defeated. Once they meet, the member with the chicken drops it where they are and they must rock, paper, scissors again. The winner picks up the chicken and runs to their opponents end zone. This process continues until someone scores. After a score, the chicken is placed back in the middle of the playing area.

Adaptations: This game is great on its own, but if you want to adapt it to have more substance it is absolutely possible. Talking to students about downs and distance, turnovers, and scoring drives can all be incorporated with ease as students move through this game. You can also use other equipment instead of the chicken.

I hope that this game is a hit for you in your classroom! Stay tuned next week to learn all about music in the classroom, as well as a tutorial on how to set the pacer to YOUR OWN MUSIC! My mind was completely blown by this concept and I know yours will be too.