The Last 3 Years of PYP PE with Andy

Feeling very fortunate and blessed to have won the best PE blog award, but as I reflect on the last three years, it is very important to bring attention to the very fact that there are so many great teachers out there serving and representing our PE community so incredibly well. Without the connected, universal web of excellent teaching practice, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish what I have and for all of you who are a part of the network and voted in #PEawards13, I thank you. 

Although I have so many people to thank for this, I really want to point out the work of 3 teachers whom I admire and have a lot of respect for. When I accept the award of best blog, I must draw attention to the fact that none of this would have been possible with Joey Feith. 

What he has done for the physical education network on Twitter and on the internet has been a direct result of the endless hours that he puts in selflessly sharing his good practice, his resources, his vision, and his insight into assessment and instruction within our field. I personally know the amount of time that goes into developing a website and Joey never asks for anything in return. The only thing that he aims for is to make us all better at what we do in an effort to enhance the learning of our students. He really is a true champion of quality #physed and his work, in my opinion, is among the best that I have seen. Thank you Joey for all you do for our community. 

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I also want to draw attention to Nathan Horne. Nathan has long been selfless as well about sharing his work and vision of what quality PE is all about. A short story to provide evidence of this fact. A few years back, I received an email from Nathan when he taught at a small international school in Italy. It was before he founded i-phys-ed.com. At that time, Nathan shared with me his passion for integrating technology in the classroom and in PE. He was very keen back then and the clear vision that he held resulted in his excellent website that has added so much value to our network. Thanks Nathan for all you do for us. I look very forward to continued collaboration with you over the next several years. 

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I have also been very lucky to have connected  with Dr. Ash Casey. Ash’s PEPRN blog continue to challenges me each each week to truly dig deep and reflect on my practice. It has been a powerful tool for me to always consider research when constructing the learning experiences that I have my students engage in. His blogs cause me to reflect on both micro and macro levels in terms of my instruction and my pedagogical stance on education as it related to PE. He seriously puts in a lot of time developing his weekly blogs (28 blogs in 28 weeks). I think that he adds so much value to our network due to the fact he was a true warrior in the field for a number of years (15 I think), before pursuing higher education and ultimately his PHD. He is a role model and a tremendous value to our network. Thanks Ash. 

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As well as the above 3, I have lots of others to thank for their ongoing support of the PEPLC network and making this initial vision come alive and bear fruit. My genuine thanks and appreciation goes out to the following people (in no particular order!):

Kelly Ann Parry, Dr. Amanda Stanec, Dr. Dean Dudley, Dr. Doug Gleddie, Ashlea Mills, Mel Hamada, Ross Halliday, Matthew Pomeroy, Patty Kestall, Jo Bailey, Naomi Hartl, Joe McCarthy, Blue Jay Bridge, Brendan Jones, Mark Williams, and Mike McMillan (Mike was one of the very first I discussed #PEPLC with over dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Shanghai!)

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