Off the Back Fence: An Early Career PDHPE Teacher Blog by

Welcome!

joshbarden14 — 2023-12-14 06:12:35 UTC

Welcome to Off The Back Fence. This Padlet was born from a desire to connect, grow and be inspired. I'm a passionate, early career PDHPE teacher, working as a single-person faculty in rural NSW. I've created this space as a bit of a professional journal for myself, but also an opportunity to share what I learn and create with others. I'd love to connect - get in touch with me via LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-barden-622000259

How to Navigate

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:26:46 UTC

Find full units of work under the subject headings below. Feel free to download, adapt and use. I have created these units to specifically cater to my context - not everything will work for you, but you are welcome to take what you like. I hope it reduces your workload one way or another :)

Year A - Semester 1 Assessment Tasks

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:33:55 UTC

Year A - Unit 1

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:34:28 UTC

Introduction to the new school year.

Year A - Unit 2

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:35:42 UTC

Dimensions of health / Health and wellbeing.

Year A - Unit 3

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:36:12 UTC

Physical activity for health.

Using the Unit Folders

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:41:04 UTC

I work on a two year cycle with staged classes. I have tried to design units with a common focus throughout the year, in the hope to maximise opportunities for retrieval practice (see the diagram of the 'forgetting curve' above). For example, in Year A, I focus on the dimensions of health and holistic wellbeing. In each folder, you can find a unit program, student workbook, PowerPoint presentation and numbered activities (corresponding to the lesson number in the unit). Consult the program and/or PowerPoint for instructions about how to facilitate each task. The program 'Resources' column will help you identify what to prepare to run each lesson.

Year A - Semester 1 Assessment Tasks

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:44:16 UTC

Year A - Unit 1

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:44:51 UTC

Introduction to the new school year.

Year A - Unit 2

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:45:23 UTC

Physical activity and health.

Year A - Unit 3

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:45:57 UTC

Nutrition and sleep hygiene.

Year A - Unit 1

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:48:52 UTC

Skill acquisition / esports.

*If you want to learn more about using esports to boost learning, engagement, attendance and student wellbeing, check out MJ Raatz's Padlet here: Esports @ Forest Lake State High School, QLD, Australia (padlet.com )

Year A - Unit 2

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:49:21 UTC

Sustainability in sports.

Year A - Unit 3

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:50:10 UTC

Movement skill development.

Year A - Unit 1

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:53:05 UTC

Health and wellbeing / Healthy lifestyle / Protective and risk behaviours.

Year A - Unit 2

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:53:54 UTC

Relationship between sport and politics / Introducing generative AI to the classroom.

Teaching Collaboration

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 04:57:18 UTC

I use this process and sentence stems to explicitly teach collaboration skills in my classes - students pick it up after a few viewings, but I keep it embedded in PowerPoints/workbooks to review. I have also asked students to co-construct a poster with collaboration phrases/questions in my classroom by pasting sticky notes - this keeps a visual example that they can refer back to all the time and my students love the ownership aspect.

Teaching Research Skills

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 05:01:24 UTC

I used to throw research tasks into my lessons thinking that more opportunities for research would equate to my students becoming better researchers...but when I started to observe more closely and have conversations with my students about the processes they were using and the reasons behind the decisions they make during a research task (eg. how to source information), I realised that I was letting them down. I created this scaffold to use when I implement a research task - it takes time for them to complete, but it is worthwhile. Modelling and guiding this process before allowing them to complete independently is also crucial!

TEEL Writing Scaffold

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 05:03:18 UTC

I use TEEL for paragraph writing structure in PDHPE, but if you use a different structure, you can adapt this too. I edit the highlighted parts to reflect the question and provide this template during learning tasks or as a resource for draft responses during assessments.

Collaboration between Staff

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 05:09:58 UTC

I find being in single-person faculties makes the 'silo effect' more pronounced and I have to actively seek out opportunities for collaboration with other professionals (hence this Padlet!). I've created a bit of a process/norms for collaboration, which I've used to lead collaboration between staff across different subject areas.

Literacy Resources (Frayer Models)

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 05:15:24 UTC

"All teachers are teachers of literacy" - I recall hearing this during pre-service training. I love literacy - it is a particular passion of mine. I love using Frayer models to boost vocabulary in my classes and I have collated/created a few different versions - examples/non-examples, examples/visual representations or examples/use in a sentence. Additionally, AERO has some great resources to support HPE teachers to include literacy skills within their units. You can find it all in here!

Building Ratio Prompt Cards

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 05:24:00 UTC

The ratio of students paying attention vs not, actively engaged in learning vs not - probably the single most important factor in a classroom, yet something I've personally overlooked a lot. When I think about lessons I have run in the past and routines I have had in my classroom, I've definitely fallen into the trap of 'teaching one, not all'. I stick these prompt cards on my desk/in my daybook to remind me to build good habits and increase ratio in my classroom. If you are interested in the subject, Doug Lemov's 'Teach Like a Champion' and Adam Boxer's blog, 'A Chemical Orthodoxy', are great reads.

#1 - Critical Reflection

joshbarden14 — 2024-02-28 10:34:17 UTC

#2 - Making Every Moment Count

joshbarden14 — 2024-03-04 18:42:14 UTC