June 23, 2025 • 22 mins
Welcome PE Nation!
Let's talk headline vs. cover bands today! Find your original teaching voice by drawing inspiration from mentors but creating something uniquely yours instead of just copying others' work. The difference between being a "cover band" teacher versus a headliner is developing personalized approaches from multiple influences.
• Working part-time at Hertz Arena exposed me to Brit Floyd, a Pink Floyd tribute band making millions without creating anything original
• Started teaching PE in 2011 without formal training, initially feeling like a fraud and relying entirely on others' materials
• Found mentors through PE Central, Twitter and Voxer communities who transformed my teaching approach
• Created my signature tchoukball tournament by combining influences from multiple mentors rather than copying any single approach
• Austin Kleon's book Steal Like an Artist provides a framework for taking inspiration while creating something original
• Challenge yourself to become an original rather than teaching the same borrowed curriculum for 30 years
Be original,
Dave
-my article, "Be a Headliner, not a Cover Band"
-Supersizedphysed.com serves as the hub for all resources, articles, and courses
• Free resources include Substack and Medium articles with PE tips, games, and strategies
• A free video course on the "PE-9": principles for improving your PE program
• Free ebook on setting up your PE program, especially helpful for newer teachers
• "High Fives and Empowering Lives" book available as an ebook ($2.99) or paperback ($9.99)
Paperback or download: HERE
Amazon Ebook: HERE
Become a supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/385837/support
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hello and welcome to the Super Science Biz Ed podcast
.
My name is Dave and today Iwant to talk about being a
headliner rather than a coverband, and I'll explain that in
just a moment.
So, without further ado, herewe go.
All right, everybody, welcomein or welcome back.
(00:41):
If you have been listening tome for a long time or you're a
newer kind of listener, you knowI appreciate that.
I'm looking at my statssometimes and I see people from
all over the world listening tothis, which is just crazy.
I mean, I'm just a phys edteacher, not just a phys ed
teacher, but I'm a phys edteacher and I live in Fort Myers
(01:04):
, florida, and I do see a lot ofpeople from like Naples,
florida, and even like all overthe place listening.
You know Canada, there's placesin Europe, and it just blows me
away.
So I again, I'm so thankful,and so sometimes I talk about
things that might not pertain toyou necessarily as far as like
(01:28):
outside teaching.
Or you know lightningeverywhere.
If you're in Florida, it's likethe lightning capital of not
the world but of the UnitedStates, and just things like
that's where I talk about.
You know specific, you knowregional, specific things and
you know I appreciate you tuningin regardless.
So this is definitely not aregional thing, this is a you
(01:51):
know anywhere in the world canhopefully resonate with what I'm
about to talk about today.
So, speaking of Fort Myers,florida, I work at it's called
Hertz Arena and so, again,people nearby know what I'm
talking about.
Or, if you follow theEverblades the Florida
(02:13):
Everblades ECHL hockey team,that is my home away from home
almost as far as my part-timejob.
After I teach, I sometimes goright to the arena or I go home
for a little bit if there's'sthings going on.
Now I'm recording this in thesummer.
There's not a lot going on atthe arena in the summer or any
summer, but it definitely rampsback up in like November,
(02:35):
through the spring, a little bitin October as well, and so,
anyways, I work there and I workall sorts of events, not just
hockey.
I work things like Cirque duSoleil or Disneyland Ice, or you
know lots of concerts, lots ofdifferent events, comedians, you
know all sorts of things thatyou know I enjoy because I get
(02:59):
to see things I might notnormally pay for, or you know
things like that, or I'll see itand I'll be like, oh, my family
would love this and then we goto it.
Um, I guess a quick example was, uh, we don't have it anymore,
I guess at the arena, but uh,pbr, professional bull riding Um
, I worked it.
Um, it was a couple of yearsago.
We haven't had in a few yearsand I my I showed my daughter at
(03:23):
the time she was about well,she's 13 now.
So I mean, this is probably,this is maybe before COVID.
So you're talking like she was,I don't know, seven or eight,
so it's more than a few yearsago, and she just really was
like, wow, I want to go see that.
So I brought her to the nextevent and she's like she loved
it.
It was kind of weird because wenever watch it on TV.
(03:44):
We've never seen anything likethat before.
But sorry, I'm just trying togive you the background of where
I work and I know that I justrealized the numbers probably
don't work out on that.
So, again, she's 13.
I started working there in 2019.
So maybe she was a little bitolder than that, but right
around that age, maybe eight ornine things like that.
(04:04):
A little bit older than that,but right around that age, maybe
eight or nine things like that.
So and that, all that beingsaid, I work a lot of different
things, and this gets to me tothe current topic today.
It was something I was thinkingabout when I was watching Brit
Floyd.
It wasn't that long ago, it wasprobably about a month or two
ago.
They come every year or aboutevery year.
(04:28):
I've seen them three times.
If you don't know who Brit Floydis, I want to call them a cover
band, but I guess they'reconsidered a tribute band, quote
, unquote of Pink Floyd.
It doesn't even matter if youlike Pink Floyd or not.
That's not the point of thestory.
I'm kind of in between on PinkFloyd, like I love Led Zeppelin,
like they're one of my favoritegroups of all time.
(04:49):
U2's actually my favorite ofall time.
I'd say those are my top twoand Pink Floyd's kind of in that
gray area.
For me, I like Pink Floyd but Idon't love them.
Kind of like I don't know.
I like the Stones and the whoand them a little above Pink
Floyd.
Again, that's not even thepoint of it.
(05:11):
I'm just trying to give youcontext.
So what I noticed was you know,I just don't get these tribute
bands, these cover bands.
I'll probably keep saying cover,but it really struck me when I
saw them the last time and Iactually talked to my supervisor
there.
When I say supervisor, he'slike you know, half my age, but
he's a really good guy.
I'm just saying, you know.
(05:32):
I said well, cause I was kindof Googling Brit Floyd, as far
as you know, how does that workwith the money and stuff like
that?
And do they have to pay PinkFloyd Cause Pink Floyd hasn't
toured in like I don't even know, 30 years or something like
that in 20 years?
I don't know.
And you know, do they owe themmoney?
You know, do they getcommission or whatever?
Uh, whatever you call it?
(05:53):
And he's like no, and I lookedit up too.
I'm like, is that true?
He's like yeah, cause they're atribute band, they don't
actually have to pay them anykind of like fees or anything
like that.
I'm like you've got to bekidding me.
And they actually got endorsed.
I think they're endorsed byPink Floyd as well, so they can
sell their merchandise and andall sorts of stuff.
(06:13):
And I'm like, well, what's thepoint of this?
They, their whole career iscopying another band and yes, by
the way, they make millions ofdollars.
They're rich, but they're, andtheir whole thing is they're
going to be doing this for well.
They have been doing this foryears and you know, let's say
they do this for 30 years, let'sjust say 30, like as a teaching
(06:34):
career or as a.
In this case, we'll call it aband career, a career.
They're going to be doing thisfor 30 years and they're not
original, they're just copyingsomebody else.
And it just really struck me, Idon't know, the whole time I was
watching them, I'm like, and Iwas doing my job as well, but
(07:00):
the whole time I was listeningto them and they sounded good.
They actually sound great.
I mean, they sound just likethem.
But again, they're just copyingthe original band, even the
things on the screen or thegraphics.
It's like Dark Side of the Moonand all that stuff.
And it's like, well, yeah,that's awesome, but it's not
yours.
And I'm sure they can dodifferent things, Maybe their
set designs or maybe some of themerchandise, I don't know.
(07:22):
They can show creativity inthat aspect.
But I just can't get back pastthe fact that they're just
putting nothing new or amazinginto the universe.
I mean, how can you do this fordecades and call it a career?
I mean, I would feel like afraud.
I don't know, that's just me.
And that brings me to teaching,and I have an article on this.
(07:44):
Lately I've been trying to tiemy articles into my podcast or
vice versa, so I will link thearticle in the show notes and
I'm not going to probablymention everybody on here.
That's been so amazing to me inmy career, but I do want to
shout out some people as we goalong here.
So a brief history of me.
I'm not going to go intoeverything, but I started
(08:07):
teaching PE in 2011.
I was a classroom teacher andcaught a lucky break, which I've
talked about before and maybeI'll go into some other time.
But you know, I honestly I tookthe test and I got it and I
made it my own and I felt like afraud for a long time because
I'm like, well, I'm not.
(08:28):
You know, I don't go to schoolfor this.
I didn't get a degree inkinesiology or physical
education, my degree is inelementary education and I, you
know, took a test and I became aPE teacher and so I felt like a
fraud for a while and I didn'tknow what I was doing.
I was thrown to the wolves.
I was literally told I rememberthis by my principal.
(08:49):
I said, well, you know what'sthe curriculum.
He's like it's yours, make itwhatever you want.
And I was like, okay, not surewhat to do, but I will, you know
, research this.
And you know, I had at a timethis was my former school three
paras and about 130 students andI was like I've never done this
(09:11):
before.
So what do I do?
And it's like teaching on anisland.
Pe, at least for me, has alwaysbeen.
It's like there's nobody in myschool I can go to.
I mean for like technologicalhelp and other things I can go
to like other teachers or youknow, the music, art and STEM
teachers are kind of in the sameboat, but not really.
So I just had to create my owncurriculum and you know I don't
(09:35):
know what I was doing.
So I went through the former PEteachers like stuff she left
behind and look for games andactivities, and I talked to my
paras at the time and you knowthey helped me a little bit and
you know I the big thing backthen.
It's still as great as PECentral, so I want to shout them
(09:55):
out.
I've actually given Mark, thecreator of that, some a lot of
credit.
It helped me through my firstyear or two, and still does, but
you know, just getting ideasfor different games, different
everything, just activities,team building things, all that
stuff was awesome, especially myfirst couple of years, and I'd
(10:17):
say around 2012,.
2013 is when I really got.
You know, I won't say got lucky, but I found my way, I found my
tribe, or at least found myfooting, if nothing else.
So I stumbled upon this book.
It's called it's Now PossibleEmerging Technologies and
(10:37):
Physical Education by JaredRobinson, and he's from
Australia.
Now a lot of the I don't wantto say old school teachers know
who he is.
He's now in a different field.
He's not really he's doingtechnology, but he's the one who
originally, I think, is the OGof technology and PE.
Now there's other people thatdid it before him as far as
(10:58):
heart rate monitors and thingslike that, but he really took it
to a new level and that was aturning point for me.
I started actually emailed him.
I'll never forget this.
I emailed him like a questionand he emailed me back.
I'm like wow, from Australia,he emailed me back.
He actually you know, it waslike to me it was like emailing
Bono and he responded.
(11:20):
I really was blown away, I'mserious.
And from there there were someteachers on there that started
getting into Voxer.
Actually, I'm sorry, I got onTwitter then and then on Twitter
I started following some PEteachers because I thought
Twitter was just like followingthe Kardashians and whatnot.
So I had no idea.
But I started following PEteachers and that led me to
(11:43):
Voxer, and Voxer like completelychanged my life.
I mean, I started connectingwith people from all over the
world and we would just notrandomly, but if you had a
question like I had a lesson onvolleyball I could reach out to
somebody on there and say, hey,can you give me a quick?
I got this lesson planned, butis there anything extra you can
(12:04):
add to this or whatever.
And within like 30 seconds I'dget somebody from around the
world saying here's what you cando, and like friendly, awesome
and you know, great.
And in the article I give lotsof shout outs to different
people and I owe even more somenot just some a lot of credit.
But I'm going to, for thispodcast, talk about three people
(12:26):
that I learned a ton from,besides Jared, which he's been
amazing and amazing a virtualmentor, I did meet him and these
next three people that I'mgoing to talk about, and this
this comes back to Brit Floyd.
I promise it does.
It comes full circle.
So Andy Vasily he's from Canada, but he's been in a few
(12:47):
countries around the worldteaching To me.
He's the OG of standards.
He's been in a few countriesaround the world teaching To me.
He's the OG of standards,lesson planning,
student-centered learning.
You know, he was just again.
These are like to me were theMount Rushmore at the time,
especially of PE teachers, and Imet all three of them at the
2015 National PE Institute inAsheville, north Carolina.
(13:08):
So, along with Andy, joey Feithfrom Canada as well.
He taught me and not just me,but this is what I learned from
him layering games and lessons.
I still have.
I can think of at least threegames that are my go-to games
that are from him, that Ilearned from him.
And then Nathan Horn, from NewZealand, along with Joey Fyfe.
(13:29):
They did a lot of TGFU TeachingGames for Understanding, I
believe he's not even he's notteaching PE anymore.
He's doing something even likehigher level as far as
administration or something likethat.
I don't mean higher level, youknow better than PE.
I just mean a different field.
So I've just learned a ton fromthem.
And there are way many othersas well, which again, I talked
(13:53):
about in the article.
But the point is I took what Ilearned from them and you know a
quote unquote stole not reallystole, but things from them and
then kind of tweak them and thenmade them, made them my own,
and then that made me moreoriginal.
I know it sounds crazy, becauseI copied a lot, but after a
(14:15):
while you become your own person, your own teacher, and that's
what I did.
For instance, well, one of myfavorite books is called Steal
Like an Artist by Austin Kleon,and if you've never read that,
it's a short book, it's more ofa visual thing.
I guess Definitely don't get itas audio.
(14:36):
I mean, I love audiobooks, butthis is more of a visual kind of
thing, like on an ebook orwhatever.
So again, steal Like an Artistby Austin Kleon he's got three
books like this or two otherbooks, got three books like this
or two other books.
The premise is to steal ideasfrom all sorts of people and
(15:02):
then you kind of make them yourown.
Take all these ideas, combinethem and then you slowly create
your own magic and then youbecome original.
Now, if you just stole fromsomebody, this goes back to the
Brett Floyd thing to me.
If you just stole from somebody, this goes back to the Brett
Floyd thing to me.
If you just stole from somebody, I mean they do it out in the
open but they're not, again, notoriginal, it's not theirs.
There's nothing new, nothingcreative, it's just them
stealing.
And when I say stealing, again,it's not illegal what they're
(15:26):
doing, but I don't think it'sgreat.
So it goes back to teaching.
If I just stole from JaredRobinson everything I just stole
from him and I taught like himand that was it that wouldn't be
original, that'd be like acover band.
If I stole from any of thosethree or three other people,
it's just not original.
(15:46):
But let me give you an exampleof what I did and I don't know
if I know.
A lot of you have heard aboutmy fifth grade annual Chukbal
tournament, sport ed tournamentthat I do every year I and I
talk about that a lot.
So I'm sorry some of you arelike I got to hear about this
again, but I don't know if I'vementioned the story of how I
came up with it, maybe once ortwice a long time ago and here's
(16:10):
how it all went down.
So I noticed not noticed but Iseen what Jared Robinson did
with his volleyball units and hedid some like when I went to
the PE Institute he did somedifferent things where they were
kind of self-learning and theywere just a different kind of
(16:31):
unit that I've never seen before.
And the sport ed aspect cameinto it as well and something I
saw on his website and I'm like,oh, how do we do that?
And I've talked to people atthe time through Voxer and I
didn't know what sport educationis and that's a whole other
podcast.
But basically, students havedifferent jobs, different roles,
(16:51):
and I know Jared did that withI believe it was volleyball.
So I was like, oh, that's cool.
And then I saw what Nathan Horndid.
He's again from New Zealand.
He had online his whole hockeytournament.
It was a sport ed hockeytournament and it was amazing.
I mean the kids were theannouncers and everybody had a
(17:13):
role and I mean it was a bigdeal.
So I'm like, well, maybe I coulddo that with a different sport
and I was trying to come up witha sport that not everybody or
at least you know we didn't haveany all-stars playing.
Like I have some really goodhockey players at my school
because the hockey arena isright, like I said, down the
(17:33):
road, and I have some reallyamazing I mean every sport
football players, baseballplayers, basketball, whatever
and I was like, well, what can Ido?
That's like that that nobody'sever played before.
You know what I mean.
And I think, again, throughVoxer, people were mentioning
Chuk Ball and again, if youdon't know what Chuk Ball is,
(17:55):
that's okay, that's a wholeother podcast, but it's.
You know.
Basically, these rebounders andyou got to throw it off the
rebounder and the other team'sgot to catch it.
That's the real simple versionof it.
There's a lot of rules and youknow I just wanted something
that, yeah, yes, if you're agood athlete, you'll probably
shine in, but there's otheraspects to it and so you know,
(18:16):
the main point is I took what Ilearned from and again I'm going
to throw Joey Feith back inhere you know layering these
games and lessons with NathanHorn's hockey, jared Robinson's
volleyball, you know AndyVasily's student-centered
learning.
You know I take these four.
You know, again, Mount RushmorePE teachers.
To me I mean that was likemeeting.
(18:37):
It's like I felt like I'm atthe Beatles.
I mean seriously.
You know, I took what, or Itook what I learned from them
and I combined it and made it myown.
And that's one of the bestexamples I can give is that, you
know, I became an original,although now you're like, well,
wait a minute, no, you're not.
(18:59):
But that's how you find yourstride.
You find your purpose is bytaking what's great, what you
learn from other people, otherplaces, other things,
documentaries, books, whateverand then integrating them into
your teaching and making themyour own.
And I feel like I'm talkinglike Simon Cowell, like hey, you
made that song your own.
But that's what I feel like Idid and I want to keep doing by
(19:24):
not by stealing from otherpeople, because now I don't
steal as many things.
I'm more myself my own now, andI do still follow people online
, I still engage with peopleonline, I still take some really
great ideas from people online.
But I found my stride and Ibecame an original.
I think and you know, that tome is the most important thing,
(19:45):
so I'm going to challenge you toand that to me is the most
important thing, so I'm going tochallenge you to again steal
like an artist.
Again.
I didn't say this before, butthe main quote of the book is a
loosely quoted I'll probably getit wrong from Picasso.
Like a quote from Picasso thatgood artists copy, great artists
steal, or something like that.
So that's uh, you know, be likePicasso, steal ideas.
(20:16):
But don't teach the same thingfor 30 years, copying off of
somebody else or other things,and call it a career.
Like it's great that you go tolike uh, pe central or uh, open
games and things like that andget ideas.
But don't just teach from thatcurriculum.
Like, do other things, learnfrom other people and be great
on your own.
Don't just look back and belike wow, I taught the Spark
(20:37):
curriculum for 85 years and Iwas an awesome teacher, I mean
maybe, but create and putsomething new into the world.
Don't teach like Brit Floydplays the hits, plays other
people's hits for 30 years.
Be an original and be great,and that's my challenge to you.
I won't even do a Cobalt Tip ofthe Day, because that's it.
(20:59):
Be great, be original.
Don't be a cover band, be aheadliner, be an original and
that's it.
So take care, pe nation, youguys and girls are awesome.
Go to supersizefizedcom for moreinformation.
Go to the show notes for thearticle that I wrote with even
more people on there and alittle bit more kind of stuff on
there, and check out all thestuff in the show notes.
(21:23):
I'd love it if you bought thebook that I put out I don't know
a year, year and a half ago.
Again, it's cheap and it'ssomething I want you to just get
your hands on because itinvolves things like this.
I talk about this book, or theAustin Kleon book in my book.
It's called High Fives andEmpowering Lives A Physical
(21:46):
Educator's Quest for Excellence,and I'd love for you to get a
copy of it.
It's a great and easy summerread for you.
So, with that PE Nation, have agreat day, week, weekend,
whenever you listen to this, andlet's keep pushing our
profession forward.
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to the Super Science Biz Ed podcast
.
My name is Dave and today Iwant to talk about being a
headliner rather than a coverband, and I'll explain that in
just a moment.
So, without further ado, herewe go.
All right, everybody, welcomein or welcome back.
(00:41):
If you have been listening tome for a long time or you're a
newer kind of listener, you knowI appreciate that.
I'm looking at my statssometimes and I see people from
all over the world listening tothis, which is just crazy.
I mean, I'm just a phys edteacher, not just a phys ed
teacher, but I'm a phys edteacher and I live in Fort Myers
(01:04):
, florida, and I do see a lot ofpeople from like Naples,
florida, and even like all overthe place listening.
You know Canada, there's placesin Europe, and it just blows me
away.
So I again, I'm so thankful,and so sometimes I talk about
things that might not pertain toyou necessarily as far as like
(01:28):
outside teaching.
Or you know lightningeverywhere.
If you're in Florida, it's likethe lightning capital of not
the world but of the UnitedStates, and just things like
that's where I talk about.
You know specific, you knowregional, specific things and
you know I appreciate you tuningin regardless.
So this is definitely not aregional thing, this is a you
(01:51):
know anywhere in the world canhopefully resonate with what I'm
about to talk about today.
So, speaking of Fort Myers,florida, I work at it's called
Hertz Arena and so, again,people nearby know what I'm
talking about.
Or, if you follow theEverblades the Florida
(02:13):
Everblades ECHL hockey team,that is my home away from home
almost as far as my part-timejob.
After I teach, I sometimes goright to the arena or I go home
for a little bit if there's'sthings going on.
Now I'm recording this in thesummer.
There's not a lot going on atthe arena in the summer or any
summer, but it definitely rampsback up in like November,
(02:35):
through the spring, a little bitin October as well, and so,
anyways, I work there and I workall sorts of events, not just
hockey.
I work things like Cirque duSoleil or Disneyland Ice, or you
know lots of concerts, lots ofdifferent events, comedians, you
know all sorts of things thatyou know I enjoy because I get
(02:59):
to see things I might notnormally pay for, or you know
things like that, or I'll see itand I'll be like, oh, my family
would love this and then we goto it.
Um, I guess a quick example was, uh, we don't have it anymore,
I guess at the arena, but uh,pbr, professional bull riding Um
, I worked it.
Um, it was a couple of yearsago.
We haven't had in a few yearsand I my I showed my daughter at
(03:23):
the time she was about well,she's 13 now.
So I mean, this is probably,this is maybe before COVID.
So you're talking like she was,I don't know, seven or eight,
so it's more than a few yearsago, and she just really was
like, wow, I want to go see that.
So I brought her to the nextevent and she's like she loved
it.
It was kind of weird because wenever watch it on TV.
(03:44):
We've never seen anything likethat before.
But sorry, I'm just trying togive you the background of where
I work and I know that I justrealized the numbers probably
don't work out on that.
So, again, she's 13.
I started working there in 2019.
So maybe she was a little bitolder than that, but right
around that age, maybe eight ornine things like that.
(04:04):
A little bit older than that,but right around that age, maybe
eight or nine things like that.
So and that, all that beingsaid, I work a lot of different
things, and this gets to me tothe current topic today.
It was something I was thinkingabout when I was watching Brit
Floyd.
It wasn't that long ago, it wasprobably about a month or two
ago.
They come every year or aboutevery year.
(04:28):
I've seen them three times.
If you don't know who Brit Floydis, I want to call them a cover
band, but I guess they'reconsidered a tribute band, quote
, unquote of Pink Floyd.
It doesn't even matter if youlike Pink Floyd or not.
That's not the point of thestory.
I'm kind of in between on PinkFloyd, like I love Led Zeppelin,
like they're one of my favoritegroups of all time.
(04:49):
U2's actually my favorite ofall time.
I'd say those are my top twoand Pink Floyd's kind of in that
gray area.
For me, I like Pink Floyd but Idon't love them.
Kind of like I don't know.
I like the Stones and the whoand them a little above Pink
Floyd.
Again, that's not even thepoint of it.
(05:11):
I'm just trying to give youcontext.
So what I noticed was you know,I just don't get these tribute
bands, these cover bands.
I'll probably keep saying cover,but it really struck me when I
saw them the last time and Iactually talked to my supervisor
there.
When I say supervisor, he'slike you know, half my age, but
he's a really good guy.
I'm just saying, you know.
(05:32):
I said well, cause I was kindof Googling Brit Floyd, as far
as you know, how does that workwith the money and stuff like
that?
And do they have to pay PinkFloyd Cause Pink Floyd hasn't
toured in like I don't even know, 30 years or something like
that in 20 years?
I don't know.
And you know, do they owe themmoney?
You know, do they getcommission or whatever?
Uh, whatever you call it?
(05:53):
And he's like no, and I lookedit up too.
I'm like, is that true?
He's like yeah, cause they're atribute band, they don't
actually have to pay them anykind of like fees or anything
like that.
I'm like you've got to bekidding me.
And they actually got endorsed.
I think they're endorsed byPink Floyd as well, so they can
sell their merchandise and andall sorts of stuff.
(06:13):
And I'm like, well, what's thepoint of this?
They, their whole career iscopying another band and yes, by
the way, they make millions ofdollars.
They're rich, but they're, andtheir whole thing is they're
going to be doing this for well.
They have been doing this foryears and you know, let's say
they do this for 30 years, let'sjust say 30, like as a teaching
(06:34):
career or as a.
In this case, we'll call it aband career, a career.
They're going to be doing thisfor 30 years and they're not
original, they're just copyingsomebody else.
And it just really struck me, Idon't know, the whole time I was
watching them, I'm like, and Iwas doing my job as well, but
(07:00):
the whole time I was listeningto them and they sounded good.
They actually sound great.
I mean, they sound just likethem.
But again, they're just copyingthe original band, even the
things on the screen or thegraphics.
It's like Dark Side of the Moonand all that stuff.
And it's like, well, yeah,that's awesome, but it's not
yours.
And I'm sure they can dodifferent things, Maybe their
set designs or maybe some of themerchandise, I don't know.
(07:22):
They can show creativity inthat aspect.
But I just can't get back pastthe fact that they're just
putting nothing new or amazinginto the universe.
I mean, how can you do this fordecades and call it a career?
I mean, I would feel like afraud.
I don't know, that's just me.
And that brings me to teaching,and I have an article on this.
(07:44):
Lately I've been trying to tiemy articles into my podcast or
vice versa, so I will link thearticle in the show notes and
I'm not going to probablymention everybody on here.
That's been so amazing to me inmy career, but I do want to
shout out some people as we goalong here.
So a brief history of me.
I'm not going to go intoeverything, but I started
(08:07):
teaching PE in 2011.
I was a classroom teacher andcaught a lucky break, which I've
talked about before and maybeI'll go into some other time.
But you know, I honestly I tookthe test and I got it and I
made it my own and I felt like afraud for a long time because
I'm like, well, I'm not.
(08:28):
You know, I don't go to schoolfor this.
I didn't get a degree inkinesiology or physical
education, my degree is inelementary education and I, you
know, took a test and I became aPE teacher and so I felt like a
fraud for a while and I didn'tknow what I was doing.
I was thrown to the wolves.
I was literally told I rememberthis by my principal.
(08:49):
I said, well, you know what'sthe curriculum.
He's like it's yours, make itwhatever you want.
And I was like, okay, not surewhat to do, but I will, you know
, research this.
And you know, I had at a timethis was my former school three
paras and about 130 students andI was like I've never done this
(09:11):
before.
So what do I do?
And it's like teaching on anisland.
Pe, at least for me, has alwaysbeen.
It's like there's nobody in myschool I can go to.
I mean for like technologicalhelp and other things I can go
to like other teachers or youknow, the music, art and STEM
teachers are kind of in the sameboat, but not really.
So I just had to create my owncurriculum and you know I don't
(09:35):
know what I was doing.
So I went through the former PEteachers like stuff she left
behind and look for games andactivities, and I talked to my
paras at the time and you knowthey helped me a little bit and
you know I the big thing backthen.
It's still as great as PECentral, so I want to shout them
(09:55):
out.
I've actually given Mark, thecreator of that, some a lot of
credit.
It helped me through my firstyear or two, and still does, but
you know, just getting ideasfor different games, different
everything, just activities,team building things, all that
stuff was awesome, especially myfirst couple of years, and I'd
(10:17):
say around 2012,.
2013 is when I really got.
You know, I won't say got lucky, but I found my way, I found my
tribe, or at least found myfooting, if nothing else.
So I stumbled upon this book.
It's called it's Now PossibleEmerging Technologies and
(10:37):
Physical Education by JaredRobinson, and he's from
Australia.
Now a lot of the I don't wantto say old school teachers know
who he is.
He's now in a different field.
He's not really he's doingtechnology, but he's the one who
originally, I think, is the OGof technology and PE.
Now there's other people thatdid it before him as far as
(10:58):
heart rate monitors and thingslike that, but he really took it
to a new level and that was aturning point for me.
I started actually emailed him.
I'll never forget this.
I emailed him like a questionand he emailed me back.
I'm like wow, from Australia,he emailed me back.
He actually you know, it waslike to me it was like emailing
Bono and he responded.
(11:20):
I really was blown away, I'mserious.
And from there there were someteachers on there that started
getting into Voxer.
Actually, I'm sorry, I got onTwitter then and then on Twitter
I started following some PEteachers because I thought
Twitter was just like followingthe Kardashians and whatnot.
So I had no idea.
But I started following PEteachers and that led me to
(11:43):
Voxer, and Voxer like completelychanged my life.
I mean, I started connectingwith people from all over the
world and we would just notrandomly, but if you had a
question like I had a lesson onvolleyball I could reach out to
somebody on there and say, hey,can you give me a quick?
I got this lesson planned, butis there anything extra you can
(12:04):
add to this or whatever.
And within like 30 seconds I'dget somebody from around the
world saying here's what you cando, and like friendly, awesome
and you know, great.
And in the article I give lotsof shout outs to different
people and I owe even more somenot just some a lot of credit.
But I'm going to, for thispodcast, talk about three people
(12:26):
that I learned a ton from,besides Jared, which he's been
amazing and amazing a virtualmentor, I did meet him and these
next three people that I'mgoing to talk about, and this
this comes back to Brit Floyd.
I promise it does.
It comes full circle.
So Andy Vasily he's from Canada, but he's been in a few
(12:47):
countries around the worldteaching To me.
He's the OG of standards.
He's been in a few countriesaround the world teaching To me.
He's the OG of standards,lesson planning,
student-centered learning.
You know, he was just again.
These are like to me were theMount Rushmore at the time,
especially of PE teachers, and Imet all three of them at the
2015 National PE Institute inAsheville, north Carolina.
(13:08):
So, along with Andy, joey Feithfrom Canada as well.
He taught me and not just me,but this is what I learned from
him layering games and lessons.
I still have.
I can think of at least threegames that are my go-to games
that are from him, that Ilearned from him.
And then Nathan Horn, from NewZealand, along with Joey Fyfe.
(13:29):
They did a lot of TGFU TeachingGames for Understanding, I
believe he's not even he's notteaching PE anymore.
He's doing something even likehigher level as far as
administration or something likethat.
I don't mean higher level, youknow better than PE.
I just mean a different field.
So I've just learned a ton fromthem.
And there are way many othersas well, which again, I talked
(13:53):
about in the article.
But the point is I took what Ilearned from them and you know a
quote unquote stole not reallystole, but things from them and
then kind of tweak them and thenmade them, made them my own,
and then that made me moreoriginal.
I know it sounds crazy, becauseI copied a lot, but after a
(14:15):
while you become your own person, your own teacher, and that's
what I did.
For instance, well, one of myfavorite books is called Steal
Like an Artist by Austin Kleon,and if you've never read that,
it's a short book, it's more ofa visual thing.
I guess Definitely don't get itas audio.
(14:36):
I mean, I love audiobooks, butthis is more of a visual kind of
thing, like on an ebook orwhatever.
So again, steal Like an Artistby Austin Kleon he's got three
books like this or two otherbooks, got three books like this
or two other books.
The premise is to steal ideasfrom all sorts of people and
(15:02):
then you kind of make them yourown.
Take all these ideas, combinethem and then you slowly create
your own magic and then youbecome original.
Now, if you just stole fromsomebody, this goes back to the
Brett Floyd thing to me.
If you just stole from somebody, this goes back to the Brett
Floyd thing to me.
If you just stole from somebody, I mean they do it out in the
open but they're not, again, notoriginal, it's not theirs.
There's nothing new, nothingcreative, it's just them
stealing.
And when I say stealing, again,it's not illegal what they're
(15:26):
doing, but I don't think it'sgreat.
So it goes back to teaching.
If I just stole from JaredRobinson everything I just stole
from him and I taught like himand that was it that wouldn't be
original, that'd be like acover band.
If I stole from any of thosethree or three other people,
it's just not original.
(15:46):
But let me give you an exampleof what I did and I don't know
if I know.
A lot of you have heard aboutmy fifth grade annual Chukbal
tournament, sport ed tournamentthat I do every year I and I
talk about that a lot.
So I'm sorry some of you arelike I got to hear about this
again, but I don't know if I'vementioned the story of how I
came up with it, maybe once ortwice a long time ago and here's
(16:10):
how it all went down.
So I noticed not noticed but Iseen what Jared Robinson did
with his volleyball units and hedid some like when I went to
the PE Institute he did somedifferent things where they were
kind of self-learning and theywere just a different kind of
(16:31):
unit that I've never seen before.
And the sport ed aspect cameinto it as well and something I
saw on his website and I'm like,oh, how do we do that?
And I've talked to people atthe time through Voxer and I
didn't know what sport educationis and that's a whole other
podcast.
But basically, students havedifferent jobs, different roles,
(16:51):
and I know Jared did that withI believe it was volleyball.
So I was like, oh, that's cool.
And then I saw what Nathan Horndid.
He's again from New Zealand.
He had online his whole hockeytournament.
It was a sport ed hockeytournament and it was amazing.
I mean the kids were theannouncers and everybody had a
(17:13):
role and I mean it was a bigdeal.
So I'm like, well, maybe I coulddo that with a different sport
and I was trying to come up witha sport that not everybody or
at least you know we didn't haveany all-stars playing.
Like I have some really goodhockey players at my school
because the hockey arena isright, like I said, down the
(17:33):
road, and I have some reallyamazing I mean every sport
football players, baseballplayers, basketball, whatever
and I was like, well, what can Ido?
That's like that that nobody'sever played before.
You know what I mean.
And I think, again, throughVoxer, people were mentioning
Chuk Ball and again, if youdon't know what Chuk Ball is,
(17:55):
that's okay, that's a wholeother podcast, but it's.
You know.
Basically, these rebounders andyou got to throw it off the
rebounder and the other team'sgot to catch it.
That's the real simple versionof it.
There's a lot of rules and youknow I just wanted something
that, yeah, yes, if you're agood athlete, you'll probably
shine in, but there's otheraspects to it and so you know,
(18:16):
the main point is I took what Ilearned from and again I'm going
to throw Joey Feith back inhere you know layering these
games and lessons with NathanHorn's hockey, jared Robinson's
volleyball, you know AndyVasily's student-centered
learning.
You know I take these four.
You know, again, Mount RushmorePE teachers.
To me I mean that was likemeeting.
(18:37):
It's like I felt like I'm atthe Beatles.
I mean seriously.
You know, I took what, or Itook what I learned from them
and I combined it and made it myown.
And that's one of the bestexamples I can give is that, you
know, I became an original,although now you're like, well,
wait a minute, no, you're not.
(18:59):
But that's how you find yourstride.
You find your purpose is bytaking what's great, what you
learn from other people, otherplaces, other things,
documentaries, books, whateverand then integrating them into
your teaching and making themyour own.
And I feel like I'm talkinglike Simon Cowell, like hey, you
made that song your own.
But that's what I feel like Idid and I want to keep doing by
(19:24):
not by stealing from otherpeople, because now I don't
steal as many things.
I'm more myself my own now, andI do still follow people online
, I still engage with peopleonline, I still take some really
great ideas from people online.
But I found my stride and Ibecame an original.
I think and you know, that tome is the most important thing,
(19:45):
so I'm going to challenge you toand that to me is the most
important thing, so I'm going tochallenge you to again steal
like an artist.
Again.
I didn't say this before, butthe main quote of the book is a
loosely quoted I'll probably getit wrong from Picasso.
Like a quote from Picasso thatgood artists copy, great artists
steal, or something like that.
So that's uh, you know, be likePicasso, steal ideas.
(20:16):
But don't teach the same thingfor 30 years, copying off of
somebody else or other things,and call it a career.
Like it's great that you go tolike uh, pe central or uh, open
games and things like that andget ideas.
But don't just teach from thatcurriculum.
Like, do other things, learnfrom other people and be great
on your own.
Don't just look back and belike wow, I taught the Spark
(20:37):
curriculum for 85 years and Iwas an awesome teacher, I mean
maybe, but create and putsomething new into the world.
Don't teach like Brit Floydplays the hits, plays other
people's hits for 30 years.
Be an original and be great,and that's my challenge to you.
I won't even do a Cobalt Tip ofthe Day, because that's it.
(20:59):
Be great, be original.
Don't be a cover band, be aheadliner, be an original and
that's it.
So take care, pe nation, youguys and girls are awesome.
Go to supersizefizedcom for moreinformation.
Go to the show notes for thearticle that I wrote with even
more people on there and alittle bit more kind of stuff on
there, and check out all thestuff in the show notes.
(21:23):
I'd love it if you bought thebook that I put out I don't know
a year, year and a half ago.
Again, it's cheap and it'ssomething I want you to just get
your hands on because itinvolves things like this.
I talk about this book, or theAustin Kleon book in my book.
It's called High Fives andEmpowering Lives A Physical
(21:46):
Educator's Quest for Excellence,and I'd love for you to get a
copy of it.
It's a great and easy summerread for you.
So, with that PE Nation, have agreat day, week, weekend,
whenever you listen to this, andlet's keep pushing our
profession forward.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.