June 16, 2025 • 33 mins
Happy summer, PE Nation!!!
I'm excited about the new program I want to start in the fall. The Next Level Leadership program transforms PE grading through a martial arts-inspired wristband system that recognizes and develops student leadership qualities beyond athletic skill.
• Designed to reward students who demonstrate leadership, helpfulness, and good character
• Five belt levels (white, green, orange, purple, black) with increasing leadership requirements
• Program benefits include becoming field day helpers, safety patrol members, and game captains
• Focus on developing the whole child rather than just athletic ability
• White belt (beginner) requires respect, responsibility, and safety
• Green belt (awesome) requires 100% effort and good sportsmanship
• Orange belt (hero) demonstrates game knowledge and consistent helpfulness
• Purple belt (elite) requires two years of demonstrated leadership
• Black belt (ninja) reserved for fifth graders who could "run the class"
• Program designed to work over three years (grades 3-5)
Take care,
Dave
My article on "Next level Leadership"
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hello and welcome to the Supersize Phys Ed podcast.
My name is Dave and today Iwant to talk about a really
exciting program that I want tostart in the fall, like right
away, and I'm calling it my nextlevel leadership program and I
want to talk about that nextwith you.
So, without further ado, herewe go.
(00:31):
Welcome NPE Nation.
I am recording this outside aspart of my summer series.
So, again, if you hear somebirds chirping or my dog making
(00:52):
noise by the fence with her ball, that's what I'm looking at
right now.
Please be patient andunderstand that I just want to
be outside and record a podcastor two.
So let's get into this.
So I thought of this a coupleweeks ago it was right before
(01:15):
the school year ended, about theweek before it ended and I just
was thinking about how can Iempower my students to become
just great leaders, not only inschool and in PE, just great
leaders not only in school andin PE, but later on in life.
And I also thought about I hatethat my grades and I think a
lot of you are if you'reelementary school are S, n and U
(01:35):
.
So S is satisfactory, n isneeds improvement, u is
unsatisfactory and I don't giveout U's really at all.
I mean maybe one day a fewtimes, and I don't give out use
really at all.
I mean maybe one day a fewtimes.
So, and ends are even kind ofrare.
I mean I give ends fordifferent things or behavior or
whatever, but you know a lot ofit's really participation.
I mean that's my grade, that'swhat I'm allowed to do, and I
(01:58):
know it's good and bad, right,it's easy, but it's also not
fair.
As far as you know, there'ssome students that do amazing
things and there's some studentsthat do average things and they
both get S's.
And when I was a kid there wasan E for exceptional and they
don't do that anymore.
At least my district doesn't dothat.
So I was like, well, how can Ireward and empower students that
(02:23):
are doing amazing things andare great helpers?
And I'm in charge of safetypatrol, so you know my safety
patrollers that are just awesomeat helping little kids and you
know just keeping the hallwaysafe.
And I'm also, you know I pickfield day helpers.
So you know these are the kidsthat are just all-stars.
(02:45):
And it doesn't mean all-starsskill-wise If you're not the
best soccer player out there,that's okay If you're giving
your best and you know theskills and you know that you
have the knowledge and you'retrying your hardest.
That's all I'm looking for.
I want the whole child to bedeveloped, not just like, hey, I
can kick it far.
That really has never been mything and I hope it's not yours
(03:08):
as well.
My goal, I guess, is to makegood people, help motivate and
create good people.
You know what I mean.
I want good people.
You know what I mean.
I don't.
I want good people.
I don't care if they're LeBronJames, if they.
If they're, they have badsportsmanship or if they're
(03:30):
yelling at the referees or kidreferees or if they're, you know
, just being mean to people.
I don't want that.
I want good people and you knowthat's.
My goal in this program is tohelp, you know, reward the ones
that deserve it and motivate theones that are maybe on the
fence.
I mean, motivate everybody, but, um, you know, definitely the
ones that are that want to seewhat, how far they can get in
(03:52):
this program and they can seethe tangible results and they
want to be part of somethingspecial.
So that is my goal for this andI want to go over, uh, the
different levels.
Um, you know, here in a moment,all right, so let's do some
boomers here just to get thebasic stuff and then each level
as we go.
So here's our first boomer,here we go, alright, so let's
(04:19):
talk about the basics.
So first of all, I want to taketwo things I really really
enjoy and kind of smash themtogether.
So the of all, I want to taketwo things I really really enjoy
and kind of smash them together.
So the first is gamificationand I know a lot of you use that
, or some of you you've neverheard of it before.
So, kind of briefly, it istaking it's kind of like a game
(04:40):
and think of a video game andmaking it challenging, but
taking it instead of a videogame like a task or a goal, and
making it fun and challenging byadding levels, badges, rewards
and charting your progress.
I'm a black belt in karate, so Itook martial arts and made
(05:03):
different levels like differentbelts.
We'll call them I'm going touse wristbands, but we're going
to call them belts.
And you know, I know somepeople have used martial arts
before.
As far as you know, taking likejump roping and different.
You know your white belt andjump roping or you know whatever
yellow belt, things like that,and it's a great way to show
(05:26):
where you're starting and whereyour journey is, where you want
to go.
So, um, that's kind of thebrief synopsis of this and, by
the way, I will link the articleto this that I wrote in the
show notes, as well as the PDFof what I made for the different
levels and what they mean, soyou could kind of take a look at
it and feel free to copy it or,you know, run with it however
(05:49):
you want to.
If you'd like to try this andI'd love to hear if you do,
that'd be great, all right.
So much like in martial arts andI'm just talking about for me,
for karate, it took me six yearsto get a black belt, to test
for my black belt, and it wasn'teasy, and I know that I don't
(06:10):
expect them to start inkindergarten with this program.
As a matter of fact, I'm goingto basically make it like a
three-year program.
It's third, fourth and fifthgrade.
I will have different levels,like I said, which we'll talk
about in just a moment, and theyneed to work for it.
Now, there's different ways towork for it.
It um coach's discretion, likeI have two paras myself and if
(06:33):
we just see students do anamazing job, we can reward them.
Um, probably at the end of eachmonth we'll do like a ceremony,
um, and when I mean ceremony,I'll just call people up and get
the wristbands so we can dothat.
Now there's other ways to do itas well, where it's it's more
complicated, where each studentgets like a scorecard or like a
(06:55):
sticker chart, but I'm thinkingthat's like 600 students, maybe
a little less, but it's about100, somewhere between 150 and
200 per grade level.
So let's just call it 550 to600 students.
So that's a lot of stickers, alot of like moving parts, and
some kids will not even want todo this.
(07:15):
I'm not going to force anybodyto be a part of this.
I think most students will wantto, but if they don't want to,
that's okay.
But they're also not going toget the benefits of it, and
we'll talk about that in amoment as well.
Everyone's journey is going tobe unique.
There's going to be studentsthat are grandfathered in, that
(07:36):
are fifth graders or fourthgraders this year that I will
put at a higher level than um.
You know, third graders.
Third graders will always startat white belt, or actually I
might even say no belt.
That's another thing I'm kindof toying with, which again
we'll get to in a moment.
I'm getting ahead of myself.
But um, basically I'm going tohave, like because of cost,
(07:59):
white and green belts.
The first two will be kind oflike hospital Think of, um, if
you go to the hospital, likethose kinds of plastic bands
where they you can kind of putthem on and um, adjust them a
little bit, um're a little lesscostly than the rubber ones.
And then of course most peoplewill be white or green because
(08:21):
that's the lower level.
Again, we'll talk about thelevels as we go as far as what
they mean.
But that's how I'm planning itso far.
In the beginning, white andgreen will be kind of plastic
hospital-type ones I get off oflike Amazon.
Then orange, purple and greenwill be kind of plastic hospital
type Ones I get off of likeAmazon.
Then orange, purple and blackwill be the rubber ones.
But I also plan on running agrant for this in the fall, you
(08:43):
know, just to stock up and getextra wristbands and donations
and things like that.
So then all of them can be likethe rubber bands, wristbands
kind of thing, and all of themcan be like the rubber bands,
wristbands kind of thing.
All right, back to how theylevel up.
Again.
(09:03):
I was toying with the idea Istill am of the coaches take a
class list with them and eachday students get points based on
if they have the right shoes on, if they brought a water bottle
, who is the hardest worker thatday, or who's the most helpful,
who showed great sportsmanship.
I think that might get a littleoverwhelming for my paras and
you know I don't want to putmore like more burden on them.
(09:24):
So I don't know if I'm going todo that.
I think it's going to be moresubjective.
It could be more you know likereally like based on points and
sticker charts and things likethat.
More you know like really likebased on points and sticker
charts and things like that.
Um, I think it's based on thetotal number of students and you
know the time commitment andthings like that.
So in my case, I think I'mgonna make it more subjective
and I was thinking about thatwhen I tested for my belts, like
(09:47):
I wasn't, I didn't have like asticker chart and things like
that.
It was like my sensei said hey,uh, maybe he didn't say hey,
but he said you know you'll betesting for your whatever purple
belt, uh, in a couple of months, and you know you need to
practice and all that stuff andthen test for it.
Um, so it's not gonna be a test, but it'll be how they, um,
(10:10):
again, show good sportsmanship,how they treat each other, how
they give a solid effort.
And again, I keep saying thatWe'll get into that in just a
moment, but that is how we'lljudge who gets a belt and what
belt it is.
And I want to go over.
Next, we'll talk about thebenefits for the students,
(10:31):
because they're not going tojust want wristbands, they want
something tangible.
Well, that's a wristband, it'stangible, but something else
that goes with it.
So the next boomer, we'll talkabout that.
So here we go.
All right, sorry, I kind oframbled on that one a little bit
, but I want to talk about thebenefits for the students.
So first, um, you know somestudents like trinkets and toys
(10:57):
and prizes, and I'm hoping thisis more of a, just an incentive,
just like, hey, I did a greatjob and I want to tell my family
about it, I want to tell myfriends about it, I want to tell
my teachers about it and I wantto show that I deserve to just
have these high honors notnecessarily a certificate or
things like that, but yeah, youknow, just be the best I can be
(11:21):
for being the best I can be formyself.
And, yes, they will wear awristband around school and they
can show you.
It will show that, hey, Iachieved this level and it's a
high honor.
So here's the benefits besides awristband.
Okay, first of all, they canbecome a field day helper, which
(11:42):
what I've done in the past iswe just kind of pick hey, this
is a good kid, let's let them bea field day helper.
Well, now they have to earn it.
They have to achieve a certainbelt color to get to that, which
again, we'll talk about in amoment.
The second one is they couldbecome a member of my safety
patrol, and again, I'm in chargeof the fourth and fifth graders
(12:03):
that do safety patrol.
I don't have third graders thatdo it, but that is a pretty
high honor.
It's funny if you watch a diverwith a kid.
It's like the lowest honor isbecoming a safety patrol in
middle school, but it's a prettyhigh honor.
In our school I try to rewardthe students that show kindness
and helpfulness and leadershipby being a safety patrol member,
(12:25):
all right.
So the third one is they canbecome a captain or referee in
our games.
And, as a side note, captaindoesn't mean I, you know, I pick
my friend, then this personpicks and then the last person
you know, like when we were kidslike I got picked last in
kickball or something, andthere's hurt feelings.
We don't do that, but we do.
If you're a captain, you canhelp demonstrate a game.
(12:45):
I usually let captains pick,like you know.
Pick two friends to be on yourteam, you know, for the day, but
they can't just keep picking,picking, picking.
Eventually I just tell peopleto go okay, now you three go to
that team, you three go to thatteam.
I never try to have hurtfeelings.
A referee look, I do thissometimes during fun Fridays,
(13:06):
especially with hockey orsomething.
I have some hockey players inmy school and I tell them to
make fair teams.
You guys are the referees, youguys play, but you're also the
referees.
I've done that with Gaga BallKids that are just really fair
and I know they'll play itcorrectly and call it correctly.
(13:27):
You guys are the referees, youplay, but you can be the
referees as well, and so theycan be called on to be a helper.
I'll never forget there's onetime I had my.
I have a captain of my safetypatrol.
I actually nominated twocaptains for next year but my
first ever captain of safetypatrol I literally gave her my
(13:49):
keys.
I'm like, can you go get?
I mean I had my badge andeverything on there.
I'm like, can you go get?
I mean I had my badge andeverything on there.
I'm like, can you go get my?
Uh, I left my water bottle inthe media center.
Can you go grab it for me?
And I know I wasn't supposed to.
But, um, you know, those arethe kids I get my keys to right.
These are leadership skillsthat they have.
That I know I could trust them.
I could trust them with mywallet.
(14:09):
I could say go to my car andget my wallet, please.
I've never done that, butthat's what I say.
That's the kind of people I'mlooking for.
So these are high honors.
I'm going to make sure it's ahigh honor and I'll reward them
as much as I can.
So that's kind of what I'mlooking for in these students.
(14:33):
Now, like I said, the first twoyears there might be some
students that are kind ofgrandfathered in because it's
really a third, fourth and fifthgrade program.
But I'm going to start it inthe fall where I'm going to have
, obviously, current fourth andfifth graders that will kind of
be ahead of the curve or behindin some cases, but I will have
(14:53):
some students that have alreadydone uh or already been a field
day helper or safety patrol.
They might start at a higherlevel, um belt wise, than others
, but everybody else will startwith no belts and earn their
first belt, earn their whitebelt.
And I, yeah, the more I thinkabout that, I'm going to do that
.
I was going to say everybodygets a white belt.
No, you have to earn your whitebelt as well.
(15:15):
So that's kind of the logisticsand the benefits in the first
two boomers, and now we'll getinto what each color means.
All right, for white belt.
I think again, we're going tostart at no belt and I will see
who wants to do it.
I'm going to imagine most kidswant to do it.
So you know they have to workto get a white belt.
(15:40):
It's just not handed to you,it's not handed to them.
When I was in martial arts.
I didn't start with a whitebelt, I started with no belt at
all, and the only problem withthat is I'm worried that some
kids might get frustrated orjust kind of like lose momentum.
I might lose momentum with it,like, oh well, you know whatever
(16:01):
.
So there'll probably be a quickwin for them, just like in
video games like gamification.
I say the first two levels aregoing to be a lot easier than
the last three, because we'regoing to do five levels and I
might actually add a secretlevel at the end we'll talk
about.
So a white belt will be again.
(16:21):
Third graders can only start awhite belt as second graders.
They have not demonstrated theleadership kind of qualities I
mean some of them have, but thatI'm going to be talking about
here and with them.
So here's what they have to doto achieve a white belt they
have to be respectful tothemselves, others in property.
(16:42):
That's our main kind of PE rule.
They have to be responsible bybringing, you know, a water
bottle, wearing the right uhshoes.
And again, there's exceptionsthat are made.
Um, you know, I know there'ssometimes kids are.
You know.
They say well, you know, Ispent the night at my dad's
house and all I had is my Crocs.
You know I make exceptions.
(17:04):
I am not, uh, you know,ruthless or anything like that.
There's, there's exceptions.
Or some kids say I don't, Ijust don't have a water bottle,
and of course I encourage themto just bring a cheap 22-cent
water bottle that you get fromCostco in big packs and just
refill it.
But you know, if not, I mighthave a few extra to just give
(17:27):
them.
They have to be safe.
So you know they can't be doinganything when we play games I
don't want to say dangerous, butanything that could cause
injury to themselves or others.
And again, they have to beprepared for class, like I said.
And there's times when studentsare wearing jackets when it's
95 to 100 degrees out and I haveto keep telling them you cannot
wear that, I don't want you toget overheated.
It's all part of that.
That's being respectful to meand to themselves, things like
(17:50):
that.
So that is a white belt andwe're going gonna make it easy
for them to achieve it.
Not easy, but simple, simplestuff.
They know most kids do thatevery day.
So a white belt should be apretty quick win and I'll
probably give out white beltsvery early in the school year,
like maybe the first after thefirst two weeks.
(18:11):
I'll just give out some whitebelts, most white belts.
But some students are not partof that club yet.
They just haven't earned it yet.
So that'll be the white belt,that'll be the white wristband,
we'll call it white belt.
So that's number one white belt.
All right, and on that note, wecall the white belt, I'm going
(18:35):
to just call it the beginnerbelt.
Number two, or the second levelwill be the green belt, we're
going to call it the awesomelevel.
So each level, by the way, mustdemonstrate the previous level
and then go beyond.
So everything I said about whitebelt applies to green belt,
except I'm going to add somethings.
So first of all, for the greenbelt, they must wear to add some
things.
So, first of all, for the greenbelt, they must wear their
white belt proudly to pe classevery day.
(18:57):
This demonstrates loyalty andcommitment and responsibility
that they're going to rememberto wear it the next day, and
that holds true for every level.
Um, so here's what green beltmeans they have to give 100
effort during warm-ups and ingames and activities we play.
Now I always say this and it'sfrom the book the Four
(19:17):
Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, agreat book.
100% isn't always the same everyday for everybody.
If somebody's sick, their 100%looks different, or if they're
hurt, their 100% looks different.
So, just giving their besteffort each day.
They're honest in the games,they play fair and, by the way,
(19:38):
that separates a lot of studentsfrom white and green.
I see a lot of good kidscheating in games and they have
to be a good sport.
I see a lot of good athletesnot being kind when they win or
lose that win or lose with gracementality.
They have to be helpful so theyhave to offer to clean up, help
(19:59):
out where needed, help otherstudents, that kind of thing.
So that's the biggest thing, Ithink, and I'm hoping that'll
incentivize some of my studentsthat are really good athletes
but aren't always the best atsportsmanship.
So that is the green belt and Ireally think that's what
separates the green from thewhite.
(20:20):
But yeah, next we'll go toorange, all right, so orange
belt First of all.
This is where we start with the, at least this year.
The rubber, I guess the betterbands right, because it's again
more costly and there's going tobe less students at this level.
Think of it like a pyramid.
Basically, a lot of people aregoing to start with either no
(20:43):
belts or white belts, then evenfewer green, fewer orange and
then so forth.
So I should be giving out lessorange, but still a lot, of
course.
So this is where it gets reallyinto the mentorship, into the
leadership, into the game andskill knowledge.
(21:04):
This is where students have todemonstrate at least one year of
leadership already.
So that's why third graderscan't start at some of these
levels here.
It's going to be very rare thisthird grader starts at green
even.
I think it's all white belt.
So fourth and fifth grade couldstart here some of them.
So they have to againdemonstrate game and skill
(21:27):
knowledge.
It doesn't mean they have to bethe best soccer player, hockey
player, whatever, but they haveto understand the games, be
attentive listeners.
They have to already be ahelper, already be just a
fantastic P student 100%.
We'll call them 100% studentsthat are always just there for
other kids.
(21:47):
They're there for themselves,they do the best they can.
And then their benefits.
This is where they could becomea field helper, or they already
were a field helper, especiallyfor third grade.
This is a great incentive.
If they reach this.
They could become a member ofour safety patrol in fourth and
fifth grade, or they alreadywere.
They could be a captain in ourgames or a referee in our games.
(22:11):
Basically, this is about timeand consistency, and that
includes the next couple levelsas well.
It's about doing it for again,in this case at least a year.
And the students I'm going totell them some of them.
It's almost impossible for themto make, well, it's not
impossible for them to makeorange, even as third graders,
(22:32):
because those will be our fieldday helpers and possible safety
patrol.
So that's orange and I thinkthat's a really high honor,
especially for third grade.
But even for students that I'veseen students mature between
third, fourth and fifth grade.
I've seen students that are notgood sports or do not play fair
(22:56):
turn it around, and I hope thisdoes it, because there's going
to be some fourth and fifthgraders start a white belt or
whatever, and this can be someincentive for them.
But I know some students mightbe upset by that or think, well,
I'm never going to achieve acertain level, and that's just
not true.
Again, there are some levelsthey're not going to be able to
achieve, like if they start awhite belt in fifth grade.
(23:17):
They're not getting a blackbelt by the end of fifth grade.
You know what I mean.
It's just not possible.
It's a time thing as well.
Like I said, it's consistencyover a long period of time, just
like in martial arts.
It's not just a one and donekind of thing.
It's a long period of time.
And I saw somebody as just aquick thing.
There was a student that,honestly, in the beginning of
(23:39):
the school year he was fourthgrade last year, beginning of
the school year he was not wellbehaved.
There were times when he had tosit out on the bench or he was
just not being respectful and heturned it around.
And at first I thought, well,is he just trying to become a
field day helper?
Does he really mean this?
And I've had some goodconversations with him and his
teacher and she's like no, he'sturned it around and so we made
(24:01):
him a field day helper.
Now again, that means in thebeginning of fourth grade, you
know not great.
Middle to end of fourth grade,great.
So some students turn thingsaround and hopefully this will
incentivize, you know, others todo the same.
I'm really hoping this, thisworks.
So that is orange and that is,oh, by the way, that's the name.
The name of it is the herolevel.
(24:22):
That's, hero is for the orange,all right.
The purple belt is the elitelevel and the name says it all.
I mean, again, think of thatpyramid there's going to be, you
know, maybe half get to hero ofthe beginning.
You know white belt, green belt, you know then to, uh, orange,
(24:46):
um, but the purple, you know,just it's, it just continues to
get smaller and smaller and moreelite.
Hence the name.
Because if everybody gets belt,it's kind of like everybody
gets a trophy, it kind of watersit down.
If everybody gets a belt,especially this high level, then
it doesn't mean anything.
It should mean something.
In this case it is two years ofeverything that I've talked
(25:11):
about before, of leadershipdemonstrated by being a field
day helper, safe patrol captain,referee.
That means they've already doneit, they've already been an
awesome helper, they've alreadydone safety patrol for me it
doesn't have to be, but that's agood qualification for it and
they've already been a refereecaptain in games and things like
(25:31):
that.
Helpers, these students, Iwould say, are the ones that I
give my car keys to and, again,I've never done that before.
It's an example of.
I can trust them 100%.
They are always, always, alwayshelpful, honest, caring
everything, demonstrateleadership abilities and
(25:53):
something I haven't mentioned inthis podcast.
But there's a lot of studentsthat are really good, students
that are just kind of quiet andshy and that was me, by the way,
when I was younger, and I tellthe students that a lot so you
can still be a quiet, honest,you know leader.
It's a little harder because ifyou're not talking, you know
(26:17):
you're doing good for yourself,but you need to do good for
others as well, and that's hard,but I'm hoping to bring some
students out of their shells.
So that's just a little sidenote there.
So it is possible for a fourthgrader to earn this purple belt
by the end of the school year, Ithink, because this is this
means two years of leadership,two years of mentorship, two
(26:38):
years of being helpful andawesome.
Basically, again, there's onlyone, maybe two levels that are
higher, and I mean there's notmuch.
This is, this is one of thebest.
Highest honors I can give themis purple belt, because it's
just not going to go toeverybody.
You know, it's just not.
It's it's just not going to goto everybody.
You know it's just not, it's,it's going to have to be
(27:02):
reserved for the select few.
And uh, yeah, it's, and there'sit's.
I know there's.
It's subjective, right, youknow it's subjective, between
even purple and black, whichI'll talk about in a moment.
But these are like the best ofthe best of my students and
again, it doesn't mean they'rethe best baseball players, it
means they're the best leadersin the school.
So that is Purple Belt.
And now we get to the ninjas.
All right, here it is the ninja, the black belt.
(27:28):
We got ninja level.
So this is only for fifthgraders and only for a handful
of students.
No one's going to start here inthe fall, even if they're
grandfathered in, they're notgoing to start here.
Some of them might start at thepurple belts, but I'd rather
not.
I'd rather start them at orange, even if they deserve purple.
(27:49):
I'm going to start themprobably at orange, and you know
, but quickly gives it some ofthem purple.
But by the end of, or let's say,middle to the end of, fifth
grade, they could earn theirblack belts.
I don't want to be the very endof the year, because then it's
like, well, then they just getit and they go home and that's
it for the summer.
I want them to have the blackbelts if they deserve it, and
(28:11):
purple belts.
So, again, this is probablygoing to be the top honor they
can earn in fifth grade that Ican give them.
I mean, these ninjas could runmy class if I let them.
They really could.
They could lead warm-ups, theycould lead the games.
They could do everything theycan.
(28:35):
You know, I'll give them accessto the and I will, and I do
with the purple belts or kidslike that, where you know you
can go into our office and gograb something, or can you go
get this piece of equipment orwhatever, just anything.
They can do everything and theydeserve it.
Now I am going to add some extracredit stuff that will help
them.
By the way, they don't have todo this, but it'll help their
cause to become a black belt oreven a purple belt.
So I'm going to continue my cupstacking club and again, they
don't have to become a blackbelt or even a purple belt.
So I'm going to continue my cupstacking club and again, they
(28:56):
don't have to be a member of theclub, they don't have to even
like cup stacking, they don'thave to do it.
But I might add another,because our time is changing
next year which kind of stinkswe're going to go to a later
time.
So I might add a before schoolactivity, some kind of like
extra PE or even like a runningclub I'm going to.
My plan is to hold a Zoommeeting, maybe once a month
where we have PE trivia.
(29:19):
I might do some bonusassignments in the Google
Classroom about, again, game andskill knowledge strategy, but
also maybe about leadership.
I mean, because that's whatit's about, right, and you know
active participation helps theircase, but it's not a
requirement, it just because Iknow some kids will be like well
, you know, we weren't home lastnight or I wasn't allowed to
(29:40):
get online, or so I get it.
So, again, I'm not looking forthe best.
You know sport, you knowathlete.
I'm looking for the best leader, leaders who want to shine and
help others.
Um, the ninjas.
These ninjas are going tochange the world.
I know they are.
(30:00):
They're like, they're going tobe elite in the world and not
just in my classroom.
So that is ninja.
Again, at least two years ofmentorship, leadership and,
above and beyond, the purplebelt, which again is subjective,
but you know there are studentsthat I know that deserve it and
we'll get it.
So that is a black belt.
Yeah, all right, so it'spossible.
(30:21):
I had a red belt called theinfinity belt.
I don't know if I'm going to dothat.
I'm not going to even talkabout it with the students in
the beginning of the school year.
It might be like a secret belt.
So I was thinking about this.
My sensei was a I a fourthlevel black belt.
He might have been higher.
Again, I received my firstlevel black belt.
I was going to test for mysecond and I moved.
So I never got a chance to dothat and there's a big
(30:46):
difference between me and him,even though we're both black
belts.
Big difference.
And his sensei, which wouldalso be my sensei, higher level,
it was a red belt and I'm likewell, this red belt, maybe I
could do that with a fewstudents.
I'm not sure if I'm going to doit, but basically Black Belt
would be like Luke Skywalker,red Belt would be like Yoda.
I mean, they could teach theway.
(31:07):
I don't know.
I was even thinking my safetypatrol captains could be the red
belts, but that's not anecessary thing.
So, again, I'm toying with this.
It's something brand new Ihaven't even done it yet, but
something I'm really excitedabout.
If you could tell I'm reallyexcited about it.
I'm looking at the time of howlong I've been recording this
and it's one of the longerepisodes.
(31:30):
So I appreciate you listening tothis and now it is time for
your cowbell tip of the day.
All right, so your tip of theday is to look for ways to
empower your students.
It doesn't have to be thissystem.
I'd be flattered if you triedsomething like this and gave me
(31:52):
some credit for it.
Or maybe you already done itand I need to give you credit
for it.
I don't know, but it'd beawesome if you tried something
like this and gave me somecredit for it.
Or maybe you have already doneit and I need to give you credit
for it.
I don't know, but it'd beawesome if you tried something,
a way to empower your students.
Just think about ways you canmake them.
You know the leaders shine andget rewarded for it.
So as you're going through thesummer, make sure you are
thinking about the fall and waysyou can help your students and
(32:14):
help your program grow andbecome a better version of what
it already is, and that is yourcowbell tip of the day.
Thank you everybody for tuningin.
I really do appreciate it, asalways.
(32:34):
Go to supersizefizadcom formore information and go to my
Medium or Substack in the shownotes if you want to check out
some of the articles, as well asthe article I will put in there
about the next level leadershipthat I just talked about.
So take care, pe Nation, youguys and girls are awesome.
Let's have a great weekendwhenever, weekend whenever you
listen to this, and let's keeppushing our profession forward,
(33:02):
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to the Supersize Phys Ed podcast.
My name is Dave and today Iwant to talk about a really
exciting program that I want tostart in the fall, like right
away, and I'm calling it my nextlevel leadership program and I
want to talk about that nextwith you.
So, without further ado, herewe go.
(00:31):
Welcome NPE Nation.
I am recording this outside aspart of my summer series.
So, again, if you hear somebirds chirping or my dog making
(00:52):
noise by the fence with her ball, that's what I'm looking at
right now.
Please be patient andunderstand that I just want to
be outside and record a podcastor two.
So let's get into this.
So I thought of this a coupleweeks ago it was right before
(01:15):
the school year ended, about theweek before it ended and I just
was thinking about how can Iempower my students to become
just great leaders, not only inschool and in PE, just great
leaders not only in school andin PE, but later on in life.
And I also thought about I hatethat my grades and I think a
lot of you are if you'reelementary school are S, n and U
(01:35):
.
So S is satisfactory, n isneeds improvement, u is
unsatisfactory and I don't giveout U's really at all.
I mean maybe one day a fewtimes, and I don't give out use
really at all.
I mean maybe one day a fewtimes.
So, and ends are even kind ofrare.
I mean I give ends fordifferent things or behavior or
whatever, but you know a lot ofit's really participation.
I mean that's my grade, that'swhat I'm allowed to do, and I
(01:58):
know it's good and bad, right,it's easy, but it's also not
fair.
As far as you know, there'ssome students that do amazing
things and there's some studentsthat do average things and they
both get S's.
And when I was a kid there wasan E for exceptional and they
don't do that anymore.
At least my district doesn't dothat.
So I was like, well, how can Ireward and empower students that
(02:23):
are doing amazing things andare great helpers?
And I'm in charge of safetypatrol, so you know my safety
patrollers that are just awesomeat helping little kids and you
know just keeping the hallwaysafe.
And I'm also, you know I pickfield day helpers.
So you know these are the kidsthat are just all-stars.
(02:45):
And it doesn't mean all-starsskill-wise If you're not the
best soccer player out there,that's okay If you're giving
your best and you know theskills and you know that you
have the knowledge and you'retrying your hardest.
That's all I'm looking for.
I want the whole child to bedeveloped, not just like, hey, I
can kick it far.
That really has never been mything and I hope it's not yours
(03:08):
as well.
My goal, I guess, is to makegood people, help motivate and
create good people.
You know what I mean.
I want good people.
You know what I mean.
I don't.
I want good people.
I don't care if they're LeBronJames, if they.
If they're, they have badsportsmanship or if they're
(03:30):
yelling at the referees or kidreferees or if they're, you know
, just being mean to people.
I don't want that.
I want good people and you knowthat's.
My goal in this program is tohelp, you know, reward the ones
that deserve it and motivate theones that are maybe on the
fence.
I mean, motivate everybody, but, um, you know, definitely the
ones that are that want to seewhat, how far they can get in
(03:52):
this program and they can seethe tangible results and they
want to be part of somethingspecial.
So that is my goal for this andI want to go over, uh, the
different levels.
Um, you know, here in a moment,all right, so let's do some
boomers here just to get thebasic stuff and then each level
as we go.
So here's our first boomer,here we go, alright, so let's
(04:19):
talk about the basics.
So first of all, I want to taketwo things I really really
enjoy and kind of smash themtogether.
So the of all, I want to taketwo things I really really enjoy
and kind of smash them together.
So the first is gamificationand I know a lot of you use that
, or some of you you've neverheard of it before.
So, kind of briefly, it istaking it's kind of like a game
(04:40):
and think of a video game andmaking it challenging, but
taking it instead of a videogame like a task or a goal, and
making it fun and challenging byadding levels, badges, rewards
and charting your progress.
I'm a black belt in karate, so Itook martial arts and made
(05:03):
different levels like differentbelts.
We'll call them I'm going touse wristbands, but we're going
to call them belts.
And you know, I know somepeople have used martial arts
before.
As far as you know, taking likejump roping and different.
You know your white belt andjump roping or you know whatever
yellow belt, things like that,and it's a great way to show
(05:26):
where you're starting and whereyour journey is, where you want
to go.
So, um, that's kind of thebrief synopsis of this and, by
the way, I will link the articleto this that I wrote in the
show notes, as well as the PDFof what I made for the different
levels and what they mean, soyou could kind of take a look at
it and feel free to copy it or,you know, run with it however
(05:49):
you want to.
If you'd like to try this andI'd love to hear if you do,
that'd be great, all right.
So much like in martial arts andI'm just talking about for me,
for karate, it took me six yearsto get a black belt, to test
for my black belt, and it wasn'teasy, and I know that I don't
(06:10):
expect them to start inkindergarten with this program.
As a matter of fact, I'm goingto basically make it like a
three-year program.
It's third, fourth and fifthgrade.
I will have different levels,like I said, which we'll talk
about in just a moment, and theyneed to work for it.
Now, there's different ways towork for it.
It um coach's discretion, likeI have two paras myself and if
(06:33):
we just see students do anamazing job, we can reward them.
Um, probably at the end of eachmonth we'll do like a ceremony,
um, and when I mean ceremony,I'll just call people up and get
the wristbands so we can dothat.
Now there's other ways to do itas well, where it's it's more
complicated, where each studentgets like a scorecard or like a
(06:55):
sticker chart, but I'm thinkingthat's like 600 students, maybe
a little less, but it's about100, somewhere between 150 and
200 per grade level.
So let's just call it 550 to600 students.
So that's a lot of stickers, alot of like moving parts, and
some kids will not even want todo this.
(07:15):
I'm not going to force anybodyto be a part of this.
I think most students will wantto, but if they don't want to,
that's okay.
But they're also not going toget the benefits of it, and
we'll talk about that in amoment as well.
Everyone's journey is going tobe unique.
There's going to be studentsthat are grandfathered in, that
(07:36):
are fifth graders or fourthgraders this year that I will
put at a higher level than um.
You know, third graders.
Third graders will always startat white belt, or actually I
might even say no belt.
That's another thing I'm kindof toying with, which again
we'll get to in a moment.
I'm getting ahead of myself.
But um, basically I'm going tohave, like because of cost,
(07:59):
white and green belts.
The first two will be kind oflike hospital Think of, um, if
you go to the hospital, likethose kinds of plastic bands
where they you can kind of putthem on and um, adjust them a
little bit, um're a little lesscostly than the rubber ones.
And then of course most peoplewill be white or green because
(08:21):
that's the lower level.
Again, we'll talk about thelevels as we go as far as what
they mean.
But that's how I'm planning itso far.
In the beginning, white andgreen will be kind of plastic
hospital-type ones I get off oflike Amazon.
Then orange, purple and greenwill be kind of plastic hospital
type Ones I get off of likeAmazon.
Then orange, purple and blackwill be the rubber ones.
But I also plan on running agrant for this in the fall, you
(08:43):
know, just to stock up and getextra wristbands and donations
and things like that.
So then all of them can be likethe rubber bands, wristbands
kind of thing, and all of themcan be like the rubber bands,
wristbands kind of thing.
All right, back to how theylevel up.
Again.
(09:03):
I was toying with the idea Istill am of the coaches take a
class list with them and eachday students get points based on
if they have the right shoes on, if they brought a water bottle
, who is the hardest worker thatday, or who's the most helpful,
who showed great sportsmanship.
I think that might get a littleoverwhelming for my paras and
you know I don't want to putmore like more burden on them.
(09:24):
So I don't know if I'm going todo that.
I think it's going to be moresubjective.
It could be more you know likereally like based on points and
sticker charts and things likethat.
More you know like really likebased on points and sticker
charts and things like that.
Um, I think it's based on thetotal number of students and you
know the time commitment andthings like that.
So in my case, I think I'mgonna make it more subjective
and I was thinking about thatwhen I tested for my belts, like
(09:47):
I wasn't, I didn't have like asticker chart and things like
that.
It was like my sensei said hey,uh, maybe he didn't say hey,
but he said you know you'll betesting for your whatever purple
belt, uh, in a couple of months, and you know you need to
practice and all that stuff andthen test for it.
Um, so it's not gonna be a test, but it'll be how they, um,
(10:10):
again, show good sportsmanship,how they treat each other, how
they give a solid effort.
And again, I keep saying thatWe'll get into that in just a
moment, but that is how we'lljudge who gets a belt and what
belt it is.
And I want to go over.
Next, we'll talk about thebenefits for the students,
(10:31):
because they're not going tojust want wristbands, they want
something tangible.
Well, that's a wristband, it'stangible, but something else
that goes with it.
So the next boomer, we'll talkabout that.
So here we go.
All right, sorry, I kind oframbled on that one a little bit
, but I want to talk about thebenefits for the students.
So first, um, you know somestudents like trinkets and toys
(10:57):
and prizes, and I'm hoping thisis more of a, just an incentive,
just like, hey, I did a greatjob and I want to tell my family
about it, I want to tell myfriends about it, I want to tell
my teachers about it and I wantto show that I deserve to just
have these high honors notnecessarily a certificate or
things like that, but yeah, youknow, just be the best I can be
(11:21):
for being the best I can be formyself.
And, yes, they will wear awristband around school and they
can show you.
It will show that, hey, Iachieved this level and it's a
high honor.
So here's the benefits besides awristband.
Okay, first of all, they canbecome a field day helper, which
(11:42):
what I've done in the past iswe just kind of pick hey, this
is a good kid, let's let them bea field day helper.
Well, now they have to earn it.
They have to achieve a certainbelt color to get to that, which
again, we'll talk about in amoment.
The second one is they couldbecome a member of my safety
patrol, and again, I'm in chargeof the fourth and fifth graders
(12:03):
that do safety patrol.
I don't have third graders thatdo it, but that is a pretty
high honor.
It's funny if you watch a diverwith a kid.
It's like the lowest honor isbecoming a safety patrol in
middle school, but it's a prettyhigh honor.
In our school I try to rewardthe students that show kindness
and helpfulness and leadershipby being a safety patrol member,
(12:25):
all right.
So the third one is they canbecome a captain or referee in
our games.
And, as a side note, captaindoesn't mean I, you know, I pick
my friend, then this personpicks and then the last person
you know, like when we were kidslike I got picked last in
kickball or something, andthere's hurt feelings.
We don't do that, but we do.
If you're a captain, you canhelp demonstrate a game.
(12:45):
I usually let captains pick,like you know.
Pick two friends to be on yourteam, you know, for the day, but
they can't just keep picking,picking, picking.
Eventually I just tell peopleto go okay, now you three go to
that team, you three go to thatteam.
I never try to have hurtfeelings.
A referee look, I do thissometimes during fun Fridays,
(13:06):
especially with hockey orsomething.
I have some hockey players inmy school and I tell them to
make fair teams.
You guys are the referees, youguys play, but you're also the
referees.
I've done that with Gaga BallKids that are just really fair
and I know they'll play itcorrectly and call it correctly.
(13:27):
You guys are the referees, youplay, but you can be the
referees as well, and so theycan be called on to be a helper.
I'll never forget there's onetime I had my.
I have a captain of my safetypatrol.
I actually nominated twocaptains for next year but my
first ever captain of safetypatrol I literally gave her my
(13:49):
keys.
I'm like, can you go get?
I mean I had my badge andeverything on there.
I'm like, can you go get?
I mean I had my badge andeverything on there.
I'm like, can you go get my?
Uh, I left my water bottle inthe media center.
Can you go grab it for me?
And I know I wasn't supposed to.
But, um, you know, those arethe kids I get my keys to right.
These are leadership skillsthat they have.
That I know I could trust them.
I could trust them with mywallet.
(14:09):
I could say go to my car andget my wallet, please.
I've never done that, butthat's what I say.
That's the kind of people I'mlooking for.
So these are high honors.
I'm going to make sure it's ahigh honor and I'll reward them
as much as I can.
So that's kind of what I'mlooking for in these students.
(14:33):
Now, like I said, the first twoyears there might be some
students that are kind ofgrandfathered in because it's
really a third, fourth and fifthgrade program.
But I'm going to start it inthe fall where I'm going to have
, obviously, current fourth andfifth graders that will kind of
be ahead of the curve or behindin some cases, but I will have
(14:53):
some students that have alreadydone uh or already been a field
day helper or safety patrol.
They might start at a higherlevel, um belt wise, than others
, but everybody else will startwith no belts and earn their
first belt, earn their whitebelt.
And I, yeah, the more I thinkabout that, I'm going to do that
.
I was going to say everybodygets a white belt.
No, you have to earn your whitebelt as well.
(15:15):
So that's kind of the logisticsand the benefits in the first
two boomers, and now we'll getinto what each color means.
All right, for white belt.
I think again, we're going tostart at no belt and I will see
who wants to do it.
I'm going to imagine most kidswant to do it.
So you know they have to workto get a white belt.
(15:40):
It's just not handed to you,it's not handed to them.
When I was in martial arts.
I didn't start with a whitebelt, I started with no belt at
all, and the only problem withthat is I'm worried that some
kids might get frustrated orjust kind of like lose momentum.
I might lose momentum with it,like, oh well, you know whatever
(16:01):
.
So there'll probably be a quickwin for them, just like in
video games like gamification.
I say the first two levels aregoing to be a lot easier than
the last three, because we'regoing to do five levels and I
might actually add a secretlevel at the end we'll talk
about.
So a white belt will be again.
(16:21):
Third graders can only start awhite belt as second graders.
They have not demonstrated theleadership kind of qualities I
mean some of them have, but thatI'm going to be talking about
here and with them.
So here's what they have to doto achieve a white belt they
have to be respectful tothemselves, others in property.
(16:42):
That's our main kind of PE rule.
They have to be responsible bybringing, you know, a water
bottle, wearing the right uhshoes.
And again, there's exceptionsthat are made.
Um, you know, I know there'ssometimes kids are.
You know.
They say well, you know, Ispent the night at my dad's
house and all I had is my Crocs.
You know I make exceptions.
(17:04):
I am not, uh, you know,ruthless or anything like that.
There's, there's exceptions.
Or some kids say I don't, Ijust don't have a water bottle,
and of course I encourage themto just bring a cheap 22-cent
water bottle that you get fromCostco in big packs and just
refill it.
But you know, if not, I mighthave a few extra to just give
(17:27):
them.
They have to be safe.
So you know they can't be doinganything when we play games I
don't want to say dangerous, butanything that could cause
injury to themselves or others.
And again, they have to beprepared for class, like I said.
And there's times when studentsare wearing jackets when it's
95 to 100 degrees out and I haveto keep telling them you cannot
wear that, I don't want you toget overheated.
It's all part of that.
That's being respectful to meand to themselves, things like
(17:50):
that.
So that is a white belt andwe're going gonna make it easy
for them to achieve it.
Not easy, but simple, simplestuff.
They know most kids do thatevery day.
So a white belt should be apretty quick win and I'll
probably give out white beltsvery early in the school year,
like maybe the first after thefirst two weeks.
(18:11):
I'll just give out some whitebelts, most white belts.
But some students are not partof that club yet.
They just haven't earned it yet.
So that'll be the white belt,that'll be the white wristband,
we'll call it white belt.
So that's number one white belt.
All right, and on that note, wecall the white belt, I'm going
(18:35):
to just call it the beginnerbelt.
Number two, or the second levelwill be the green belt, we're
going to call it the awesomelevel.
So each level, by the way, mustdemonstrate the previous level
and then go beyond.
So everything I said about whitebelt applies to green belt,
except I'm going to add somethings.
So first of all, for the greenbelt, they must wear to add some
things.
So, first of all, for the greenbelt, they must wear their
white belt proudly to pe classevery day.
(18:57):
This demonstrates loyalty andcommitment and responsibility
that they're going to rememberto wear it the next day, and
that holds true for every level.
Um, so here's what green beltmeans they have to give 100
effort during warm-ups and ingames and activities we play.
Now I always say this and it'sfrom the book the Four
(19:17):
Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, agreat book.
100% isn't always the same everyday for everybody.
If somebody's sick, their 100%looks different, or if they're
hurt, their 100% looks different.
So, just giving their besteffort each day.
They're honest in the games,they play fair and, by the way,
(19:38):
that separates a lot of studentsfrom white and green.
I see a lot of good kidscheating in games and they have
to be a good sport.
I see a lot of good athletesnot being kind when they win or
lose that win or lose with gracementality.
They have to be helpful so theyhave to offer to clean up, help
(19:59):
out where needed, help otherstudents, that kind of thing.
So that's the biggest thing, Ithink, and I'm hoping that'll
incentivize some of my studentsthat are really good athletes
but aren't always the best atsportsmanship.
So that is the green belt and Ireally think that's what
separates the green from thewhite.
(20:20):
But yeah, next we'll go toorange, all right, so orange
belt First of all.
This is where we start with the, at least this year.
The rubber, I guess the betterbands right, because it's again
more costly and there's going tobe less students at this level.
Think of it like a pyramid.
Basically, a lot of people aregoing to start with either no
(20:43):
belts or white belts, then evenfewer green, fewer orange and
then so forth.
So I should be giving out lessorange, but still a lot, of
course.
So this is where it gets reallyinto the mentorship, into the
leadership, into the game andskill knowledge.
(21:04):
This is where students have todemonstrate at least one year of
leadership already.
So that's why third graderscan't start at some of these
levels here.
It's going to be very rare thisthird grader starts at green
even.
I think it's all white belt.
So fourth and fifth grade couldstart here some of them.
So they have to againdemonstrate game and skill
(21:27):
knowledge.
It doesn't mean they have to bethe best soccer player, hockey
player, whatever, but they haveto understand the games, be
attentive listeners.
They have to already be ahelper, already be just a
fantastic P student 100%.
We'll call them 100% studentsthat are always just there for
other kids.
(21:47):
They're there for themselves,they do the best they can.
And then their benefits.
This is where they could becomea field helper, or they already
were a field helper, especiallyfor third grade.
This is a great incentive.
If they reach this.
They could become a member ofour safety patrol in fourth and
fifth grade, or they alreadywere.
They could be a captain in ourgames or a referee in our games.
(22:11):
Basically, this is about timeand consistency, and that
includes the next couple levelsas well.
It's about doing it for again,in this case at least a year.
And the students I'm going totell them some of them.
It's almost impossible for themto make, well, it's not
impossible for them to makeorange, even as third graders,
(22:32):
because those will be our fieldday helpers and possible safety
patrol.
So that's orange and I thinkthat's a really high honor,
especially for third grade.
But even for students that I'veseen students mature between
third, fourth and fifth grade.
I've seen students that are notgood sports or do not play fair
(22:56):
turn it around, and I hope thisdoes it, because there's going
to be some fourth and fifthgraders start a white belt or
whatever, and this can be someincentive for them.
But I know some students mightbe upset by that or think, well,
I'm never going to achieve acertain level, and that's just
not true.
Again, there are some levelsthey're not going to be able to
achieve, like if they start awhite belt in fifth grade.
(23:17):
They're not getting a blackbelt by the end of fifth grade.
You know what I mean.
It's just not possible.
It's a time thing as well.
Like I said, it's consistencyover a long period of time, just
like in martial arts.
It's not just a one and donekind of thing.
It's a long period of time.
And I saw somebody as just aquick thing.
There was a student that,honestly, in the beginning of
(23:39):
the school year he was fourthgrade last year, beginning of
the school year he was not wellbehaved.
There were times when he had tosit out on the bench or he was
just not being respectful and heturned it around.
And at first I thought, well,is he just trying to become a
field day helper?
Does he really mean this?
And I've had some goodconversations with him and his
teacher and she's like no, he'sturned it around and so we made
(24:01):
him a field day helper.
Now again, that means in thebeginning of fourth grade, you
know not great.
Middle to end of fourth grade,great.
So some students turn thingsaround and hopefully this will
incentivize, you know, others todo the same.
I'm really hoping this, thisworks.
So that is orange and that is,oh, by the way, that's the name.
The name of it is the herolevel.
(24:22):
That's, hero is for the orange,all right.
The purple belt is the elitelevel and the name says it all.
I mean, again, think of thatpyramid there's going to be, you
know, maybe half get to hero ofthe beginning.
You know white belt, green belt, you know then to, uh, orange,
(24:46):
um, but the purple, you know,just it's, it just continues to
get smaller and smaller and moreelite.
Hence the name.
Because if everybody gets belt,it's kind of like everybody
gets a trophy, it kind of watersit down.
If everybody gets a belt,especially this high level, then
it doesn't mean anything.
It should mean something.
In this case it is two years ofeverything that I've talked
(25:11):
about before, of leadershipdemonstrated by being a field
day helper, safe patrol captain,referee.
That means they've already doneit, they've already been an
awesome helper, they've alreadydone safety patrol for me it
doesn't have to be, but that's agood qualification for it and
they've already been a refereecaptain in games and things like
(25:31):
that.
Helpers, these students, Iwould say, are the ones that I
give my car keys to and, again,I've never done that before.
It's an example of.
I can trust them 100%.
They are always, always, alwayshelpful, honest, caring
everything, demonstrateleadership abilities and
(25:53):
something I haven't mentioned inthis podcast.
But there's a lot of studentsthat are really good, students
that are just kind of quiet andshy and that was me, by the way,
when I was younger, and I tellthe students that a lot so you
can still be a quiet, honest,you know leader.
It's a little harder because ifyou're not talking, you know
(26:17):
you're doing good for yourself,but you need to do good for
others as well, and that's hard,but I'm hoping to bring some
students out of their shells.
So that's just a little sidenote there.
So it is possible for a fourthgrader to earn this purple belt
by the end of the school year, Ithink, because this is this
means two years of leadership,two years of mentorship, two
(26:38):
years of being helpful andawesome.
Basically, again, there's onlyone, maybe two levels that are
higher, and I mean there's notmuch.
This is, this is one of thebest.
Highest honors I can give themis purple belt, because it's
just not going to go toeverybody.
You know, it's just not.
It's it's just not going to goto everybody.
You know it's just not, it's,it's going to have to be
(27:02):
reserved for the select few.
And uh, yeah, it's, and there'sit's.
I know there's.
It's subjective, right, youknow it's subjective, between
even purple and black, whichI'll talk about in a moment.
But these are like the best ofthe best of my students and
again, it doesn't mean they'rethe best baseball players, it
means they're the best leadersin the school.
So that is Purple Belt.
And now we get to the ninjas.
All right, here it is the ninja, the black belt.
(27:28):
We got ninja level.
So this is only for fifthgraders and only for a handful
of students.
No one's going to start here inthe fall, even if they're
grandfathered in, they're notgoing to start here.
Some of them might start at thepurple belts, but I'd rather
not.
I'd rather start them at orange, even if they deserve purple.
(27:49):
I'm going to start themprobably at orange, and you know
, but quickly gives it some ofthem purple.
But by the end of, or let's say,middle to the end of, fifth
grade, they could earn theirblack belts.
I don't want to be the very endof the year, because then it's
like, well, then they just getit and they go home and that's
it for the summer.
I want them to have the blackbelts if they deserve it, and
(28:11):
purple belts.
So, again, this is probablygoing to be the top honor they
can earn in fifth grade that Ican give them.
I mean, these ninjas could runmy class if I let them.
They really could.
They could lead warm-ups, theycould lead the games.
They could do everything theycan.
(28:35):
You know, I'll give them accessto the and I will, and I do
with the purple belts or kidslike that, where you know you
can go into our office and gograb something, or can you go
get this piece of equipment orwhatever, just anything.
They can do everything and theydeserve it.
Now I am going to add some extracredit stuff that will help
them.
By the way, they don't have todo this, but it'll help their
cause to become a black belt oreven a purple belt.
So I'm going to continue my cupstacking club and again, they
don't have to become a blackbelt or even a purple belt.
So I'm going to continue my cupstacking club and again, they
(28:56):
don't have to be a member of theclub, they don't have to even
like cup stacking, they don'thave to do it.
But I might add another,because our time is changing
next year which kind of stinkswe're going to go to a later
time.
So I might add a before schoolactivity, some kind of like
extra PE or even like a runningclub I'm going to.
My plan is to hold a Zoommeeting, maybe once a month
where we have PE trivia.
(29:19):
I might do some bonusassignments in the Google
Classroom about, again, game andskill knowledge strategy, but
also maybe about leadership.
I mean, because that's whatit's about, right, and you know
active participation helps theircase, but it's not a
requirement, it just because Iknow some kids will be like well
, you know, we weren't home lastnight or I wasn't allowed to
(29:40):
get online, or so I get it.
So, again, I'm not looking forthe best.
You know sport, you knowathlete.
I'm looking for the best leader, leaders who want to shine and
help others.
Um, the ninjas.
These ninjas are going tochange the world.
I know they are.
(30:00):
They're like, they're going tobe elite in the world and not
just in my classroom.
So that is ninja.
Again, at least two years ofmentorship, leadership and,
above and beyond, the purplebelt, which again is subjective,
but you know there are studentsthat I know that deserve it and
we'll get it.
So that is a black belt.
Yeah, all right, so it'spossible.
(30:21):
I had a red belt called theinfinity belt.
I don't know if I'm going to dothat.
I'm not going to even talkabout it with the students in
the beginning of the school year.
It might be like a secret belt.
So I was thinking about this.
My sensei was a I a fourthlevel black belt.
He might have been higher.
Again, I received my firstlevel black belt.
I was going to test for mysecond and I moved.
So I never got a chance to dothat and there's a big
(30:46):
difference between me and him,even though we're both black
belts.
Big difference.
And his sensei, which wouldalso be my sensei, higher level,
it was a red belt and I'm likewell, this red belt, maybe I
could do that with a fewstudents.
I'm not sure if I'm going to doit, but basically Black Belt
would be like Luke Skywalker,red Belt would be like Yoda.
I mean, they could teach theway.
(31:07):
I don't know.
I was even thinking my safetypatrol captains could be the red
belts, but that's not anecessary thing.
So, again, I'm toying with this.
It's something brand new Ihaven't even done it yet, but
something I'm really excitedabout.
If you could tell I'm reallyexcited about it.
I'm looking at the time of howlong I've been recording this
and it's one of the longerepisodes.
(31:30):
So I appreciate you listening tothis and now it is time for
your cowbell tip of the day.
All right, so your tip of theday is to look for ways to
empower your students.
It doesn't have to be thissystem.
I'd be flattered if you triedsomething like this and gave me
(31:52):
some credit for it.
Or maybe you already done itand I need to give you credit
for it.
I don't know, but it'd beawesome if you tried something
like this and gave me somecredit for it.
Or maybe you have already doneit and I need to give you credit
for it.
I don't know, but it'd beawesome if you tried something,
a way to empower your students.
Just think about ways you canmake them.
You know the leaders shine andget rewarded for it.
So as you're going through thesummer, make sure you are
thinking about the fall and waysyou can help your students and
(32:14):
help your program grow andbecome a better version of what
it already is, and that is yourcowbell tip of the day.
Thank you everybody for tuningin.
I really do appreciate it, asalways.
(32:34):
Go to supersizefizadcom formore information and go to my
Medium or Substack in the shownotes if you want to check out
some of the articles, as well asthe article I will put in there
about the next level leadershipthat I just talked about.
So take care, pe Nation, youguys and girls are awesome.
Let's have a great weekendwhenever, weekend whenever you
listen to this, and let's keeppushing our profession forward,
(33:02):
Thank you.
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