Day 3- shape conference day 1

Going to a shape conference has always been a dream of mine and my expectations of first impressions couldn't have been further from the truth. You follow the track pants wearing teachers ant style across the city then form a pack outside the security gate. This resembled the start of a fun run. 7am ticked around the gates opened and the mad dash began to get to registration.

My first sessions was based around using Twitter with Joey Feith and Artie Kyambi. This session blew my mind. As much as I am a confident Twitter geek, I just loved the way Joey and Artie put the session together. It was enjoyable and entertaining all in one. I was lucky to act as a tech pro when it came to getting other users online. I just love collaboration and this was the pinnacle. I met teachers who knew me from Twitter and met teachers I followed on Twitter. It was a weird feeling, where an online program comes to life! My hat goes off to the two presenters and I truly believe my presenting style will now change as a result of seeing this.

My afternoon sessions was spent at the university of Washington. This was on a bucket list of mine. The university is a suburb of its own in Seattle and resembles an English style building structure. It was the sporting fields I was really keen to explore and with luck on my side I was able to talk to coaches and athletes. I spent 4 hours at this venue and was fortunate to wonder onto the centre of every playing field.

My evening was spent again with Joey and Artie and we spoke in depth what really mattered in Physical Education. What inspired us to be PE teachers and how can we take PE to the next level so it matches the status of literacy and numeracy in schools. Joey discussed an wonderful technique he uses in his school in Montreal called Backwards teaching. This means that we paint a picture of the final product and work backwards to breakdown the skills needed to complete the picture. Can we make a role model student using a role model in the community as a guide to desired skills.

What an amazing day! What an unbelievable opportunity.