Anytime you go to a conference, it is easy to get excited about what you learned or maybe you even vow to do something different to improve your practice once you return. Then, life happens…we dive right back into family, work, other commitments, and suddenly our excitement for our new learning fades and even our best intentions can’t pull us back on course.

Since we returned from the 2018 SHAPE America National Convention, however, we have been a buzz with excitement for the great work going on in the field of health education. We feel the momentum just keep getting stronger and stronger to make our health ed classrooms a place where students increase their self-efficacy, become more health literate, and recognize their role in crafting a healthy future. What started as assessment workshops for teachers back in the early 2000’s has turned into this exciting shift in how we teach health education.

 

In fact, in her address to the convention body, SHAPE America President, Judy Lobianco challenged us to make this the year of the health educator… and we couldn’t agree more.

 

For us, the convention also provided an opportunity to share new resources and connect with many health educators. Those connections and that energy is what prompted us to consider the WHY? of teaching health education. 

 

Why do you do this everyday? Why do we teach students and train future educators? Why does this all matter?

 

For us, the reason is fairly straightforward – kids deserve it. They deserve educators who are willing to challenge them to think critically, to help them work through discomfort in order to gain confidence and competence to make health-enhancing choices, and who understand that health is complex and ever changing.

We all have our own WHY. The momentum that health education is gaining is real, and it’s contagious (thankfully in a good way) and we challenge you this week to share your WHY.

Tell at least two other people your reason for working to ensure that kids receive quality health education. 

Share on social media and use #KidsDeserveHealthEd

 

There are lots of #healthedheroes out there – let’s share our stories and create a groundswell – one that benefits our students and their future. Let’s tell everyone WHY our students deserve high quality health education. One could even argue – their lives depend on it.