New Beginnings

More on the Authorship

Fall is a natural time for fresh starts. For those who work in education, it's even more true. 

For the Journal, this digital edition marks the start of a new era. Going forward, technology will allow us to be more nimble and cost effective and will help us deliver content in formats that better suit our on-the-move audience.

Also with this issue, we’re introducing a new regular section called Teacher to Teacher. In it, we’ll pose two questions from teachers, collected in conversation, through social media or by email. Then we’ll ask colleagues to come up with their best solutions. It’s a place for members to connect and share challenges, ideas and best practices.

Now that the new academic year underway, Back to School, Back to Healthy authors Stephen Berg and Brent Bradford offer six simple tips to help you and your students have a positive and active school year, including advice on using integrated learning and making the most of role modeling.

With intramural activity offerings now well into planning stages, author Amanda Stanec takes stock of how much this area of physical education has evolved, and examines whether we’ve come far enough. She notes that innovative outcome-based curriculum is now replacing more traditional programs and educators have also made waves in both physical education instruction and assessment. While these improvements should be applauded, says Stanec, there is a lot more work to be done to reach the high standard of health promoting schools our students deserve.

Health promoting schools are also the focus of Commitment, Strategy and Results: HPS in New Brunswick, by Ken Hoffman. The case study at the core of the report tells the story of a New Brunswick HPS pilot, which which included schools from the Anglophone West School District.

In Stepping Out: First Experiences Teaching Dance, authors Lynn Randall, Brittany J. LeBlanc, Shea R. Nordheim and Erika EV. Stimbold interview several pre-service teachers instructing dance for the first time, for a candid and revealing look at their experiences.

It’s a diverse collection of expertise and voices in this issue, and we're grateful to the authors who have so generously commited their ideas to the page. We hope their insight sparks some ideas and sets the tone for a positive and successful academic year ahead.