Shapes of Identity

As an educator who discovered that I would have to unlearn much of what I was taught throughout my existence as a human and a student of Health & Physical Education, I found comfort in the uncomfortable. I learned that much of what we are taught is missing a view, an experience, a voice, and a context which is where this valuable piece of work by Dr. Blackshear and Dr. Culp comes into play. The collaborative effort poured into the book, Critical Race Studies in Physical Education by Dr. Blackshear and Dr. Culp, is a piece of work that should be part of every educator's readings. 

During this episode we invited Kevin McGrath to the show to discuss his experiences and how he has utilized an idea to spread love through the idea of Adopt-a-Gym. Here is a brief description of who Kevin is ... 

"I have had a long journey on my way to creating Adopt-a-Gym.  As a child, I faced many of the challenges that we fear our students never will have to face!  I lived in a household riddled with poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence, illness and death.

These challenges taught me so many lessons:

• PERSPECTIVE
• PERSEVERANCE
• COMPASSION
• GRIT

One lesson my mother was sure to teach me before she passed away when I was 13 was EMPATHY.  Even though we were living at or below poverty level, my mother made it a normal occurrence to give away food to those homeless we encountered in the streets, even though we were ourselves relying on eating 3+ meals per week at the local church.

A turning point in my life was the time I learned HUMANITY.  I had moved to a new school for about a year when my mother passed away.  This was a suburban school where I felt like an outsider as a New York City boy.  The only real connection I felt to the school was the athletic teams I was on.  So I was incredibly shocked when seven classmates pooled their money together to purchase me two tickets to my favorite sports team, the New York Knicks, as a “get well” gift when I returned to school.  It was accompanied by a card with over 200 signatures inside!  I was floored by their kindness!  This changed my view on humanity as a whole and set in concrete my desire to make a difference in the lives of others.  Passing the buck became my new mantra!

Fast forward ten years to my second teaching job in Alexandria, Virginia to teach at Charles Barrett Elementary School.  This school was nothing like the first school I worked at, P.S. 138 in Brooklyn.  P.S. 138 had over 1,400 students and an barren gym closet, whereas Barrett was flourishing with more equipment than I could ever dream of.  Then I won the Marine Corps Marathon Healthy School Award two years in a row, totaling $1,500 in prize money for P.E. equipment.  I was stricken with guilt for how fortunate I was with the surplus of resources we had, while there are schools like 138 and the other public schools I attended as a child that had little to nothing.

Alive was the idea of Adopt-a-Gym!"

During this episode we have a packed house where we discuss the importance of recognizing and understanding how race in intersectionality impacts Black oppression within the NJ Health and Physical Education Standards and CARE principles. 

Resources:

Welcome to the Shapes of Identity Podcast! 

The Shapes of Identity Podcast is a collaboration between SHAPE New Jersey and SHAPE Philly. This podcast is dedicated to discussing identity, how identity impacts us as humans, and how we felt like the topic area was not being sufficiently addressed within our professional organizations. We decided to create this podcast series to break down the topic of identity to learn how it is shaped and how it impacts us as humans. Our goal is to use this podcast to focus on each identity group to develop a sense of belonging as well as provide an opportunity for our fellow educators and listeners to grow their practices.