Sweethearts & Heroes strategies content 12 – Jake and partnering
As you know, this 27-part series of video clips intends to give teachers, administrators and students tips and strategies on how to uphold the Sweethearts & Heroes mission in their school.
In our last segment, Sweethearts & Heroes co-founder Jason Spector discussed Jim “Jimmer” Fredette, a professional basketball star who shares the same hometown as Jason: Glens Falls, N.Y. During Fredette’s high school gym class days, he intentionally partnered with less athletic students, to send them a message of empowerment.
Jason, a Glens Falls physical education instructor, used this technique during a badminton lesson, and it worked. As Tom Murphy notes in the clip below, when Jason uses Sweethearts & Heroes techniques in class, and they work, he calls Tom on the phone, sounding like “a kid on Christmas day.” That’s exactly what happened after a square dancing unit in Jason’s physical education class.
As Tom and Jason explained in our last clip, partnering students can be challenging for teachers, especially in physical education class. “My job is to service all of those students and provide a positive experience, so that no matter what the activity, you have to leave with a smile on your face,” Jason says in the video below.
Square dancing requires a “lady” and a “fella,” which can be a struggle when partnering eighth graders, but listen to Jason talk below about one of his solder students — Jake — and how Jake applied a Sweethearts & Heroes technique to Jason’s square dancing unit.
“It made me want to cry,” Jason says.
