Practice with a Partner: How Colleagues Spark Growth

Dustin Tatroe and Ghazali Abdul Wahab welcome Jake Bersin, a health and physical education teacher in Worcester Public Schools and host of MAHPERD’s Voices from the Field, to discuss “practice with a partner” and how colleagues can make growth visible and sustainable. Jake contrasts side-by-side practice with casual advice by emphasizing SMART goals, agendas, accountability, and mentoring aligned to Massachusetts teaching standards while staying non-evaluative. He shares concrete classroom moves like greeting students at the door, starting PE with instant activities, using visuals and video modeling for ELLs, and setting observation focal points. The group explores building trust, co-creating goals and boundaries, using reflective questions, allowing productive struggle, and refining strategies with timelines. Jake closes with a partnership success story using a 12-week martial arts program to support students’ self-control, reflection, and growth.

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