My name is Christina Nyentap, B.H.K. (hons), and I am a teacher candidate in the Bachelor of Education program at the University of Ottawa. I am specializing in Health and Physical Education (H&PE) and English at the Intermediate/Senior level. What inspired me to get involved in this project is my interest in fitness and promoting physical activity in youth. I aspire to be active-for-life and a learner-for-life and I hope to inspire my students to do the same. My goal in my career is adults who look back in retrospect at H&PE with more positive experiences than negative ones. We need to help students discover meaningful HPE, to find something relevant that they can latch onto for the rest of their lives, and this won’t look the same for everyone. I believe InterActivities might be that hook for some students.
I was introduced to the InterActive for Life project through an Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program. My role later expanded into a Research Assistant where I had a large role in the development of the InterActive for Life Resource for Teachers and Coaches (relevant to all current contexts for H&PE implementation). From being involved in this InterActive for Life Project, I have learned to be more open to different modes of exercise and now fully understand what it is like to integrate social-emotional learning H&PE curriculum links within fitness interActivities. Having to focus on a partner just as much as myself in a somatic sense is much different than my previous H&PE experiences. Partnered exercises require synchronicity, communication, and somatic sensibility. The activities I have developed might look easy but they offer a total body workout that combines fitness components and movement competence! I look forward to introducing more fitness interactivities in my teaching practice and inspiring other teachers to do the same.