Scott Bauer's Teaching Philosophy

I try to keep things simple for my students. The more complex or the more moving parts something has, the more difficult it can be to comprehend. I try to explain things at their level so they can understand the concepts that I am trying to convey. My motto for my Physical Education program is "Building a Strong Foundation for a Healthy Lifestyle."

I try to teach the basic locomotor, throwing, manipulative skills to all students, but I feel that getting the kids moving and working their cardiovascular system is the most important. Childhood obesity is such a problem today, that something needs to be done on all levels. I try to do my part by promoting eating properly, importance of exercise and its effects on the human body. I also believe that students should be given every chance to be successful. We know as educators that students excel on different levels we need to make sure we try to meet all levels of our students. Nothing beats that smile on a child's face when were able to do something that they were not able to do before.

Finally, I believe that learning is a life long process. A solid foundation needs to laid for each student so that they will continue the learning process throughout their life time. Physical fitness is the same way. A student will have their health their entire life. Therefore, they need to properly learn how to care for themselves and the importance of physical fitness to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Programs I have used and how PFA works for me:

This is my third year at Homer-Center Elementary and I can't even imagine what I would do without Project Fit America. The year I was hired was the first year for PFA at our school. So I got in on the ground floor with Project Fit America and it has been harmonious ever since. I use Project Fit ideas everyday in my classroom, even if I'm not doing a PFA lesson. The ideas and concepts of Project Fit transcend easily to other lesson and help to enhance every activity. One of my favorite examples of this is "Team Friendly." This concept is tremendous, and the kids love it! Project Fit America has opened my eyes at how simple it is to get kids moving. Who would ever have thought that kids would run 2 laps around the gym for 10 fitness cups? I for one was skeptical at first, but now I am a firm believer that simpler is better. Project Fit has help to make me a better, more complete teacher. With the paradigm shift to fitness based physical education, Project Fit America helps to bring school to the 21st century.

I am very grateful to PFA, especially trainer Steve Cox. He is an excellent mentor for any teacher, and he has shown me many classroom techniques to help implement the new PFA curriculum. The kids still talk about the times Mr. Cox came to our school and showed how to use our equipment. What an impression he made on those kids.

I have used just about all of the Project Fit lessons came in the curriculum guide. I slightly modified a few of the lessons to better fit our time schedule, kids and curriculum. The kids have accepted PFA with open arms and use the equipment whenever they get a chance, and it has shown in our test scores. Our fitness scores after the first year were not that good. However, through hard work, perseverance and with the help of Project Fit America, we have drastically improved our scores from last year. In our PE class we have used: shuttle cup, fitness cup builds, fitness bowling, capture the pin and the dice game, just to name a few. I encourage students to strive for their absolute best effort every time they come to class. One way that I am able to do this is through the use of Chart and Challenge. We will start a few weeks out from the C&C and train for the challenge to maximize the student's success. The students get so excited about the C&C, and really enjoy seeing their name on the wall outside the gymnasium. These simple charts instill confidence and pride in all of my students. My goal is to have that confidence and pride carry over to their classroom work, and activities outside of school.

How I've used Project Fit America at Homer-Center Elementary

I have tried to incorporate as many PFA activities into our curriculum as possible. Each year I add one or two new fitness ideas to keep the students interest level peaked. Our students use the PFA equipment in class, during recess and after school. The kids absolutely love Project Fit America and the lessons that coincide with fitness equipment. Even through we live in Western Pennsylvania and can only use our PFA during the early fall and late spring, that doesn't stop us from taking other PFA lessons inside to help maintain our fitness levels. The following list identifies some of my students' favorite Project Fit activities.

The Students Favorite Lessons:
Capture the Pin (#1 rated game at HC)
Breakout
Fitness Bowling
Beat the Ball Covey Style
Dice Game
Sleeping Bears
Shuttle Cup
Pacer
Bones
Fitness Cup Builds
Tennis Ball Catch
Flying Turtles
Any Chart and Challenge

At Homer-Center I have goal to get all my kids to run for at least 10 minutes continuously without taking a break. I call it the WILDCAT RUN, because our school mascot is the Wildcat. The fitness run has evolved over the past 3 years, because almost all students in grades 1-6 can now run for 10 minutes without stopping. I raised the bar and tried to encourage my students to try and run 20 minutes without stopping, and now we are up to a 30 minute continuous run. I set this activity up as a C&C with 10 minutes being the Bronze level, 20 being Silver and 30 Minutes being gold. Any student, who makes it to the Gold Level, may come in early in the morning and try for the Wildcat Level which is an un-timed run.

Also, I have added speed stacks to our curriculum and the kids absolutely love this activity. I hold in class speed stack tournaments and all the winners at the end of the unit come in early for an all school tournament to see who the fastest stacker in the school is. We have a Spring Field Day, where I have incorporated many PFA games, which adds to the fun and excitement of the day. I help run the NFL's Punt, Pass and Kick and the Elk's National Hoop Shoot preliminary rounds in our community. Last year I added Jump Rope for Heart to our already busy curriculum, and our kids were able to raise over $5,000 for the American Heart Association. Finally, Homer-Center has a Boys and Girls' Club in house, and they use the Project Fit America equipment and activities in their games.