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Brandi Childers Shappley's
Teaching Philosophy, Program
and Activities
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Brandi
Childers Shappley's Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy is for every student to be ACTIVE.
I do this by exposing them to a variety of skills and activities
so they will enjoy being physically active throughout their
adult life. I want all students to work hard and enjoy physical
education (PE). I believe PE should be a positive experience
for everyone so student’s will want to make good nutritional
choices and enjoy being active. To me, PE is a class that
incorporates lifelong skills along with preventing and learning
about healthy growth and development. Students must succeed
to stay interested and to boost their self esteem. I like
to incorporate students’ interest into activities.
Making the student feel important and having a choice will
improve overall success.
The Project Fit America (PFA) program has been an exhilarating
professional growth for me. It has allowed for so many possibilities
for my students and has made me a better educator. I am dedicated
to educate students why and how to be physically fit, and
the PFA program has helped me succeed.
The students are motivated by the recognition of completing
a challenge and the encouragement of each other. It’s
so exciting looking at a student’s face that has just
completed a challenge they have never been able to complete
before. The sheer sense of accomplishment is a great motivation.
Our PE program has grown so much by having the PFA equipment!
I now have more accurate records of students’ growth.
Students now have an understanding of their body development
and how the activities/equipment helps them in all components
of physical fitness. The development of students’ knowledge
about nutrition has also been something in the past that
I’ve never been able to spend much time on. Now I can
because of the PFA activities that involve learning about
nutrition.
The obstacles I have encountered include the amount of time
I have with the students each week and choosing what activities
to do considering the facilities at my school. My students
have PE once sometimes twice a week and I have a multi-purpose
room. The wonderful outdoor PFA equipment has been a blessing
and helped to overcome our obstacle of limited space. I am
still working on the amount of time available for PE.
I have set goals to improve students’ BMI, endurance
and upper body strength. This year I am sending each child’s
BMI pre and post scores home to parents. Running has been
a weakness for students so I have given incentives while
running the mile run which I will mention later. We do modified
pull-ups and push-ups to work toward reaching our goal of
better upper body strength. All components of fitness will
only improve if students continue to do activities outside
PE. Students are highly encouraged to do physical activity
in addition to the regular school day activities.
My students love Chart and Challenges.
I did my Chart and Challenges the way my PFA instructor advised
last year, but this year I decided to do something different
to see how it works. I have posters that look like a page
in a grade book. I color coordinated the posters with the
color hallway each grade is on (e.g. red – 3rd, yellow – 4th,
green – 5th and blue – 6th). Every students’ name
is on the poster, such as a class roll. The student receives
a checkmark for each challenge they complete; a hard copy
is also kept. This is a way they can see their progress throughout
the year. I don’t have enough wall space in my room
to leave the charts up as advised last year, but using the
color posters as you see in the pictures, I can leave them
up all year. (see below). They love seeing their name on
the charts and checkmark beside their name. I give an overall
PE award at the end of the year to the students who meet
every challenge we have throughout the school year (we have
12). In 2009-2010 of using PFA, two students received the
Overall Star PE award. This school year, 2010-2011, there
are many who are on their way to become an Overall Star PE
student. The TCC has been
such a positive impact on my students. It has fit into our
PE curriculum well because I teach character education with
every lesson. The TCC lessons and choosing yellow brick students
have really improved behavior issues in my class and that
means more time to focus on the lesson.
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Our PE program consists of many PFA
Curriculum activities. I have a scope and
sequence planned for the year and each 9 weeks I
incorporate 3 challenges into my lessons. If they
did not get bronze when I tested for bronze they
are able to achieve bronze and/or silver when I test
for silver. This helps them to have a realistic goal
and try hard to achieve it. I give ribbons to the
students who achieve silver (see photo at left) or
gold during a challenge, and if they complete their
Smile Mile without stopping.
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Students engage in
the outdoor stations during bunko and circuit training
in preparation for their fitness test. The students
love the outdoor workout. We do a lot of challenges
with the different stations so even when they are practicing
they are always trying to reach their goal as if they
were participating in the challenge at that moment.
Some other chart and challenges we do throughout the
year are Ab fitness. I adapted the Ab fitness for my
group of students and raised the bronze level to 30
sit-ups instead of 20.
Hubba Hubba Challenge is
probably their favorite. They walk into class and they
are excited when they see “Hubba Hubba Challenge” written
on the board. So many students have improved with the
Hubba Hubba Challenge. The main challenge is teaching
students how to hoop correctly. When we are inside
doing the Hubba Hubba Challenge the students who are
not participating are required to do a certain exercise
until their teammate stops hooping. This is an adaptation
to keep everyone moving and on task. |
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Students
engage in outdoor stations during Bunko and Circuit
Training |
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Hubba
Hubba Challenge |
My students absolutely love the PFA
cups “Line Jump” cup build is
a great activity to get the students warmed up at
the beginning of class. Sometimes I let them build
cups around me (see below). Students participate
in the “Rope Jump Challenge.” We
do this challenge during our jump rope unit and Jump
Rope for Heart Event. I incorporate the challenge
with the Jump Rope for Heart event. This event is
very dear to my “heart” because my dad
passed away last year from a heart attack at 60 years
old. I put a lot of my energy into jump rope and
the event. |
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The most challenging
events for my students are the “Smile
Mile” and the “Pacer Test.” Cardiovascular
endurance is a weak area with my students. To motivate
them to run they are allowed to bring earphones and
music to listen while running their mile. This has
helped tremendously, because they don’t stop
to walk and talk with friends because they are enjoying
the music playing. I have also been working with the
Cross County high school coach to get more students
involved in running. He donated t-shirts to give to
the top 5 students in each grade who improve their
mile run pre to post test.
Beyond physical education programming: I have started
an afterschool Cup Stacking
Club with speed stacks and PFA cups that meets
once a month. Students work on all areas of fitness
with stacking and building. Cup stacking is a great
activity that works on coordination, speed, reaction,
and ambidexterity. In the photo at left, students are
doing pushups and stacking a 3-6-3 stack as they do
in Cup Stacking, a unit they enjoy. I have been a Jump
Rope for Heart Coordinator for the following years:
2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.
I assist with Special Olympics.
Listed below are activities and programs I am affiliated
with that go beyond what is required of me as a physical
education teacher:
- District Physical Education Coordinator where I
organize and develop the physical education program
in my district Mississippi Department of Education
Physical Education Frameworks committee. I am helping
to write the frameworks in PE for our state for 2012-2018.
- In November 2009 I became a National Board Certified
physical education teacher which has made me a better
teacher.
- Member of American Alliance for Health, Physical
Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD) and Mississippi
Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation,
and Dance (MAHPERD). Being involved with these organizations
keep me current on new ideas and activities for my
students.
- I am a board member for MAHPERD
- I have attended numerous workshops
- Actively involved in my school’s Health Council
and Tate County Community Heath Council by sharing
ideas on how to improve health among our students
and community
- School Health Fair presenter 2011
- Wrote and received grants from Project Fit American
worth $25,000 and Endowment for Excellence $3,000
used for SPARK curriculum.
- Fundraising for our PE program, this year we raised
$1,000!
- Senatobia Middle School Teacher of the Year 2009-2010
- MAHPERD Middle School Physical Education Teacher
of the Year 2010
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TCC is very
important to me so I have a Praise
Board to recognize the Yellow brick student
of the week and the class of the week. I have another
board with quotes and rules to remind students how
to be a yellow brick student.
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Rhythms/Dance is
one of my favorite units. When I start the song ice
cream and cake it makes everyone in the room smile
and laugh. I don’t know if they are laughing
at me making a fool of myself or because the song is
so fun. I incorporate modern day line dances and folk
dance. Line Dances that we do include Cotton Eyed Joe,
The Electric Slide, Cupid Shuffle, and The California
Strut. The Virginia Reel is
a great folk dance I teach every year. It takes a lot
of time, but it is remarkable to see the end result.
I let my 6th graders (oldest in the school) perform
the dance during awards banquet at the end of the year
and they love it. |
I had a wonderful in-service instructor last fall to learn
how to utilize all the PFA equipment and curriculum. It has
been a wonderful positive experience working with PFA. Everyone
is always so willing to help in anything me or my school
needs. PFA has increased our PE program because of the wonderful,
useful curriculum and equipment. My students have the tools
to reach their personal fitness goals thanks to PFA and Blue
Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi. In the short time we have
had PFA at our school I have learned so much and met so many
physical educators. Thank you PFA for all you do! You do
an outstanding job reaching our youth to become physically
fit.
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Some
of my favorite Lessons outside of the PFA Curriculum
Fitness
fun cards:
Equipment:
About 300 PFA cups
3 deck of cards
Activity Sheet posted on the wall for students to see
Description:
- Divide the teams into groups of 4-6
- Place decks of playing cards in the center of
the room/gym
- Have one member of each group (the leader) draw
one card from the deck of cards
- The leader and the members of the group will
perform an activity designated by the number on
the card that was drawn. You can see an example
of the wall chart for all cards in picture
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2=8 jumping jacks; 3=8
squats; 4=8 heel touches; 5=8
star jumps; 6=8 wall push-ups; 7=16
jumping jacks; 8=16 squats; 9=16
heel touches; 10=16 star jumps; jack=16
wall push-ups; queen=jogging in place
for 30 seconds; king=8 hops on each
foot; ace=free choice of any activity. (A
star jump is a jump with arms and legs spread: an
exercise in which a person jumps in the air with
legs apart and arms extended out from the shoulder
in a comparable direction.)
- Once the entire group completes the activity
task, the leader will get 5 cups for his/her group
to begin building.
- After the leader gets back with the cups and
the team builds, a new member (new leader) of the
group will draw a new card from the deck.
- This activity continues until all members of
the group have had an opportunity to be the leader.
Bonker Ball
Equipment:
1 ball (tennis or ragball) per group of 5-6 students
1 foam or plastic bat per group of 5-6 students
1 batting tee or tall cone per group of 5-6 students
2 bases (or spot markers) per group of 5-6 students
4 cones for each group of 5-6 students (for boundaries
of grid)
Adaptation to the lesson - If you
don’t have a safe foam or plastic bat you can
have the student students to throw the ball instead
of hit the ball and follow the same rules below.
Set up fields:
- Create 1 large rectangular grid per group of
5-6
- Place 1 tee or tall cone at home base/plate in
the middle of baseline, and the other base 10 paces
toward the opposite base line. The pitcher stands
in front of this base, but is free to move back
if they feel too close.
- Groups of 5-6: 1 catcher standing 5 giant steps
behind batter, 1 batter (can bat off tee or ask
the pitcher to pitch to him/her) 1 pitcher (can
pitch and not use tee with older students), and
2 fielders per field (3 if playing with 6 per group).
- Small games are spread out on fields with catchers’ backs
to a fence or wall, if possible. Batter hits be
ball off the tee or from the pitcher.
Description:
- The object of the game is for the batter to score
as many runs as possible.
- Play begins with a hit which is hit into fair
territory. Batter then runs around the 2 bases
as many times as possible.
- Fielders, relay the ball to each person
in the group. Last person to catch it throws it
home to the catcher.
- The batter has 3 chances to hit the ball fair,
and it must travel at least as far as the pitcher.
No “bunts” allowed. There are no fly-ball
outs. The ball must be relayed to everyone on every
play
- Catchers, when you catch the ball, touch a foot
on home and shout “Stop!” to stop the
batter from running any further
- The batter keep circling the cones until you
hear “Stop!”
- After each play, rotate in the shape of a question
mark: L Field to Center to R Field to Pitcher to
Batter to Catcher to L Field. (see diagram below)
Virginia Reel Dance:
Recommended song is American Folk Dance Medley (Spark
Music CD)
Partner students with boy and girl facing each other
8 steps away from each other. Place spot markers or
tape to determine home (start) position.
Part 1 – “The Turn”
Honor your partner – walk forward – boys
bow/girls curtsey on count 4 and walk back to your
home position. (8 count)
- Allemande Right (R) – walk forward
meet partner, join R elbows and turn 1 full circle:
Walk back home (8 count)
- Allemande Left (L) – Same as above
but with L elbow (8 count)
- Join hands – Walk forward, meet
partner, join both hands, and turn 1 full circle
clockwise: walk back home (8 count)
- Do-Si-Do – With arms across your
chest, walk forward passing partners R, When back
to back, take 1 step to R, and walk backwards passing
L shoulders and walk backwards home. (8 count)
Part 2 – “The Reel”
- Head couple (red X) – Link R arms
in the middle
- 1 ½ turns around (similar to Allemande)
- Head lady turns to the second boy in line and
link L arms and do a complete turn
- Head Boy turns the second girl in line and link
L arms and do a complete turn
- Head couple return to the middle and turn each
other again with R arm
- Continue with each swinging the next in line
until you reach the foot (end) of the line
where they swing (turn) each other ½ a turn
this is so the lady finishes on her own side and
the boy on his.
- Chasse (slide sideways with hands joined
down the middle) to the head of the set then Cast
Off (girl turns to the right and all the
other girls follow her while the boy turns to
the left and the other boys follow him).
- Make and Arch with your arms and hands
- Each couple will Chasse under the Arch and move
up one spot toward the head couple (toward the
red X) After each couple has finished, the head
couple will back up at the last spot. Everyone
has a new home position.
- There is now a new head couple and the dance
starts over the Part 1 – “The Turn.” Continue
doing the dance over and over until each couple
has had a chance to be the head couple.
Cotton-Eyed Joe
- Heel, heel, toe, toe 1-4
- Heel, heel, toe, toe 5-8
- Grapevine right 1 clap
- Grape vine left 1 clap
- (Repeat)
- Two-step right left right
- Two-step left right left
- (Repeat)
- Turn and face your partner
- 2 hand swing your partner
- right elbow swing your partner
- Left elbow swing your partner
- Do-si-do your partner
- Make a bridge with your partner, other partners
go through
Repeat the whole dance and have a knee patting good
time!!!
During these lessons everyone is always ACTIVE
and MOVING! I LOVE IT!!!
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Sponsors:
Thank you Blue Cross
Blue Shield of Mississippi for supporting our school!!
We appreciate that you see the need for this wonderful
program and your efforts to improve the health and
fitness of our future generation.
I would like to give a special thank you to Superintendent
Michael Hood, Principal Ms. Mazie Lamb, past Principal
Dr. Angie Brock, Assistant Principal Dewayne Herrington,
Nurse Teresa Roberson, and Nurse Angie Crockett. You
have all helped in making Project Fit America a part
of our school and community. Thank you for all your
patience and hard work in preparing for the grant!
I appreciate the faculty and staff at Senatobia Middle
School, parents, and the community for all your support.
We couldn’t have made PFA possible
without you! |
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