Terry Jones'
NASPE Teacher of the Year application
The application has five parts about which each applicant wrote. Follow the links below to read what Sue wrote.
If you wish to contact Terry, email him at jones_t@cde.state.co.us
The five criteria
Criteria 1:
Conducts a quality Physical Education program as reflected in NASPE
standards and curriculum guidelines for K-12 Physical Education
programs.
Criteria 2: Utilizes teaching methodologies and plans innovative learning experiences to meet the needs of all students.
Criteria 3:
Serves as a positive role model epitomizing personal health and
fitness, enjoyment of activity, sportsmanship, and sensitivity to the
needs of students.
Criteria 4: Participates in professional development opportunities
Criteria 5: Provides service to the profession through leadership, presentations, and/or writing.
Criteria 1
Conducts a quality Physical Education program as reflected in
NASPE standards and curriculum guidelines for K-12 Physical Education
programs.
My approach to physical education instruction is eclectic because
children come to school with divergent developmental levels and
learning styles. It is imperative that as the physical education
teacher, I am flexible and open meeting the individual
needs of all students. I use the NASPE standards and benchmarks to
directly guide my instruction. The benchmark and standards are
identified in writing for every lesson that I teach. The NASPE
standards are posted on the wall in my classroom and I highlight them
for the children as I introduce different activities. I also address
the NASPE standards when colleagues, fellow teachers and community
members visit my gymnasium.
The scope and sequence of skills that guide my
instruction encompass the standards and benchmarks through out the
school year. When I joined the faculty of Eastridge Elementary,
students were given a general grade for fitness, skill development and
class participation. I did not support the paradigm of giving general
grades to students that did not have substantial and specific feedback
about each child’s physical development. I developed a one-page report
card that gives specific feedback on fitness levels. I give “Fitness
Gram” scores, individual feedback on all locomotor, stability and
manipulative skills and I address the students’ appreciation for the
benefits of participating in physical education.
A grade level specific rubric was designed for students. Students use
the rubric to assess their own skill development. Students are assessed
by peers, self-assessment and teacher observation. A variety of
assessment tools are used, such as individual and peer checklists,
bulletin boards and mental assessment using grade level rubrics.
When working on locomotor skills I encourage all students to reach
mastery level by providing specific word cues with each movement to
facilitate learning. I have students give verbal feedback to check
their understanding before releasing them to participate in an
activity.
I encourage students to exhibit responsible, and positive social
behavior by “honoring each other” at the end of each class. To
encourage continued positive social behavior I post “Praise Phrases” on
the gymnasium walls for students to use during class. “Praise Phrases”
are short sentences such as “keep up the good work” and “way to go”.
Along the gym walls are the “Pillars Of Character”. The pillars are
referenced during class to enhance character development and reinforce
our school wide commitment to character development of our students.
The “Pillars Of Character” are citizenship, caring, trustworthiness,
respect, responsibility and fairness.
Intramurals are offered three mornings a week for students who would
like to continue to supplement their physical education experience. The
students at Eastridge value and enjoy the opportunity to challenge
themselves, the gym is often filled with over 50 students on the
mornings I have intramurals.
The foundation of a standards based physical education program is assessing
the individual physical development and achievement of each child.
Knowledge of the child’s physical developmental framework is just the
beginning. As a physical education teacher I must also be cognizant of
the child’s mental, social and emotional development. These three
factors are enhanced dramatically when a child is physically fit! As
students begin to understand their “baseline” data they have a starting
point for cognitively understanding, improving and maintaining their
physical well-being. Standards based education must also move towards
life-long learning. Thus I integrate activities that extend into the
personal lives of children outside of the school (roller blades,
skiing, and tennis). Seventy-five percent of our entering
kindergarteners live in apartments. Children therefore are physically
restricted from playing and enjoying physical activities in “their back
yard”. Thus children must learn at school about life long physical
enhancing habits. I also encourage and advertise community sports:
soccer, football, karate, girl’s softball, tennis, track, gymnastics
etc.
It is also important in my school to “integrate” and create a sense of
community during my physical education classes. Sixty percent of my
children are children of color. Twenty-eight different languages are
spoken. To this end I structure activities where children work
independently, with partners, and in groups. Through these activities
children begin to problem solve, give and take, share, communicate, and
physically work together to achieve benchmarks and standards.
Criteria 2
Utilizes teaching methodologies and plans innovative learning experiences to meet the needs of all students.
With diligent effort, I remain at the cutting edge in
providing innovative learning experiences and providing engaging
equipment that intrinsically motivates children to learn. Innovative
programs I have implemented are:
- Life long learning activities; I provide opportunities to
roller blade and skateboard during lunch recess supervised by peer
mediators. Every student and parent is educated about how to safely use
this equipment.
- Climbing wall; I utilize cooperative (partner)
climbing activities by safely linking students to one another with jump
ropes. Children must collaborate and climb in unison across a 50-foot
wall. Academic activities are integrated into my climbing wall
curriculum. Math climb and other writing activities, using dry erase
boards attached to wall integrate physical education with math facts,
phonemic awareness and spelling.
- Literacy; I read quality children’s literature before
introducing a new skill which reinforces a school-wide focus on
literacy. Some of the books I read are “Going On a Bear Hunt” and “Jump
Frog Jump”. Additionally each book is related to the physical activity
being introduced.
- Word wall; I utilize a word wall to enhance and
develop the vocabulary of our children. 47% of our children are on free
and reduced lunch. 47% of our children come from impovished homes.
Research indicates at-risk kindergarten children enter school with a
3000 word vocabulary. Their middle class peers enter with a 10,000-word
vocabulary. Vocabulary development must permeate the child’s life in
core subjects as well as in physical education classes. Words are
placed on the wall that are related to the physical movement and
curriculum taught in my classes.
- Ski program; Children who desire to extend their
skills and/or learn how to ski have (3) ski trips planned during the
winter months. Scholarships are offered to low income children.
- Music during gym activities; I utilize popular
Hip-Hop and Tejano background music to motivate children to become
physically involved in the physical education activities. I feel that
playing cultural music validates my students’ diverse ethnic
backgrounds.
- Physical fitness; I wrote a grant to purchase 720
pedometers, which were given to every student in the school to monitor
the mileage they accumulate during the school day and at home. My
objective was to heighten children’s awareness of physical fitness in
their daily lives.
- Tennis; I utilize on-site tennis courts to teach K-5
children how to play tennis and I provide tennis rackets during lunch
recess for children to allow continued practice and participation in
tennis.
- Report Card; I developed and implemented a report card
that assesses specific and individual feedback on physical education
state and national standards and movement patterns.
- Body mapping; I determined the dominance factor of
every student in the school and worked collaboratively with the
classroom teacher to optimize the child’s learning during the day.
- Take 10; The “Take 10” curriculum was introduced and
implemented to increase the daily movement of our students. “Take 10”
is a classroom based physical activity program for kindergarten to 5th
grade students that links learning objective with age-appropriate
10-minute physical activities.
Criteria 3
Serves as a positive role model epitomizing personal health and
fitness, enjoyment of activity, sportsmanship, and sensitivity to the
needs of students.
The effectiveness of any endeavor is predicated on leadership.
To this end, as a physical education instructor I must model personal
habits that communicate that keeping physically fit is a lifelong
commitment and is important to ones health. I sincerely believe I am a
role model for my community, the Eastridge faculty and children. I
started teaching at the high school level. Through a fortunate set of
circumstances I made my way to teaching at the elementary level.
Teaching elementary physical education is a passion for me.
The students are excited and full of energy. Their energy combined with
my enthusiasm for teaching, intrinsically and extrinsically motivates
students to attend my class! I work out every morning at a local health
club to maintain my physical fitness and to model for children that
maintaining a healthy body is a life long commitment. Further, I enjoy
water sports and am involved with my family by utilizing our family
speedboat at various lakes in Colorado. I am often seen mentoring
children and participating with them in activities during physical
education classes.
Eastridge sponsors (3) ski trips each winter. During
these trips I am seen snowboarding down the various ski slopes
acknowledging and encouraging the children from Eastridge. Over the
past five years at Eastridge Elementary more than 1000 students have
received the opportunity to experience the joys of skiing and
snowboarding.
I also schedule various competitions between the faculty and students
to build school esprit de corps, and to provide our children
opportunities to see their teachers in physical as well as competitive
activities. I organized a faculty coed softball team that participates
in a summer softball league. I developed and implemented a class that
helps students that are struggling in the area of fitness. Students
with low fitness scores have the opportunity to be part of my honors
physical education class. This class provides daily physical education
for students that fall short of the national standards for physical
fitness.
For many of the Eastridge students who come from single-family homes I
may be the only male that they come in contact with during the day. I
inspire to be a positive role for my students both physically and
socially.
Children with special needs are fully integrated into my class with
assistance. Each student has a teacher assistant that I train on safe
and appropriate skill development and modification. Children with
special needs are encouraged and expected to develop their physical
skills and to become independent learners.
Criteria 4
Participates in professional development opportunities.
I read in a leadership book “The 21 Most Important Minutes
in a Leaders Life” by Maxwell “to grow the organization you must grow
the leader”. Similarly I am personally motivated to be a leader in the
field of physical education! I attend district wide staff development
classes, I read articles and journals related to physical education,
communicate frequently with colleagues to share ideas and I
aggressively seek out new and innovative physical education equipment.
I have pursued professional growth activities throughout the school
year as well as during the summer months. I annually attend the state
and regional physical education conferences. I have attended the
Colorado A.H.P.E.R.D. for last eight years and gained a wealth of
information from attending workshops by Jean Blades and Curt Hinson. I
make site visits to other district schools to form a sense of
camaraderie and collegiality with my fellow professionals.
I initiated and utilize our school for a yearlong
district physical education study team to research, study and share
physical education activities, integrate literacy with physical
education instruction and to discuss how to remain at the cutting edge
of physical education curriculum and instruction. Physical education
teachers in my district and other school districts are invited to
attend along with classroom teachers from around the state of Colorado.
Criteria 5
Provides service to the profession through leadership, presentations, and/or writing.
I have had a life long passion related to physical
education. My self-esteem emotionally and physically was enhanced by my
success in sports. I intrinsically desire and am motivated to share
this love and passion with students, colleagues and parents in my
community. I advocate for the professional development of district
physical education teachers by writing proactive position papers on the
relevance, significance and necessity for having physical education in
our district and nations’ schools. My position papers are forwarded to
district leadership teams.
I subscribe to physical education periodicals and journals such as
“JOHPERD” to keep abreast of current physical education curriculum and
instructional strategies. I have found the Internet to be an excellent
tool for keeping up on current research regarding physical education.
I extend myself to instruct as well as organize district staff
development around the integration of physical education and literacy,
“Brain Gym” and climbing wall curriculum.
As a member of the Colorado Association for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation and Dance Board, I write articles for our state quarterly
journal. I have been a four-year member of the Colorado A.H.P.E.R.D.
executive board serving two years as both the Recreation and athletics
elect and chair. I am a member of the Cherry Creek School District
Curriculum committee; I work eagerly to improve the quality of physical
education in our district. I provide an annual PTCO physical education
presentation to keep parents abreast of physical education curriculum,
instructional strategies, state standards and assessment strategies. I
also invite first year physical education teachers to our school to
mentor and encourage their participating in district activities.
At the community level, I annually organize and host a school wide
Community Health Fair. Well over (26) health stations are organized and
children rotate through stations, learning about dental health, fire
prevention, flight for life, cardiovascular health, first aide,
diabetes, eye care and nutrition to name a few. This school wide
activity creates a community school partnership as well as educates our
children about sustaining and maintaining a healthy life style.
Continuing the message of health and physical education curriculum, I
write a quarterly newsletter for parents and students.