PFA All-Star Teacher Showcase
C. B. McClatchy - 2017 PFA All-Star Teacher of the Year
Eight years ago Coach McClatchy attended a PE Conference we held at the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi headquarters. At that conference a small mini version of part of our program and basic PE equipment was given to all the teachers that attended. He took it upon himself to reach out to PFA schools in his region to get their support and ideas to further develop PFA in his school and over they years, without the benefit of full PFA Grant, he pieced together a PFA program that was exemplary in every way. This earned him a full PFA grant in 2015 and from that time forward, he has risen to the highest level program development both in physical activities and the social development of his 700 students. His principal shares with us “Coach McClatchy is a great inspiration to our school! Over the years I have seen him sacrifice time and energy to ensure students had access to the best physical education and lessons.” We are proud to put this national spotlight on this determined, creative, tireless champion of health and wellness.
P.E. Obstacles to overcome at B.E.S.
Byhalia Elementary and Middle Schools are located on the same campus. Our schools share a common Gym/Auditorium. This is our only facility for all types of large assemblies, P.E. classes, and basketball games. It is used by our Middle School every morning as an assembly place for all their students prior to beginning classes. Our gym is the site of all indoor after-school sports, cheerleader, and dance team practices for our Middle and Elementary Schools. This situation greatly limits both before and after-school activities that an available space would afford for additional beyond-physical education activities.
One challenging obstacle that my students and I deal with daily is the distractions associated with simultaneously sharing our gym/auditorium with our Middle School P.E. program. The Middle School P.E. teacher and I work together well to make sharing our gym work for all concerned. Although this arrangement presents distractions for my elementary students, this is a situation that we have successfully dealt with now for my 11 years at B.E.S.
Another challenge is that our schedule only allows our students to have one P.E. class per week. Our school has addressed this issue by incorporating exercises associated with “Move to Learn” and other online exercise activity sites in the classroom for a total of 20 minutes daily. This time can be divided into small increments during the day as Brain Breaks. The 50 minutes of P.E. time along with the classroom time equal the weekly 150 minutes of physical fitness that the Mississippi Department of Education requires.
Project Fit America
On November 18, 2010, I attended a Project Fit America workshop in Jackson, MS at the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi office. I was without a clue as to what to expect. PFA All-Star Teachers, Kim Berg and Amanda Martin led our teacher group in a one-day PFA workshop. They did an amazing job of introducing the PFA way of P.E. classes with $10.00 and a Meal, Basketball Bucket Blitz, and several cup stacking activities, as well as introducing the terminology of TCC, Building Blocks of Fitness, and “Hear It, Read It, Do It, See It”.
I immediately knew that I wanted to use this PFA program with my kids at B.E.S. I saw and realized that the PFA program embraced the physical and social aspects that I wanted to have my students be a part of in our school and offered a definite plan of how to achieve this goal. My school received the generous gift of the PFA indoor equipment and a Lesson Plan and Activities booklet. Even though B.E.S. was not a PFA-supported school, I began to introduce the PFA curriculum soon after receiving our PFA equipment from the workshop.
Over the next 4 years, I made some inquiries from PFA teachers about Chart n’ Challenge, and begin to utilize C&C in our 3rd-5th grade classes. PFA All-Star teachers Brandi Shappley and Pam Stroupe were most helpful with advice and encouragement about the PFA program. Stacey Cook and her staff at the PFA Office provided information, support, and ribbons to me for our program. Finally, in 2015, B.E.S. was awarded a PFA Grant through the Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation.
Our outdoor fitness gym equipment was installed and PFA Creator Steve Cox visited to conduct a great in-service session on both the indoor activities and the outdoor stations. My kids were excited to add the outdoor station activities to our indoor curriculum activities to help implement the total PFA concept in our P.E. program.
Since receiving our outdoor fitness gym equipment, I have added Modified Pull Ups, Vault Bar, Horizontal Ladder, and Pole Climb to our C&C activities. We already have been charting Push Ups, Sit Ups, Step Ups, PACER, ¼ Mile Run, Jump Rope, and Hubba Hubba Hoop. My kids love performing the challenge activities and seeing their names on the wall charts and are motivated by this recognition.
Steve Cox visited my school last Spring for our Year 2 inservice training session. I again was amazed by the PFA genius of this man. I learned a great deal about what we were doing well in our P.E. program and also the areas that I need to emphasize to show improvement in our PFA program.
I am most appreciative of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation for the generous grant that they supplied to our school and my students. Thank you BCBSMS Foundation for making all this PFA fun, fitness, improved social skills, and increased positive leadership skills available to B.E. S. and the many other Mississippi schools that you have funded. With Mississippi being near the bottom of states with poor fitness levels, your grants are a positive step for our children as they attempt to climb the ladder to better lives through better fitness.
P.E. Goals for B.E.S.
Our gym entrance heading is “Sportsmanship, Fitness,and Leaders developed here!”, and reflects what I strive to accomplish in my P.E. program at B.E.S.
One of my early observations of our students led to the first goal I set for our students; to help increase their poor fitness levels in cardiovascular and upper body areas. I have been able to help address this need over the years by adding much needed fitness equipment and activities that we use in our program. We have added pull up bars, a modified pull up rack, and medicine balls as additions to doing push ups to help increase upper body strength.
We often use the PACER activity to help improve cardiovascular fitness , as well as running laps around the gym floor. One of my kid’s favorite class activities is the Fitness Circuit Stations. We divide into groups of 2-3 students and rotate every 5 minutes through the fitness stations set up in our gym. Stations that we use may include push ups, sit ups, noodle jumps, modified pull ups, PACER, jump rope, weighted hoops, low balance beam, step ups,and crab shoulder touches. This is a fun, fast, activity that addresses all the Building Blocks of Fitness and encourages TCC interaction skills to be used. We also perform Fitness Circuit Stations on our PFA outdoor fitness gym using the same directions as our indoor activity with the fitness stations plus the addition of running, weighted hoops, and jump ropes.
Our student C&C results improved from year one to year two in several testing areas including modified pull ups, push ups, vault bar, PACER, and others. These results help let me know that our efforts to improve cardiovascular and upper body fitness are helping many of our students in these areas.
Above and Beyond Classroom
B.E.S. is incorporating “The Morning Mile” running program as a before-school activity offering for all K-5 students. This is conducted outside during a 30 minute period prior to school on days that weather permits. Student distances run are recorded on a grade-level spreadsheet in ¼ mile increments. Students are rewarded one sneaker charm for every 5 miles they complete and a “100” charm after completing 100 miles. Information available for interested schools at MorningMile.com and Fitzness.com
On a personal note, I have served as the Chairperson of the B.E.S. Healthy Schools and Wellness Committee for the last 6 years. Our committee is charged with monitoring all aspects of the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff.
Student Stories
My students most enjoy the PFA cup activities in which they are performing physical exercises in order to earn cups for their team. This type activity takes away their focus on performing the exercises, and places it on the team concept of earning the cups. These activities offer the best chance for students to help themselves get more physically fit while having exciting fun in a challenging social game. Even the students that may feel embarrassed or hesitant to perform the exercises individually, will do exactly the same exercises as part of our cup building activities. Several have expressed appreciation for allowing them to be able to exercise and gain better fitness in such a way that they do not feel so self conscious.
We also have many students who crave the competitive challenges of our tested activities.
I love that PFA affords all of our students some types of TCC activities that help meet their individual preferences in working to become more physically fit and better leaders.
Student Favorite Activities
Our students’ favorite activity is Soccer Battle Ball. We use this activity on Reward Days and as a change of pace activity. My personal favorite is Double Track Cup Attack modified to include exercise stations. We set up stations for noodle jump, modified pull ups, step ups, sit ups, in addition to the lap the students can choose to perform. I love how this activity gets all the students actively involved. Best of all, this activity addresses each of the Building Blocks of Fitness in an activity that also emphasizes TCC behavior skills.
Another favorite is the Breakout game that PFA guru, Steve Cox introduced us to during his Year 2 In-Service training at our school. This is a great game that can be played both indoors and outdoors. Our kids love this action packed game, and it really gives everyone an opportunity to practice TCC skills in a fast paced setting. One modification I have implemented is that the first player to control the ball must pass it to another player. Then an attempt can be made to get a runner out. This helps to control selfish play and generate better team play.