Nov. 15, 2018 - Health and physical education specialists, Frannie Kendall and Edgar Pabon, are getting the district in SHAPE.
This month, the district-level educators were recognized by the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE) for their exceptional commitment to ensuring students live a healthy lifestyle. Kendall was awarded Health Educator of the Year for the Southeast region of the United States, and Pabon was awarded for his outstanding educational leadership.
Both Kendall and Pabon work with teachers to enhance the quality of instruction. They say their main goal is to make health and physical education more based on learning practical skills than studying diagrams in a textbook.
"We want to teach them the 'why' behind what they are learning," said Pabon. "Instead of just doing physical activity for the purpose of moving, we want them to understand the significance behind the movement and how it can help their bodies long-term."
Part of their strategy has been to ensure standards-based instruction for physical and health education. The two have worked hand-in-hand to rebuild the curriculum; now, teachers have detailed lesson plans and activities to follow for each topic.
"There's never been this many resources or this much support [for physical and health educators] until now," said Kendall.
Kendall and Pabon also make a point to go to schools having a hard time fitting physical and health education requirements into the classroom. They work with principals and teachers to ensure that students are actually practicing what they learn, whether a yoga pose or proper running technique, rather than memorizing it from looking at a diagram.
Their instructional support and educational leadership have truly made Kendall and Pabon integral parts of our students' physical and health education. Congratulations to both!
