Editor’s Note: Kendal Bauman, long-time physical education and health teacher, as well as boys’ varsity soccer coach for 20 years, attended an institute for physical education teachers at James Madison University this summer. With the move of K-5 to main campus, Bauman is giving leadership to the full K-12 PE curriculum. This training pumped him up!

What do 350 PE teachers have in common when they descend on JMU’s campus for the annual Health and Physical Activities Institute? They get to be on teams with names like Rhubarb, Kumquat, Jalapeno Pepper and Dragon Fruit. They got to play badminton bonanza, wheelchair basketball, attend seminars titled “Dances your students will beg you to do!” and enjoy JMU’s UREC facility.

Things I learned at the institute:

• National Teacher of the Year Presenters consistently said time and again that “This is the BEST conference offered in the United States hands down.” The participation rate is fa-nominal.
• You do not sit on a chair on the side and take notes YOU DO THE ACTIVITIES to learn it better than watching. Even when that meant I had to dance!
• They have an AWESOME slogan “A body is a terrible thing to waist.”
• That every child deserves to have the opportunity to MOVE in Physical Education class and it should be FUN for the students.

Things I am excited about this fall:

• Teaching elementary physical education;
• Exploring “space” with the kindergarten class as the students learn how their bodies move in space.
• Partnering with the elementary divison to provide teaching/assisting opportunities to middle and high school students who are interested in teaching careers.