I absolutely LOVE working at Baymonte Christian School. Each morning I step foot on campus, the students make me feel loved and welcome. My favorite part of teaching PE is seeing students being kind and encouraging to each other. It’s so awesome to see kids helping each other. Sometimes the older kids will ask to help lead warm-ups with the younger kids. Kindness is one of my biggest teaching points when it comes to learning how to treat one another, I love seeing this expressed by students saying “good job” or “nice try” to each other. Kind words can truly lift up a child and build confidence to help them in PE and in life.
My inspiration to teach at an elementary school comes from my mother who was an elementary school counselor for 23 years. Over the years she taught me that we can build up a child by simply showing them God’s love, by encouraging them and making them feel valued and cared for. Every single child needs someone to believe in them by becoming their biggest fan or cheerleader. This is my goal at Baymonte Christian School.
To me, physical education is designed to encourage students to want to exercise and to teach them the importance of getting along with one another. In many games they have to learn to share and work together in groups. I highly promote encouraging each other and not putting each other down. This makes PE a positive and fun place to be. I’m also teaching the students that you don’t just have to run laps to keep in shape, but playing fun games like, “Flamingo Relay Races” or “Who Let the Dogs Out” can also be fun. In these games two students are chasing another student as they are running on the field trying not to get tagged while loud, silly music is being played. All of this helps to make staying in shape fun!
One of my favorite aspects of teaching is introducing the students to the history of each sport. This is where the students learn not only how to play the sport but where the sport originated, what country invented it, and what year and how the sport got started. It is so fun seeing the students perk up in interest as they learn! It teaches them that they too can be creative and dream up games or sports that nobody has ever played.
Towards the end of each school year I get to coordinate Track and Field Day. It was my favorite part of the school year when I was a kid, and believe it or not, I still get excited for it. It’s where each class is given a particular color, wears that color t-shirt for the day while they compete against their classmates in different events. Every child tries to earn as many ribbons possible in 12 different events. It’s a really fun team-building event that helps promote each class working together by competing and cheering for each other!
Overall, I would say it is a true honor to teach at Baymonte Christian School. It is a gift to lead and serve our amazing kindergarten through fifth graders, alongside a staff who are here to make a positive difference. It’s a privilege God has given me to have the opportunity to make a difference for good in all of these lives. I want to help each child feel loved and cared for and to feel that they are special. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” – What great hope we have in God to give us the strength we need each day!
