Bouncing Balls And Ideas | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post, Crystal Baity, is a contributor to ECU News Services.

ECU workshop helps teachers apply new state requirements

    A new state requirement brought more than 40 physical education teachers to East Carolina University recently for a daylong workshop.

    Pitt County Schools partnered with ECU to introduce a N.C. Department of Public Instruction mandate requiring teachers to document student learning through psychomotor, cognitive and interpersonal objectives in physical education.

    Teachers from surrounding counties to Kitty Hawk and several ECU physical education majors participated in the workshop at Christenbury Gym.

    "They are learning by listening and doing," said Dr. Bomna Ko, assistant professor of kinesiology who organized the session with an ECU Engagement and Outreach Scholar grant. "Everybody is participating."

    Dr. Tristan Wallhead, associate professor in the physical education teacher education program at the University of Wyoming, was a guest facilitator. Wallhead's research focuses on the effects of the sport education curriculum model on student motivation for physical activity, which he connected to North Carolina's new requirement stressing teamwork, leadership and responsibility.

    "We're trying to develop kids' game play and their personal and social responsibility," Wallhead said. "This will help the teachers to assess and provide a body of evidence for student growth in that domain. My job is to show them how to develop this model of instruction."

    Teachers divided into teams for some of the training, bouncing balls and ideas around the gym.

    "It's always good to get new opinions," said Brian Dilday, an ECU alumnus with 18 years of experience who teaches physical education at Wahl-Coates Elementary School in Greenville. He is the only PE teacher for about 450 students in kindergarten through 5th grade. The students attend 45-minute PE classes twice a week.

    "I'm a big promoter of character," Dilday said, adding the school already focuses on teamwork and promotes a character trait each month. Integrity, responsibility, respect, compassion and honesty are some of the traits students learn.

    Meeting the new state requirement may be more challenging for some grades than others because of the length of time students are in class, said ECU senior Trey Smith, a physical education major from Rocky Point who has been interning at Eastern Elementary School in Greenville.

    "It's a really cool concept, but it may be difficult to implement in elementary school since we only have them for 45 minutes at a time," he said. "Middle and high school may be easier to do."

    ECU senior Hunter Holliman, who has been interning at North Pitt High School, agreed with Smith. Because of the high school block schedule, Holliman has students for a 90-minute class each day per semester. "We are giving them the opportunity to learn some physical activity that they can use the rest of their life," Holliman said.

    Jeff Pizzutilla, another ECU kinesiology faculty member who taught in the county schools for many years, recruited participants for the workshop, which was held on a teacher workday.

    "It's helping the teachers to complete their assessment for their students," said Dr. Dana Espinosa, associate professor of kinesiology. "This is the application part. You learn to imbed that application and assess every day."

    Ko and Wallhead also provided on-site workshops for physical education teachers at area schools by request.


Wahl-Coates Elementary School physical education teacher Brian Dilday chats between training sessions with Jennifer Gillikin, physical education teacher at Wintergreen Intermediate School.


Physical education teacher Don Minnick of Smith Middle School tosses a ball during a workshop held at East Carolina University. The workshop helped acclimate teachers to a new N.C. Department of Public Instruction requirement for physical education programs. (Photos by Cliff Hollis)