Northwoods Teacher Vies For National PE Teacher Of The Year
April 4, 2005 - Northwoods Elementary PE teacher Betsy Beals will be honored as the Southern District Elementary School Physical Educator of the Year by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) at its national convention in Chicago April 12-16."My physical education program is dedicated to children and to their activity needs and wants," said Beals. "The love of being active each day, coupled with cultivating the self-esteem of each student, are important parts of my teaching. Encouraging all my students to be healthy active learners offers the foundation to develop a lifestyle of daily physical activity."
The Southern District represents a 13-state area from Virginia to Texas. The Southern District Physical Educator of the Year Award is given in recognition of outstanding teaching performance at the elementary school level and the ability to motivate today's youth to participate in a lifetime of physical activity.
At the convention Beals will vie with five other district winners for the "National Teacher of the Year Award." The "National Teacher of the Year" recipient will be announced on Friday, April 15, at NASPE's Hall of Fame Banquet.
Northwoods principal Gary Gammill says Beals has taken on leadership roles in areas outside of physical education.
"Betsy Beals has gone the extra mile of teaching to become a mentor teacher and by volunteering for the leadership role of coordinating our school's Initially Licensed Teacher mentoring program," said Gammill. "Through this program she has touched the educational lives and careers of numerous novice teachers. In the area of improving her own teaching skills, she has risen to the height of becoming a National Board Certified Teacher. She has also encouraged and helped other teachers to follow her example of working toward the personal goal of achieving National Board Certification."
Northwoods physical education program has received numerous awards and grants such as the Governor's Council of Physical Fitness Top Ten School Award and the PE Celebrity School Award in 2001. In 2001, Beals received the Physical Education Honor Award and the Floyd Woody Fall Leadership Conference Award. Over the years she has also been named a Wake County Teacher of the Year.
A presenter at local, state and national conferences, Beals is active in National Association for Sport and Physical Education/ American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (NASPE/AAHPERD), and the North Carolina and Southern District Associations for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. At the national level Beals serves as a member of the Joint Projects Committee and The Family Fitness 5 A Day Dole Project.
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