Dear Members of Western District,
Hello, my name is Dawn Davis and I am your current Western District President of IAHPERD. As I begin my term as Western District President I am excited to serve my fellow educators in this capacity. For 25 years I have been dedicated to teaching physical education. I have had the privilege to teach every level from kindergarten to college and for the past 19 years I’ve been teaching at Washington Community High School in Washington, IL.
There’s no better feeling in the world than to see your students participate in activity, have fun and know that you are helping them potentially live a longer life with an increased quality of life. What other subject can boast such a claim? No Child Left Behind does not require for us to meet or exceed a level of fitness with our students but perhaps it should. And if the current trend of childhood obesity continues perhaps it will be required of us one day soon. Are we ready? Are you ready to step up and be held accountable for your job? If so, why not start now? My challenge to you as a physical educator is to create a curriculum that can be validated, measured and justified to administrators and parents.
If we as health and physical educators take it upon ourselves to elevate our profession with new technology, best practices and innovation, then the academic community will have no choice but to stand up and take notice.
A great place to start is to become involved in IAHPERD. Go to a convention, a workshop, a district meeting, serve on a committee, be a presenter at the convention—if you need more information, please contact me and I can help you get involved and connected with other professionals.
Nominations for Teacher of the Year. If you would like to nominate an Elementary, Middle School, Secondary, Dance, Adaptive, Adventure, Young Professional Teacher or even an Administrator of the Year, please email me their name and email address so I can have them complete the proper forms. Surely you know someone who deserves this honor! It is a great way to publicize your programs. A Teacher from our District - Carrie Johnson for being named IAHPERD's 2011 Adapted Teacher of the Year! Carrie teaches @ Western Central Illinois Special Education Coop (WCISEC). She was recognized at the State Convention last November. Congrats Carrie!!! Now we need to recognize more teachers from our District!
April 25 - 28 the Midwest District AAHPERD Centennial Celebration and Convention will be held at Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale, IL. If you missed this year's state convention, this would be another opportunity to gain some valuable information. Visit the website by CLICKING HERE to register.
Talk to other PE and Health teachers in your district about the benefits of becoming a member of the IAHPERD. It's a great way to stay informed about legislation that affects our programs, gain ideas from other professionals and stay current on the latest trends and research into Best Practices in physical education and health. I am available to come and talk to your school or district about ways to improve the climate of physical education in your district. if you're interested please email me at ddavis@wacohi.net.
Thank you for visiting our website. Be sure to click on the IAHPERD link before you disconnect. Our goals for this year was to continue to increase member involvement at district business meetings, increase the use of district website as resource for our members, and increase membership at our district level. I look forward to meeting all of you this year during our business meeting and work toward making IAHPERD Western District better.
Keep Moving!
Dawn Davis
IAHPERD Western District President
Upcoming Events
Project ACES - May 1st
AAHPERD
April 14 } Northern District Workshop @ Judson
April 18 } Western District Business Meeting - April 18th @ Aurilio's Monicals' Pizza at 7 pm
PLEASE READ THIS VERY IMPORTANTANT NEWS!!! CLICK HERE
There are several bills - amendments out there that could eliminate PE as a mandated subject in Illinois schools. If they pass, the consequences could be devastating to our profession and our jobs. This would also be harmful to all of the students that would be deprived of the chance to participate in physical education classes. Please contact your legislators immediately and let them know not to vote for these bills for the sake of our children. The link below will help you figure out who represents you.
Childhood Obesity Epidemic Costly In Many Ways
1. The average 10-year-old girl weighed 77 pounds in 1963; today, 88. The 10-year-old boy weighed 74; today, 85.
2. A 2006 study tracking 2,000 low-income children in 20 cities found that a third were overweight or obese
before the age of 4. Most at risk: Hispanics.
3. Even more than smoking or drinking, says a UCLA/Rand study, obesity triggers significant health problems and
increases health spending.
4. Children and teens consumed 110 to 165 more calories than they burned each day over a 10-year period,
adding up to 58 pounds of extra weight, according to a Harvard University study.
5. 2 percent of U.S. children eat a healthy diet as defined by the Agriculture Department.
6. "Husky" car seats were developed several years ago. More than 250,000 children younger than 6 exceeded
the weight standards for regular car seats in 2006.
7. Soft-drink consumption has increased 300 percent in 20 years and is the leading source of added sugars for
adolescents.
8. 25 percent of all vegetables eaten in the United States are french fries or chips.
9. 25 percent of all Americans eat fast food at least once a day.
10. Americans consume 20 percent more calories than a generation ago; most come from fats and oils (up 63%),
grains (up 43%) and sugar (up 19%).
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ADVOCACY:
You can find your state representative and senator and their contact numbers at www.ilga.gov
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DO YOU KNOW A GOOD TEACHER?
THEN WE NEED YOUR HELP!
At the state convention, IAHPERD recognizes numerous award winners. Do you know an outstanding individual in the professional fields of Physical, Health, Dance, Adapted or Leisure Education? Recognize these people by nominating them for Teacher of the Year (TOY). These awards are given in recognition of outstanding instructional performance for elementary, middle, and secondary school physical education as well as in adapted, dance, health, and leisure education. Elected individuals have shown their great ability to motivate today's youth to participate in a lifetime of physical activity.
An FYI; anyone can nominate an outstanding teacher. You can nominate anyone, as long as the individual is eligible for the respective award. To check requirements and perhaps nominate someone in the future, check out the applications located on the IAHPERD main web site.
To download applications for any of the awards below; click HERE
(A) Elementary Physical Educator (B) Middle School Physical Educator
(C) Secondary Physical Educator (D) Health Educator (E) Dance Educator
(F) Service Award & (G) Honor Award
Join our Mailing List:
Located now on the IAHPERD Web site: Just click on the IAHPERD Tab atop the page and click on Western District. Once you plug in your e-mail address, you'll receive periodic updates on what's happening within Western District and IAHPERD.
Notes:
If you send me someone's name and e-mail address, I will include them in our e-mails for Western District. Thanks again for visiting our web site.
Sincerely,
President of Western District
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