My goal in higher education is to help future physical education teachers explore, learn and apply pedagogical expertise so that as inservice teachers, they have the skills, knowledge and dispositions necessary for promoting healthy lifestyles in their K-12 students. Such a mission encompasses modeling of known effective teaching methods in the university learning environment, continuing to learn, explore, develop, and contribute as an educator and scholar, and active engagement within the University and K-12 community.

Teaching excellence encompasses scholarly activity consistent with ones philosophy and professional goals. Such activities require staying up with current literature and research, as well as contributing research and ideas to the professional knowledge base. I have recently published two articles in peer reviewed journals and have three other studies/manuscripts in development that all relate to guiding preservice and inservice teachers towards promoting lifelong health.

It is important to connect scholarly activities with the school and community. In addition to participating in University committees dealing with teacher preparation, I am actively collaborating with local as well as national K-12 physical educators in teacher training and curriculum development. Such collaborative relationships in the Flagstaff community have led to tremendous opportunities for students in our Health Promotion program through which they can observe, assist, and engage with teachers who carry a similar philosophy and expectations as those promoted in our undergraduate program.

Students, regardless of level, all have unique skills, knowledge and dispositions. I believe in guiding students to explore and define their existing skills, knowledge and dispositions, followed by presentation of and immediate application of new knowledge and concepts. For example, students in my classes regularly videotape themselves teaching, and then critically reflect and analyze their own performance. Furthermore, every effort is made for students to immediately apply new skills and knowledge and have success in gradually more demanding environments. Students begin teaching small groups of peers, but progress to teaching large groups of peers, small groups of K-12 students, culminating with student teaching in a K-12 school.

Physical education in K-12 schools is evolving, and teacher education programs must advance methods and practices parallel with K-12 demands. Recent trends in physical education are to promote lifelong physical activity for all students through adventure activities such as rock climbing, mountain biking and orienteering. This is a paradigm shift from focusing on team sports and training athletes. New pedagogy is emerging along with this new content. To prepare students to teach such activities has required creative teaching methods and activities as well as collaboration with professionals within the community. I have added a mountain biking segment to a class in which university students repair a donated mountain bike which is then used to ride and learn how to teach children to ride. I'm collaborating with climbing experts from Flagstaff in developing a similar rock climbing project where students construct and maintain a climbing wall in addition to learning climbing skills, and assisting children who are learning to climb. These adventure based skills are spilling over to Flagstaff schools in that the bikes are available for FUSD PE teachers to use, and the methods we're exploring for constructing climbing walls may be applied in local schools as well.

A reciprocal relationship with students is necessary to identify more effective means of helping students reach their full potential. At the core of being a good teacher, whether at the university or in K-12 schools, is that you must love and enjoy children and working with learners in your classes. It is truly a joy to work with preservice educators at NAU, K-12 students from Flagstaff schools and around the nation, and K-University professionals. I can only hope that my love of working with students at NAU and professionals throughout NAU and the Flagstaff community contributes in some way to children adopting a healthy and active lifestyle.