Schools

Sappington PhysEd Teacher Named No. 1 Among Nine States

Sappington Elementary's own Mary Driemeyer will vie for the national award in March.

Remember the days of dangling from a high bar in front of your peers in elementary physical education class? Sweat dripping from your brow, you knew that you would never be able to pull your tiny body up with your skinny arms just high enough to get your chin above the bar—even though your grade depended on it. As your classmates looked on in silence, some knowing they would endure the same humiliation in just moments, the longest five minutes of your life finally came to an end. Thanks to teachers like Mary Driemeyer, those nightmarish days are gone.

The PE teacher has been recognized as the top elementary school PE teacher in a nine state region by the Central District Association of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. After being nominated by a fellow teacher at Sappington, Driemeyer had to go through an application process outlining her teaching philosophy and background.

Driemeyer, who has been teaching at Sappington since 1993, wants every child to enjoy activities, not just those who are naturally more athletic. When she was younger she enjoyed PE and taught swim lessons, but even she needed two teachers to pull her over the daunting uneven bars. She liked staying active and knew education was a route she wanted to take.

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Each day, she finds creative, all-inclusive ways to get her students moving, such as a circus unit where students walked on stilts and a fishing lesson where they learned how to cast a line. Even though Driemeyer still has national standards and state grade level expectations, there is a lot more flexibility in PE than there used to be. Therefore, she teaches a lot based on trends and what her students are interested in.

“Presently we are trying to raise money to build a well in Africa, so in PE we have been using pedometers to try to ‘travel’ to Africa to see how truly far it is and adding the kids’ distances to a map,” she said. “(Kids in Africa) have to go 2 miles just to get a cup of water. So, we had a walk-a-thon to walk 2 miles to see how truly far it is. Each year we have a theme so it’s changes from year to year.”

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Driemeyer’s class also does something called a “Fitness Gram,” testing that is centered on self-improvement and getting themselves healthier, which is important in an age of childhood obesity.

“Everyone is doing their own thing not all eyes are one person so there’s no embarrassment,” she said. “Even the kids that don’t outwardly look overweight (nowadays) you can see physical differences in them. Flexibility isn’t as good, endurance levels, they just aren’t doing as much (in terms of overall fitness). It’s a struggle for the kids and for their families.”

Driemeyer also teaches her students to be physically active not just in class, but in doing other things like charity walks and service events like Operation Clean Stream. She encourages them to stay physically active and to accomplish something at the same time. She also recently started a produce coop at Sappington to promote healthy eating.

“The students at Sappington Elementary are lucky to have such a wonderful, energetic and caring teacher,” recognition committee chair Patricia Morrison-Hughes wrote in a letter to Driemeyer. “Your work ethic, state and local leadership are of the highest quality and demonstrate your level of commitment to the profession and to your students.”

Driemeyer will receive her award at the Central District Convention Award Banquet Feb. 3. As Central District award winner, she is eligible for National Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the Year, which will be announced in March in Boston. For this step, Driemeyer must be interviewed in person, submit a written lesson and send in a 30-minute videotape of her teaching her class. 


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