Conference/Workshop Calendar

Featured this week are reports from some of the 2002 AAHPERD Convention presentations. Perhaps you were one of the several thousand professionals in PEHLS who converged on San Diego for another successful convention? If not, and especially if you have never been to a national convention, we do encourage you to try to plan to attend in a future year. In addition to offering hundreds of worthwhile presentations, simply attending the national convention is always an uplifting and motivating experience. Back in our hometowns it is easy to feel isolated and doubt the importance of our work promoting active and healthy lifestyles. For many of us the best part of these conventions is meeting with colleagues and catching up with news from around the country. Thanks to those of you who took time to stop by the PELINKS4U booth in the exhibit hall and say, "Hi." Despite statistics that suggest our site is being heavily visited we too sometimes wonder about the impact we are having. We were amused and pleasantly surprised when one teacher simply walked past remarking to no one in particular, "Oh, PELINKS4U. I visit that all the time." We hope that PELINKS4U is helping you and we certainly appreciate your feedback. It does take a lot of work to produce and we couldn't do it without the contributions of more than 30 volunteer editiors and those of you who send us news updates and contributions. Hopefully, we will get a chance to meet in person at a future convention. In case you didn't know future conventions will be: 2003 Philadelphia 2004 Chicago 2005 New Orleans Finally, we hope you enjoy the convention information we are featuring on this page. If you are planning to apply for a PEP grant be sure to read tips presented by last year's award winners. You might also be interested to read about criticism directed at the PE profession and charges that its mission is "muddled." Finally, we've all heard about Navy SEALS but San Diego conventioneers heard first hand from the man who for many years directed this program. Enjoy! Steve Jefferies Convention Section Editor

One of the most popular sessions at the 2002 AAHPERD Convention was a presentation by last year’s PEP grant recipients. A packed room of PEP hopefuls listened intently as their colleagues shared grant-writing tips. Shown below are a sample of their suggestions. To read the complete article click here..

How to Begin the Grant Writing Process

• Begin early! Rather than wait for the publication of PEP grant guidelines start a "Needs Assessment" in your district immediately and begin developing a proposal strategy.
• Surround yourself with others who are interested in program development and positive about change.
• Look for community partnerships. Task forces will assist and help to sustain the grant. Consider inviting the medical community.

Choosing a Project Title

While a "catchy" project title may not be the decisive factor in any grant application it may help reviewers to remember your proposal ahead of others that they review. Here’s a sample from last year’s successful PEP grants:

• Project Inshape
• PE for Progress
• 21^st Century PE

Developing a Budget

• Working closely with your district Business Office to ensure that proper rates, overheads etc., are included in your budget.
• Be sure to include funds in your grant to administer the grant. Although most teachers are concerned that funds are devoted to purchases that affect their students it is a mistake to ignore the need for someone to administer the grant.

Establishing the Need for the Grant

• Use any unique data that your school district has been collecting in your grant application. For example, in 2001 one district had data that showed students of color and low income had significantly higher levels of obesity and health problems. Another district had data suggesting a positive correlation between physical activity, obesity, and increased behavioral problems. Does your state have any unique data? Wisconsin for example had its "Wisconsin Indicators for School Health." This data showed a state increase in obesity among children ages 2-5.
• Use the President’s Challenge, Fitnessgram, Physical Best, or other fitness data that your district has probably accumulated. from years of physical fitness testing
• Use national research and statistics to support your application. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is a good starting point for national data. The "School Health Index" and the "Youth Risk Behavior Survey" are especially useful. National data is helpful to supplement an absence of any local data.

How to Incorporate State and National Standards

• Show in your proposal that you are aware of, and plan to work towards local (state) and national standards
• If appropriate explain how you are endeavoring to transform your curriculum from traditional activity offerings to those being promoted as part of the "new" physical education.
• One way to ease this transition is to consider building standardized instructional units with guidelines that all teachers will follow.

Characteristics of the 2001 PEP Grant Recipients

Summarized below are some of the characteristics of last year's successful applications. Be sure to remember that the ideas presented are from many different proposals!

• "Project Inshape" presented the premise that quality PE would improve academic performance.
• The "PE for Progress" proposal established a unique urban and rural partnership. Its primary goal was simply to increase the time spent in PE by emphasizing that fitness was an individual rather than group responsibility.
• A program in Massachusetts was designed to combat childhood obesity. It proposed to increase professional development opportunities for PE teachers and train paraprofessionals to implement physical activity opportunities into the school day. A community outreach program was also included.
• Many schools used this grant to increase limited supplies of equipment and especially technology. Typically, these requests were accompanied by plans to transform the curriculum and offer different activities.

To read the complete article click here