Shelly Hoffman Teacher of the Year

“The kids are the future, we have to make sure we invest in the future…show them how important they all are.show them to be more than their upbringing.”- Shelly Hoffman

In 2014, Shelly Hoffman of Franklin Elementary School in Wichita, Kansas was recognized as SHAPE America’s National Elementary Physical Education Teacher of the Year (TOY). Shelly has been with her current school district for 26 years.

“I love teaching. I love seeing that light bulb turn on when the kids finally get it. That moment when they achieve it, that is what I love the most. I am the toughest teacher, but it’s because I love the kids and want to see them excel.”

Since becoming a TOY, Hoffman has enjoyed traveling the country talking about what she does as a physical educator. While on this journey she’s come to realize that not everyone gets to do the same things she does. Previously, Shelly never thought much about the differences between her teaching and how others teach. But since winning this award she’s realized how different and special her school district is. It’s a story that Hoffman now uses to help inspire and encourage teaching colleagues.

To understand the magnitude of what Hoffman has done at Franklin Elementary School requires some background information on the district and community. Franklin Elementary is located at a busy intersection that makes it hard for the students to walk or bike to and from school. It’s also in a rough part of town with a high poverty rate. But Hoffman, her fellow teachers, and community members haven’t let the high poverty rate and lack of money keep them from making the most of the resources they do have and changing students’ life. Although Franklin is a very high needs school, where almost all the students receive both state and federal aid, “people need to realize that if we can do it with the limited resources we have, then anyone can do it,” says Hoffman.

Hoffman noticed many years ago that daily attendance wasn’t a top priority for the students or their parents, so she began introducing programs and activities that encouraged daily attendance. One way the school does that is by trying to create a family feeling to help motivate students to want to come to school. “We need them here in order to teach them and help them,” notes Hoffman.

Hoffman realized that her students needed to be taught more than just physical education; they needed to learn basic personal hygiene and health. To do this she turned to and applied the Kansas state health standards. Partnering with the school nurse and counselor she added health to her curriculum believing “teaching health shows students how to take care of themselves.” Although, Hoffman knows that her students need to be working out three days a week to improve their health and physical fitness, she only sees her students for 45 minutes twice a week. She decided to prioritize and make health, wellness, and nutrition a top priority for her students. “I know it’s a tradeoff, but one I think is necessary and better in the long run considering the background of my students.”

Hoffman regularly teaches nine health and nutrition lessons and is constantly reviewing them with her students. These lessons cover meal planning, healthy eating, proper teeth brushing, importance of sleep and breakfast, and the amount of water the body needs. Hoffman also covers the importance of bathing and knowing when it is time to change your underwear and socks. These 10-minute lessons are taught and reviewed with the students from kindergarten through fifth grade. Whenever there is any dead time in the classroom she’ll use it to review these topics with her students. “Even 30 seconds of review helps embed these concepts in their minds.”

Despite the focus in the classroom on health and wellness that doesn’t mean that physical education is pushed to back burner. With limited class time, Hoffman spends the time teaching the students how they can be active and play games at home. The important question she seeks to answer is “How can we make sure the students get 60 minutes of movement a day?” Since none of students play club or recreational sports, she looks for games that students can play with the supplies they already have laying around their house. One example of that is how she taught the students to make their own homemade bowling game with pop bottles and a ball. Another way she does this is by sending kids home with a duffle bag full of equipment filled with game and activity suggestions and instructions. The equipment bag is filled with balls and other equipment they no longer use in the classroom. Students sign the bags out on Friday so they have to chance to take them home and use them on the weekends. She also sends home monthly fitness calendars that include fun activities the students and their families can do at home. Hoffman is constantly giving the students fun and creative ways to get active and empower them with ideas about how to stay active.

In her classroom, Hoffman begins each class period with an instant activity so students start moving right away. After that, the students move to stretching, core work, and then over to the lesson area. There, Hoffman reviews the word of the week and word wall (a whole wall filled with words to help build the students’ vocabulary and help them remember important health and physical activity words). At her school, there’s a high population of students who don’t speak English, making it important to spend at least a few minutes of each class reinforcing fundamental knowledge and skills. She also helps students work on their communication skills by having them talk to each other about the lesson content and participate in active listening.

Hoffman also believes strongly in formative assessment. Everyday she asks the students to rate the lesson 1 to 3 or give a thumbs up thumbs down. She believes that student feedback is an extremely important aspect of effective teaching. To help her students develop their skills, Hoffman videotapes students doing the activities then reviews the film with them to highlight what they are doing right and where they need to improve. She has a rule of no laughing at each other in her classroom because she wants to foster an environment where students aren’t afraid to fail. Hoffman stresses the importance of developing a love for moving. She emphasizes to her students that they don’t have to be the best athlete to love moving and participating. What matters to her is that they try their best.

Hoffman just doesn’t work with the students while they are in her classroom; she is actively involved with the community to find more ways to positively impact the student’s life and the community. The school district receives help from the community with local churches and business sponsoring the students and helping with different school events. Hoffman notes, “The community shows loving kindness to the school and has made helping these students their mission. They provide milk and cookies for the students and have also donated money and supplies to help beautify the school.” Community collaboration has helped the school to create mass fun nights for the kids allowing them to come together to play, exercise, and let off steam. The youth ministers help students track and practice their reading skills. “Everyone contributing to the health promoting programs at Franklin Elementary School strongly believes in empowering the students through encouraging them to become more than their upbringing.