Corpus Christi Area Educators Ready to Teach Bike Safety
A special thank you to Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Corpus Christi District and Bill Strawn, TxDOT Traffic Safety Specialist, for hosting the January 23, 2008 SuperCyclist teacher training. The training room was perfect for the PowerPoint lecture part of the training. The large screen, good sound system and comfortable seating was appreciated by all. In addition, the weather turned cold and the room was large enough we could pull back the tables and set up a Skills Course and play the games inside. The Skills Course is a safety course designed for children. They can use “virtual handlebars” as opposed to bikes when real bikes are not available.
The teachers came from all around the Corpus Christi area. Kristine Holloway,
Annette Smith, Kara Wallace and Amy Seeds came from Flour Bluff ISD,
Adolfo Silvas from Santa Gertrudis ISD, Tara Haney and Gabriel
Fernandez from Seashore Middle Academy and Learning Center, Laura
Salinas from Ramirez Elementary in Realitos, and Teresa Hampton from
Aransas Pass ISD's Kieberger Elementary.
SuperCyclist Training at Tarrant County Sheriff’s Training Academy
Deputy Tim Tramel of the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Training Academy played host to the most recent BikeTexas SuperCyclist certification class this past December 5th. Under a beautiful sky on a (not surprisingly) windy Fort Worth afternoon, three Tarrant County Deputies and seven area teachers put their newly-learned bike safety talents to test on the SuperCyclist Skills Course and Decision Course on the Academy parking lot.
Deputy Tramel, SCOPE Officer (Sheriff Community Oriented Policing and Education) for Tarrant County, was joined by Deputies James Waits and Scott Christian. They have been active with children and bicycle safety events in the past. The training gives them great tools to teach more kids in the future.
PE teachers Christi Ray, Jan Grauso and Kathy Spadoni of Northwest ISD, Missy Wentz, Stephen McAdams, and Sheila Taylor of Carrollton-Famers Branch ISD , and Jennifer Davis of the Shelton School also participated in the training.
TBC Promotes Bike Safety at PE Teachers’ Annual Convention
The Texas Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and
Dance, otherwise known as TAHFERD (tay-ferd,) held its 84th annual
convention was at the Moody Gardens Convention Center in Galveston,
Texas. Nearly 3,000 PE teachers, student PE majors and college
kinesiology professors came to soak up the mild late November sunshine
and to catch up on their professional enrichment.
The Texas Bicycle Coalition (TBC) staff, Teacher Education Program
Director Brenda Chuleewah and Mark Stine, set up a booth in the
exposition hall. Attendees learned how they could become certified in
the SuperCyclist Curriculum through the 6-hour training offered
throughout Texas. The convention is a means for making contact with
interested teachers who are willing to host a class by providing a
classroom and gym (or outdoor parking lot). TBC provides the
highly-qualified field instructors, all the materials necessary to
teach the lessons in an organized curriculum binder and a healthy
continental breakfast. TAHPERD awards six continuing-education credits
to teachers completing the course.
Dr. Joel Bloom, TBC Field Instructor, presents the SuperCyclist Curriculum in Pasadena, TX
Twelve teachers from the Houston area enjoyed Dr. Bloom’s presentation
of the SuperCyclist Curriculum.The 6
hour bicycle safety course is designed to be fun, educational and interactive.Dr. Bloom adds to the training his own
personal riding experiences, telling the teachers about his trip to Scotland, where
cycling is the main mode of transportaion.The country was very bicycle friendly and the whole family rode.
A special thanks goes to Oscar Torres, the PE teacher from
Williams Elementary in Pasadena
for helping to bring the training to his area.He expressed a strong interest for the training at the summer TAHPERD
conference and led us to Pam Tevis the Pasadena
PE coordinator.Pam did a wonderful job in providing us an
air- conditioned gym at Park View Intermediate. We are able to demonstrate how the entire
training can be done in a gym with their students.
Camp Eagle was a beautiful location for the kick off of the first Kids Kup of the 2007-2008 series, made possible by generous support from REI and Shimano.
Coordinated by Texas Bicycle Coalition and Shimano Youth Series; the BikeTexas Kids Kup events were developed to inspire the next generation of mountain bike enthusiasts as well as introduce children to basic bicycle safety and handling skills. Each Kids Kup event coincides with a Texas Mountain Bike Racing Association (TMBRA) Series event.
At every Kid's Kup event, Bill Payne, the coordinator of the event, presents a basic bike safety and handling skills demo. Camp Eagle also brought in a Naturalist and the children got to meet and learn about snakes, turtles and millipedes. The event was a success with 42 children riding the course.
TxDOT
