This week for the Featured PE Teacher section on the PE Central Facebook page, the spotlight is on Randy Watts!
About Randy:
My name is Randy Watts and I teach Middle School 6th, 7th and 8th graders. This my 25th year of teaching and all have been at Simpson Middle School in Marietta, Georgia. I have had the pleasure of teaching such cooperative students over the years and this has lead to several awards. Most recently I was honored as Simpson Middle School Teacher of the Year along with Cobb County P.E. TOTY twice. I have also received Georgia’s Program of the Year Award and Georgia’s Intramural Director of the Year.
I have also made efforts to create and submit information abut my game idea that is being licensed, which has motivated me to also promote many of my other unique lessons. I have recently been spending my time on the committee that is rewriting and reviewing the state of Georgia’s P.E. standards for grades K-12.
Current Lesson Plan/Unit:
I am currently offering a Speedball unit to my students. I offer a basketball unit first, a soccer unit next, then a touchdown unit. Our final unit is Speedball because that game incorporates all 3 of the previous activities combined.
Favorite Lesson Plan/Unit:
My favorite lesson plan involves a game that I just got licensed. It is called Aerodisc and involves 3 discs per team and a unique target in the center of the gym. The object of the game is to move the discs by passing only (no running with the discs) and the first team to score all 3 discs into the target first wins. I am partnering with a distributor to help develop and market the game.
What is your favorite part about being a PE teacher?
My favorite part of being a P.E. Teacher is when my former students come back and want to play the unique games that we played when the were in middle school. I do get several requests to have “reunion” games for the students that are in high school and college. That is a great feeling as a coach and will be what I remember the most when I finally decide to retire. I do believe that the secrets to my success are enthusiastic and cooperative students and top notch teammates over the years.
