The Roanoke Times

Watch a video of Southwest Virginia physical education teachers learning the newest tricks to get students moving..

RADFORD -- With a neon yellow foam "noodle" in his hand, your child can be an Olympic fencer, test his balancing skills or learn to spell -- all without entering the public swimming pool.

And there's a good chance he'll be doing it all in his next physical education class.

A group of about 120 P.E. teachers from across Southwest Virginia met Friday at Radford University to learn new games and lessons for their students.

"Without going to places like this conference, they won't think any more differently," said Susan Miller, a Radford University instructor in exercise, sport and health education.

Miller taught P.E. in Montgomery County for 26 years and said she's seen the face of the old "gym class" change. Instead of keeping students in straight lines, teachers are using games that can keep kids' heart rates up while practicing other skills.

The conference, the second in the region in as many years, will help bolster that, she said.

For example, Radford city schools teacher Betty Holcomb gets students at McHarg Elementary moving with Geofitness.

Miller suggested Holcomb is the only teacher in the New River Valley using the sets of mats, which have numbered blocks and a compass printed on them, to teach students about shapes, numbers and directions as they dance.

An instructor can ask students to jump in a triangle or to leap northeast-ward, and they'll learn while keeping fit, she said.

Geofitness is similar to the popular video game "Dance, Dance, Revolution," which schools across the county use to get students moving.

"Sometimes DDR can be hard for the kids who have never done it before," Holcomb said, "[Geofitness] isn't tied to the computer."

DDR is used in Blacksburg High School, said Patricia Gaudreau, Montgomery County schools supervisor of physical education. She said the county is looking into other technology-driven P.E. programs, such as Nintendo's Wii, to engage students.

Using video games and other nontraditional forms of exercise might be one way to reach sedentary students, said Jon Poole, an associate professor and co-coordinator of the conference.

Virginia doesn't require a specific amount of time for physical education, but a bill passed this year does suggest that schools strive for 150 minutes of physical education a week. The bill doesn't specify how they should do that.

Now, elementary students in Montgomery County receive an hour of P.E. a week. Higher grades get the equivalent of 45 minutes a day, but not always on the same day, Gaudreau said. The National Association for Sport & Physical Education recommends that elementary students receive at least 150 minutes a week of P.E. time and upper grades 225 minutes.

While the state has boosted its standards for exercise to focus on wellness and an overall understanding of how fitness is a part of life, Poole said, the results don't always translate because of hurdles such as time, money and accountability.

"The problem we see is that you can have SOLs, but until you start saying we're going to test it, all you have is a piece of paper," he said. "If you have a teacher who says, 'I really have an interesting way of playing duck, duck goose,' she can do that."

Games such as noodle fencing can make the time that is spent in class more worthwhile, Miller said.