By Rajah Maples
Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 5:33 p.m.
Read more: Local, Education, Community, Ken Mansell, KHQA Excellent Educator, Ellington, Sports Stacking
QUINCY, IL -- When you hear "P.E. or Physical Education," a number of memories probably flood your mind.
Perhaps there was a certain sport you used to play. Maybe you associate the term with a certain feeling or perhaps that was your time to shine when you were in school.
Mr. Ken Mansell has taught P.E. at Ellington Elementary School in Quincy for more than 20 years.
He's this month's KHQA Excellent Educator, and he says the field has changed dramatically during his many years of service.
Mr. Ken Mansell started teaching physical education at Ellington School in January 1989. Before then, he had never planned to teach at the elementary level and thought the position was temporary. But 20 years and *dozens* of students later, he's still going strong where he first got his start.
Mansell said, "There's a new P.E. out here. Back in the day, we played dodgeball all the time or we played the same sport over and over again. Now, we're doing a lot more with nutrition, health education, interaction to, you know, a lot of reasons why people said they hated gym class -- they were the last ones picked. They played the same activity over and over again. The teacher put them in the spotlight. Here, it's all about building your self-esteem, getting you to believe in yourself, keeping every kid active and moving and not doing activities where people are eliminated or out."
Mr. Mansell brought sports-stacking, also known as cup-stacking, to Quincy about three years ago. He was skeptical and reluctant at first but thought it would be a great activity that everyone could do regardless of their athletic ability.
Mansell said, "As the kids quickly found out, it's more challenging. Every kid can do it, but it's also challenging to the most athletically gifted kid, because it forces you to use both sides of your brain. It works your hand/eye coordination. It improves a lot of your skills and can translate outside the P.E. realm."
Drew Figge said, "When we first got cup-stacking at our school, he said that it was really fun. So when I first tried it, I was really bad at it, but after I practiced at home, I started getting really good at it."
But it's not just the activities that have students looking up to Mr. Mansell.....
Hannah Beeler said, "I would describe him as, he's a lot of fun and he is very nice."
And those are just some of the reasons that make Mr. Ken Mansell this month's KHQA Excellent Educator.
