Mrs. Bennett is Awesome!

By Sierra B & Stefani W – 6G

Do you know that lady who is always on the field? It’s Mrs. Bennett, our awesome gym and health teacher. We have known Mrs. Bennett since we started going to the school, and in our opinion she is the best P.E. teacher ever!

Throughout the week, we interviewed Mrs. Bennett. She told us that she remembered being in high school, about tenth grade, and thinking about how much she loved Phys. Ed class and how much fun it must be to teach it.

 “My parents were really big on education, so there was no question about going to college,” said Mrs. Bennett.  “It was just a matter of where I was trying to go and what I wanted to study.”

Mrs. Bennett used to get really good grades in English, and she loved this subject.   She thought about studying it in college, but she’s glad she chose health and gym as her teaching field.  She likes being in both teaching situations. She said by teaching both health and physical education, she is able to show kids why fitness and exercise are important and how to work to make it happen.

“Teaching health puts you in the classroom, where the challenges are mental,” said Mrs. Bennett.  “Gym class puts you in a gymnasium or outdoor classroom where movement is the challenge.”

Surprisingly, Mrs. Bennett never had gym class until she was in high school, so no elementary school gym teachers inspired her to teach elementary school physical education classes. In elementary school and middle school, her class had long recess times with games they wanted to play, and they did have sports teams that they could join.

During long recesses, her class played four-squares, double-dutch, regular jump rope, kickball and tag. At home, after school, she and her friends played kickball, kick-the-can, and hide-and-go-seek.

“My gym teachers in high school were awesome! I wanted to be like them,” said Mrs. Bennett.

Mrs. Bennett’s favorite season to teach outside is now, the fall.  She loves being outside at this time of the year.  She loves the cool temperature of the fall and the view from the field as it faces the mountain. She loves how the leaves change color and how beautiful they look.

Mrs. Bennett said that the hardest part of her job is keeping everyone safe. She has to constantly watch how everyone is playing; draw their attention to unsafe things and make sure teams are fair, and that people are playing fair.  She said poor sportsmanship is hard to deal with, since it affects so many more people than just the person who is being a poor sport.

Outside of her school day, Mrs. Bennett rides her bike every day that she can. She hates the winter months when it gets dark so early.   Then she walks every night.  She walks her dog a mile every night.

Mrs. Bennett has one grandchild, Chase, whom she spends as much time with as she can. But he lives about 2 ˝ hours away. She also crochets and embroiders.

Besides gym classes, Mrs. Bennett helps kids get exercise by doing the Intramurals for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6^th grades.   She feels like time goes by very quickly during intramurals.

There is one other thing about Mrs. Bennett that we know.  Mrs. Bennett is the school district’s teacher with the longest amount of time in the district.  Mrs. Bennett has been teaching in Delaware Valley School District for 35 years, and she says it has all been great.  She remembers when she first started teaching at Delaware Valley she traveled to all four of the elementary schools for health and P.E.  She said that would be impossible now because of the much larger number of students in our district.

How long does Mrs. Bennett plan to teach?  She says at least for a few more years. 

Her parents are now in their 80’s and could use her help, and her three children all live in the suburban Philadelphia area, as well as her sisters, a brother and many nieces and nephews. They would like her to retire to be near them, but she’s not ready yet.

“Maybe a few more years,” said Mrs. Bennett.

We’re glad Mrs. Bennett will be her for a while.  She is an awesome, fun, and amazing teacher!J  Thanks for the interview, Mrs. Bennett.  

Staff Members of the Month

Mrs. Bennett’s the Best!!!

By Alex H – 6G

This month’s Staff Member of the Month is Mrs. Jennifer Bennett.  I can tell you that Mrs. Bennett is a really nice teacher and she is really fun to be around.     

What inspired Mrs. Bennett to become a teacher was that she had many teachers she liked and admired when she was in school that this made her want to be just like them. Mrs. Bennett has been a teacher for 35 years and she loves her job.  She is not sure how long she will continue.

Mrs. Bennett has taught kindergarten through sixth grade, and she also coached high school students many years ago. She has taught health and physical education. Her favorite thing to teach students is the games.

“I especially like it when we can go outside to play them,” said Mrs. Bennett.  “I like the skills of sports and seeing students get better.”

 The best thing about being a teacher, in Mrs. Bennett’s opinion, is the teachers and the students that she is around. The hardest part is when students are not nice and say harsh words to each other without thinking.  She thinks sometimes people do not think before they speak, and words can really hurt other people.

She also finds it hard when students are lazy and don’t want to play.

“They forget that our body is like a machine and it needs to work every day,” she said.

When Mrs. Bennett is not teaching she likes to take long walks with friends or crochet. Mrs. Bennett likes to visit her family. Her children and parents live in Valley Forge area.  She loves to go see her grandson, Chase.

Thanks for being our December Staff Member of the Month, Mrs. Bennett.