Lyndsay Byrd loves teaching and loves the outdoors, so combine the two and – voila! – she has her dream job: Physical education teacher.
“I get to move all day, I don’t have to sit at a desk all day – that’s awesome,” Byrd said. “I get to be outside when it’s beautiful. When the weather’s nice, I’m out in the fresh air. I love being so active, I love working out, I love exercise, and I love teaching people about i … So I really do have my dream job.”
Byrd always has been jazzed about physical fitness. A basketball player at Chapman University, she majored in kinesiology and minored in nutrition.
For the past 15 years, Byrd has been teaching PE at Natomas Park Elementary, where she is the campus’s current Teacher of the Year. She works with all grade levels at the schools, from Transitional Kindergarten through 5th grade.
“I’ve always had a love for how our bodies work and why exercise is important, and how we respond to exercise, and how we respond to what we eat,” Byrd said. “I’ve just always had kind of a passion for it.”
Byrd also is known for extracurricular activities at NPE: Organizing a running club, facilitating a 5th grade Bicycle Safety Program, coordinating the school’s Fund Run and its end-of-the-year Field Days. She also has been involved in NPE’s 5th Grade Barbecue and a staff-versus-students kickball game.
To Byrd, PE is not a break from academic learning – it’s an extension of it. She incorporates reading, writing and arithmetic into her lessons: For example, students chart and monitor their goals through line graphs, and they use mathematics to figure out their heart rate.
Fun becomes learning – and vice versa: OK, class, we have 23 students and five teams. How many students will be on each team?
Help me count the balls as I throw them out. And this is how we’re going to count – by threes. So three, six, nine, 12…
Byrd also uses PE to teach life lessons – treating others the way you want to be treated. Be respectful whether you’re in class, out of class, walking through a hallway, or playing on the playground.
“Let’s respect our environment,” she said. “Let’s respect the classes we walk by. Let’s respect each other as to the word we choose to use, the tone of voice we’re using. So I just really try to make students aware of their choices, make them aware of how they treat people.
Principal Scott Pitts said she truly makes a difference.
“Mrs. Byrd is not only an excellent educator, teaching her classes concepts across content areas, she plays an integral role in creating a positive campus culture for our Coyote family,” Pitts said. “She is in it for the kids, and it is great to work with her.”
Born and raised in Orange County, Byrd kind of stumbled into teaching after giving birth. She applied initially to be a long-term substitute PE teacher in San Jose. The principal decided instead to hire her on an emergency credential to teach a middle school class of students with disabilities. She hasn’t looked back since and wouldn’t change a thing, she said.
“I just loved it from day one,” she said, smiling. “So I knew I was just going to be a teacher forever.”
