New York City Educator Says Teachers and Students Are Engaged
By Kristin Clark Taylor
It Started as A Surprise
Kevin Lau is a physical education teacher in the borough of Queens at East Elmhurst Community School.
After using the QuaverHealth•PE curriculum, Lau says he is now looking for ways to have PE teachers throughout his district use the curriculum as a common resource.
He remembers when he was first introduced to QuaverHealth•PE. “One of my close colleagues approached me, really excited, to tell me about this amazing new resource out there for physical education teachers.”
Boy, was he surprised!
“As soon as I saw what QuaverHealth•PE was all about, I knew it would be applicable in my space,” Lau remembers.
“I have this overall vision of creating consistent, district-wide use of QuaverHealth•PE so that everyone benefits, across-the-board,” he says.
Big Benefits Abound
He quickly ticks off some of the benefits he already sees, expressing confidence that his colleagues throughout the district will one day see them with their own eyes:
- Standards Aligned: “It’s great to have a resource that already fully integrates our state and national standards, and to have them all in one place is important to all of us.”
- Ties PE and Health Together: “Integrating PE with health has always been very important to me.”
- Our building doesn’t have a health teacher, so if I wanted to pull in the health component, I had to spend time and effort searching for different resources,” Lau says.
“Having a single resource that allows me to focus on physical education and health is a game-changer, not just for me, but for my students, too. Now I have a learning environment that is consistent and engaging. And while they’re learning, moving, and having fun, they’re developing healthy habits with songs like, “Healthy Minds” and “The Four Dimensions of Health.”
- Transportability is Key: “Occasionally – when there’s a special event or a school-wide gathering, for instance — I’m asked to move to a different teaching space,” explains Lau.
“This used to be a challenge for me, but today I have a resource that I can just take with me. Quick, easy, and very, very flexible. Wherever I go, I’m ready to teach! It feels like I’m always equipped.”
- Whistles, Widgets and Other Cool Tools: “QuaverHealth•PE provides tools to physical education teachers that are practical and easy to use,” Lau explains. “I now have a digital whistle, a dice widget, and a metronome, for example. Small things that make a big difference.”
Putting Students First
Lau also appreciates the fact that while QuaverHealth•PE is certainly designed with educators in mind, student engagement is an equally high priority.
“The curriculum is designed so that students can learn, of course, but when they’re having fun learning, the learning becomes meaningful.”
Lau emphasizes that when students are engaged and having fun, retention soars.
“A while back, we were using one of the health modules that focused on healthy bedtime rituals — and we made it into a trivia show!”
Lau describes how he was the host, the students were the contestants, and together, they explored healthy nighttime routines in this Quaver game-show format.
“I’d asked each ‘contestant’ a question, and each student had their moment in the spotlight when they answered. It was interactive, fast-paced, and fun … plus, they were learning important health lessons at the same time!”
The Snowy Day
Lau remembers a snow day last winter when he had to teach remotely to his kindergartners and 1st– graders who were at home.
“I just loaded the Quaver module, customized the lesson in exactly the way I wanted it, and we were good to go!”
Even though they were physically distanced from each other, Lau says “we were using the instructional video to work on locomotor skills and engaging together in a way that required movement, music, sounds and images, and we even danced. So now, we’re scaffolding! We’re integrating these skills in a way that makes sense to the students … and we weren’t even in the same room.”
What could be better than a Snow Day filled with warmth, movement, laughter, and learning?
According to Kevin Lau, not much!
Want to get QuaverHealth•PE in your school? Go to QuaverEd.com/HealthandPE for more info!
Kristin Clark Taylor is an author and a journalist.
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