“This Changes the Way I Teach.”
By Kristin Clark Taylor
From Pilot Program to Classroom-Ready
What a difference a year makes.
When Stacy Palmertree first used QuaverHealth•PE about a year ago, she was trying it out as a part of a pilot program.
Today, the physical education teacher at Bolin Elementary in Allen, Texas, says happily, “QuaverPE is now a permanent part of our health curriculum, and I couldn’t live without it.”
What pleases Palmertree most about QuaverHealth•PE? In a single word?
Everything.
Stacy breaks it down for us into bite-size pieces:
- The Customizability: “I really love the fact that I can create and customize my own lessons, for every single grade level,” Palmertree says. “This allows me to reach all of my students exactly where they are, and it changes the way I am able to teach.”
- The Engaging Videos: “The beautifully-produced videos help me reach my students on a very visual level” she says. “That I can bring in a high-quality video to help teach my students important concepts about health, movement, and wellness means everything. Also, when they see kids their own age on these videos, it allows them to relate to and connect to the concepts in a much more direct way.”
- The Adaptability: “My students can’t go up to the front of the classroom and click on a Smartboard, because I don’t have a classroom. My gym is my classroom,” Stacy explains. “But QuaverHealth is designed to reach all educators, wherever they are, and this includes physical education teachers like me!
“The lessons are designed to encourage and promote movement and motion, and I can adapt the lessons just beautifully so that they work in my gym! They love ‘Hot Potato,’ for example, so we’ll toss the beanbag back and forth or jump from hula hoop to hula hoop, and it works just beautifully!”
- The Sheer Fun of it All: “More than anything, QuaverHealth•PE offers teaching options that make it fun for my kids to learn. And not only are they learning, but they’re moving while they’re learning!
I love the “Turn and Talk” piece of the health lessons. I have my students turn and run and move from one end of the gym to the other! I’ll put up signs and directions, and they’ll need to run to that sign in a certain amount of time or follow a specific direction. It’s great exercise, the lessons provide great reinforcement, and the kids love every, single second.”
This much we know for sure: QuaverHealth•PE engages the entire community.
Whether you’re teaching your students in a gym, or in a traditional classroom, or maybe even looking for ways to bolster the at-home learning experience by inviting parents and family members to be involved in their children’s education, QuaverHealth•PE is the resource that brings everyone together.
The curriculum’s motto is both fitting and fitness-focused:
“Growing Stronger Bodies and Minds”
Indeed, this is far more than a mere motto.
Let’s call it a motto with movement.
Kristin Clark Taylor is an author and a journalist.
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For more information on QuaverHealth•PE, go to www.quavered.com.
