Stephanie Mouse, Physical Education teacher at Eisenhower Middle School, is in her 31st year of teaching. She says she has never worked harder than now, everything evolves and that includes middle school P.E. classes. Goddard Public Schools takes pride in tradition while also keeping up with the latest technology.
Interactive Heart Rate monitors have changed the way students engage in Physical Education (P.E.) classes. Gabby Beck, an eighth grader at EMS, says she has noticed how the girls work harder during class. They are eager to scan in at the end of the period and see how they did, even competing to get the highest heart rate percentage. She appreciates the pride that Ms. Mouse takes in the girls when they are in the “red,” meaning when they get their heart rate not only up but keeping it up as well.
Goddard Public Schools is intentional to educate the whole student. Heart Rate Monitors allow for the students to see how their movement directly effects their heart rate, giving Ms. Mouse an opportunity to teach about the connection of exercise to health and fitness. Students have changed from standing still as they wait for the next instruction or play to running in place to keep the level up. As she is learning how this system works she is seeing how the students that are in top condition must work even harder to keep their heart rate up. As well as seeing there is an opportunity to identify a heart condition in a student that consistently is in the red without having been active at all.
Ms. Mouse said one of the most exciting things to watch has been the impact the monitors have had on the students with disabilities. At almost any level, a student can understand colors and then are able to associate it with their movement. The students are excited to show her as soon as their rate changes from blue to yellow to red. They have been more motivated to work harder in class to stay active and moving.
Because the system is expensive she has been working to enhance her class with these monitors for two years. She not only needed the wristbands but all that goes with them. This included, a new computer, a docking station, cleaning equipment and training. Ms. Mouse was grateful for the grant from the Goddard Education Foundation because it was the tipping point into moving forward.
The learning curve has been huge. Not only all the new technology she is implementing, but learning how to wear them and finding the “sweet spot” on the wrist where it will read correctly and changing her curriculum as she sees what activities keep the girls moving and what has too much waiting/standing time. Stephanie claims that although she is nearing the end of her career, it isn’t a time to sit back and coast, rather she says this new challenge has been refreshing. She is looking forward to starting fresh next year with a better grasp of the product to use for class and her Cross-Country team as well.
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