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About Coleen:
Coleen is the department chair for Health and Physical Education 7-12 at Garden Spot Middle and High School. She currently teaches the Fitness and Weight Training, Personal Fitness, 9th grade Physical Education and 11th/12th grade Lifetime Physical Activities. She has been teaching for 9 years, 6 years at the middle school level and 3 at the high school level. She has been using Polar technology for 7 years. She is a member of PSAPHERD and has presented at various local and state conferences about the use of Polar technology in her classroom and district.
About Garden Spot Middle and High School:
Garden Spot Middle and High School is part of Eastern Lancaster County School District in New Holland, Pennsylvania. In this rural area, the typical PE class size is approximately 25 students.
Students in grades 7-12 use Polar Heart Rate Monitors during cardio activities in class. Teachers enjoy using the heart rate monitors because they provide an objective assessment tool in class. It allows students to get instant feedback on their effort during an activity and helps them determine which activities suit them best to maintain their heart rate in their target training zone.
Fitness scores for students in grades 7-12 are tracked with the help of the TriFIT program. Records are kept from middle school and are transferred to the high school database so students have the ability to see their fitness progress overtime. Some teachers use the Personal Profiles to provide more individualized feedback for students. It also provides a great database for height, weight, and body composition for our school nurse.
Core Activities:
The Core Activities used to deliver the curriculum at the schools include but is not limited to running, cardio machines, various types of resistance training, cardio and weight training circuits, biking, yoga, Pilates, stability ball training, plyometrics, agilities, climbing, soccer, flag-football, tennis, track and field, basketball, volleyball, badminton, floor hockey, ultimate Frisbee, team handball, tchoukball, and pickle ball.
Using Polar:
A PEP grant provided funding for the school district to obtain their polar products and initial training approximately 6 years ago. Since the initial purchase, the physical education budget has been able to support the continued usage of these products and services.
If you don’t have the funding to get a class set, build your set over time by purchasing a few each year or look for grants to help with funding.
The Buzz:
On using heart rate monitors in class:
High school health and physical education teacher, Kathy Burke says “So much of our area is subjective; I use this as an objective way of measuring the student’s ability to use information that was taught and apply it.”
High school health and physical education teacher, Jim Kruis says “The HRM’s are a very objective assessment tool and hold the students accountable.”
Middle school health and physical education teacher, Corey Luttrell says,” For the most part they are user friendly and it is a great way for a student to assess themselves even if not in school.”
High School health and physical education teacher, Dennis Werner says,” It is a great way to back up our subjective assessments with an objective one.”
High school health and physical educator Julie Groft says, “Using heart rate monitors gives a better way for grading students.”
On how schools can effectively utilize the data from the Tri-Fit system:
Middle school health and physical educator, Corey Luttrell says, “For tracking data to assess whether or not the exercise programs they participate in are helping them reach the goals they have set for themselves.”
High school health and physical educator Coleen Parmer says, “The Tri-fit system provides a wonderful database to collect information regarding student fitness status. You can use that data to evaluate your physical education program as well as student wellness and plan for the future.”
On tracking fitness scores across grade levels:
High school health and physical educator Ruth Frankhouser says, “It should give them the baseline knowledge of how to achieve a fit health status throughout their life time.”
High school health and physical educator, JD Stern says, “By showing the student concrete information about their personal fitness, you are giving them feedback that they can reflect upon that can be applied for a lifetime.”
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