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About Wayne:
Wayne has been at Windham High for 8 years. He's been teaching for 13 years total, and has been using Polar technology in his lessons for the last seven years. He is currently serving on the board of executives for Maine AHPERD as the webmaster and has also held other positions on the board, such as Vice President of PE and Physical Education Rep. Wayne recently visited Washington D.C. to help lobby the senate and congress in support of the Carol M. White Physical Education Grant. Among many honors and awards he's received Maine Physical Education Teacher of the Year in 2008 and was the Maine High School Boys Tennis Coach of the Year 2005. He is also a participant in the Maine Legislative Fitness Day since 2005, where he showed Governor John Baldacci and Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit how to wear an E600 Heart Rate Monitor!
About Windham High School:
The Windham Physical Education team recently received the Carol M. White physical education grant which is currently in their 1st year of funding. With this grant the physical education program has significantly increased the minutes each student participates in physical activity per week in middle school and high school. Windham has adopted the philosophy of “i225” which was developed to increase students’ time in a moderate-vigorous activity. The theme for the grant is simple “Centers for Wellness”; collaborating with Windham Middle School, The Real School (alternative high school), The Windham Recreation Department, and D.A.R.E. to Adventure programs. Wayne’s primary role for the grant was to design and implement a digital wellness lab packed with cutting edge technology from Polar. The lab consists of over 35 laptops, 85 E600 heart rate monitors, polar pestudent.com, and other accessories.
Windham High School is part of the Windham School District in Windham, Maine and is located just north of Portland. In this rural area the typical P.E. class size is 25-30 students for freshmen classes and 15-20 in elective classes. Students are in grade levels 9-12 and have been using Polar E600 heart rate monitors (HRMs), TriFIT, PE Manager Software, pestudent.com and the Pocket PC.
Core Activities:
Wayne uses Maine Local Assessments, the Lessons from the Heart Manual, and different electives to teach physical education at his school; the most popular electives are “Casting & Climbing” & "Weight Training and Fitness".
Using Polar:
The Windham Team has secured monies to implement technology into the classroom to provide a more efficient means of relaying feedback to their student through many avenues. The PEP grant, The MAHPERD Innovative Grant, and new school budget helped fund Polar at Windham High School. Windham students started using Polar products regularly in P.E. classes after doing a pilot program for a year. Every semester at Windham starts with a two-week fitness lesson. HRM orientation and usage is the bulk of the lesson. For Wayne and his team, the most important reason to use Polar is to create awareness. "With Maine having one of the highest rates in child obesity, Polar technology has been an eye opener. For example, the TriFIT software allows us to compile district and school reports on students' fitness levels. With this we can justify the need and report to our administration and community."
Through years of hard work the Windham PE program has implemented 180 E600 heart rate monitors into their program.
The Buzz:
Wayne likes how "Something new and innovative is being used. I think that's the way to reach today's student. Students love technology. When we first gave them the E600 it was like someone handed them a video game." With middle school students now being trained on heart rate monitors, they will be able to enter high school with the background needed to instill higher level learning.
For Students using Polar has become routine, “From day one they are instructed on the use of HRMs and the software. They enjoy receiving the feedback."
Administration likes, "the noticeable change in attitude in the way students perceive physical education."
Personal Highlight:
Wayne says, "Thanks to Polar, I have become a better teacher. The most important factor is the immediate feedback the students receive after a workout. It's one thing to check your pulse but to actually see your heart at work on a computer screen and analyze that-it's the reason why I became a physical educator."
Windham High School was featured in the 2005 Strategies newsletter. Read more here!
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