(LTR) Sandy Moore, PE Teacher, and Sal Edwards, Heart Zones CEO
What's Good for the Kids?
Over the 33 years Sandy Moore taught Physical Education, whenever she asked for programs, equipment, funds for conferences, and more, her administration always said “if it’s good for kids, let’s do it.”
Looking back over her years of teaching, she noticed that some things were great for the kids, some were just ok, and some were horrible – like mixing 6th – 8th grade co-ed classes into a small gym with 117 students…. Yep, not a smart decision.
“My journey with heart rate monitors started when I met Beth Kirkpatrick at a conference in Kansas City, MO around 2005. It was Beth who turned me on to the benefit of using heart rate monitors in physical education.”
“From the start of my teaching career and especially within the last decade, I have seen so much change. I have been so impressed with the teachers this past year with Covid-19 as their teaching world has been turned upside down from their normal routine. Kudos to all those who pulled through!"
Student with Blink 3.0 monitor
Teaching physical education is no longer the same as it used to be....
"One key revolution that has been taking physical education by storm is heart rate monitors.”
Why heart rate monitors, you ask? Sandy says, "Well, why not? that's the question!"
In 2009, Sandy received her first set of heart rate monitors for her PE classes at Frontier Middle School after securing a Physical Education Program (PEP) Grant. At the time, this technology was groundbreaking and she, along with all her fellow teachers, was very excited to try it out.
“As the PEP Grant coordinator for the Wentzville Missouri School District, I was blessed to be able to attend several conventions across the nation which allowed me to gain and expand my knowledge base alongside great educators.”
Heart Zones' Big Board
In the fall of 2015...
Sandy had a new 6th grader (let’s call her Kayley) that couldn’t run twenty seconds without crying and holding her chest. Sandy didn’t know why Kayley was doing this, but instead of thinking one of her students was trying to play her, she saw a red flag.
Kayley looked to be in great shape until she started running. Sandy talked with Kayley’s dad who works as a personal trainer who said she just needed to be pushed harder and that Sandy was to NOT “go easy on her.”
Thankfully, Sandy was a veteran teacher and educated on heart rate monitors. She enlisted the help of the school nurses who came to her class and checked her student’s pulse. 205 in less than a minute of an easy jog.
Then and there they all decided they HAD to have some way of measuring student’s heart rates. What an amazing tool to have for their students! Later Sandy told Beth about Kayley and she gave her a single Heart Zones monitor to take back. Kayley was able to wear it every day in class while Sandy gathered her individualized data with her phone on the Heart Zones app.
Sandy now had hard data of Kayley’s heart rate during activities that she could share with Kayley’s parents, school nurse, administration, and her future heart surgeon...
Needless to say, her parents are forever grateful for Heart Zones.
After Sandy and the Wentzville School District… began to implement the Heart Zones solution, teaching heart rate became so easy and individualized for each kid. Effort and participation grades were no longer a visually based grade, but rather one rooted in each student’s health.
For Sandy, it was shocking to watch the difference in all her students’ effort levels and motivation. The differentiated instruction you could give based on data was phenomenal. It was beneficial to have hard data given to parents that questioned their child’s PE grade. Fitness testing at Frontier Middle School took on a new vibe when running the mile or the pacer.
“We felt we had landed in a futuristic world of PE. Our administrators loved the class data for engagement that could be uploaded into the teacher evaluation system.”
Beth and Sandy stayed in contact and after Sandy retired 33 years later, Beth asked if she would be interested in working for Sally Edwards and Heart Zones. She then became the first teacher to teach with Heart Zones and sell.
Sandy Moore & Beth KirkpatrickSandy currently teaches at Lindenwood University and supervises their student PE teachers when she is not traveling the country with Heart Zones as their brand ambassador.
“I’m thankful to be able to spend my retirement years sharing with other Physical Educators the power of adding educational tech to PE and working alongside them to advocate and promote the health and well being of all students.”
To hear about Heart Zones from Sandy herself, reach out to her directly at sandy.moore@heartzones.com!