Health Teacher wins "Amazing Person" Award
Eastchester Middle School Health Teacher Meghan Vlad garnered statewide recognition last month for her classroom innovations.
Vlad received the “Amazing Person Award” from the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (NYSAHPERD) during its annual conference in Verona, NY.
“I found out I would be getting the award at the end of last year, and it was a shock; I had no idea that I had been nominated,” said Vlad. “But I looked into it more and found out that I had been nominated specifically for use of technology in the health classroom.”
In addition to several other technology-based classroom projects she has implemented throughout the years, Vlad said that her use of classroom podcasting has been a particularly useful educational tool and something that likely caught the eye of NYSAHPERD officials.
For Vlad’s students, the podcasting exercise is the culmination of an independent study project about mental health. Students research specific topics, fact-check their information in small groups and record a podcast that is then presented to the class as part of a peer-learning/peer-teaching initiative.
“For example, if I did my podcast on anxiety, I’m then going to listen to my classmates’ podcasts on other mental health disorders,” said Vlad. “That way, we can ensure that we’re hitting all the functional knowledge that we need.”
Vlad explained that the unique challenges presented by COVID-19 ultimately helped to spark her podcasting projects as well as many other classroom innovations that have introduced new technological components.
“We have done a lot of work with the students in creating virtual spaces over the past few years,” said Vlad. “And podcasting is now one of the things I’ve been asked to speak about at conferences, discussing how to bring it into classrooms with minimal resources and equipment.”
In addition to being an effective tool for delivering information, she added, projects such as this one can help students build familiarity with technology that may serve them well long after they’ve left Eastchester Middle School.
“They enjoy it, they get excited for it and it’s important to make sure that we’re doing things that are exciting and engaging for our students,” she said. “But I also want to give them applicable skills that they can transfer into the real world. These may be the type of skills that can set them apart.”
And while Vlad is already thinking about how to grow the podcasting project to better serve her classes, she said that she is looking forward to NYSAHPERD events in order to learn more about other unique classroom ideas that can be applied in Eastchester.
“I’m just really grateful that I’m supported by my administration to go to these professional development series where I can learn new things and share them with other teachers in the area,” she said. "I want to continue to grow as a professional so that I can continue creating opportunities for our students.”