Model Teachers: Health & PE
Meet this model teacher team and learn how college, career and citizen-ready skills come alive in their classrooms!
Brianna Filingeri
Content: Health and Physical Education
School: Knollwood Meadows Elementary
Years Taught: 16
Why are you passionate about supporting fellow teachers?
I am a teacher, inherently, which means that my desire and abilities to teach are not just bound by my specific classroom or age group of students. I also find it gratifying to enhance and encourage my peers to be the best versions of who they are, just as I appreciate those who have done the same for me in my career.
What do you love most about teaching?
I absolutely love having the honor and privilege of influencing young people in more ways than just my content area. If I can encourage a student to grow positively as a person (and not just an athlete) I've done my job well. Life is about so much more than the academics in our head or the skills we show with our hands; it's about hearts and the why behind what we do and who we are, and I believe teaching serves as the greatest career to foster every area of that!
Lori Kandel
Content: Health and Physical Education
School: Dutrow Elementary
Years Taught: 38
What is the best way to describe your classroom on a typical day?
My classroom is a workshop where children are active and moving. They have a voice in how they want to move their bodies by using different levels of play.
What word best describes you as a teacher and why?
I look at myself not as a teacher, but rather as a facilitator inside my classroom. The children are allowed to explore movement and take ownership of how they would like to do that during the activities.
Lauren Schmidt
Content: Health and Physical Education
School: Palmer Elementary
Years Taught: 5
Why are you passionate about supporting fellow teachers?I know how it can be as a new teacher with little support or guidance, so I like to help people avoid the hardship of figuring things out "the hard way".
What do you love most about teaching?
Seeing the kids smiling, laughing, and enjoying a lesson.
What word best describes you as a teacher and why?
Creative. I love thinking outside the box and putting my own spin on lessons that I see online to make them better fit my population. I also do pretty well at "going with the flow' and adjusting on the fly, as needed.
Meet Our Model Teachers
Elementary School
Middle School