Staff Spotlight: Dave Brower
Posted on 11/07/2022
Silver Lane PE Teacher Dave Brower







Staff Spotlight: Dave Brower


Dave Brower is the physical education teacher at Silver Lane Elementary School. A meticulous planner, he crafts memorable and impactful lessons for every student in the school who see him every week.

“I’m obviously always trying to increase students’ physical capacity. I’m also trying to increase their skills, and especially now their social/emotional wellness. So that goes into every lesson, all while trying to get them to have a lot of fun,” said Brower.

While following the standards and curriculum set out for physical education, Brower says he also taps into online resources, his 13 years of experience and knowledge of his equipment to create these lessons for his students.

“The feedback is instant. ‘Can we do this again?’ ‘This is awesome.’ ‘We love it.’ So right away I know if it’s a keeper or not,” he explained.

Silver Lane Principal Joseph LaBarbera says he jokes with EHPS Supervisor of Health and Physical Education Tracy Stefano that Brower’s room could operate with just the click of a remote. That level of organization and care demonstrates how seriously he takes his role.

“Dave plays such a pivotal role in terms of teaching our kids and giving them that first exposure to an activity, a physical activity, that they may love to do, teaching kids how to maintain good physical fitness and good healthy habits, so there’s so many more things that happen in PE than just going to play in the gym,” said LaBarbera. “Dave is just a tremendous educator and works really hard to provide such a valuable service to our kids.”

Brower says none of what he does would work if he didn’t also build relationships with his students as he sees them grow from kindergarteners to fifth graders.

“I think that’s the most important thing is getting to know all of the students as individuals,” he said.

“I love the students, how much they love being in my class and how I can make this the best 45 minutes of their day. That means a lot to me.”