» Distance Learning For Physical Education

Distance Learning For Physical Education
Distance Learning For Physical Education

June 7, 2020

This post is part of a series called The #PhysEd Lab. The series focuses on ideas that I am currently exploring in my teaching. The ideas are past the “half-baked” phase and I feel comfortable sharing them, but I know that there is still more to learn. That’s why I will be coming back every now and then to update this post with my latest findings, as well as any wins, fails, struggles, and successes that I may have experienced along the way. Sound good? Let’s get into it!

First of all, I hope you’re ok. Well, as ok as someone can be when their world has been turned upside down. Do me a favour and don’t ignore the underlying feelings that are bubbling inside you at this time. Maybe it’s worry, maybe it’s anxiety. Maybe you have been stocking a bunker with toilet paper for years now and all you are feeling is pride and excitement. I don’t know, to each their own. You’re allowed to feel those emotions: you’re a human being, it’s part of the experience. Meet them, acknowledge them, invite them to tea and then carry on with your day knowing that you don’t have to pretend that any of this is normal. Just because it isn’t normal doesn’t mean that we can’t find a way to thrive in it all.

Also, because I don’t know that you’ve heard this recently, you are good enough. There’s a lot out there right now and a lot of people are hustling. That doesn’t put them ahead and you behind. Everyone meets a moment in their own way, so all you have to do is meet this one in yours. Personally, I use work as a self-soothing system (ask my therapist). I’m not making content to make you feel bad, I’m making it to make me feel good. If any of these resources make you feel stressed out, I will not be offended if you mute me for a while. You do you.

Ok, onwards.

Last Thursday, I found out that my school was going to be closing for two weeks in a provincial effort to flatten the COVID-19 curve. My wife and I had also just returned from our first family March Break vacation to the US with our son (South Carolina, you’re a beaut!) only to find out that we would now have to keep ourselves in voluntary quarantine for 14 days. Our son’s daycare has closed (shout out to all of the daycare educators out there, we love you) and we’re both attempting to teach at home while being good parents and good spouses.

This is not how I thought 2020 would be kicking off, but hey: I won’t be forgetting it any time soon! I can’t remember a single thing that happened in 1994. What a bore!

I’ve been working on a few different resources for my this distance learning reality that we now find ourselves in. My focus/philosophy (for now, this is a #PhysEd Lab post), is as follows:

  1. The work should help students find a new normal and not just ignore that their world has changed.
  2. The work should minimize burden on parents as they work to rebuild family routines.
  3. The work will have limitations as I have limitations. I cannot meet everyone’s needs but will get better at meeting more needs as I grow more comfortable creating distance learning resources.
  4. Since we don’t know how long this new situation will actually last, the pace of the work needs to be slow and steady.