[0:03] I want to share with you today some of the things that have gone well and some of the things that hasn’t gone so well.
[0:29] Remote teaching has been a journey for sure. I’d like to call this my trials and triumphs of teaching live from home physical education. So let’s start out with the trials. Um, actually, no. I think I’d like to start out on a positive note, as we all need to hang on to those little gems of positivity today.
Remote Physical Education Triumphs
[0:52] So let’s start with my triumphs. What I am happy to report is, I finally have them for the most part, the ones who log into WebEx and I see them live on camera. I see them doing active participation. They are there. They know the routine. Establishing the routine took a couple of weeks, but now we have it down. They know they log on on time, turned off their mics, turn on their cameras. Be ready to go with their water and their workout clothes and I have them grab any wait or resistant training piece of equipment. It could be a river rock, milk jug, a laundry detergent jug, whatever they can find. So we’ve established all of those routines and the active participation I have to say is really good now, but it took a while a little longer than I had hoped but we’re finally there.
[1:48] The other thing is, um I’m starting to see them just relax a little bit more, not be so tight, anxious, nervous, and apprehensive. They’re smiling more. They’re sharing more. They’re engaging with other students. They’re engaging with me. They’re utilizing the chatbox. They’re utilizing their mic and speaking up now. So I’m really happy to report that because again that was difficult. You know, when we’re at school, I can’t get them to be quiet when I’m talking and when I was teaching remotely, it was quite the opposite. I couldn’t get them to open up and talk and share. They were very shy and I get it. I feel the same way. When I started teaching, I said in a “Huddle” not too long ago that I’m very nervous to teach remotely, like right before I log on, I feel nervous, like I’m a first-year teacher, even though I’ve been teaching for over 25 years.
[2:43] So the other triumph that I’m happy to say is we’re working out all the kinks with technology. I’ve learned a lot. They’ve learned a lot. We’ve figured out how to upload information and materials, how to upload assignments, how to use different things on my computer in regards to physical activity like music and a Tabata workout. How to how to use canvas. Canvas is a bumpy program, but we’ve got that worked out pretty well. Now we’re up and running. I’m happy to report.
Remote Physical Education Trials
[3:15] So a couple of the trials now I mentioned a few earlier, but one of the things that I noticed that is difficult with teaching remotely through your computer is there’s just absolutely no feedback. There’s no energy. There’s no, you know, I love being a teacher on campus in my gym or outside because I’m walking around. I’m giving high fives. I’m checking for understanding. I see when they’re up, I see when they’re down. I know when they’re having a good day, a bad day when they’re not feeling well. It’s been very, very difficult to analyze that, to see that. They’re just these little boxes in their dark room sometimes. So that’s been difficult, getting them to participate and engage. Although we’re much better with that. As I stated earlier, it’s still hard to get everybody to speak and to participate. So that’s been one of the biggest trials.
[4:14] Another one is just the hours it takes to learn technology. The extra hours it takes to sit down. If I wanna create an assignment to put on canvas, it just takes a long time. I got to go to YouTube. I gotta do tutorials. I got to reach out to colleagues and then sit down at the computer so the screen time has been abundant, but I’m not the type of teacher who likes to sit around and complain and make excuses. It’s been okay. It’s been good. We got through it. One thing about teachers. We always rally were very flexible. We get the job done because the interest of the student is the number one concern and the well-being and the learning of students is the number one concern. So everything is going along as expected. I hope to be back soon and good luck to all of you. Reach out to your colleagues and take care of yourself first and just know it’s gonna be a bumpy little ride but we’re all gonna be fine at the end. Thank you. Take care.
