Originally published July 28, 2020 by KOCONews5.
By Erin Beu
Now that some schools are just a few weeks out from starting, many teachers are preparing their online and virtual lessons.
But how will physical education classes look in the virtual world?
“Our first nine weeks are going to be virtual,” high school PE teacher Jason Jack said. “It’s definitely a challenge. I thrive on having that face-to-face interactions with kids.”
Instead, Jack will have to learn how to teach and keep students active virtually.
“Trying to come up with different workouts and things that they can be doing to physically exert themselves,” he said.
But Jack said there’s no rulebook to this. He’s having to videotape himself to show the students what to do.
And when it comes to grading, Jack said that can get tricky.
“Each individual kid is different. What they need is different,” he said.
Instead, it will be students videotaping themselves and sending it in.
“One hundred squads. One hundred pushups. We just have to be creative with what we’re doing,” Jack said.
He told KOCO 5 that this year’s theme will be actions to prevent illness and disease and to keep yourself healthy.
“It’s so important to what we’re doing health-wise, trying to get 20 to 30 minutes in at least two to three times a week,” Jack said.
He believes physical education is more important now more than ever to try and keep everyone healthy, even if that means doing nothing through a computer screen.
“I think we all have to adapt with the changes of the time and current climate we’re in,” Jack said.