My Superpower Is That I Teach PE

In this uncertain time in education, our students need us more than ever! It’s time to lace up the shoes, buckle down, and bring your superpowers to the frontlines of your students at home. We PE teachers are masters of walking into a storeroom and using whatever equipment is there to create amazing opportunities for students to move, collaborate, and be physically literate. And with some ingenuity, we can create the same amazing opportunities for them at home.

Tips and Reminders for PE Teachers:

• Your students need to see you working to create opportunities to learn outside of school like you do in your gym. Check out School Specialty’s on-demand webinars or the Twitter hashtag #HPEatHome for ideas and inspiration.
• Your students absolutely need to hear from you somehow, if at all possible. They are scared, disappointed, and anxious. Do NOT forget the power of a teacher and how much your students hang on every word you say. Teachers across the country are using various methods and communication can look very different for each of us. Some examples include email blasts, building a website, creating a Google classroom, building an app for students to follow, using Facebook videos, Twitter, or Instagram, or even sending handwritten letters via mail.
• If you are able to communicate to your students at any point, encourage them and hold them accountable to move and be active inside or outside as they will listen and follow suit. Here’s an example of an accountability log sheet that can be added to or modified for your specific needs.
• Continue your path of standards-based outcomes with formative assessments if you are able.   This can be done through journaling, video analysis, self-assessments, etc.
• Smile, breathe, and somehow get the message to your students that you miss them and all will be okay! This is new for everyone and they need to know you care!  

Organizing all of your ideas and getting a game plan is not always easy, but once you do, the outcomes at home for our students are life-changing (as I witnessed first-hand last night with my 16-year-old daughter doing her workout that her PE Teacher assigned through video).  Remember…you do have superpowers and it is time to show them to your students!