From the Classroom - Sara Thomas

Adapting the way the physical education department functions has been as adventure. “It has been a year of feeling like a brand new teacher again,” said Sara Thomas, Chair of the Physical Education department. This year, the PE department decided to narrow their focus to three main areas: encouraging more movement, limiting screen time (if possible), and engaging students in a way that they choose to participate.

Thomas is engaging her students by utilizing equipment they already have at home, mini challenges, utilizing an extensive video database, and teaching units students may not normally get in class, like dance.

In some ways, Thomas feels that being online has actually helped her dive deeper with her Upper Schoolers in her conditioning class on topics like injury prevention, physical preparation, and sports performance. Thomas has implemented the use of guided podcasts using the tool EdPuzzle to facilitate learning. The podcasts are self guided for students to listen to in their own time and the tool provides feedback and stats that allows the teacher to track engagement without using synchronous class time. She will setup the podcast to intermix with questions that require a few questions to be answered in order to continue. This helps with understanding and information retention.

In the younger grades, the team has utilized other creative ways to engage students by having them lead class warm ups. Students were paired up and asked to select a few movements they would be comfortable doing in front of the class, they then had to video themselves doing the movement, learn how to create a gif, and share those gifs with the class in a presentation to demonstrate the warm ups. “The students LOVED this assignment and it was just something a little different than the usual,” Thomas said.

Thomas and her team can’t wait until the day that they are back with students in person, but this past year has stretched the team in ways they would never have imagined. “I dare say some things are improved for me, I have found this time very valuable for my own growth as an educator,” she said.