Today, more and more schools are offering online classes. This now includes physical education. This article explains how one school district structures their online physical education class.
In the Minneapolis Public Schools, about 10% of students elected to take physical education online. Reasons among students varies from difficulty, course overload, body image issues and medical issues. MPS offer two online courses, Fitness for Life I and Fitness for Life II. "Each course is broken into two components: written, cognitive assignments that the students submit to the teacher (40 percent of the grade), and physical activity of the students' choosing (60 percent)." Students are allowed to work on their written assignments at their own pace, on their own time, in the comfort of their choosing. Students are required to complete a total of 15 physical activity hours of their choosing. This could range from walking, to playing football on the varsity team, to dance class at the local YMCA, etc. Students will need a guardian or coach to sign off on all physical activities.
As a physical educator, I did not like the idea of online physical education at all. Our main focus as P.E teachers is to get kids moving, teach them physical skills and give them the tools to live a long, healthy life. I truly didn't understand why students couldn't complete it in school just like everyone else. I don't believe that sitting in front of computer screen is really teaching students to be life long movers. After reading this article, I do believe that all schools should offer P.E. online course for students with special circumstances. For example, the article explained how one student elected to take P.E online because she was pregnant. She didn't want to fall behind on her studies, so this class was a great way to work at her own pace and participate in physical activities that were physically safe for her. I don't think online P.E classes should be offered to everyone though.
I did think it was great that students had to complete physical activity hours. This is the first online PE course that I have heard of where the school required students to complete those hours. I think that it should be more than just 15 hours but it's a start. I also like this aspect of this class because students get to decide what physical activity that would like to do. For instance, one of my most athletic students, hated soccer with a passion. For those three weeks, she was very unmotivated, lacked enthusiasm and really brought a sad atmosphere to the class. If she was able to choose her physical activity, I do not believe this type of behavior would occur in my class. Every sport isn't for everyone but physical movement is.
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