COVID-19 forces PE to take their classes online

Oak+Ridge+High+School+Physical+Education+Class+running+their+weekly+mile+for+physical+education.+Photo+Courtesy+of+Flickr.com+%28Public+Domain+Photo%29

James Westcott

Oak Ridge High School Physical Education Class running their weekly mile for physical education. Photo Courtesy of Flickr.com (Public Domain Photo)

Gary Garcia, Sports Reporter

Due to the coronavirus outbreak schools all over the United States have been shut down to prevent students and teachers from getting the coronavirus. Classes have now been moved from the classroom to online. Classes will be held online via video calls or from virtual assignments teachers can send to the students via Google Classroom, Remind, or other sources of virtual learning.

However, there are questions that arise when it comes to how PE classes will be held online. According to Kathy Ceceri, “Online PE usually consists of a computer-based portion and an activity portion. The computer portion can involve learning about physiology, completing writing assignments on different parts of the body and various exercises, and taking tests.”

Physical Education teachers have never taken their PE classes to online until now. So online PE classes are new to both teachers and students. Some teachers may require students to monitor themselves by downloading an app to see their progress of what they’ve done by monitoring their steps taken and heart rate from an app or a video that shows what they’re doing. Mr. Polite, who is an athletic PE teacher at Don Lugo states, “The kids that have the devices to track them working out works great. The problem is not everyone has them. I have a hard enough time getting them to wear a regular watch to practice.”

An important feature of an online PE class is the importance of understanding what the purpose is. According to Seen Magazine, “online academic lessons, quizzes, and assignments teach students fitness principles and help them apply the lessons to their own lives.”

Most people disagree with the online PE policies and some have even disliked it so much that they just don’t do the work, however if online learning is the future as of the rest of the school year, most students would have to understand the importance of staying in shape and understand the ways it takes for your body to be healthy. The value of a healthy lifestyle students were taught during the school year is now hard to come by since it is not apart of their daily class routine.

Teachers of physical education teach what it takes and how to maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle. So PE isn’t just about staying in shape with different activities and exercises, however it is known by PE teachers the importance of PE is to give knowledge of the ways it takes to staying in shape rather than increase unhealthy weight.