Electovers: An Educational Problem

This will be my 12^th school year working a job as an online Physical Education teacher.  Over the last few months, the teachers have been told that we would be provided resources and curriculum to help supplement our courses for the upcoming year.   Specifically, the name of the company that would help design courses is called, Zia.  The teachers at my school have been working this Summer to help get things ready.  A great many preparations are being made.  After all, we were making a giant shift because we are going to a Competency Based Educational model and there was much to prepare for as the start of school is just over a week away. 

In daily meetings, the teacher’s continued to hear from administration how exciting that Zia was, and how it would be an asset to our classrooms and our students.  Yesterday we had a meeting to reveal this long waited gem.  It reminded me of a car show and the unveiling of the new 2016 Ford Mustang which was hiding under a sheet.  It felt like Christmas morning, and you could feel the anticipation.   Everyone in the room was excited. 

So there I was sitting in a room full of 100 or so other educators, while the fiery red-head projected what her company (Zia) had been working so hard on onto two giant white screens.   She went over several courses:  6^th grade Science, High School Math, Elementary Language Arts, Middle School Social Studies, and a couple others. Everything looked great and you could just tell that the teachers in the room were excited to see more.  Questions continued to come in from the crowd about when we could gain access to this seemingly wonderful tool, and how we could implement this in our virtual classrooms.

Truth be told, Zia looks great.  It is fun and interactive.  Engaging and eye pleasing.  I haven’t had a chance yet to play around with it, but you can tell that it took a team of people to pull it off, and that it really should make a difference in the educational process of students and teachers.  Zia seems to be the future of content.  A new way to look at old ideas.  A support curriculum that is full of engaging activities and excitement.  Fun, interactive webpages that students can participate in…all while learning.  After all learning should be fun, right?

As the other teachers were soaking in how exciting everything was, I continued to scan her long list of courses that her team was preparing for.  I looked again.  I was thinking, “There must be some mistake!”  I didn’t see Physical Education on that long list of courses.  I also didn’t see Health, or the other three courses that I was to start teaching in less than two weeks.  I got up from my seat and walked out into the lobby where I ran into the music teacher.  I could tell that she was thinking the same thing that I was.  We felt slighted.  Overlooked.  Undervalued. 

The music teacher stopped the red headed lady and asked her if we were going to be included in this wonderment that is Zia.  Only to get the disappointing news that Zia doesn’t work on electives.  This reminded me as to why one of the previous Spanish teacher’s referred to our classes as “Electovers”.  Foreign language, PE, Health, Business, Music, Art, and a few others definitely were living on the island of misfit toys.  We were the Buzz Lightyear and Woody figures that Andy didn’t want to play with.  We were on the outside looking in.  We were the odd balls.  We didn’t fit in. 

After the red headed lady was done with her presentation, we had lunch and had to sit through an afternoon session watching paint dry.  Seriously though, it was about authentic assessment and how assessment should be purposeful.   Blah, blah, blah.  We have all heard this before.  Tell me something useful and meaningful.  Only a day earlier, a 31 year old from google blew it out of the water with a dozen useful things google can do to help students.  This made this lady’s presentation even more dull.  As I sat through this drudgery, all I could do was think about Zia and how it would have been nice to know that we were not going to be included.  How could the administration not tell the music teacher or myself that we had to work extra hard to get our courses ready.  That the safety net that we were promised did not apply to our “Electover” courses. 

I couldn’t sleep last night.  I kept thinking about a video that I watched about how Physical Education can truly help change Education.  Check it out:

  There have been scientific studies about how daily PE can help improve high stakes test scores.  About how PE can help with student achievement.  About how PE can help with motivation, and alertness, and participation, and engagement, and mood and depression, and health and wellness, and behavioral issues, and excitement, and retention, and grades, and much, much more.   I am certain that the disciplines of music and art have had similar research done, and students reap many of the same benefits. 

So why are we left out?  Why does PE consistently get pushed to the backburner of the educational stove?  In reality, it should be every school’s front line of defense in the war against student under-achievement, poor grades, and lagging test scores.  Administrators need to wake up!  Want higher test scores?  Physical Education.  Want students to have longer attention spans during class?  Physical Education.  Want students engaged and alert?  Physical Education.  Want students to be actively engaged and excited about learning?  Physical Education.  Want your schools statistics to move in an upward and positive trend?  Physical Education. 

I can only hope that educators and parents will begin to see how important the arts are to all schools, everywhere.  PE should be the backbone of the school day.  It should be required in all schools across the country daily.   It truly could be an integral part of transforming our educational system. In a world full of educators with advanced degrees and superb credentials, they are all missing the boat.  So is the red-headed lady and her company, Zia.  In an uncertain world, there is little that I am certain of these days.  But I am beyond positive that daily exercise and physical activity can help make students more productive, and it can help to make learning more meaningful for all stakeholders. 

In the meantime, it is the end of July and I only have a week to prepare five courses for the upcoming school year.  I’d better get to work.