Using PE to Find the Highlight of the Day

(2 Minute Read)

Dependent on the world around us, the new school year has been extremely different and challenging for all involved. We all know this. PE at many schools looks very different, my program included.

My instructional setting was fully online for the first quarter and has since shifted to an A/B in-person every other day hybrid model. With that, we only see our students twice a week in person. It’s been a trying process to create a PE program that is fun and effective for all students regardless of their living situations. It’s also been a constant battle with the at school restrictions, notably, trying to build effective and comprehensive activities while students are masked and cannot dress down with the locker rooms off-limits.

With all the turmoil and dramatic changes, I knew that PE still needed to focus on social and emotional learning regardless of the academic content of the class. After some thought, a very familiar concept came to mind. While student teaching, I overheard my roommate listening to a podcast about finding the positive in each day. The host called it the “Highlight of your Day”. Upon sitting down with my good friend to listen to what the podcast had to say, I really bought into the concept. I bought in so much so that in my first year as the eighth-period training teacher at Wells High School I had our student-athletes write down their “Daily Highlight” after each workout. This was a success and we implemented the concept full-time within our entire PE program for this school year.

The basis of the “Highlight of the Day” is that students are not graded on what they write. They are encouraged to find one positive to take away from the day. It can be something specific to the class or something general. The responses are confidential between the student and me and help me connect with each of them. With the chaos we have dealt with recently, this has been a savior from a social and emotional standpoint. Student participation has been incredible with the “highlights of the day.”

During my own recent isolation with COVID-19, I found myself reading my students’ highlights of the day to brighten my own days, which were quite repetitive. I also felt a connection with the students despite not physically being there. With all of the turmoil in our students’ lives, it really helps to see what positives they can find each day. This helps me as a teacher stay connected to my students and to make sure that our students are doing okay during such a different time. Despite the current challenges, I am very impressed with our students’ resiliency and ability to adapt and find their “Highlight of the Day.”