As the pandemic continues, virtual learning continues to pose a barrier for teachers and students to connect. Huge efforts have been made by teachers to make class seem as normal as possible, but teaching to 30 black screens is as normal as it can get most of the time. With many teachers feeling emotionally drained, Savannah Gunning, Skyline’s beloved PE teacher, and soccer coach shares her struggles and challenges dealing with athletics and students at Skyline.

“It’s hard to feel like I’m doing enough for my students…it just feels like as a teacher you are failing all the time,” Gunning said. “I have a lot of students that are struggling in other classes and trying to separate my work and regular life schedule is becoming non-existent. I’m spending time talking to teachers, pulling assignments for students, sitting one on one in flextime for them to do their work.”

According to Gunning, students are not required to open their cameras during live workout days, since they have the option to turn in alternative pieces to show participation but 90% of the students have their cameras. Regardless of the high participation rate during live workouts, many are still struggling with turning in assignments. 

Normally during in-person learning, each week consists of a run day, two to three workout days(differentiates with each PE class), and a choice activity day on Friday. Since the lockdown, there’s been an adjusted routine. Monday consists of live workouts; Tuesdays are asynchronous, students engage in choice activities according to their “smart goal” which tracks their progress in fitness; On block days, students engage in connection activities such as TikTok challenges in breakout rooms, and finish a run asynchronously for the rest of the class. 

“We clearly have lots of kids struggling with online learning, via simply attending class,” Gunning said. “Tuning in assignments is deemed to be an issue at this point. We have about 3 times the amount of kids failing class than last year.”

On top of that, PE teachers are spending significantly more time grading than before. Gunning recalled that during in-person learning kids don’t really turn in anything, since students are given grades based on participation and run times that are finished during class. However, virtually teachers have to ask for evidence such as videos and worksheets of student’s workouts and maps for runs which have been hours more of work to be graded.

Most of our Skyline PE staff are sports coaches. Gunning is the assistant coach of Skyline’s boys/girls soccer team. Currently, practice and games have been on pause but Skyline is working on holding strength and conditioning workouts outside in the stadium for sports that offer them. Most athletes who participate in club sports have been able to get some practice as well. 

“For clubs and athletics to not be able to meet in person has impacted students’ mental health a lot more than I think some of us realize unless we are talking to those students about it,” Gunning said. 

Gunning always looked forward to seeing her athletes at the end of the day and being able to joke around and riding the bus together to games. She hopes the team gets a modified schedule in the spring so Seniors will be able to have their final Senior season.  

If the option of going back in person becomes more certain, Gunning hopes to be able to spend more time building a community/family-like feeling in her class along with mental and emotional health check-ins; she noted that the drastic increase in mental and emotional health issues won’t go away once we go back to the classroom, so it’s important to be having these conversations and checking in. 

For now, Gunning has been going on a lot more walks to stay active. She suggests students who can go outside go for a 30-minute walk to disengage from everything and de-stress. Since we are entering winter, snowboarding and skiing might be an option too.

During these tough times, we should show some appreciation and gratitude for the teachers who are struggling and working endlessly for students to enjoy a smoother virtual learning experience.