March 15, 2020
It felt like any normal work day... I woke up, changed into my running gear and went out for my daily jog. Then when I got home, it was time to get my daughter ready for school, shower, eat, etc. Gave my lady and youngest daughter a kiss, then commute to drop off my eldest daughter to school and head straight to work. I'm a P.E. instructor for an elementary school, so I prepped my equipment for my first PE grade class of the day.
As the day passed, I went through 1st-5th grade classes, helped out in the lunch room, went out for my lunch, supported classroom teachers with whatever they needed, and supervised the students during recess. Once the bell rang, I gathered up my soccer team and started practice... then right when soccer ended, I started overhearing the after school program getting their kids together and suddenly an announcement from the principal about a meeting with all staff. So we all met in the staff lounge to hear about the sense of urgency... within moments we had to change from everything we were so use to doing, to creating a plan for distance learning as students were going to be doing all work from home.
I was so confused and trying to figure out how I could implement physical education through an online format when it felt so weird to teach "physical" education without groups of students physically right in front of me... then as I was still trying to comprehend everything, yet I forgot my day was not done because I still had to coach basketball. I couldn't visualize myself not being around the youth training, coaching, and teaching them sports, fitness, etc. I couldn't concentrate as it felt like this was just going to be a minor adjustment and things would go back to normal soon. I just had to get a quick gym session in, so I could refocus so I had time to lift which helped relieved some stress.
My days were long, 9am - 9pm days with breaks in between to do get something to eat, go to the gym, pick up my daughter from my parents (very blessed to have their support and care) since they were the ones that picked her up from school til I got out and take her to one of many after school activities she participated in. But a week before this, I dropped off my parents to the airport as they were going to spend a few months in the Phillippines to check out their property and visit family. I have a very close relationship with my parents, so I was very worried about them being in another country right when all this was happening but they are retired and they just wanted to enjoy. Luckily til this day I'm able to video chat them and they are doing ok.
Its been 2 months now that this "Shelter In Place" was initiated, so I've been utilizing technology and trying to embrace that I'm still able to get in touch with my students. I use google classroom, whatsapp, facebook, instagram, and youtube to reach out to families, the community, and my students. I'm trying to create videos so that my students are able to see that I'm doing the program with them as they continue to see and hear it from me. I have other sources where I get fitness routines to get influences from. Please feel free to give me some suggestions on programs, challenges, and workouts to use for elementary to high school students as I also want to reach out to my sports teams I coach as well. Also please check out my content too! I'd appreciate it!
Keep active, stay fit, and get healthy! Together we can all get through this...
-Coach Mr. Quesada
