After opening on September 29, the city’s public schools closed again on November 18 due to the 3 percent threshold in the city.
During the time period that schools were open, PS 676 had about 30 kids who were doing in person learning and the rest were only remote. PS 676 did not have a hybrid model meaning that the remote kids stayed always with the remote option.
“Our school is run in person Monday through Wednesday, and Thursday and Friday are fully remote days for all kids except for pre kindergarten,” PS 676 physical education teacher Dawud Munir said.
He has had the unique challenge of dealing with Covid restrictions while teaching kids sports and physical activity in person while also adapting the curriculum for the remote students. A teacher has never before had the responsibility of teaching at home and in person students.
The kids who come in are always in school and the remote kids don’t come into school. They did not have any kids who came in some days, meaning that the school did not operate with the hybrid model.
They can’t do the normal group sports activities in school due to Covid protocols so he has adapted instruction to help with overall fitness with the body and mind to help deal with adversity caused by the pandemic.
“A lot of the hands on stuff we used to do is tough to do,” Munir said. “Teaching a lot of the skills, and teaching a lot of the sports, has kind of gone by the way side. We are doing a lot more fitness and really a lot more social and emotional learning work.”
He has been concentrating on workbook activities, especially for the younger kids, focused on school core values such as respect and empathy that students can take with them when they interact with others. Another goal and a way physical education has changed for him is he has helped them adapt to being at home and the isolation of not really interacting with friends.
“I am giving them some coping skills,” Munir said. “Physical education has turned into a lot more of a social and emotional learning class with some fitness mixed in,” Munir added. “We still want to keep it fun for the kids.”
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has been a catch phrase in the Department of Education the last few months since it is important to help them deal with this unprecedented pandemic time period. According to Munir, this is especially true for elementary school kids whose routines have completely changed.
“Going to school as an eight, nine, 10-year-old is like all you know,” Munir said. “You get up in the morning and you go to school. To have that routine interrupted, kids have to learn skills to be able to navigate around that.”
For the kids who opted for in person, since there were so few kids in school, they were able to space out with each kid having their own piece of equipment. They were able to do basic individual skill development for those in school and be more hands on.
For the kids who were learning from home, the sequence of skills were taught through the tablet, but it was hard to correct how the student executed the activity. Mechanics were able to be corrected for those in person students but it was more of an obstacle for those at home.
He is still teaching the same units and skills but has adapted it for in person vs. at home. There is also a different approach for the older kids than for the younger kids.
The fourth and fifth graders (for at home), since they are older, have their own program and some more freedom. They have a journal and are supposed to do various activities posted on the iLearn program.
They have to do 50 minutes of physical activity a day and log it in the journal. They have more of the skills and knowledge of physical education so they get to practice more.
“They know they have to get 50 minutes in a day and do the activities I post on the screen,” Munir said. “The younger kids have to get more of the knowledge and the skill acquisition.”
For the older 4th and 5th graders, their 50 minutes can consist of going outside and playing basketball, or having catch with an older or younger sibling. Another option was staying inside and practicing form shooting by balling up a sock and shooting it into the hamper.
“As long as they are logging it and explaining what they are doing, then they are getting credit for it,” Munir said. “We are not necessarily doing a basketball, football or softball unit because it is too hard to do remotely.”
However, he is able to teach the kids basketball over iLearn and instruct them on the mechanics of shooting a jump shot and then they can have an opportunity to practice what they learned.
Munir has had to adapt many of his lessons for the younger kids. He taught throwing recently to kindergarten and instead of using a normal ball, he taught them how to throw to a target via a small soft fuzzy ball.
He teaches them the steps and watches them show the movements over the camera but feels he can only really grade them on knowing the sequence since they aren’t in person with him.
“I can’t necessarily grade them on actually doing the motion because I am not there to help as much as I would be there to help in person, so it wouldn’t be fair to grade them on the same level,” Munir said. “But I can grade them on the knowledge.”
The knowledge and skills that the kids in school are getting is the same for the kids at home, but the activities can vary.
For all of the remote students, the DOENYC uses the iLearn platform but Zoom is basically what is used to interact live with the kids. Concentration and consistency are obstacles that Munir has had with the kids but overall the platform has worked well.
“When you are dealing with elementary school kids, especially the younger they are, it’s consistency,” Munir said. “It is getting the kids online and keeping them attentive and making sure they have everything they need to do the class. An issue is making sure they have materials and making sure they are logged on is the biggest task.”
He has found that once the kid is logged onto the platform and have the materials there are usually not many issues. A parent is important to rely on when when dealing with the 1st-3rd graders.
When they are logged on, if they want to talk they will un mute their mic. If Munir is playing a video or explaining a skillset, then their mic is muted. Sometimes the technology itself can create an obstacle.
“Sometimes it creates a little bit of a distraction for the kids,” Munir said. “Sometimes they are staring at the other kids in the box or are playing with their mic, but as long as the assignment and activity is engaging, you will have their attention.”
Another obstacle that comes up is some kids do not have enough space so he can only see the top half of their body but he feels it is okay as long as he gets a general idea that they are doing the activity up to standard. Sometimes there are a few kids at home and the mic can get noisy but he accepts that as long as they are logged on.
Munir offers office hours outside of class time for parents who have questions and for kids to bring up anything they don’t understand from what was taught. In the beginning of the year, many kids checked in with him about after school programs.
“it is an opportunity for parents and kids to check in with me on a daily basis,” Munir added. “I offer office hours with a link on the page for people to engage with me as they need me.”
Munir, who has had a school year like no other, is in his fourth year teaching at PS 676. He taught at a school in Bushwick the year before coming to PS 676 and he has also been a dean at a charter school. This is his tenth year in education.
He is the only physical education teacher at the school, which goes from pre kindergarten through fifth grade. On Monday through Wednesdays, he does the in person teaching from 10:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., but he also has the remote classes in the morning and check in at end of the day.
First period, which rotates grade level, is when he always teaches the remote kids. Tuesday is his remote session for first grade, and Thursday and Friday, every kid is remote.
Remote classes are 40 minutes long and in person classes last 45-50 minutes. There is never a day where he or the other teachers were only teaching kids in person, he always touches base and teaches the remote kids as well.
When the pandemic began and school went virtual last March, every student got a device. When school began again this year, students had the opportunity to bring their tablet in, drop it off, and the have it returned with necessary updates.
According to Munir, it initially took some time for the kids to get the devices, which came from the city and there were a few other challenges relating to adjusting to virtual learning.
“Last year when it first started the transition was very difficult,” Munir said. “Once they got a device and got on, it was just so different for them. It took time for them to adjust. By the time the kids got adjusted we went to summer break.”
The school year, the transition has been smoother because the kids knew what they were coming back to, were used to getting on the device and could somewhat pickup where they left off. There have still definitely been challenges but progress has been made from last year.
The protocols are followed in class to be Covid safe. If basketball is being played in class, kids don’t pass the ball to each other to discourage sharing equipment and there is no defense so the kids don’t get too close. Each kid will dribble in their own area with their ball.
“You do not want the kids passing the ball and touching the same object over and over without it being wiped down because of the Covid precautions at our school,” Munir said.
“Every school has Covid protocols where kids have to be distanced and they have to have masks on,” Munir said. “Just because we are in school, it does not go back to the old ways. I wish it was, but we still have to be distanced and everybody has to have their own individual stuff.”
