Digital Learning is Exhausting

It is now day 6 of school closures and we are ramping up trying to get ready for the future. That means lots of virtual meetings, webinars and learning new platforms. I am exhausted. I have always been grateful that I have the kind of job that requires a lot of movement, less sitting and staring at screens. On a typical day, my watch pings that I have reached my walk goal of 10,000 steps sometime in the early afternoon, just doing my regular job. As I type this after a full day of work, my watch quietly whispers, 4,905 steps. I can only imagine how the kids are feeling. They are used to walking all over the classroom, down the hall, running on the rooftop playground and then the lower playground. Now they are cooped up in their apartments all day long, day after day after day.

 

I remember a friend who was instrumental in putting a new playground in the neighborhood told me the story of its unveiling. They had added swings, slides and other super cool playground equipment to excite the kids. On the day it opened and the kids were invited in, they came in and ran, and ran and ran. She said they ran in giant circles around the whole playground, ignoring the cool structures and just moved their body freely in the wide-open space for quite some time. I wonder if that is what the kids will do again, one day when they are allowed to leave their apartments.

Last night was the worse night of sleep. First, I definitely need to stop reading the newspaper before I go to bed. The fears come out in my dreams or rather nightmares. But my back can’t take this lack of movement. It aches to sleep, it aches to turn over, it just aches till I get up and take some ibuprofen.

 

Back when I was training for a triathlon, I would go to the pool at 6 AM in the morning to squeeze in a swim workout before school started. I met a woman there, an older woman named Maggie who was there every morning. She always swam in the slow lane, wearing a vest that helped her float and she kicked her way across the pool, back and forth, back and forth for a good hour. As my training ratcheted up, I sometimes swam in the evenings too, after work. On that first evening swim, I saw Maggie. I was confused as she did not seem like the triathlon type. She must love swimming I though and so I asked. She told me that evening, that she had a debilitating disease that caused her not to be able to move much and lots of pain. The only thing that kept it at bay was swimming. And so she reluctantly went, twice a day, every day. She did not love swimming, in fact, she said “think of all the hours I could be doing something else, something I love. She did it because she had no other options. I think of Maggie now, gyms are closed, public parks with pools are closed and hope Maggie is doing okay. Kids, adults, old people, students, teachers, we all need to keep moving.

5 thoughts on “Digital Learning is Exhausting

  1. So many thoughts in here that I can relate too. I am already in bed at 6:25. I had a horrible night’s sleep dreaming that I would miss the google chat schedule with my class at 10. I did do yoga in the middle of the day and then worked out again at 5. I need to keep my body moving too.

  2. I’ve been struggling to sleep soundly at night too. My mind is racing in 10,000 different directions and if I do sleep then I have unsettling dreams. I’ve been working out thanks to my gym going live for all of its classes which is a blessing. But it’s not the same. But I’m taking it one day at a time.

  3. These are very important thoughts for teachers, and for students of all ages – as I have been teaching in adult ed for several years, I am still impressed with how important movement is for my students to keep their minds fresh and engaging with the course material, as if they do not have that kinetic expression their minds seem to freeze up and they can look for any distraction, especially as they find it on their phones. But the sense of common space being celebrated, as it is in that story about the kids claiming playful space in the new playground, is what is happening when any students come together for learning with teachers in classrooms – and it is well for us teachers to remember that; our students come to us and they are seeking change! – but the sense of play and discovery in a shared apace is what is lost in times like these, yet the effort to recreate and celebrate its spirit online is a very good one. As of now schools are closed here in Quebec till May 1 – hard to believe – and no talk yet of moving classes online, but very glad to see how other teachers are coping with this new phase of virtual learning. I keep foremost in my mind that it’s the ideas that students of all levels are seeking to understand and practice the mastery of; that is why they come to school – and it is hard to distil all that classroom activity down to presenting these in an available and compelling way to them. But I find colleagues online – most of whom I have not met in real time – who are doing it, and for now I take inspiration from them – so good luck to us all as we adjust to these changes! (And I try to avoid the news, only taking in very limited doses – this too shall pass – soon, I hope!)

    1. Steve, Thank you for all your thoughtful comments. It really does mean a lot to me. I am thinking of you in Canada and hopeing you are staying safe and sane!

  4. This is such a thoughtful post about the current reality. Your memories of the playground story and Maggie added so much. I, too, am finding this digital teaching stuff combined with a lack of movement challenging. I’m so thankful that I have a treadmill and open space outside so that I can move when I have the time. Still, it’s hard to sit for such lengths of time and try to deal with the new, the unfamiliar, the intimidating.

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