Like many moms over the past few weeks I have been tasked with incrementally breaking the news to my kids that their little world has just gotten a lot smaller. As “Sports Moms” we have been tasked with the additional challenges of not only watching the added dissapointemnt wash over our kids as we tell them that athletic endeavors they have been training for are cancelled, but also in continuing to feed their passion for sports that are bigger than themselves- when every professional team is vacant from the TV, apps, internet and sports sections.
In our house we have clung on to Nike’s “play for the world” campaign and we are doing our best to maintain our little athletes’ (9 and 10 years old) fitness in our backyard, video conferencing with their teams, keeping up with club sports home challenges, and completing virtual curriculum as it’s assigned by our coaches. But it’s not the same. Our family misses life as we knew it, but sports life especially-all its challenges, entertainment, celebrations, relationships and community.
But not all is lost. The teacher in me has seen this as an opportunity-a chance to academically engage our athletes through subjects such as the science, math, and history of sports. I think it’s safe to say that everybody is having a hard time transitioning to virtual learning and student engagement from my observations seems to be plummeting. And I’m not alone, I created and shared two academic project-based learning experiences that I designed for “scholar ballers” to participate in at home and received over 1200 downloads in one week; so I think this conversation is worth entertaining: “How might we use sports to keep our little athletes academically engaged through COVID-19?
Read the rest of this article in the San Diego Union Tribune, sports section D April 19, 2020
Links for inside article D4
“Drafting your own lesson plan”
Math
“Yummy math” lesson related to NFL draft order and salary.
Khan Academy Overview of math in the NFL
ELA
Step by Step project plans for reimagining an event cancelled due to COVID-19
Social Studies
First Female Sports Agent at the NFL draft.
Will Carli Lloyd be drafted as a kicker?
Sports Illustrated Kid Reporter
How to use Thinkglink app for learning
