Joliet West Blended Learning program gets physical

This school year, Joliet Township is trying something new in the P.E department – blended learning classes. This class will only meet together twice a week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On these days, the class will be doing cardiovascular exercises and lifting exercises. However, on the days that the students and teacher do not meet, it will be the students’ responsibility to achieve goals and perform tasks assigned by their teacher on their own time, outside of school hours. The school will provide each student with their own FitBit that they will use to track their heartrate, record their sleeping patterns, count how many steps they have taken that specific day, or even throughout the whole week, and more. While students wear their FitBits and accomplish their assigned exercises, the wristband will track the entire workout, and after their assignment, the student can use an app on their smartphones and sync the wristband to their device, which will also sync to the teachers’ database. By doing this, the student will receive credit for the activities they were assigned. “I am looking forward to seeing the growth all my students will be making, and the FitBits are great for showing accurate progress. It is really cool that I can check up on their growth outside of school,” said conditioning instructor Maggie Brandenburg. So far, a collection of the students participating in the class have been giving positive feedback, saying that they think the class will be beneficial and something different and exciting for the new school year. “I like the idea of being able to learn how to work out on my own and keep in shape for after high school, but I think it might be stressful to make sure I get my assignment done along with other homework that I have,” explained junior Graysen Bormet. This class provides an opportunity to show young adults that they can burn calories and workout throughout the day, and have fun while they’re at it. Additionally, this change will help students to obtain a healthy workout pattern that could possibly stick with them for the rest of their lives.  

Joliet West students use Fitbits in their Blended Learning P.E. classes. Photo courtesy of fitbit.com

Joliet West students use Fitbits in their Blended Learning P.E. classes. Photo courtesy of fitbit.com

Andrea Paolone, News Editor
October 22, 2015

This school year, Joliet Township is trying something new in the P.E department – blended learning classes.

This class will only meet together twice a week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On these days, the class will be doing cardiovascular exercises and lifting exercises. However, on the days that the students and teacher do not meet, it will be the students’ responsibility to achieve goals and perform tasks assigned by their teacher on their own time, outside of school hours.

The school will provide each student with their own Fitbit that they will use to track their heartrate, record their sleeping patterns, count how many steps they have taken that specific day, or even throughout the whole week, and so much more.

While students wear their Fitbits and accomplish their assigned exercises, the wristband will track the entire workout, and after their assignment, the student can use an app on their smartphones and sync the wristband to their device, which will also sync to the teachers’ database. By doing this, the student will receive credit for the activities they were assigned.

“I am looking forward to seeing the growth all my students will be making, and the Fitbits are great for showing accurate progress. It is really cool that I can check up on their growth outside of school,” said conditioning instructor Maggie Brandenburg.

So far, a collection of the students participating in the class have been giving positive feedback, saying that they think the class will be beneficial and something different and exciting for the new school year.

“I like the idea of being able to learn how to work out on my own and keep in shape for after high school, but I think it might be stressful to make sure I get my assignment done along with other homework that I have,” explained junior Graysen Bormet.

This class provides an opportunity to show young adults that they can burn calories and workout throughout the day, and have fun while they’re at it. Additionally, this change will help students to obtain a healthy workout pattern that could possibly stick with them for the rest of their lives.