So yesterday was not a typical ‘principal day.’  Our wonderful physical education teacher was ill and my teachers are already overburdened and overworked this early in the school year that I could not cancel P.E. classes as I would have normally last year.  So, in the spirit of collegiality and the desire to wear track clothes to school, I taught all 5 of the scheduled P.E. classes.  What a treat!  Kind of…

First, it has been a while since I taught 5 classes through the day in addition to doing the principal-ish things I have to do during the day.  When I was a principal in NY, I taught 1 class a day which was a Middle School Spanish class and that was sometimes tough with the unscheduled events that fill a principal’s day.  But this P.E. time was refreshing in that I had a wonderful time with the students.

We began each class with a jog from the school, around the block, and to the recreation center we use for P.E. and recess activities.  A few calisthenics and each class was ready to play.  Younger students were treated to a series of relay races (get tired! get tired! get tired!) and the older students absolutely LOVED kickball.  Yes, a good old fashioned game of kickball.

We jogged back after class and went back into the school for the rest of the day.  It was a success…and I was able to get some administrative work done, including lunch supervision, through the day.  I was exhausted at the end of the day, but feeling as if I got two major things accomplished:  allowing my teachers to have a planning period, and getting a workout in during the day so I did not have to go to the gym after work!