Intellectual Atrophy

One of the strongest and most powerful variants of Covid-19 -- the virus that made the world stand still -- has had a profound affect on our children.  I call it "intellectual atrophy". 

Before you disregard my use of a mixed metaphor, something that I did frequently during my broadcast career for humorous effect, hear me out. 

In most cases, atrophy is used to describe the effect of inactivity on an organ or tissue like muscle.  One definition describes atrophy as, "gradually decline in effectiveness or vigor due to underuse or neglect."  

In my first year of high school football, I broke a bone in my foot in the fifth game of the season.  The doctor put it in a cast for four weeks to heal.  I held out hope that I would get the cast off and play in the last game of the year.  I really hated watching from the sideline but when I took a look at my foot after the doctor removed the cast -- it was a wrap.  

As a teacher, I had that same kind of reaction after a half semester working with my students.  A year and a half of showing up as a blank screen on zoom, many of them returned to the school building this past year suffering the side effects.

During the fall semester of 2021, I was guiding a student to an answer that was right in front of him on the computer screen.  At one point, I had to catch myself from saying in frustration, "What is wrong with you?"  Thankfully cooler heads prevailed.  More importantly I didn't have to ask the question when I already know the answer.

When muscles have experienced atrophy and you put them to work the outcome is inevitable. Any muscle that is put under stress after a prolonged period of inactivity will exhaust quickly.  I saw this coaching high school football as well.  When players are forced to do wind sprints for the first time in training camp most look like they are going to die. One thing coaches know is that the majority of players will never push themselves in the offseason  enough to be ready for the real thing.

The day I got my cast off, I could barely make it out of the doctor's office.  I certainly couldn't put my full weight on that sliver of a foot.  In an instant, I had totally given up on playing football instead I was just focused on walking across the parking lot.

A few months ago, I noticed that even my best students were hitting a wall near the end of the first quarter.  Now mind you, I wasn't teaching rocket science and I understand that my students have to reserve their energy for doing some heavy lifting like chemistry and math 3.  However, I was finding that even some of my brightest students were struggling with what I considered simple tasks.

After one student grew frustrated while trying to debug some html code she said, "Can't you just tell me what's wrong with my code?"  I made a conscious decision then, as always to not just simply tell students the answer.  

What I did was tailor my instruction to help those who were ready to run, those who are ready to walk as well as those who are barely limping along.  This was a switch for me because I am hyper competitive.  I very rarely take my foot off the gas pedal but this past year, I was forced to do just that.

During that semester, I started giving my students 10 minute breaks at the beginning and end of class.  In my longer third block, I also wrapped 10 minute breaks around lunch.  

Before covid, I asked my students to commit to learning one thing a day.  Post covid, I sometimes asked them to learn one thing over a three day period.  It wasn't the same lesson three days in a row, but the same lesson taught three different ways.

Near then end of the semester, my classes stunned me during a game we call vocabulary baseball.  Each student comes up to bat and has to give the word that matches a definition in order to get on base. I didn't expect much because I thought they weren't approaching this unit with any enthusiasm but when the game started each class knocked it out of the park.  

That game didn't alleviate all my fears for these students but it was a glimmer of hope.  

That glimmer will have to suffice because at the end of the semester, I made the tough decision to shut it down as a teacher.  Well, at least shut it down in the physical since.  Even though my personal battles with covid, sapped me of a lot of the energy necessary to handle the rigors of teaching and coaching day to day, I still plan to contribute in other ways (stay tuned).

To my former colleagues who keep fighting the good fight,  I salute you for continuing to positively affect the lives of the next generation. God Bless.

Coach Mike Craft