With no end in sight for the current COVID-19 pandemic and much of life still upended for young people who cannot yet return to in-person school, glimpses of normalcy can be incredibly comforting. Case in point: This P.E. teacher has emailed all of his students a picture of his buttcrack because if this were a normal school year they would’ve seen it by now.
Awesome! This will definitely provide a much needed return to routine for students during such a hectic time.
Although North Penn High School in Lansdale, PA is doing remote learning for the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, 52-year-old P.E. teacher Mr. Werner stepped up with a heartwarming gesture to make his students feel like they were still at school by sending the student listserv a photo taken by his wife of his buttcrack sticking out of the ill-fitting brown cargo shorts that he wears year-round. In the email, Mr. Werner noted that whether his students saw it while he was tying his sneakers on the first day of school, or while he was bending over to pick up a dodgeball during week two, by this time of year, every student would normally be familiar with the top two inches of his buttcrack, and that he hoped the sight of it would remind them of their pre-pandemic life.
“I want to do everything in my power to make sure these kids are getting just as much out of remote learning as they’d get in a classroom, which is why I’m also going to send them a picture of the fat roll on my stomach that students always see during the basketball unit when my shirt rises up as I miss countless three-pointers and half-court shots,” explained Mr. Werner. “There’s no blueprint on how to move forward, but if the sight of my buttcrack can help students feel less isolated, then I’m going to step up and show it to them.”
Additionally, if remote learning continues into the winter months, Mr. Werner plans to comfort his students by sending them a video of him wiping out on the gymnasium floor during a pickleball game, which pretty much always happens that time of year when he puts on a little weight after the holidays and his sense of balance gets thrown off.
This is so incredible! Here’s hoping other teachers follow in Mr. Werner’s footsteps, because this is definitely going to help students get through the challenges of remote learning. Shout out to Mr. Werner for being there when his students need it most!
