Active children become active adults.

REAL teachers use time-saving methods for forming teams and groups.

They consider the fact that students do not come to physical education class to have their inadequacies pointed out publicly, but rather to learn skills and concepts and develop a desire to be more active!

For practical ideas go to: PE Central
or check out the group splitting techniques on Inspire! Ice Breakers & Openers

REAL teachers DON’T use time-wasting methods that point out students’ lack of skill or popularity when they form teams or groups.

BIG “NO-NO”:

Using captains
to pick teams.

Imagine if a classroom teacher would waste 10 minutes of class time to get his students into their reading groups by having “captains” pick their groups. The children with the lowest reading ability would be picked last, which would not be motivating. This is just as ridiculous in physical education, since the general purpose is the same: students are there to learn! Publicly pointing out their inadequacies IS NOT the teacher’s role. Teaching them how to improve, and motivating them to try as hard as they can, IS!

REAL teachers use a positive discipline approach where they plan lessons for student success.

When students are about 80% successful with a task they are not as likely to get bored or frustrated. This helps create a learning environment where discipline issues do not surface as frequently.

REAL teachers develop clear rules for their classes, and often have their students help create them.

The rules are stated positively and there aren’t too many. Just as in any other subject area, there are appropriate consequences to go with the rules.

REAL teachers are caring, but demanding.

They make it clear to the students that a teacher’s job is to help them learn things that will help them later in life. Although physical education should be enjoyable, it is about learning skills and concepts that will help students become active for life. It is not the old “gym” class where fun, and nothing else is the agenda.

REAL teachers DON’T use exercise as punishment because it portrays exercise as a negative thing.

Exercise used as punishment is also considered corporal punishment, which is illegal in most states. Most importantly it is a practice that is considered by health and physical education associations to be counter-productive to helping children become active for the rest of their lives.

Imagine a math teacher telling her student who misbehaved: “That’s it, I’ve had enough of your disturbing other students, sit down and solve 20 problems!” REAL math teachers today understand that this would be portraying math as something negative, which is what they are trying so hard to change. Likewise, it makes no sense to use exercise, which we want students to do and enjoy, as punishment.

REAL teachers focus on practice and learning because they understand how the first leads to the second.

REAL teachers use creative ways to get around a lack of equipment. For example, they use stations where different tasks, using different equipment is needed.

REAL teachers understand that the children who need the most practice are usually "out" first in elimination type games.

REAL teachers modify games and activities in order to ensure that all students are involved in the learning activities at all times.

For practical ideas go to:
www.pecentral.com

REAL teachers DON’T use elimination games or have students wait in lines because they know that only by practicing can students learn and improve.

How much you practice affects how much you learn! Elimination games and waiting in lines reduce the time that children are active and able to practice skills.

Imagine a math teacher using one math book and one pencil for a class of 30 students, having them wait in lines and take turns solving problems. Sounds ridiculous? Well it is equally ridiculous and inappropriate for a physical education teacher to have students wait in line for their turn to practice a skill. REAL teachers who do not have enough equipment for each child use creative ways, such as station teaching, to get around the issue.

REAL teachers consider factors such as students' interests and needs when selecting activities for their physical education curriculum.

REAL teachers focus on activities that students are likely to carry over into adulthood. These activities include a variety of individual and dual sports and activities such as swimming, tennis, golf, dance, running, in-line skating, racket ball, skiing, rock climbing, yoga, self-defense, rowing, biking, step aerobics, and more. It also includes many team sports that are taught with an emphasis on how to modify the game so it can be played with only a few (2-4) participants. This makes students more likely to play these sports after high school, when it gets more difficult to get 10-12 people together on a regular basis.

REAL teachers keep learning new activities on their own so they are able to keep “up-to-date” and provide their students with a current curriculum which reflects societal trends and students’ interest.

REAL teachers DON’T limit their curriculum to a few traditional sports because they know that this limits the students’ likelihood to become active for the rest of their lives.

Imagine if history teachers would teach only about the historical events that are of personal interest to them. Just as there are standards for other subject areas, there are state and national standards for physical education. Students are supposed to learn skills and concepts in a wide variety of activities and sports to increase the likelihood of them being physically active for the rest of their lives.

REAL teachers assess and grade students on what they learn in class. Their assessment addresses all domains of learning (cognitive, affective, psychomotor and health-related fitness), and focuses on setting and achieving personal goals when appropriate.

REAL teachers stay current on the different methods to assess learning and use a variety of assessment tools (peer assessment, checklists, portfolios, journals etc.) to make sure they track student progress as well as the effectiveness of their own teaching. Assessment is not just used for grading purposes.

REAL teachers communicate clearly to their students how grades are earned.

REAL teachers provide students with clear guidelines for how they will be graded at the beginning of each year.

REAL teachers DON’T grade students on their fitness levels because they know that fitness is largely influenced by genetics and time spent on exercise outside of class. Instead REAL teachers help their students set, revise and achieve realistic, but challenging goals, and assess and grade the students’ success.

REAL teachers DON’T grade students on dressing out and “eye-balling” their effort. Dressing for class is expected in order to be able to participate in the lesson, and students cannot get points for completing the learning experiences unless they are dressed appropriately. Monitoring effort is a subjective endeavor, and can be more objectively assessed by keeping track of student behaviors, such as successful completion of assigned tasks.

REAL teachers DON’T grade students on how they compare to each other. A math teacher would not give two students who got the same score on a math test two different grades because they were each compared to students in two different classes. They would instead, of course, be graded on their number of correct responses (criteria). Likewise, REAL physical education teachers use criteria for assessing and grading their students’ learning.

REAL teachers treat fitness test results as private information. They recognize that fitness testing one-by-one in front of peers (a.k.a. “spot-lighting”) can be a major source of stress for students, and can discourage physical activity participation. They reward students for progressing toward, and reaching fitness goals.

REAL teachers use fitness testing as a tool to help their students develop the skills they need to work on their personal fitness for the rest of their lives. They teach their students why fitness is important, and how they can improve in all the fitness categories now and throughout their lives. They make fitness testing an enjoyable experience focused on personal goal setting and improvement.

Practical ideas promoted by the FITNESSGRAM®: To save time during fitness testing and promote the idea of lifetime self-assessment, have the students partner-up with a friend and count for each other. Use the recommended tests that make this easier, such as the Push-up test (rather than the Pull-up test), and the PACER (rather than the Mile-run). Teach students how to do each test item correctly, and how to recognize form corrections.

For more information about the FITNESSGRAM®, visit:
www.humankinetics.com (On the site, do a search using the key-word: Fitnessgram)

REAL teachers DON’T “ spotlight” their students during fitness testing.

REAL teachers DON’T use fitness testing once or twice a year for the purpose of giving out rewards, or just because the state wants the scores.

REAL teachers are creative, and use warm-up activities that lead up to the learning activities by "rehearsing" the moves to come later in the lesson.

REAL teachers have students work on flexibility only when muscles are properly warmed-up.

For practical ideas for warm-ups or “instant activities” visit:
www.pecentral.com

REAL teachers DON’T use boring calisthenics as their warm-up, and they don’t have students stretch cold muscles because this is a waste of time at best, and at worst can lead to injuries (pulling muscles).

REAL teachers use their time wisely and make sure their students are physically or cognitively involved in a learning activity for the majority of the lesson. They spend little time on managerial tasks such as taking roll, and often find creative ways that don’t take any time away from learning. One method some teachers find useful is to have all their equipment numbered, and since each student has a number designated to them the teacher knows immediately who is missing when a piece of equipment is not in use.

REAL teachers DON’T waste time. They don’t spend the first 10-15 minutes of class taking roll.
Imagine any other teacher spending 10 or more minutes of class time checking to see who is present and who is missing. In an average class of 50 minutes, that’s wasting at least 20% of time that could be spent on learning.