Common Mistakes PE Teachers Make (and How to Avoid Them)
Small changes that can make a big difference in your physical education class
I’ve made a lot of mistakes as a teacher.
Fortunately, in my 22 years of teaching, both in the classroom and physical education, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve taught in small farming towns to large booming towns and everything in between. I’ve taught children from many walks of life with many different stories. I’d like to say my students got the best version of me in the year or years they had me for their teacher.
But I know that’s not the case.
I’m a much better teacher than I was 22 years ago. In fact, I’m a better teacher now than I was 22 minutes ago. The key is I keep learning from my mistakes. Here are 5 mistakes many PE teachers make and how to avoid them.
1. Inconsistency
This could cover a multitude of things.
Inconsistency in:
rules
procedures
rewards
punishments
how we treat each student
how we treat each class or grade level
our own mood swings
It’s vital to our success as educators that we maintain consistency.
I had this discussion with one of my paras yesterday. He’s been having difficulty being the “nice guy” all the time as a young educator. I’ve talked to him about making sure the rules are explained clearly and if students aren’t listening or following the rules, they get a warning, then have to sit for a few minutes before getting another chance.
He told me that a really good student of ours wasn’t following the rules of a game. It involved putting to a target, and having a golf club is dangerous if the rules aren’t followed. This girl is in 4th grade. She is sweet, kind, and one of my safety patrols in school. She wasn’t, however, doing what was asked of her. He gave her warning after warning. I didn’t know about this until after the class left for the day.
I told him that telling “Johnny”, who’s constantly in trouble, to sit on the bench for 2 minutes is easy, because “Johnny” is a frequent flyer. Telling “Jenny”, who’s never in trouble, to sit on the bench is not easy, because she’s never in trouble and she’s a sweet little girl (sometimes the genders are reversed). But, if you don’t sit Jenny out, kids will notice and not be happy with how you teach. They will lose respect for you and think you play favorites.
How do I know this? I did the exact same thing years ago while teaching in the classroom. The boys thought I favored the girls, and I probably did.
Don’t make that mistake.
Be consistent in everything.
2. Lack of classroom management
PE isn’t recess, where teachers are talking to each other, looking at their phones, and kids are running wild.
Recess = Lord of the Flies with dodgeballs
PE should never resemble recess.
While you can’t be prepared for everything, you need to have clear rules and procedures in place. The rules should be posted and gone over constantly for a couple of weeks. Rehearse and review these with your classes.
Students should know the following:
What are the rules?
Why are rules important?
What happens if I break a rule?
Procedures are also a must. Here are a few they need to know. Your job is to think of everything, from the beginning to the end of class.
What are the signals you will use to get their attention?
What is the class structure?
What is the bathroom procedure?
What is the water procedure?
How do we line up?
How do we clean up?
How do we travel from station to station?
What happens if there’s a fire or lockdown drill?
What happens if there’s inclement weather?
Rules and procedures are the foundation of your program. Spend time on these and remind your students on a regular basis. Chaos is not an option!
3. Poor time management
I’m a stickler on this.
I’m not saying I’m perfect at time management, or anything for that matter, but there should be a purpose to every moment in your class. For most of my PE career I’ve had 40 minutes per period. I want to make every second count for my students. Here’s a breakdown of my class periods:
10 minutes:
warm up song/music mix
brief review
go over essential question for the day
student responses
25 minutes:
break into stations (each coach has a station)
go over the rules of the game
game play
questioning
replay the game
5 minutes:
clean up
drinks/cool down
students roll the large dice for points (students who had a great day are chosen as a reward)
(Here’s my podcast episode, “How I Structure My Physed Classes”)
This has worked for me for years. The topics, music and games change, but the structure remains. I’ve had my paras cut a lot of the fat since I got to my current school. They used to send students on laps every day. I’m not against running, and we do this on occasion, but it’s such a time waster. Kids run or walk at various speeds, you have to wait for the stragglers until you can start your lesson, and everyone wants drinks, which takes forever!
There are better ways.
Make every second count.
4. Neglecting the education piece
We have standards and grade-level outcomes for a reason.
I’m not overly strict on unpacking the standards and I’m not the guy to go to when it comes to grade level outcomes, but I make sure I cover the content and my students have the skills and knowledge needed to move on to middle school. I’ve seen way too many PE teachers on social media falling for the latest viral YouTube clip without a thought as to the educational piece or how it fits into their curriculum. If we’re not adding the education to the physical part of our title, then we might as well be a recess monitor (see my above rant).
For instance, when the rock-paper-scissors game with hula hoops went viral I saw these comments online:
“Awesome! Let’s play it tomorrow!”
“Wow! We’re trying this right away!”
So here’s my questions:
What were your plans for the next day?
How can you just add a game out of nowhere?
Didn’t you have plans for “tomorrow” already?
Are you “winging” it daily?
By the way, my principal and other parents sent that video to me and wanted us to play it at PE. I told them that we might in the future, but we were in the middle of other units, but I would consider it for field day. However, when I watched the video, I looked at it differently. Immediately I noticed two people playing and 20 kids standing around doing nothing but cheering. When I eventually tried it, we had multiple pathways and minimal standing around.
Have a plan.
Teach the standards.
5. Not having backup plans
I feel like I’m the master of improv.
Teaching outside does that to a PE teacher who lives in Florida. Over the years I’ve had to adjust my lessons and locations based on many things. Some are obvious, some are funny and some are scary. Here’s some from the past 14 years:
the weather (rain, heat, cold, lightning in the area)-Meteorologist is in my job description
workers from the district coming in without warning to fix an electric post or mow the lawn unscheduled
nature lockdowns (bears and bobcats, oh my!)
a bird who would lay eggs in the middle of our field each spring, forcing us to move our games
a criminal on the loose in the area
a student who would elope from class and hide in the woods near our pavilion-we were asked to relocate our 4 classes!
Our inside space is the cafeteria in the morning, the media center (sometimes), or individual classrooms. I’ve had tech problems as well inside and outside.
The solution:
Be prepared for anything.
Here’s how:
Have go-to games written on the back of your clipboard
Practice the go-to games in the beginning of the year
Communicate plans and backup games and activities to your paras
Have alternate plans written in your lessons
Try to think of every possibility
It’s not possible to predict every scenario that might throw you off your game. The key is to have a backup plan at all times.
Don’t be the teacher who freezes in adversity.
Be ready for anything.
Conclusion
I have the best job in the world!
I get to teach children fun games and activities
I get to see them learn and grow in their skills and knowledge
I wear shorts and a tee shirt every day!
I have fun!
Teaching PE is incredibly rewarding. As PE teachers we are the rock stars of our school. Our students love us and know that when they come to our class they will have fun, and hopefully it’s the best part of their day. We’re not perfect, but we strive to be the best we can.
It’s okay to make mistakes.
I make mistakes every day.
Just use them to fuel your growth.
I have faith in you.
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