Last Friday, my physical education class overran…and my students didn’t notice! This HAS happened before, but it’s typically a rare occurrence and one that I hope to achieve more often. I think the reason for the lesson going well has something to do with the new lens through which I’m seeing a subject that I have taught for 27 years.
To put things into context, I teach a Lifetime Activities elective to junior and senior students during 8th period, the day’s last class. Many students take this class because it has the reputation of being less competitive than other electives. My students range from D1 committed athletes who have an extensive practice and playing schedule to students who have developed a dislike for traditional physical education and need more motivation to move regularly. My students have also benefited from Illinois’ laws that have ensured daily (now thrice weekly) PE since kindergarten. There’s not much in our PE curriculum they haven’t already experienced. As such, I spend a lot of time working hard to win my students over, selling the concept of movement and its many benefits to all aspects of our health. I want my students to find joy and meaning in how they move, where they move, and who they move with. The last thing my students need is SSDD – Same Stuff, Different Day.
This school year, my professional goals revolve around my teaching of physical education and intentional ways to harness the Meaningful PE approach in my lesson plans, instruction, and assessment.
The Meaningful PE approach comes from the work of Tim Fletcher, Déirdre Ní Chróinín, Doug Gleddie, and Stephanie Benni. Guided by Scott Kretchmar’s work, these educators reviewed 50 peer-reviewed empirical research studies and concluded that meaningful physical education experiences consist of the following features:
- Social Interaction
- Challenge
- Fun
- Motor Competence
- Personally Relevant Learning
- Delight
In the first few months of this semester, I will scaffold these features into my planning as I build experiences and a shared set of language into my lessons. In my health class, I weave appropriate skills into the most relevant content. Likewise, I will overlay specific Meaningful PE features to the most suitable activity.
In our first unit, golf, we focused on challenge. We discussed the role of challenge and motivation and the setting of personal performance goals. Students could focus on distance, accuracy, consistency and reflect on appropriate club selection. Opportunity was provided for self-challenge and challenging others and written and verbal reflection was sought at the end of lessons. Instances of engagement, inclusion, positive participation, and social interaction were highlighted and praised, and the following reflection was used for assessment.
Our second unit was Ultimate, which emphasizes the “Spirit of the Game.” Ultimate is one of the few team sports that relies on self-officiation, with players responsible for their actions and disputes resolved through discussion rather than referees. The Meaningful PE feature I chose to emphasize for this unit was social interaction. After all, it was still early in the semester, and I had to intentionally build community, ensuring that all students knew each other and felt they belonged in this space.
At the start of the semester, I asked students what features they felt made for a quality PE experience, and many students expressed their anxiety over the selection of teams. Could they work with friends but also be nudged to work with others while choosing their own teams but with team selection also being guided by the teacher? These responses helped to frame a conversation on the most equitable way to split the class into teams. We discussed how teams were chosen in the past and how those methods might shape the experience for students. The process decided upon for our Ultimate lessons was to allow students to pair with a friend if preferred. Then, I split the class into two groups of 14 and asked each group to select two teams of even ability.
Each team was sent on a ‘walk and talk’ of two laps of the track, with instructions to introduce themselves to each other, play ‘two truths and a lie,’ and follow up with questions to get to know their teammates. We finished that first lesson with some small-sided games. While I set up the playing area, teams selected a captain. The four captains’ first task was to agree upon a shared set of rules and report those back to their team.
Meaningful PE requires a democratic approach and opportunities for students to make choices about their learning, increasing autonomy and personal relevance. When our small-sided games ended, I asked students for feedback on the lesson that had just finished and suggestions as to what they wanted me to include in my lesson planning for next time. As much as students had enjoyed meeting and playing with new students, they wanted to improve some of their Ultimate skills. They were asking for an opportunity to improve their motor competence!
When we did random teams I was not sure about my group, but getting to know them and talking to them was actually really interesting. Then playing together was really fun and I felt that everyone was included!
Student reflection
For our next lesson, I used the cooperative learning strategy of jigsaw learning. This student-centered method of teaching and learning allows students to collaborate with and teach each other the skills needed to take their performance in Ultimate to the next level. As students learned and taught the rules and skills in the cards shown above, I was able to watch them in action. Moving from group to group, providing advice when needed, and identifying the students who demonstrated leadership and communication skills. I also identified the students who might need extra support from me or a peer. Students modeling inclusive behaviors were recognized and praised.
During the stations activity i saw lots of amazing teamwork and leadership. One example of leadership that inspired me was when Tori was explaining her activity and making sure that everyone understood it and was doing it correctly. This made me feel very included and made me want to explain my activity better. In addition I felt like I could ask questions or fail and not be judged.
Student reflection
Our final lesson of the week, and the one that inspired me to write this blog post, was the opportunity to put our new knowledge of rules and skills into a game situation. Following the team-led warm-ups, which again provided space for student leadership and social interaction, we set up our two playing areas. Interestingly, and perhaps due to improved competence and confidence, the teams played in much larger playing areas.
Typically, when we play games in class, they are an opportunity for students to showcase the skills and knowledge they have learned, but now that I am being more intentional with my practice, I ensured that time between games was also used effectively. Inspired by Matchplay Reflection cards from The Coaching Lab I recently purchased, teams came together at the end of game one to discuss their performance. I also asked teams to provide a scouting report to the team playing their opponent next. I had never considered doing something like this before, and the students responded positively! This additional reflection opportunity exemplifies the impact of seeing my lessons through a Meaningful PE lens.
Deep into the lesson time, my students were still playing hard. There were many examples of students praising each other and working to ensure players of all abilities were involved. Despite time running out, students asked for a water break before the final game. They wanted to keep their energy levels high, but it was obvious that they were tired. The water break allowed teams to regroup, discuss their performance and consider what they needed to do to succeed in the final game.
Mr. Milne! Look at my face, it’s SO red. I’ve never worked this hard in a PE lesson before!
Student comment
We were deep into overtime, and I still needed to get to the last part of my lesson plan. Typically, at this point in the lesson, students are begging to go in, get changed, catch a ride or, beat the traffic, etc. But this time around, they didn’t.
You could sense the joy among the students, and I could see they were fully immersed in the lesson. In my personal Meaningful PE notes, I have written down that delight has the power to get students lost in the experience. That sense of flow is a state that I aspire to create but do so, so very infrequently.
We finished our lesson with the questions shown in the image above. Students reflected on each question and pointed to the student who personified each prompt.
I have really enjoyed our ultimate frisbee unit and especially last Friday when we were all outside. I love the team that I’m in and I think we’re all very collaborative and really work together very well. We have improved greatly in communication on the field and have gotten a lot better throughout the unit. On friday when everyone worked really hard and all had fun it just felt really good and the sense of accomplishment of scoring a point was amazing, even if we didn’t win the whole game.
Student reflection
Lots of the people on my team were very inclusive, and there were a few certain leaders that really stuck out to me. They made sure to learn everyone’s names and use them, start conversations with new people, and include the whole team. This inspired me to branch out to new people and get to know my team better. We made sure to pass the frisbee to everyone, and keep a positive team effort going.
Student reflection
If the first few weeks of my Meaningful PE journey are anything to go by, my students appreciate the inclusive and collaborative nature of the lessons. This student-centered approach to the planning and delivery of my classes is positively influencing the quality of student engagement. Students have already approached me with ideas for future units, and one group’s excitement in describing their thoughts on a ‘playground/kindergarten games’ unit suggests that this will be an excellent school year!
I created this document and it hangs above my desk as a constant reminder to include Meaningful PE features in my conversations, my lesson planning and my assessments. Download a copy here.
If this blog post has inspired you to read more on making PE more meaningful then you’ll like the following:
Meaningful Physical Education by Tim Fletcher, Déirdre Ní Chróinín, Doug Gleddie, and Stephanie Benni
Supporting Meaningful PE in Health Education by Allisha Blanchette
How to Facilitate Deeper Connections to Physical Activity by Jordan Manley
The Power of Meaningful and Joyful Experiences by Leticia Cariño
Check out this latest paper that shares how other PE teachers are making sense of, and delivering a more meaningful approach to their students:
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