One of the first times I observed a PE class, the teacher explained to me that PE can be organized chaos or just chaos!  That thought has crossed my mind several times throughout the course of my teaching career.  Here are a few things that have helped me engage students in physical activity in a safe and fun way.

Use a variety of activities to help engage students.  Make physical fitness as fun and challenging as possible.  Allow students the opportunity to modify activities and games so that they leave with the feeling of accomplishment.  For my freshmen classes, I have found that allowing them to create their own tabata routines gives them voice and choice.

Make skill-development as fun and purposeful as possible.  If I am working on the serve for spikeball, I will play tag.  Play music, have the kids practice serving back and forth, when the music stops, whoever has the ball has to try to tag their partner.  

The use of small-sided games has been a lifesaver.  Play 3 on 3 as much as possible.  If that is not an option, consider adding more equipment to the game.  For example, add a second soccer ball!  3 on 3 forces kids to be engaged without them even realizing it and helps cut down on off-task behaviors.

Tell students the what, why, and how for all you do!  Connect whatever is going on in class with how it can benefit the students in the outside world.  Connect the benefits of exercise to improved mood and academic performance.  Most people understand that being physically active can improve their physical health, but few understand the power that movement has on their mental health.  

Spend the $1.00 for the TeamShake app!  Will save you a lot of time and stress with creating teams.

Think about how groups are formed in your class.  I suggest having multiple games going on and each game is a different skill level. Blue field is the advanced skill, red is moderate skill, and white are the kids that might need modified rules.  Be in tune to what is best for each class.  One class may do better with creating their own groups, one class may do better with you making the groups, and one class may do best with the multilevel games.  One thing that I did not think about until later into my career is the feelings of the students.  Kids that excel can get easily frustrated with students that are not as accelerated in physical education and vice versa.  Kids would rather not perform at all in front of their peers to save themselves from embarrassment.  It is our responsibility to ensure all kids are having a meaningful experience in class.

Finally, get feedback from your students on a regular basis.  What do they find challenging, what do they want more of, what is something that turns them away from being active, etc…

This microblog post was a featured post in #slowchathealth’s #microblogmonth event. You can search for all of the featured posts here. Please do follow each of the outstanding contributors on social media (including Michael Glosson, the author of this post) and consider writing a microblog post of your own to be shared with the global audience of slowchathealth.com

Pair this post with the following:

The Happiness Boomerang by Dale Sidebottom

Happiness Factories by Phil Mathe

Teaching Physical Education with Purpose: Embracing the Meaningful PE Approach by Andy Milne

Have you read the latest Book of the Month recommendation?