There are many ways to ensure equitable experiences for all students in physical education. One effective approach is to remove or modify activities and games that involve eliminating students from play. Games that require students to sit out after not meeting a certain criteria, such as being tagged or dropping a ball, can induce feelings of failure, humiliation, and exclusion – emotions that are heightened when experienced in front of peers. 

Additionally, the students who are forced to sit out early in an elimination game typically stand to gain the most from increased active participation time. They are also more likely to be students for whom making positive connections to physical activity is crucial. Consider the impact on a student, whether they are anxious about PE class or excited to start playing, when they are immediately eliminated from an activity while their peers continue playing. A more equitable approach is to ensure that the selected activities provide all students with opportunities to participate fully and interact with their peers.

This is not to imply that some of our students’ favorite activities need to be completely eliminated merely because the original rules contain this flaw. With a touch of creativity and a focus on equity, modifications can be made to most activities in order to maximize students’ active participation time and guarantee the inclusion of all students.

Let’s consider a simple instant activity like Everybody’s It Tag. Traditionally, the game is taught so that when students get tagged, they sit down and play carries on without them until only a few students remain. Simple modifications can be introduced to transform this game – and others like it – from an elimination activity into one that is equitable for all students and keeps everyone engaged.

One modification could be that when tagged, students choose their favorite exercise from a resource bank that is posted or projected on a wall and perform five quick reps before rejoining the activity. This simple adjustment ensures that all students are included throughout the duration of the activity.

Small-Sided Games and Low Student-to-Equipment Ratio

Another approach to ensure an equitable PE experience for all students is to choose, design, or adapt existing activities to have small group sizes and a low student-to-equipment ratio. Reflect on your experiences playing kickball or touch football in grade school. Most likely, these games had notably large numbers of students on each team and a high student-to-equipment ratio. On the kickball field, you may have seen ten or more students waiting in line for their chance to kick the ball, while on the football field, ten students on each team will likely result in some students going through the entire game without ever touching the ball. To ensure equitable access to participation in physical education, our aim is to do the exact opposite.

Organizing students into small-sided games with sufficient equipment for everyone ensures the inclusion of all students, provides maximum repetitions, and enhances their enjoyment of the activity. Ideally, during skill development activities, each student (or pair of students for partner activities) should have their own piece of equipment. During game-play, limiting team sizes to five students or fewer enhances engagement for all participants. Similar to wait-time, with limited access to equipment, students will have fewer opportunities to participate, fewer chances to improve their skills, and a higher likelihood of displaying off-task behaviors that may disrupt the learning environment. 

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 Gary Zaharatos, the author of this post) and consider writing a microblog post of your own to be shared with the global audience of slowchathealth.com

Gary is also the author of Becoming a Distinguished Physical Education Teacher: Creating a Rigorous, Standards-Based PE Program That is Safe and Welcoming For All Students and the moderator of the Distinguished Physical Educator Facebook page.

Pair this blog post with the following:

Don’t Let Other People Ruin Your Fun by Mark Housel

Tips and Tricks for Classroom Management in PE by Michael Glosson

Making Meaningful Physical Education Elementary Friendly by Will Westphal

Have you read the latest Book of the Month recommendation?