Welcome to the Distinguished Physical Education Podcast. This is Gary Zaharatos. Lots to celebrate today.
Yesterday was our district-wide content day. and every PE teacher in Denver Public Schools received their copy of Becoming a Distinguished Physical Education Teacher. I'm really excited to get their feedback. They're going to be using it for a professional development book study throughout the course of the year.
If you're interested in something similar in your district, feel free to reach out at gary at distinguishedpe.com. It was really great to catch up with so many teachers that I've been lucky enough to support over the years. and invite many of them to be guests on the podcast.
We've also hit the 1,000-member mark in our Facebook group, which is something that I'm really proud of. There are a lot of PE groups out there, and one of the things that makes us stand out are the types of discussions that we have and the expertise that our teachers bring. I'm really proud of the fact that we've assembled a group of folks who enjoy talking about what effective practice looks like in PE and real-world strategies for implementing them. If you haven't joined us yet but would like to, Just search for Distinguished Physical Education on Facebook. Lastly, I've received quite a few messages requesting an audiobook version, and I'm happy to say that I recently finished it, and it should be out on Audible within the next couple of weeks.
The introduction to the book can be found in episode 2 of this podcast, so check it out if you're interested. With that said, here is chapter 1 of Becoming a Distinguished Physical Education Teacher. Promoting Inclusivity and Engagement. Part 1. Establishing a Safe and Welcoming Learning Environment for All Students. Chapter 1. Promoting Inclusivity and Engagement.
The path toward becoming a Distinguished Physical Education Teacher begins by establishing an inclusive environment that is conducive to learning and personal growth. while ensuring equitable access to all components of every lesson for every student. This means that students will be provided equitable access to activities, participation in them, peer interactions, and teacher attention.
In order for a class culture to be truly equitable, each of these components needs to be present for every student, regardless of their backgrounds, cultures, or physical abilities. As a result, students will feel safe and welcome in class and be more willing to consistently engage in activities and challenge themselves, both physically and cognitively. In this chapter, we will explore essential topics that form the foundation of an equitable and welcoming physical education environment.
These include strategies to eliminate exclusionary practices, highlight the importance of small-sided games, maintain a low student-to-equipment ratio, integrate student voice, and differentiate contemporary, inclusive practices from outdated ones. By addressing these areas, our goal is to establish an environment where every student feels valued, supported, and motivated to actively participate in physical activities, promoting lifelong fitness, well-being, and positive social interactions. Equity in physical education.
Equal and equitable both relate to fairness, but they are used in slightly different contexts. Equality in education emphasizes uniformity, where every student is treated the same, regardless of their unique circumstances or needs. It embodies the idea of providing the same opportunities, resources, and support to all students, without adjusting for the diverse backgrounds, abilities, and challenges that students bring to the learning environment.
While the notion of equality is rooted in fairness, its application in education fails to address the individualized support support required for students to thrive academically and personally. Despite its intent, a strictly equal approach is likely to perpetuate disparities and hinder the academic success of marginalized or underserved student populations. In contrast to equality, equity in education underscores the importance of fairness through tailored support and resources that address the unique needs of individual students.
It acknowledges that students do not all start from the same place and recognizes the barriers and inequalities that exist within educational systems. Equity prioritizes inclusivity by providing assistance and accommodations to those who need them. Rather than offering identical treatment to all students, an equitable approach ensures that every student has access to the support and resources necessary for their academic and personal success.
By embracing equity in education, teachers create an environment where every student feels valued, supported, and empowered to reach their full potential, regardless of their background, culture, or native languages. Eliminating Exclusionary Practices 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. Footnote, when presented in a positive manner, students choosing their favorite exercise from a resource bank should not be confused with using exercise as punishment. Conveying to students that if you get tagged, quickly choose your favorite exercise from the list do five reps and jump back in the game is significantly different from saying, if you get tagged, you must do five push-ups before rejoining the game. 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 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 10 or more students waiting in line for their chance to kick the ball, while on the football field, 10 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 gameplay, 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. Incorporating student voice. A third method to enhance equity in physical education is to offer students opportunities to contribute to the lesson whenever feasible.
In this particular approach, the emphasis will be on integrating student voice into daily activities. after allowing students a designated period to safely explore new skills and equipment independently during a structured exploratory time. Imagine an elementary teacher presenting a lesson on balance, incorporating manipulatives like beanbags. Chances are, the teacher has a set of challenges prepared for students. Can you balance the beanbag on your shoulder?
How about your elbow? What about on the top of your head as you walk through general space? These are great balance challenges that students will enjoy engaging in.
Delivered as stated in this example, they are also heavily teacher-directed and lack student input. Let's explore how one can integrate structured exploratory time and student voice to enhance the lesson, creating a more equitable experience where students actively contribute to the learning process. Before distributing beanbags for structured exploratory time, it's essential to clearly communicate basic safety expectations and parameters. Here's an example. Teacher.
Each of you will receive one beanbag to practice balancing challenges. The rules are simple. Keep the beanbag to yourself, no tossing it across the gym or up towards the ceiling, stay within the boundaries, and be mindful of personal space.
When the music starts, explore various ways to balance the beanbag. For example, You can experiment by balancing the beanbag on your head, knee, or toes. Feel free to observe what other students are doing and try their challenges as well. Be as creative as you'd like. When the music stops, place the beanbag on the floor, take a step backward, and freeze.
While students are engaged in a five-minute structured exploratory time, teachers should take note of some of the balance challenges that they observe. Many of these challenges may align with those that were already planned. but now there is an opportunity to frame them differently.
Rather than presenting each challenge as their own, when reconvened as a whole group, teachers can invite a student who has observed performing the challenge during exploratory time to model it for the class and then encourage all students to give it a try. For example, Teacher, I noticed that student name was balancing the beanbag on his foot. Can you show the class what that looks like? Student demonstrates.
Teacher. When the music starts, let's all try to balance the beanbag on our foot. Teachers will also notice students experimenting with balanced challenges during the exploratory time that weren't included in the lesson plan. This presents a powerful opportunity to showcase students'creativity and provide them with an opportunity to influence the lesson. For instance, teacher, I noticed earlier that student name stood on one foot, put the beanbag on her knee, and tried to hop on the other foot.
I've never seen that before. Who thinks they can try that when the music comes on? By transitioning from teacher-created to student-created challenges, teachers convey to students that their voices matter in this environment.
This shift promotes a sense of ownership and engagement, positively impacting various aspects of the culture in physical education. Additional methods for integrating student voice into a physical education curriculum involve offering choice-based activities, and facilitating opportunities for students to reflect on their progress towards personal goals. Detailed explanations of both of these approaches will be provided in Part 2. Transitioning from Outdated to Contemporary Practices Physical education practices have evolved over the years to align with changing societal norms and a greater understanding of inclusive practices. In this final section, let's explore practices that were once deemed acceptable in physical education classes but are now considered outdated, inequitable, and or exclusionary. Captains Picking Teams Outdated Practice The practice of assigning students as team captains and allowing them to draft peers onto their teams can result in some students feeling excluded and inadequate, especially those picked last.
Contemporary Practice There are many ways to provide an emotionally safe environment when dividing students into teams. Teachers can create teams themselves as a means of purposefully grouping students or use random group generator apps and websites. Alternatively, teachers can encourage student voice into the process by allowing students to pair up on their own and then purposefully combining pairs to form small groups.
Emphasizing competition over cooperation. Outdated practice. Focusing solely on competition, who won and who lost, without promoting the learning of standards.
based social skills, like cooperation, displaying ethical behaviors, and how to win and lose in socially appropriate ways, is a missed opportunity to create an inclusive culture. Contemporary practice. Teachers should regularly incorporate daily objectives that provide students with opportunities to reflect on standards-based social skills and emphasize the importance of these skills with students when they engage in competitive activities. Cooperative learning activities. where students work together toward common goals, encouraging teamwork, communication, and empathy should also be a consistent component of most unit plans.
Additionally, teachers can facilitate debriefing sessions after activities to discuss not only the outcome, but also the process, focusing on sportsmanship, resilience, and strategies for handling both success and setbacks in a constructive manner. Exercise as punishment, outdated practice. Requiring students to perform an exercise as a means of correcting undesirable behavior can instill negative perceptions of physical activity.
It can also be emotionally distressing for students who are required to perform an exercise as punishment. in front of their peers, and may result in feelings of shame or embarrassment. Contemporary Practice Instead of using exercise as punishment, teachers should adopt a proactive approach that emphasizes high expectations for student behavior and positive reinforcement. This can be done by implementing additional opportunities for students to practice adhering to class rituals and routines, restorative practices, and or mindfulness breathing exercises that address behavioral issues in a constructive and supportive manner.
Teachers should also openly communicate with students, building leaders, and parents to understand the underlying reasons for disruptive behavior and work collaboratively to develop alternative solutions that promote on-task behavior in a positive classroom environment. Focusing on traditional team sports. Outdated practice. A heavy emphasis on traditional team sports can neglect students who have interests and talents in other types of physical activities.
Contemporary Practice Teachers should provide students with opportunities to engage in a variety of lifelong physical activities like yoga, dance, circuit or interval training, cooperative activities, or even swimming and cycling, if resources allow. When a team sport is taught, teachers can level the playing field by teaching non-traditional sports like Ultimate Frisbee, badminton, and pickleball. Gender-based activities. Outdated practice.
Assuming that certain activities are suitable for boys while others are suitable for girls can reinforce stereotypes and limit students'opportunities to sample a wide range of activities. Additionally, singling out boys or girls when addressing groups of students at different times during a lesson can cause discomfort for some individuals. Contemporary practice. Encourage all students, regardless of their gender.
to participate and try their best in activities and utilize other methods for addressing groups of students. For example, rather than saying, boys, show me how you can line up at the door, try calling students by their assigned row, color of their shirt, birthday month, or the letter their first name starts with. Grading on participation and dressing out.
Outdated practice. Granting daily points for criteria unrelated to standards-based objectives, such as participation or dressing out, represents a common, outdated practice that physical educators should strive to rectify. Just as it would be deemed inappropriate for science teachers to allocate points on whether students wear safety goggles during lab sessions, assessing students on the clothes they wear in class isn't aligned with best practices in physical education. Contemporary Practice Teachers should assess students on the progress they make toward daily objectives that are based on state or national standards. This legitimizes physical education programs while allowing students and their families to know if they have made progress toward grade-level expectations.
Not adapting activities for students with diverse needs. Outdated practice. In the past, accommodations for students with diverse needs may not have been sufficient.
As a result, their participation may have been limited during certain activities. Contemporary Practice. Teachers should collaborate with their district's adapted PE specialist, if one is available, in order to modify activities so that all students can participate. If an adapted PE resource is not available, teachers can collaborate with the special education teachers in their building to determine how lessons and activities can be modified to meet the diverse needs of students.
Publicly Ranking Students. Outdated Practice. Ranking students based on their physical abilities and making these rankings public can be demoralizing for those students who are not as athletic as their peers.
Communicate to students that the goal is personal improvement and provide them with opportunities to track their progress in private journals. Playing games according to their regulation rules can leave many students feeling frustration and defeat. if they are not successful. Contemporary practice.
Modify games and provide students with a variety of options so that they can experience success while productively struggling with the task. For example, rather than having three courts of regulation volleyball, have one court that plays by most of the official rules, while the other two courts have modifications. For example, using beach balls or volleyball trainers, allowing the ball to bounce on the floor and still be played, or permitting students to serve from a position closer to the net and have students self-select where they want to play. Strict uniform requirements, outdated practice. Requiring specific uniforms to be worn may present challenges for some students.
These obstacles may include issues related to financial constraints, comfort for various body types, and or religious or cultural reasons. Contemporary practice. Offer a school-inspired PE uniform to those who want or need one, while at the same time promoting inclusivity and comfort by making it acceptable for students to wear appropriate athletic clothes of their choosing. While an emphasis should be placed on appropriate footwear, students should never be made to sit out as a result of not having sneakers. One solution is for teachers to collect used sneakers for students to borrow and wear during class.
Students as targets. Outdated practice. Using humans as targets in a game like dodgeball is unsafe, unethical, and fails to create an environment where students are treated with respect and dignity. Additionally, there could be a risk of legal implications if a student gets hurt, and it can be shown that the teacher failed to provide a safe environment for all students. Contemporary practice.
Instead of using humans as targets, physical education teachers should employ safer and more appropriate alternatives. such as having students aim at designated non-human targets as a means to develop and promote physical activity in an inclusive, safe, and respectful manner. The shift away from these outdated practices reflects a renewed understanding of the need to create an inclusive learning environment that is safe and welcoming for all students.
This approach acknowledges that a distinguished physical education program encompasses more than just physical fitness. emphasizing the promotion of enjoyment in physical activity, holistic well-being, and positive social interactions. Committing to the equitable practices described in this chapter will communicate to students that the gym is an inclusive and welcoming environment where all are safe, seen, and heard.
Doing so will also provide teachers with opportunities to build relationships with their students that foster mutual respect and promote high levels of engagement. The result will be a learning environment where every student feels valued and appreciated. empowered, and motivated, leading to enhanced learning, increased engagement in physical activity, and a reduction in off-task behaviors. Chapter Summary. Promoting inclusivity in physical education.
Establish an environment where every student has equitable access to activities, participation, peer interactions, and teacher attention. This inclusive setting encourages students to actively participate, take risks, and engage both physically and cognitively. Eliminating Exclusionary Practices.
Teachers are encouraged to make creative modifications to traditional games and activities to ensure continuous engagement and participation for all students. Teachers are encouraged to make creative modifications to traditional games and activities to ensure continuous engagement and participation for all students. Small-sided games and low student-to-equipment ratio. Implement small-sided games and maintain a low student-to-equipment ratio to ensure equitable access and increased participation in activities. This approach ensures maximum repetitions, enhances student enjoyment, and promotes engagement by organizing students into smaller groups with sufficient equipment, allowing each student to actively participate and improve their skills.
Incorporating student voice. Integrate student voice into lessons by promoting structured exploratory time where students can contribute ideas, showcase creativity, and actively participate in the learning process. This shift promotes a sense of ownership, engagement, and inclusion in physical education. Transitioning from outdated to modern practices.
Moving away from outdated and exclusionary approaches to contemporary and inclusive methods highlights the evolution of physical education practices. This shift includes practices that prioritize cooperation, inclusivity, and diverse physical activities while avoiding gender-based stereotypes, promoting personal improvement, and accommodating diverse needs. Reflective questions.
What steps can you take to ensure equitable access to activities, participation, peer interactions, and teacher attention for every student in your physical education classes? What activities or games in your current teaching repertoire? might exclude certain students or induce feelings of failure or exclusion? How could you modify these activities to ensure continuous engagement and inclusion for all?
In what ways can you shift from teacher-centered to student-centered challenges or activities? allowing students to contribute ideas and showcase their creativity. Reflect on the outdated physical education practices mentioned in this chapter.
Which of these practices might you re-evaluate or adjust in your own practice?