Physical Education Classroom Management FAQ's

Question: What would be a good protocol for creating a friendly class climate, encouraging no teasing?

Answer from Dave:
You have hit on the most important aspect regarding the learning environment. If children feel as though they will be ridiculed or teased they are not as willing to take chances and therefore do not benefit from your program. This is not just in Physical Education but in all aspects of life.

I use the work of Don Hellison (Teaching Responsibility Through Physical Education) to create four levels of responsibility for children grades 2-6
to work for during class. Level 1 is irresponsibility (this is damaging equipment, touching others, blaming others or making excuses), Level 2 is
respect (working without interfering with others), Level 3 is self-direction (being able to work with direct supervision) and level 4 is caring (where
you help others or share knowledge). At the end of the class I ask students to assess their personal level of responsibility. I don't assign grades
based on their self-assessment. These are the basis for creating a safe environment. However, then there has to be follow through on your part. If
you catch someone being unfriendly or unkind you need to stop the class and remind the students that this is not respectful (not level #2).

Another aspect in creating a positive atmosphere is to choose different children to answer questions or demonstrate, not always the "best ones".
This will encourage everyone to contribute.

I also talk about my students being on Mrs. So and So's team together. Teammates encourage each other so that the whole team can be successful.

Finally, it is important to provide a program where there is a lot of variety. If your program is based on team sports. Who will thrive? The most skilled will feel validated. A program with a lot of variety allows all children to find something they like.

I congratulate you on your initiative and desire to become a thoughtful teacher. If you need clarification or have more questions...please feel free to contact me again.

Answer from Ulrike:
I believe that classroom management is the first thing you need to address at the beginning of the school year. For me it is important to establish an atmosphere of trust and respect for one another. Therefore, I start out with cooperative activities such as "Team Juggle". Most students don't even know each other's names and this is a great game to get to know names.

The next step is to start talking to your classmates in a polite, respectful manner. I engage the students in an activity called: "Meet the Peeps!" I will demonstrate how to appropriately introduce oneself ("Hi, my name is Rike; my partner will respond with his/her name. We then shake hands and say "Nice to meet you") Then I have students move around general space and meet as many people as possible. (Sometimes I will ask them to meet x amount of boys and x amount of girls). Students really enjoy this formality and respond very well to it. I will move around with them to make it enjoyable. At the same time we will review our locomotor skills as we move around safely.

Another way to perform a similar activity is to "Share compliments". I will tell students that sometimes people show up to class feeling bad about something that happened at home and, that all it takes to make a person feel better, is a compliment. I will then give some examples and have students move around giving compliments. Again, we acknowledge the positive in one another, and, students enjoy hearing and giving compliments. These are just a couple of practical ideas you can implement any time during the school year. I use the compliments activity several times throughout the year.

Question: I have a group of students who do not seem to want to participate in any activity. Everyday I hear "I don't like this" or "Why do we have to learn this?" I explain the why prior to each unit and lesson along with an explanation of why the particular activity is good for their
health and well being, but it seems that no matter what I say, they don't like the answer. Any ideas?

Answer from Ulrike:
Well, I think I would put the "ball" right back into their court! Ask them what kind of activities they would like to engage in to reap the benefits that your choice of activities will provide. If the activities are comprised of "appropriate practices", I would give it a chance. If they don't meet the criteria of appropriate practices, tell your students that certain parameters need to be met to qualify for their choices. Empowering the students to make choices, will hopefully lead to greater participation and enthusiasm. Also, you can provide some resources for them to come up with ideas that will meet your expectations.

Question: I recently was hired as part time physical education teacher in inner city Baltimore. The school district has been so poor that John Hopkins University has stepped in and that is who my actual employer is. With this being said, the students are extremely unruly, and disrespectful. I am having a hard time with these students because they do not care about any discipline that I apply. If you have a chance do you have any advice for me?

Answer from Dave:
This is a hard one. You have found yourself in a very difficult but potentially very rewarding situation. There is no quick fix because you are dealing with a culture of low expectations. You must think outside the box as the traditional approach does not appear to be working. I would
recommend that you watch a couple of movies that I have found inspirational. Mr. Holland's Opus and Freedom Writers are great movies about teachers (not PE) who enter very difficult inner city situations and their children thrive because the teachers do not give up on them. My immediate suggestion would be to set clear expectations and boundaries. I wouldn't set the bar too high at first as this will just cause friction between you and the students. That being said focus on the carrot not the stick. You can either penalize students for not following directions or reward students who do. It sounds as these students will not respond to the traditional methods of time out or reducing a grade for non-participation. Therefore, do you have a way to reward the students who are meeting your low but clear expectations? My first impulse would be to invite those who participate productively to join you in the gym for an additional class doing something that interests and motivates them. Or since you are part-time...could you come in during your off-time and reward those students? Juggling the school schedule might be difficult but I believe you could make the case with your administration that you want to reward the students who were being positive. Wouldn't that be a jolt to the student body if the you had the principal read the names of 10 -15 kids who should come to the gym for an extra class?

If tinkering with the schedule is too difficult...could you open the gym on a Saturday for some pickup games of basketball? Or would John's Hopkins help you provide transportation for a small group of your students to use one of their gym's on a Saturday?

I admire your desire to improve in a very difficult situation. Jason, if for some reason these suggestion will not work, please write back as the last thing you want to do is give up on these children. They are as difficult as they are because the adults around them have already given up.