- Home
- Physical Education
- Health Education
- Fitness and Health
- Teaching Children and Adolescents Physical Education
Teaching Children and Adolescents Physical Education
by George Graham, Eloise Elliott and Steve Palmer
280 Pages
It’s never been more challenging to teach physical education to children and adolescents. Between managing difficult behavior and adapting lessons for students with diverse needs, teachers have their hands full. Teaching Children and Adolescents Physical Education: Becoming a Master Teacher has been helping both new and experienced physical educators meet these challenges for many years, and this revised edition has been updated to address many of the new challenges that have emerged in the past decade. Expanded to address teaching across elementary, middle, and high school, this classic resource demonstrates the techniques and skills master teachers rely on. Many of these skills are illustrated with videotapes of actual K-12 teachers in action.
This already-successful text goes beyond pedagogy to include concrete curriculum strategies for making classes vibrant, fun, and developmentally appropriate. Written in conversational language, the book is readily applicable.
Teaching Children and Adolescents Physical Education has been refreshed to be more valuable than ever to veteran and future physical educators navigating the elementary, middle, and high school environment. New features include the following:
• New research and examples from the world of secondary physical education
• Technology tips and app ideas contributed by real physical educators
• Linked directly to national standards and grade-level outcomes (SHAPE America, 2014), a new approach to planning and teaching lessons to meet the needs of all students
• Many sample task sheets and assessment examples for middle and high school
In addition, this resource features three new chapters that add even more depth to the topics covered. The chapters address long-term planning, writing, and teaching the lesson plan.
The value of this book can be attributed to the authors’ years of experience teaching physical education in elementary, middle, and high school. George Graham, Eloise Elliott, and Steve Palmer understand all aspects of quality physical education and the teaching challenges that come with the territory—because they have been there. Emphasizing real-world strategies, the authors weave instructional scenarios throughout the book. Readers will see in action the decision-making process master teachers go through when writing and teaching lesson plans. Because every class is different, this resource also highlights how to plan for diverse students and how to adjust lessons accordingly.
The text is packed with tried-and-true advice for motivating students to practice, building positive feelings, observing and analyzing, providing feedback, and assessing students through formative assessment. Examples show what effective physical education instruction really looks like in secondary gymnasiums and on playgrounds. Rich with firsthand advice and insight, this book will guide educators toward becoming master teachers of physical education.
Chapter 1. Successful Teaching
• The Teacher, Not Only the Content
• How Teaching Physical Education Differs From Teaching in the Classroom
• Analogies of Teaching
• Changing and Dynamic Nature of Teaching
• Difficulty of Describing Good Teaching
• Challenge of Teaching Physical Education
• The Teacher Makes the Difference
• Pedagogy Toolbox
• Working Definition of Successful
• Summary
Chapter 2. Creating a Positive Learning Environment
• Teacher Expectancy
• Teacher Stereotypes
• Creating an Emotionally Safe Environment
• Determining Management Protocols
• Teaching Behavior Protocols
• Summary
Chapter 3. Long-Term Planning
• Need for Planning
• Tendencies to Avoid Planning
• Planning Formats and Components
• Summary
Chapter 4. Writing the Lesson Plan
• Writing the Daily Lesson Plan
• Lesson Purpose: Learnable Pieces
• Developing the Content
• Major Parts of a Lesson Plan
• Lesson Components
• Adapting Lessons for Students With Special Needs
• Summary
Chapter 5. Teaching From the Lesson Plan
• Student Centered Versus Subject Centered
• Observation Techniques
• Four Key Content Development Questions
• Observing Individuals
• Observing Classes for Content Development
• Fun
• Summary
Chapter 6. Getting the Lesson Started
• Instant Activity
• Communicating the Purpose of the Lesson
• Traditional Ways to Start a Lesson
• Summary
Chapter 7. Instructing and Demonstrating
• Instructing
• Demonstrating
• Pinpointing
• Checking for Understanding
• Play–Teach–Play
• Using Video Technology
• Analyzing Students’ Use of Time
• Summary
Chapter 8. Motivating Students to Practice
• Three Keys to Motivating Youngsters
• Eight Techniques for Motivating Students
• Developing Realistic Expectations
• Teacher as Cheerleader
• Summary
Chapter 9. Providing Feedback
• Types of Feedback
• Analyzing Your Feedback
• Research on Physical Education Teacher Feedback
• Summary
Chapter 10. Minimizing Off-Task Behavior and Discipline Problems
• Why Do Students Act Out?
• Strategies for Minimizing Off-Task Behavior
• Discipline Systems
• Characteristics of Effective Discipline Systems
• Disciplinary Confrontation
• Summary
Chapter 11. Building Critical Thinking Skills
• Value of Critical Thinking Experiences
• Convergent Problem Solving
• Divergent Problem Solving
• Verbal Problem Solving
• Necessary Teacher Characteristics
• Direct or Indirect Approach: Which Is Best?
• Summary
Chapter 12. Building Positive Feelings
• Inappropriate Practices
• Intentional and Ever Present
• Techniques and Strategies
• Testing
• Understanding Feelings
• Learned Helplessness
• Concluding Thoughts
• Summary
Chapter 13. Assessing and Reporting Student Progress
• Why Assess?
• What to Assess?
• Alternative Assessment
• Evaluating Assessment Data
• Standardized Assessments
• Reporting and Grading
• Summary
Chapter 14. Continuing to Develop as a Teacher
• Stages of Teaching
• Techniques for Continuing to Improve as a Teacher
• Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teachers
• What Type of Teacher Will You Become?
• Parting Thoughts
• Summary
George Graham, PhD, is an award-winning university professor and public school physical education instructor who was named to the NASPE Hall of Fame in 2007. He is the author of Children Moving, currently in its ninth edition and used in more than 250 universities throughout the United States. Graham has spoken on the topic of positive physical education on CBS This Morning, CNN, and National Public Radio. He also has been cited in USA Today, the Harvard Review, and the Washington Post.
Eloise Elliott, PhD, is a Ware Distinguished Professor at West Virginia University, where she leads initiatives to improve the physical activity participation of children. She has developed and taught university physical education teaching courses and conducted teacher training. She developed and oversees a web-based resource to help teachers include physical activity in the pre-K-8 classroom. A former public school physical education teacher, Elliott was appointed to the national President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Science Board.
Steve Palmer, PhD, is associate dean at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff. His background includes 15 years in physical education teacher education and research. He also has taught elementary and middle school physical education. Palmer leads and coordinates NAU’s physical education teacher education program. He has published numerous papers related to physical education curriculum and teaching.
Three Keys to Motivating Youngsters
It’s common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels.
It's common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels. Successful teachers motivate children and adolescents by creating learning environments in which the tasks or activities are success oriented, autonomy supportive, and developmentally appropriate (Block, 1995; Hastie, Rudisill, & Wadsworth, 2013; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
Success Oriented
Failure, especially when we have never had much success, makes us want to quit trying. If we have never succeeded, there's no reason to believe that continuing to try, and failing, will eventually lead to improvement. This rationale is quite typical of young learners who have yet to make the connection between lots of practice and success (Lee, 2004). To motivate students to practice, the task needs to be one at which they can be successful - highly successful. The research literature, as well as common sense, suggests that when we're learning a new skill, success rates close to 80 percent are appropriate (Brophy & Good, 1986; Pellet & Harrison, 1996; Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
With experience and age, we start to make the connection between practice and expertise (Lee, 2004). For example, an adult might think, If I want to be a good skater, I will need to practice a lot. It will probably take months or even years. In contrast a child might think, I want to be a good skater. I tried it today. I fell down a lot. I can't skate.
To be a successful physical educator, you need to create and change tasks so that your students succeed at high rates. The variety of tasks described in chapter 4 provide the opportunity to accommodate a wide variety of skill levels in your class. You can also encourage your students to modify tasks on their own to make them easier or harder to better match their abilities. At the same time, discourage them from making social comparisons (Lee, 2004). Finally, try to make tasks fun so that your students enjoy doing them without necessarily realizing that they are leading to improvement. The following three examples, taken from actual classes, show how to design tasks so that youngsters can succeed.
Self-Adjusting Target Throwing
Each student has a beanbag and a cardboard box. Challenge them to throw the beanbag into the box but don't tell them how far away from the box to stand. Watch how they adjust the distance based on their ability. The less skilled stand closer to their boxes; the more skilled stand farther away. Several successful throws might result in students moving farther away; several failures might result in taking a few steps closer to the box. Notice, too, that the more highly skilled children tolerate a lower rate of success than the less-skilled children (Rogers, Ponish, & Sawyers, 1991). This example focuses on elementary school children, but it can also apply to adolescents. For example, when teaching volleyball, you can allow students to choose the spot from which they serve the ball; in soccer, you can have students set cone goals up on their own and thus self-adjust the size of the goal by how far apart the cones are.
Self-Adjusting Shampoo
One morning as I (GG) was showering, I read the label on the shampoo bottle. It claimed that the shampoo was self-adjusting - it would adjust its cleaning action to the particular needs of each person's hair. I thought, That's exactly what we need for our classes - self-adjusting tasks that change based on the abilities and interests of the students in the class!
Slanty Rope
Here's another example of designing a task to promote success. For elementary classes, set up two ropes on the floor in a slanty rope design (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). At one end, the ropes are close together. At the other end, the ropes are much farther apart. Challenge students to jump over the river (the ropes) without landing in the water. Observe how they choose the location at which they jump to match their ability to jump for distance - the less skilled jump the river at the narrower end, and the better jumpers jump at the wider end.
The slanty rope principle can also be used with middle and high school students. For example, a traverse climbing wall (students climb sideways with their feet never more than 3 feet [1 m] above the floor) has many holds. Low-skilled students can climb using any holds they like. More skillful students can be given specific routes marked with colored tape that use smaller and more difficult holds. Even the highest-skilled climbers can find appropriately challenging routes. At any time, students can choose a more easily accessible or larger hold.
The point is that a large range of task difficulty is available. Students have the option to choose where along the slanty rope to jump or which route is best for them for climbing.
Varied Basketball Goal Heights
A third example of students wanting to be successful can be observed when several basketball goals are set at various heights for elementary school children. If given a choice, many choose to play at the lowest goal, thereby increasing their chances for success. Equipment manufacturers have recognized this and now sell adjustable basketball goals.
You can apply the same principle with middle and high school students. For example, in a volleyball, lacrosse, or field hockey unit, give students a choice of leagues in which to sign up. Volleyball leagues can include recreation (modified rules such as allowing the volleyball to bounce, playing with a volley trainer, using a lower net, and serving from anywhere), city (no calling double hits, serving from anywhere, letting the server choose the ball to use), and professional (calling double hits, playing by official rules). Students choose the league that is best for them, and they can also move from league to league.
It's interesting to take any of the preceding examples and compare the involvement and interest of students when they have no choice (i.e., when the distance or height is the same for everyone). Typically, practice decreases and off-task behavior increases. The low-skilled student becomes frustrated; the higher-skilled ones become bored (Mandigo & Thompson, 1998). The purpose of designing and adjusting tasks so that students can be successful is to encourage them to continue trying. That is true in class and out of class. In math homework, for example, experts recommend that problems assigned to young learners allow them to succeed at a 100 percent success rate, thereby increasing their motivation to do the homework.
I (GG) wish I had had math teachers who provided math homework assignments at which I could have succeeded. My memories are still vivid of the frustration, leading to exasperation, when I could do only 2 of 10 math homework problems. I wonder how much that contributed to my feelings of incompetence in math today.
Obviously, not every task you design can be self-adjusting and allow students to be continually successful. The principle, however, is that success is fun and motivating - and you want them to feel good about their physical abilities. They will have plenty of opportunities to experience failure and frustration - you don't need to intentionally create them.
How Successful Are the Students?
One way to determine the success rate of your students is to use a coding form to provide objective evidence (figure 8.1). The form is easy to use; in fact, some children use it quite well (Wolfe & Sharpe, 1996). It is most effective, however, with practice attempts that are easily counted. Lessons emphasizing throwing, catching, kicking, and serving a volleyball are ideal. By counting the successful and unsuccessful tries for a low- and a higher-skilled student, you can obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of their success rates. Remember, however, that 80 percent is a general target and may not be the appropriate success rate for some students. Once again, observe and get to know your students. A youngster becoming off task is often an indication that the success rate isn't optimal and the task is either too hard or too easy.
Autonomy Supportive
In addition to creating success-oriented environments, you should try to find ways to help your students develop an intrinsic motivation for participating. This is called autonomy-supportive teaching.
Autonomy refers to a person's sense of control. We know that students who feel autonomous during physical education are more actively engaged in learning activities and are more physically active during physical education and outside of school (Bagøien & Halvari, 2005; Halvari et al., 2009). Teachers who are autonomy supportive display many of the pedagogical skills described in this book. Providing a motivating set induction that captures student interest (chapter 6), scaffolding instruction so that students see the relevance of what they are learning (chapter 6), and developing a safe learning environment with clear protocols and rules (chapter 2) are all characteristics of autonomy-supportive teaching. To create an autonomy-supportive environment, give your students the following:
- A variety of tasks
- Opportunities to make decisions about the tasks
- Feedback (private recognition and evaluation) of performance
- Self-paced instruction and choices of tasks
- Ways to measure personal improvement and avoid social comparisons
- Opportunities for experimentation and self-initiation
- Cooperative learning opportunities
An autonomy-supportive learning environment encourages students to develop a high sense of independence, thereby encouraging intrinsic motivation (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). You can help your students build and sustain intrinsic motivation by avoiding social comparisons, both with others in the class and with externally validated norms. Avoid contests that determine who can make the most shots, do the most sit-ups, or score the most points. Discourage your students from comparing their performances with state or national fitness test norms. Rather, invite them to compare their current and past performances to recognize how they are improving and to show them that practice and hard work eventually pay off (Alderman, Beighle, & Pangrazi, 2006; Lee, 2004; Rink, 2004; Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
Perhaps the emphasis on intrinsic motivation can best be understood when placed in the context of a popular activity such as jogging (Xiang, Chen, & Bruene, 2005). Most adults don't start jogging because they expect to win races or set records. They jog because they feel good about improving their fitness and perhaps losing weight. If they want to, they can chart their improvement using a wearable physical activity tracker (e.g., Fitbit, pedometer, GPS device, tracking app). If they were forced to run races and have their times published in the newspaper, we suspect many would quit jogging. From time to time, however, many choose to enter races. The important point is that they choose to enter races for their own reasons. They don't have to. Shouldn't children and adolescents have the same choices?
There is no way to prevent students from comparing their performances with those of others. They do compare accomplishments, especially the highly skilled. Nevertheless, you can encourage students to succeed on their own by downplaying comparisons and avoiding creating competitive situations.
As with virtually any endeavor, the higher-skilled seek extrinsic motivation by comparing themselves with others, typically through competition. You can make these opportunities available, but again, only for those who choose to compete.
Tech Tips: Tracking Participation
Use pedometers, MOVbands, Sqord Boosters, or some other cost-effective tool (approximately $20-$30 each) to record student participation. MOVbands and Sqord Boosters allow students to quickly upload their movements to a website that both you and they can monitor. You can set challenges for individual students or entire classes. Sqord Boosters allow students to create avatars who grow stronger as the students increase their own activity.
Ban the Spelling Bee
One of the most blatant violations of the idea that children should be allowed to choose whether they want to compete and have their performances compared with others is the spelling bee. For the few good spellers in a class, it's a marvelous competition. For the remainder of the students, who know they are not good spellers, not only is the spelling bee humiliating but it also publicly reinforces what they have been thinking all along: they can't spell - and now the whole class knows it (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). The United States has had spelling bees for years, culminating in a national competition every year in Washington, DC. Has this resulted in a nation of good spellers?
Developmentally Appropriate
A third characteristic of a motivating learning environment is that it reflects age-related and physical differences. An environment that is developmentally appropriate encourages students to work hard and remain on task (Graham et al., 1992; National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 2009; Stork & Sanders, 1996).
As children develop, they are motivated by different opportunities and experiences. Primary-grade youngsters, for example, are eager to please the teacher and are therefore motivated by teacher praise and encouragement. Observe any kindergarten class and you will hear children saying, "Watch me! Watch me!" all day long. Furthermore, if children haven't learned to remain in one location, teachers will continually be trailed by five-year-olds wanting them to say "Wonderful!" after every attempt they make to jump over a rope or throw a beanbag into a box.
As children grow older, the desire to please the teacher is accompanied (in some cases apparently replaced) by a desire to please their peers. They also refine their ability to distinguish between motor skill ability and effort (how hard they try) (Lee, 2004). Attention and respect from peers play an important role in the motivation of middle school youngsters. The opportunity to work in groups to design activities or solve problems is often motivating for adolescents who are interested in peer interaction. Examples include designing a game, dance, or movement sequence and making a video, perhaps to show to classmates (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
In addition to age-related differences (Garcia, 1994), skill level influences the type of support that is effective. Youngsters who are only minimally successful even when tasks are adjusted for them need lots of praise and encouragement to continue to work hard and to try. They also need help understanding that proficiency in motor skills requires a lot of appropriate practice (Rink, 2004).
Highly skilled students who receive satisfaction from succeeding at various tasks seem to be motivated by praise focused on the way they perform the task (sometimes the results), rather than by the fact that they are working hard. In fact, being praised for succeeding at tasks that are relatively easy for them might give highly skilled students the impression that PE is really for the poorly skilled. We believe that this occurs with many athletes who are not challenged in physical education classes. They receive a lot of praise for accomplishments that are much better than those of others in the class but that represent a relatively minimal effort on their part.
Strategies for Minimizing Off-Task Behavior
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems.
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems. Even if you have taught the behavior protocols presented in chapter 2, however, you are still going to have incidences of off-task behavior. Therefore, you need strategies that can minimize the misbehavior of students. Unfortunately, they are just strategies, not guarantees. Some of them succeed with some youngsters some of the time. We wish we knew foolproof strategies that work for all teachers all of the time, but we don't; no one does. Good teachers seem to have a repertoire of strategies that they use, sometimes consciously and sometimes without really thinking about them. They include back to the wall, proximity control, with-it-ness, selective ignoring, overlapping, learning names, and positive pinpointing.
Back to the Wall
One of the simplest strategies is referred to as back to the wall. Teachers use this technique for formative assessment (chapter 5) and also for behavior management. Standing on the outside of the boundaries (the wall in the gym or the edge of the playground) lets you see what is going on in a class. When you stand in the middle of a class, about 50 percent of the class is out of your sight; thus, you may not see off-task behavior until it has gone on for some time.
The ability to detect off-task behavior as soon as it begins appears to be a characteristic of successful teachers. Immediate detection seems to prevent the behavior from escalating. When the behavior persists for several minutes, several students might become involved. Thus, a relatively minor incident can escalate into a major incident (e.g., one student tries to wrestle a ball away from another). This is known as the ripple effect (Kounin, 1970). When you see the beginning of such an incident, you can quickly prevent it from escalating because your targeting and timing are appropriate. You can identify the students correctly and quickly, thus preventing the situation from developing into a crisis.
Proximity Control
One technique that can prevent the ball-taking episode just described from escalating is proximity control - simply walking in the direction of the off-task student to let her know that you see her. Giving her the look will let her know that she's off task.
Veteran teachers know what we mean by the look. It's a certain way a teacher looks at a youngster to say, "You're off task; now get back to work." Obviously, however, you need to be close enough so that the student can see your expressions.
Sometimes the look isn't even necessary. Simply standing by a group of students on the verge of becoming off task is often enough to let them know that you see them and expect them to remain focused.
Proximity control implies that you are moving around the gym. Early in their careers, teachers have a tendency to stand in one place. Although standing in one place may be more comfortable than moving around, it's not as effective. Virtually without exception, good teachers move about the classroom, the gym, and the outdoor space.
With-It-Ness
The strategies of back to the wall and proximity control give the class the impression that you have with-it-ness - it's like having eyes in the back of your head (Kounin, 1970). When he began his series of research studies on discipline, Kounin hypothesized that teachers whose students were well behaved and consistently on task were those who threatened them, basically scaring them into behaving. He discovered that this wasn't true. The teachers with the fewest discipline problems communicated to their classes in a calm and reassuring way that they knew what was going on in their classes, they knew the tricks, and therefore students shouldn't even bother to try them. By keeping their backs to the wall and quickly targeting youngsters tending toward off-task behavior, they convinced their students that indeed they were with it.
With It and Without It
Remembering my (GG) days in elementary school, I can recall a sixth-grade teacher who was particularly with it. She was friendly and warm, yet from the first day, we could tell that she wasn't about to let us get away with anything. It was uncanny how she could identify children who were off-task types and, with looks and proximity control, keep them from misbehaving much of that year. The next year, however, we had a teacher who was "without it"; the same class quickly escalated into a rowdy group of children who were continually yelled at and threatened, though without much success. I am sure we were difficult to teach that year. We were essentially the same children, but, among other things, the teacher was "without it."
Selective Ignoring
Recently, I (GG) watched a first-grade lesson focused on round, narrow, wide, and twisted shapes. At times the children were making shapes in their own space; at other times they were traveling around the gym in their shapes. Whenever the opportunity was given to travel, one of the children, Bryan, ran. My reaction and that of my college students who were also observing was to immediately want to stop Bryan from running. The teacher ignored him, however. As we watched, I realized that Bryan really wasn't bothering other children. In fact, they ignored him also. Another teacher might have considered Bryan's behavior off task; Bryan's teacher didn't. And, after watching the entire lesson, I think she was right. Bryan was one of those high-energy children - some might have labeled him hyperactive. He was doing what the teacher asked but at a fast speed. The teacher obviously saw him but chose to selectively ignore him. It was an effective strategy in that lesson.
Selective ignoring works when students have been helped to understand why a student looks or acts a certain way. The opportunity to learn to accept students who behave in ways outside of the norm has been one of the major advantages of mainstreaming in schools. When we observe students working with those with special needs, we are always warmed by their ability to understand the situation and their genuine willingness to help. This understanding doesn't happen automatically, however. Good teachers intentionally teach their classes to understand and work with special students.
Nick's Insight
When my (GG) oldest son, Nick, was in fourth grade, I remember talking to him about some of his classmates after I had observed his class. I commented on one boy who was off task constantly and obviously annoying the teacher. I said that the boy who was off task seemed to be a distraction to the class and a troublemaker. I expected Nick to agree. He surprised me, however, by providing me with one of those glimpses into how children view the world when he said: "Dad, it's not all his fault. The teacher doesn't understand him. He's really a good guy if you give him a chance. She never really gave him one." I try to remember Nick's insight when a child misbehaves in one of my classes.
Overlapping
Unlike back to the wall, which is an easily learned strategy, overlapping is a skill that is learned with practice. Overlapping is the ability to focus on several things at once and still maintain an intended direction.
As a teacher, you are continually required to deal simultaneously with several students or situations. For example, you may nod your head yes at the youngster who has to go to the bathroom; smile at the child who says "Watch me"; put your hand on the shoulder of the youngster who wants to talk to you to signal "Wait a second"; and continue to observe the whole class as you determine whether to change the task or continue it for several more minutes. Locke's vignette in chapter 1 is another illustration of the need to develop the ability to overlap.
Overlapping is a pedagogical skill learned through experience. It is critical because if you work with 30 or more students in a class, you will have to overlap at times to keep a lesson from coming to a complete stop. Obviously, establishing routines and protocols will minimize the need for overlapping, yet it is needed at times.
Tech Tips: ClassDojo
ClassDojo is a wonderful app that you can use to encourage your students, log classroom behavior, and engage parents and guardians. Compatible with any Apple or Android device, ClassDojo allows you to give behavior or skill feedback instantly to individual students and help them see their progress right away. Parents and guardians can see their children's behavior points on a daily basis, and you can even exchange messages with them through the app to keep them informed and engaged.
Learning Names
Learning students' names can be difficult, but it is possible even if you have 600 or more students. One of the frustrating aspects of teaching is attempting to get the attention of a student whose name you don't know. As you try to find out, you may halt the flow of the lesson as several youngsters volunteer the student's name and then stop moving to watch what you have to say to him. When you know a student's name, you can often speak it across the gym to let him know that you see him and offer praise or remind him to get on task.
Some teachers learn names with relative ease. For others it's a struggle. We have all heard of name-learning techniques (e.g., alliteration, using the name several times in conversation, having the students tell you their names when they enter and leave the gym, and taking photos of students) (Williams, 1995). PE Central (www.pecentral.org) provides a number of suggestions in the section "Tips for the Beginning Teacher." Increasingly, classroom teachers are making name tags for younger children who then wear them to PE until the teacher has time to learn their names. Learning names is even more challenging for teachers who work in schools with transient populations. Half of the youngsters they teach in September are gone in May, replaced by a new group. We wish we had a magical, instant solution to this challenge of learning several hundred names, but we don't. We do know, however, that it really helps to know students' names when trying to prevent off-task behavior.
Positive Pinpointing
Identifying one or more students and pointing them out to the rest of the class as modeling the desired behavior or skill is called pinpointing. This strategy is common in elementary schools. I like how Verenda and Tommy are standing quietly is an example of positive pinpointing. Our experience suggests that this technique is more effective with younger children who want to please the teacher. It can be overused, however. Some youngsters seem to ignore it because the teacher is constantly talking about how well someone is doing something. As with any of these strategies, pinpointing can work depending on the students, the way you use it, and how frequently you use it. Chapter 7 explains how to use pinpointing when teaching motor skills.
Many of these strategies or techniques seem to be innate characteristics of successful teachers. Although they are rarely taught or discussed, many teachers use them. But not all do - especially in the beginning of their careers. Beginning teachers are often anchored in the same location throughout their lessons, or fail to see students misbehave because their backs are turned. As with so many of the skills discussed in this book, it's easy to write about them and far more challenging to actually use them when teaching. We hope, however, that you will reflect on the subtle orchestration of teaching skills and strategies and their value for minimizing off-task behavior, whether you are a beginning or an experienced teacher (Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005). No matter how well you use these strategies, and others, some students will simply refuse to do what you ask (Timmreck, 1978). Such students are not off task; they have become discipline problems.
All teachers experience discipline problems in their classrooms from time to time. Some minimize the problems, however. What strategies do successful teachers use to minimize discipline problems? To begin with, they spend the first few days of the school year establishing the routines and teaching the management protocols described in chapter 2; they insist that the students learn these routines. They also use many of the strategies previously mentioned for minimizing off-task behavior. In addition, when inappropriate behavior occurs, good teachers examine their own performance. Is the lesson appropriate for the level of the student(s)? Has their behavior instigated student misbehavior? Have they engaged in negative interactions or differential treatment? Is the environment less than positive? Are they reactive rather than proactive?
Proactive or Reactive?
Proactive teachers focus on strategies to maintain or increase positive behavior, such as having established rules, planning appropriate lessons, and praising students who are following expectations (positive pinpointing). Proactive teachers try to avoid discipline problems before they happen. Ideally, we strive to be proactive!
Reactive teachers focus on strategies to stop inappropriate behavior once it has occurred, such as expressing dissatisfaction or imposing an appropriate consequence. Reactive teachers respond after an incident happens to try to avoid further discipline problems. We all must be reactive at times, and with a good discipline system in place, we know the consequences - and so do the students.
Save
Save
Save
Teaching Behavior Protocols
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
As with any teaching process, no single approach works for all teachers. However, teachers who create pleasant atmospheres seem to display certain attributes as they work on building their class environments. They are firm but warm while also being critically demanding. They also post their rules for classes to see and often discuss them so that students feel a certain degree of ownership.
Firm but Warm
At one time we believed that successful teachers threatened students: that is, that they scared them into being good. Today we know better (Bulger, Mohr, & Walls, 2002; Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005; Doyle, 1986; Fernandez-Balboa, 1990; Kounin, 1970). Successful teachers exhibit a certain degree of firmness: they mean what they say. At the same time, however, they are warm and caring toward the students. They don't want to frighten them, but they want them to know they mean business. Students quickly learn to discern whether teachers mean what they say. Good teachers mean what they say, and they exhibit it by not allowing their students to get away with not following the protocols. They don't get excited or hysterical or threaten, however. In calm, reassuring, firm ways, they simply and consistently communicate the message that things are going to be done a certain way and that not much else is going to happen until the protocols are learned. This is one of those skills used by effective teachers that is difficult to put into words. However, if you watched 10 teachers, you would quickly identify those who are firm but warm.
Critically Demanding
If we could write this section in flashing neon lights, we would, because this is an especially important teaching skill that makes a huge difference in the learning environment.
In addition to being firm but warm, effective teachers also are critically demanding. You can quickly recognize this quality when you see it. Teachers who are critically demanding have a built-in expectation that students follow the protocols, and they insist that they do. For example, they know how they want their students to enter the gym. When students enter that way, the lesson proceeds as planned. When they don't, these teachers don't accept their behavior. They insist (demand) that they go back and enter the gym the way they had practiced earlier.
This is especially difficult because, typically, you will want to get on with the lesson you have planned. It's hard to spend time having students go back and reenter the gym. In the long run, however, you will spend less time on these distracting events than if you hadn't spent the time reinforcing your expectations at the beginning of the year. One advantage for your students is that they know exactly what to expect. You can be consistent day after day because you know what is reasonable for your students and you expect that behavior of them.
One of the easiest ways to understand the quality of being critically demanding is to think back to when you were in high school. Did you have a curfew? What happened if you were late? If your parents or guardians were critically demanding, they followed through on the consequences you had discussed before (e.g., being grounded for a week or denied television). If your parents or guardians were not critically demanding, however, they likely let things slide and you knew that they really didn't mean what they said.
Rules - Clear, Positive, Posted
Posted rules also help with consistency. Rules are essentially brief reminders of the behavior protocols. Most teachers list five or six rules, state them in positive ways, and post them prominently (figure 2.1). Simply writing and posting them, however, is no guarantee they will be followed. They also must be practiced.
Physical Education Rules
Physical education rules might look like those in figure 2.1. One reason for posting rules, in addition to serving as reminders, is for the benefit of students new to the school. Posted rules allow you to briefly review the behavior protocols with new students. You may also video record classes in which you explained the behavior protocols and include student demonstrations. The video can then be made available to new students so that they can see exactly what is expected of them in physical education class.
Example of posted rules.
Used by permission of PE Central (pecentral.org), the premier website for physical education teachers. Our goal is to provide educational resources to teachers who, in turn, will help guide youngsters in the process of becoming physically active and healthy for a lifetime. PE Central is supported by S&S Worldwide (pe.ssww.com), a 110-year-old company dedicated to assisting teachers to motivate kids to play and learn using their innovative and educational products. http://pe.ssww.com/item/product-W12402/
Behavior videos are a good idea in places where teachers are often threatened with malpractice lawsuits. In this case, every new student should be required to view the video before participating in physical education. In extreme instances, teachers may quiz students (in writing or orally) or ask them to sign a copy of the rules, indicating that they have viewed the video. We also suggest that this behavior video be placed on the physical education section of the school website.
Locker Room Rules
Secondary programs frequently require students to change clothes in a locker room. You may need rules and protocols specific to the locker room. Here are some examples:
- Take pride in our school and keep the locker room CLEAN!
- Leave food, candy, gum, drinks, and cell phones in your locker or other space outside the gym or PE area.
- Act appropriately (keep your hands to yourself, no bad language).
- Be in the locker room when the bell rings.
- Enter and exit the locker room from the appropriate hallway.
- Dress at your locker.
- Be responsible for locking up all belongings and valuables.
Although these suggestions might seem extreme, teachers who have been involved in malpractice lawsuits will quickly recognize the benefit to posting such rules. This is especially important in schools with high rates of student turnover.
Some teachers send letters home to parents and guardians at the beginning of the school year outlining policies on dress for physical education (especially footwear), medical notes, and what the students will be learning in the coming year. These letters typically provide information about contacting the teacher if questions arise about classes, policies, or other issues (Hopple, 1998).
Developing Ownership
Rules (behavior protocols) are followed more closely when students, and parents and guardians for that matter, understand why they are necessary, and also when students have a sense of ownership of them. For this reason many teachers discuss rules with students to help them understand their importance. A video of students not following the rules can illustrate what happens when this occurs. (You will have no problem recruiting a class to help you make a video demonstrating all of the ways not to behave in the gym!) The video then becomes an excellent resource for involving students in discussions about why management protocols are important to have and follow.
In addition to sharing the rules with your students, provide the principal and classroom teachers with a copy of the rules. This is especially important if your school does not have a unified discipline plan (e.g., assertive discipline; see chapter 10). It might also be worthwhile to share the rules with parents and guardians, perhaps on the school website, especially if you plan to send notes home about students who do not follow the established behavior protocols. This will depend, however, on such factors as the philosophy of the school and the policies of the principal and the board of education.
The next chapters address many of the teaching skills effective physical educators use. The bottom line, however, is that if students do not practice the behavior protocols, as stated in the posted rules, until they become an understood and accepted way of doing business, then many of the pedagogical skills discussed later will have limited effect. Although it's not a lot of fun for you or your students to practice the behavior protocols that are critical to the development of a positive (enjoyable, fun, interesting) learning environment, it's absolutely necessary. If you want to enjoy teaching, spend time practicing the protocols. If you want to spend time nagging youngsters, skip the protocols and start trying to teach.
Three Keys to Motivating Youngsters
It’s common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels.
It's common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels. Successful teachers motivate children and adolescents by creating learning environments in which the tasks or activities are success oriented, autonomy supportive, and developmentally appropriate (Block, 1995; Hastie, Rudisill, & Wadsworth, 2013; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
Success Oriented
Failure, especially when we have never had much success, makes us want to quit trying. If we have never succeeded, there's no reason to believe that continuing to try, and failing, will eventually lead to improvement. This rationale is quite typical of young learners who have yet to make the connection between lots of practice and success (Lee, 2004). To motivate students to practice, the task needs to be one at which they can be successful - highly successful. The research literature, as well as common sense, suggests that when we're learning a new skill, success rates close to 80 percent are appropriate (Brophy & Good, 1986; Pellet & Harrison, 1996; Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
With experience and age, we start to make the connection between practice and expertise (Lee, 2004). For example, an adult might think, If I want to be a good skater, I will need to practice a lot. It will probably take months or even years. In contrast a child might think, I want to be a good skater. I tried it today. I fell down a lot. I can't skate.
To be a successful physical educator, you need to create and change tasks so that your students succeed at high rates. The variety of tasks described in chapter 4 provide the opportunity to accommodate a wide variety of skill levels in your class. You can also encourage your students to modify tasks on their own to make them easier or harder to better match their abilities. At the same time, discourage them from making social comparisons (Lee, 2004). Finally, try to make tasks fun so that your students enjoy doing them without necessarily realizing that they are leading to improvement. The following three examples, taken from actual classes, show how to design tasks so that youngsters can succeed.
Self-Adjusting Target Throwing
Each student has a beanbag and a cardboard box. Challenge them to throw the beanbag into the box but don't tell them how far away from the box to stand. Watch how they adjust the distance based on their ability. The less skilled stand closer to their boxes; the more skilled stand farther away. Several successful throws might result in students moving farther away; several failures might result in taking a few steps closer to the box. Notice, too, that the more highly skilled children tolerate a lower rate of success than the less-skilled children (Rogers, Ponish, & Sawyers, 1991). This example focuses on elementary school children, but it can also apply to adolescents. For example, when teaching volleyball, you can allow students to choose the spot from which they serve the ball; in soccer, you can have students set cone goals up on their own and thus self-adjust the size of the goal by how far apart the cones are.
Self-Adjusting Shampoo
One morning as I (GG) was showering, I read the label on the shampoo bottle. It claimed that the shampoo was self-adjusting - it would adjust its cleaning action to the particular needs of each person's hair. I thought, That's exactly what we need for our classes - self-adjusting tasks that change based on the abilities and interests of the students in the class!
Slanty Rope
Here's another example of designing a task to promote success. For elementary classes, set up two ropes on the floor in a slanty rope design (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). At one end, the ropes are close together. At the other end, the ropes are much farther apart. Challenge students to jump over the river (the ropes) without landing in the water. Observe how they choose the location at which they jump to match their ability to jump for distance - the less skilled jump the river at the narrower end, and the better jumpers jump at the wider end.
The slanty rope principle can also be used with middle and high school students. For example, a traverse climbing wall (students climb sideways with their feet never more than 3 feet [1 m] above the floor) has many holds. Low-skilled students can climb using any holds they like. More skillful students can be given specific routes marked with colored tape that use smaller and more difficult holds. Even the highest-skilled climbers can find appropriately challenging routes. At any time, students can choose a more easily accessible or larger hold.
The point is that a large range of task difficulty is available. Students have the option to choose where along the slanty rope to jump or which route is best for them for climbing.
Varied Basketball Goal Heights
A third example of students wanting to be successful can be observed when several basketball goals are set at various heights for elementary school children. If given a choice, many choose to play at the lowest goal, thereby increasing their chances for success. Equipment manufacturers have recognized this and now sell adjustable basketball goals.
You can apply the same principle with middle and high school students. For example, in a volleyball, lacrosse, or field hockey unit, give students a choice of leagues in which to sign up. Volleyball leagues can include recreation (modified rules such as allowing the volleyball to bounce, playing with a volley trainer, using a lower net, and serving from anywhere), city (no calling double hits, serving from anywhere, letting the server choose the ball to use), and professional (calling double hits, playing by official rules). Students choose the league that is best for them, and they can also move from league to league.
It's interesting to take any of the preceding examples and compare the involvement and interest of students when they have no choice (i.e., when the distance or height is the same for everyone). Typically, practice decreases and off-task behavior increases. The low-skilled student becomes frustrated; the higher-skilled ones become bored (Mandigo & Thompson, 1998). The purpose of designing and adjusting tasks so that students can be successful is to encourage them to continue trying. That is true in class and out of class. In math homework, for example, experts recommend that problems assigned to young learners allow them to succeed at a 100 percent success rate, thereby increasing their motivation to do the homework.
I (GG) wish I had had math teachers who provided math homework assignments at which I could have succeeded. My memories are still vivid of the frustration, leading to exasperation, when I could do only 2 of 10 math homework problems. I wonder how much that contributed to my feelings of incompetence in math today.
Obviously, not every task you design can be self-adjusting and allow students to be continually successful. The principle, however, is that success is fun and motivating - and you want them to feel good about their physical abilities. They will have plenty of opportunities to experience failure and frustration - you don't need to intentionally create them.
How Successful Are the Students?
One way to determine the success rate of your students is to use a coding form to provide objective evidence (figure 8.1). The form is easy to use; in fact, some children use it quite well (Wolfe & Sharpe, 1996). It is most effective, however, with practice attempts that are easily counted. Lessons emphasizing throwing, catching, kicking, and serving a volleyball are ideal. By counting the successful and unsuccessful tries for a low- and a higher-skilled student, you can obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of their success rates. Remember, however, that 80 percent is a general target and may not be the appropriate success rate for some students. Once again, observe and get to know your students. A youngster becoming off task is often an indication that the success rate isn't optimal and the task is either too hard or too easy.
Autonomy Supportive
In addition to creating success-oriented environments, you should try to find ways to help your students develop an intrinsic motivation for participating. This is called autonomy-supportive teaching.
Autonomy refers to a person's sense of control. We know that students who feel autonomous during physical education are more actively engaged in learning activities and are more physically active during physical education and outside of school (Bagøien & Halvari, 2005; Halvari et al., 2009). Teachers who are autonomy supportive display many of the pedagogical skills described in this book. Providing a motivating set induction that captures student interest (chapter 6), scaffolding instruction so that students see the relevance of what they are learning (chapter 6), and developing a safe learning environment with clear protocols and rules (chapter 2) are all characteristics of autonomy-supportive teaching. To create an autonomy-supportive environment, give your students the following:
- A variety of tasks
- Opportunities to make decisions about the tasks
- Feedback (private recognition and evaluation) of performance
- Self-paced instruction and choices of tasks
- Ways to measure personal improvement and avoid social comparisons
- Opportunities for experimentation and self-initiation
- Cooperative learning opportunities
An autonomy-supportive learning environment encourages students to develop a high sense of independence, thereby encouraging intrinsic motivation (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). You can help your students build and sustain intrinsic motivation by avoiding social comparisons, both with others in the class and with externally validated norms. Avoid contests that determine who can make the most shots, do the most sit-ups, or score the most points. Discourage your students from comparing their performances with state or national fitness test norms. Rather, invite them to compare their current and past performances to recognize how they are improving and to show them that practice and hard work eventually pay off (Alderman, Beighle, & Pangrazi, 2006; Lee, 2004; Rink, 2004; Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
Perhaps the emphasis on intrinsic motivation can best be understood when placed in the context of a popular activity such as jogging (Xiang, Chen, & Bruene, 2005). Most adults don't start jogging because they expect to win races or set records. They jog because they feel good about improving their fitness and perhaps losing weight. If they want to, they can chart their improvement using a wearable physical activity tracker (e.g., Fitbit, pedometer, GPS device, tracking app). If they were forced to run races and have their times published in the newspaper, we suspect many would quit jogging. From time to time, however, many choose to enter races. The important point is that they choose to enter races for their own reasons. They don't have to. Shouldn't children and adolescents have the same choices?
There is no way to prevent students from comparing their performances with those of others. They do compare accomplishments, especially the highly skilled. Nevertheless, you can encourage students to succeed on their own by downplaying comparisons and avoiding creating competitive situations.
As with virtually any endeavor, the higher-skilled seek extrinsic motivation by comparing themselves with others, typically through competition. You can make these opportunities available, but again, only for those who choose to compete.
Tech Tips: Tracking Participation
Use pedometers, MOVbands, Sqord Boosters, or some other cost-effective tool (approximately $20-$30 each) to record student participation. MOVbands and Sqord Boosters allow students to quickly upload their movements to a website that both you and they can monitor. You can set challenges for individual students or entire classes. Sqord Boosters allow students to create avatars who grow stronger as the students increase their own activity.
Ban the Spelling Bee
One of the most blatant violations of the idea that children should be allowed to choose whether they want to compete and have their performances compared with others is the spelling bee. For the few good spellers in a class, it's a marvelous competition. For the remainder of the students, who know they are not good spellers, not only is the spelling bee humiliating but it also publicly reinforces what they have been thinking all along: they can't spell - and now the whole class knows it (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). The United States has had spelling bees for years, culminating in a national competition every year in Washington, DC. Has this resulted in a nation of good spellers?
Developmentally Appropriate
A third characteristic of a motivating learning environment is that it reflects age-related and physical differences. An environment that is developmentally appropriate encourages students to work hard and remain on task (Graham et al., 1992; National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 2009; Stork & Sanders, 1996).
As children develop, they are motivated by different opportunities and experiences. Primary-grade youngsters, for example, are eager to please the teacher and are therefore motivated by teacher praise and encouragement. Observe any kindergarten class and you will hear children saying, "Watch me! Watch me!" all day long. Furthermore, if children haven't learned to remain in one location, teachers will continually be trailed by five-year-olds wanting them to say "Wonderful!" after every attempt they make to jump over a rope or throw a beanbag into a box.
As children grow older, the desire to please the teacher is accompanied (in some cases apparently replaced) by a desire to please their peers. They also refine their ability to distinguish between motor skill ability and effort (how hard they try) (Lee, 2004). Attention and respect from peers play an important role in the motivation of middle school youngsters. The opportunity to work in groups to design activities or solve problems is often motivating for adolescents who are interested in peer interaction. Examples include designing a game, dance, or movement sequence and making a video, perhaps to show to classmates (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
In addition to age-related differences (Garcia, 1994), skill level influences the type of support that is effective. Youngsters who are only minimally successful even when tasks are adjusted for them need lots of praise and encouragement to continue to work hard and to try. They also need help understanding that proficiency in motor skills requires a lot of appropriate practice (Rink, 2004).
Highly skilled students who receive satisfaction from succeeding at various tasks seem to be motivated by praise focused on the way they perform the task (sometimes the results), rather than by the fact that they are working hard. In fact, being praised for succeeding at tasks that are relatively easy for them might give highly skilled students the impression that PE is really for the poorly skilled. We believe that this occurs with many athletes who are not challenged in physical education classes. They receive a lot of praise for accomplishments that are much better than those of others in the class but that represent a relatively minimal effort on their part.
Strategies for Minimizing Off-Task Behavior
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems.
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems. Even if you have taught the behavior protocols presented in chapter 2, however, you are still going to have incidences of off-task behavior. Therefore, you need strategies that can minimize the misbehavior of students. Unfortunately, they are just strategies, not guarantees. Some of them succeed with some youngsters some of the time. We wish we knew foolproof strategies that work for all teachers all of the time, but we don't; no one does. Good teachers seem to have a repertoire of strategies that they use, sometimes consciously and sometimes without really thinking about them. They include back to the wall, proximity control, with-it-ness, selective ignoring, overlapping, learning names, and positive pinpointing.
Back to the Wall
One of the simplest strategies is referred to as back to the wall. Teachers use this technique for formative assessment (chapter 5) and also for behavior management. Standing on the outside of the boundaries (the wall in the gym or the edge of the playground) lets you see what is going on in a class. When you stand in the middle of a class, about 50 percent of the class is out of your sight; thus, you may not see off-task behavior until it has gone on for some time.
The ability to detect off-task behavior as soon as it begins appears to be a characteristic of successful teachers. Immediate detection seems to prevent the behavior from escalating. When the behavior persists for several minutes, several students might become involved. Thus, a relatively minor incident can escalate into a major incident (e.g., one student tries to wrestle a ball away from another). This is known as the ripple effect (Kounin, 1970). When you see the beginning of such an incident, you can quickly prevent it from escalating because your targeting and timing are appropriate. You can identify the students correctly and quickly, thus preventing the situation from developing into a crisis.
Proximity Control
One technique that can prevent the ball-taking episode just described from escalating is proximity control - simply walking in the direction of the off-task student to let her know that you see her. Giving her the look will let her know that she's off task.
Veteran teachers know what we mean by the look. It's a certain way a teacher looks at a youngster to say, "You're off task; now get back to work." Obviously, however, you need to be close enough so that the student can see your expressions.
Sometimes the look isn't even necessary. Simply standing by a group of students on the verge of becoming off task is often enough to let them know that you see them and expect them to remain focused.
Proximity control implies that you are moving around the gym. Early in their careers, teachers have a tendency to stand in one place. Although standing in one place may be more comfortable than moving around, it's not as effective. Virtually without exception, good teachers move about the classroom, the gym, and the outdoor space.
With-It-Ness
The strategies of back to the wall and proximity control give the class the impression that you have with-it-ness - it's like having eyes in the back of your head (Kounin, 1970). When he began his series of research studies on discipline, Kounin hypothesized that teachers whose students were well behaved and consistently on task were those who threatened them, basically scaring them into behaving. He discovered that this wasn't true. The teachers with the fewest discipline problems communicated to their classes in a calm and reassuring way that they knew what was going on in their classes, they knew the tricks, and therefore students shouldn't even bother to try them. By keeping their backs to the wall and quickly targeting youngsters tending toward off-task behavior, they convinced their students that indeed they were with it.
With It and Without It
Remembering my (GG) days in elementary school, I can recall a sixth-grade teacher who was particularly with it. She was friendly and warm, yet from the first day, we could tell that she wasn't about to let us get away with anything. It was uncanny how she could identify children who were off-task types and, with looks and proximity control, keep them from misbehaving much of that year. The next year, however, we had a teacher who was "without it"; the same class quickly escalated into a rowdy group of children who were continually yelled at and threatened, though without much success. I am sure we were difficult to teach that year. We were essentially the same children, but, among other things, the teacher was "without it."
Selective Ignoring
Recently, I (GG) watched a first-grade lesson focused on round, narrow, wide, and twisted shapes. At times the children were making shapes in their own space; at other times they were traveling around the gym in their shapes. Whenever the opportunity was given to travel, one of the children, Bryan, ran. My reaction and that of my college students who were also observing was to immediately want to stop Bryan from running. The teacher ignored him, however. As we watched, I realized that Bryan really wasn't bothering other children. In fact, they ignored him also. Another teacher might have considered Bryan's behavior off task; Bryan's teacher didn't. And, after watching the entire lesson, I think she was right. Bryan was one of those high-energy children - some might have labeled him hyperactive. He was doing what the teacher asked but at a fast speed. The teacher obviously saw him but chose to selectively ignore him. It was an effective strategy in that lesson.
Selective ignoring works when students have been helped to understand why a student looks or acts a certain way. The opportunity to learn to accept students who behave in ways outside of the norm has been one of the major advantages of mainstreaming in schools. When we observe students working with those with special needs, we are always warmed by their ability to understand the situation and their genuine willingness to help. This understanding doesn't happen automatically, however. Good teachers intentionally teach their classes to understand and work with special students.
Nick's Insight
When my (GG) oldest son, Nick, was in fourth grade, I remember talking to him about some of his classmates after I had observed his class. I commented on one boy who was off task constantly and obviously annoying the teacher. I said that the boy who was off task seemed to be a distraction to the class and a troublemaker. I expected Nick to agree. He surprised me, however, by providing me with one of those glimpses into how children view the world when he said: "Dad, it's not all his fault. The teacher doesn't understand him. He's really a good guy if you give him a chance. She never really gave him one." I try to remember Nick's insight when a child misbehaves in one of my classes.
Overlapping
Unlike back to the wall, which is an easily learned strategy, overlapping is a skill that is learned with practice. Overlapping is the ability to focus on several things at once and still maintain an intended direction.
As a teacher, you are continually required to deal simultaneously with several students or situations. For example, you may nod your head yes at the youngster who has to go to the bathroom; smile at the child who says "Watch me"; put your hand on the shoulder of the youngster who wants to talk to you to signal "Wait a second"; and continue to observe the whole class as you determine whether to change the task or continue it for several more minutes. Locke's vignette in chapter 1 is another illustration of the need to develop the ability to overlap.
Overlapping is a pedagogical skill learned through experience. It is critical because if you work with 30 or more students in a class, you will have to overlap at times to keep a lesson from coming to a complete stop. Obviously, establishing routines and protocols will minimize the need for overlapping, yet it is needed at times.
Tech Tips: ClassDojo
ClassDojo is a wonderful app that you can use to encourage your students, log classroom behavior, and engage parents and guardians. Compatible with any Apple or Android device, ClassDojo allows you to give behavior or skill feedback instantly to individual students and help them see their progress right away. Parents and guardians can see their children's behavior points on a daily basis, and you can even exchange messages with them through the app to keep them informed and engaged.
Learning Names
Learning students' names can be difficult, but it is possible even if you have 600 or more students. One of the frustrating aspects of teaching is attempting to get the attention of a student whose name you don't know. As you try to find out, you may halt the flow of the lesson as several youngsters volunteer the student's name and then stop moving to watch what you have to say to him. When you know a student's name, you can often speak it across the gym to let him know that you see him and offer praise or remind him to get on task.
Some teachers learn names with relative ease. For others it's a struggle. We have all heard of name-learning techniques (e.g., alliteration, using the name several times in conversation, having the students tell you their names when they enter and leave the gym, and taking photos of students) (Williams, 1995). PE Central (www.pecentral.org) provides a number of suggestions in the section "Tips for the Beginning Teacher." Increasingly, classroom teachers are making name tags for younger children who then wear them to PE until the teacher has time to learn their names. Learning names is even more challenging for teachers who work in schools with transient populations. Half of the youngsters they teach in September are gone in May, replaced by a new group. We wish we had a magical, instant solution to this challenge of learning several hundred names, but we don't. We do know, however, that it really helps to know students' names when trying to prevent off-task behavior.
Positive Pinpointing
Identifying one or more students and pointing them out to the rest of the class as modeling the desired behavior or skill is called pinpointing. This strategy is common in elementary schools. I like how Verenda and Tommy are standing quietly is an example of positive pinpointing. Our experience suggests that this technique is more effective with younger children who want to please the teacher. It can be overused, however. Some youngsters seem to ignore it because the teacher is constantly talking about how well someone is doing something. As with any of these strategies, pinpointing can work depending on the students, the way you use it, and how frequently you use it. Chapter 7 explains how to use pinpointing when teaching motor skills.
Many of these strategies or techniques seem to be innate characteristics of successful teachers. Although they are rarely taught or discussed, many teachers use them. But not all do - especially in the beginning of their careers. Beginning teachers are often anchored in the same location throughout their lessons, or fail to see students misbehave because their backs are turned. As with so many of the skills discussed in this book, it's easy to write about them and far more challenging to actually use them when teaching. We hope, however, that you will reflect on the subtle orchestration of teaching skills and strategies and their value for minimizing off-task behavior, whether you are a beginning or an experienced teacher (Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005). No matter how well you use these strategies, and others, some students will simply refuse to do what you ask (Timmreck, 1978). Such students are not off task; they have become discipline problems.
All teachers experience discipline problems in their classrooms from time to time. Some minimize the problems, however. What strategies do successful teachers use to minimize discipline problems? To begin with, they spend the first few days of the school year establishing the routines and teaching the management protocols described in chapter 2; they insist that the students learn these routines. They also use many of the strategies previously mentioned for minimizing off-task behavior. In addition, when inappropriate behavior occurs, good teachers examine their own performance. Is the lesson appropriate for the level of the student(s)? Has their behavior instigated student misbehavior? Have they engaged in negative interactions or differential treatment? Is the environment less than positive? Are they reactive rather than proactive?
Proactive or Reactive?
Proactive teachers focus on strategies to maintain or increase positive behavior, such as having established rules, planning appropriate lessons, and praising students who are following expectations (positive pinpointing). Proactive teachers try to avoid discipline problems before they happen. Ideally, we strive to be proactive!
Reactive teachers focus on strategies to stop inappropriate behavior once it has occurred, such as expressing dissatisfaction or imposing an appropriate consequence. Reactive teachers respond after an incident happens to try to avoid further discipline problems. We all must be reactive at times, and with a good discipline system in place, we know the consequences - and so do the students.
Save
Save
Save
Teaching Behavior Protocols
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
As with any teaching process, no single approach works for all teachers. However, teachers who create pleasant atmospheres seem to display certain attributes as they work on building their class environments. They are firm but warm while also being critically demanding. They also post their rules for classes to see and often discuss them so that students feel a certain degree of ownership.
Firm but Warm
At one time we believed that successful teachers threatened students: that is, that they scared them into being good. Today we know better (Bulger, Mohr, & Walls, 2002; Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005; Doyle, 1986; Fernandez-Balboa, 1990; Kounin, 1970). Successful teachers exhibit a certain degree of firmness: they mean what they say. At the same time, however, they are warm and caring toward the students. They don't want to frighten them, but they want them to know they mean business. Students quickly learn to discern whether teachers mean what they say. Good teachers mean what they say, and they exhibit it by not allowing their students to get away with not following the protocols. They don't get excited or hysterical or threaten, however. In calm, reassuring, firm ways, they simply and consistently communicate the message that things are going to be done a certain way and that not much else is going to happen until the protocols are learned. This is one of those skills used by effective teachers that is difficult to put into words. However, if you watched 10 teachers, you would quickly identify those who are firm but warm.
Critically Demanding
If we could write this section in flashing neon lights, we would, because this is an especially important teaching skill that makes a huge difference in the learning environment.
In addition to being firm but warm, effective teachers also are critically demanding. You can quickly recognize this quality when you see it. Teachers who are critically demanding have a built-in expectation that students follow the protocols, and they insist that they do. For example, they know how they want their students to enter the gym. When students enter that way, the lesson proceeds as planned. When they don't, these teachers don't accept their behavior. They insist (demand) that they go back and enter the gym the way they had practiced earlier.
This is especially difficult because, typically, you will want to get on with the lesson you have planned. It's hard to spend time having students go back and reenter the gym. In the long run, however, you will spend less time on these distracting events than if you hadn't spent the time reinforcing your expectations at the beginning of the year. One advantage for your students is that they know exactly what to expect. You can be consistent day after day because you know what is reasonable for your students and you expect that behavior of them.
One of the easiest ways to understand the quality of being critically demanding is to think back to when you were in high school. Did you have a curfew? What happened if you were late? If your parents or guardians were critically demanding, they followed through on the consequences you had discussed before (e.g., being grounded for a week or denied television). If your parents or guardians were not critically demanding, however, they likely let things slide and you knew that they really didn't mean what they said.
Rules - Clear, Positive, Posted
Posted rules also help with consistency. Rules are essentially brief reminders of the behavior protocols. Most teachers list five or six rules, state them in positive ways, and post them prominently (figure 2.1). Simply writing and posting them, however, is no guarantee they will be followed. They also must be practiced.
Physical Education Rules
Physical education rules might look like those in figure 2.1. One reason for posting rules, in addition to serving as reminders, is for the benefit of students new to the school. Posted rules allow you to briefly review the behavior protocols with new students. You may also video record classes in which you explained the behavior protocols and include student demonstrations. The video can then be made available to new students so that they can see exactly what is expected of them in physical education class.
Example of posted rules.
Used by permission of PE Central (pecentral.org), the premier website for physical education teachers. Our goal is to provide educational resources to teachers who, in turn, will help guide youngsters in the process of becoming physically active and healthy for a lifetime. PE Central is supported by S&S Worldwide (pe.ssww.com), a 110-year-old company dedicated to assisting teachers to motivate kids to play and learn using their innovative and educational products. http://pe.ssww.com/item/product-W12402/
Behavior videos are a good idea in places where teachers are often threatened with malpractice lawsuits. In this case, every new student should be required to view the video before participating in physical education. In extreme instances, teachers may quiz students (in writing or orally) or ask them to sign a copy of the rules, indicating that they have viewed the video. We also suggest that this behavior video be placed on the physical education section of the school website.
Locker Room Rules
Secondary programs frequently require students to change clothes in a locker room. You may need rules and protocols specific to the locker room. Here are some examples:
- Take pride in our school and keep the locker room CLEAN!
- Leave food, candy, gum, drinks, and cell phones in your locker or other space outside the gym or PE area.
- Act appropriately (keep your hands to yourself, no bad language).
- Be in the locker room when the bell rings.
- Enter and exit the locker room from the appropriate hallway.
- Dress at your locker.
- Be responsible for locking up all belongings and valuables.
Although these suggestions might seem extreme, teachers who have been involved in malpractice lawsuits will quickly recognize the benefit to posting such rules. This is especially important in schools with high rates of student turnover.
Some teachers send letters home to parents and guardians at the beginning of the school year outlining policies on dress for physical education (especially footwear), medical notes, and what the students will be learning in the coming year. These letters typically provide information about contacting the teacher if questions arise about classes, policies, or other issues (Hopple, 1998).
Developing Ownership
Rules (behavior protocols) are followed more closely when students, and parents and guardians for that matter, understand why they are necessary, and also when students have a sense of ownership of them. For this reason many teachers discuss rules with students to help them understand their importance. A video of students not following the rules can illustrate what happens when this occurs. (You will have no problem recruiting a class to help you make a video demonstrating all of the ways not to behave in the gym!) The video then becomes an excellent resource for involving students in discussions about why management protocols are important to have and follow.
In addition to sharing the rules with your students, provide the principal and classroom teachers with a copy of the rules. This is especially important if your school does not have a unified discipline plan (e.g., assertive discipline; see chapter 10). It might also be worthwhile to share the rules with parents and guardians, perhaps on the school website, especially if you plan to send notes home about students who do not follow the established behavior protocols. This will depend, however, on such factors as the philosophy of the school and the policies of the principal and the board of education.
The next chapters address many of the teaching skills effective physical educators use. The bottom line, however, is that if students do not practice the behavior protocols, as stated in the posted rules, until they become an understood and accepted way of doing business, then many of the pedagogical skills discussed later will have limited effect. Although it's not a lot of fun for you or your students to practice the behavior protocols that are critical to the development of a positive (enjoyable, fun, interesting) learning environment, it's absolutely necessary. If you want to enjoy teaching, spend time practicing the protocols. If you want to spend time nagging youngsters, skip the protocols and start trying to teach.
Three Keys to Motivating Youngsters
It’s common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels.
It's common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels. Successful teachers motivate children and adolescents by creating learning environments in which the tasks or activities are success oriented, autonomy supportive, and developmentally appropriate (Block, 1995; Hastie, Rudisill, & Wadsworth, 2013; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
Success Oriented
Failure, especially when we have never had much success, makes us want to quit trying. If we have never succeeded, there's no reason to believe that continuing to try, and failing, will eventually lead to improvement. This rationale is quite typical of young learners who have yet to make the connection between lots of practice and success (Lee, 2004). To motivate students to practice, the task needs to be one at which they can be successful - highly successful. The research literature, as well as common sense, suggests that when we're learning a new skill, success rates close to 80 percent are appropriate (Brophy & Good, 1986; Pellet & Harrison, 1996; Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
With experience and age, we start to make the connection between practice and expertise (Lee, 2004). For example, an adult might think, If I want to be a good skater, I will need to practice a lot. It will probably take months or even years. In contrast a child might think, I want to be a good skater. I tried it today. I fell down a lot. I can't skate.
To be a successful physical educator, you need to create and change tasks so that your students succeed at high rates. The variety of tasks described in chapter 4 provide the opportunity to accommodate a wide variety of skill levels in your class. You can also encourage your students to modify tasks on their own to make them easier or harder to better match their abilities. At the same time, discourage them from making social comparisons (Lee, 2004). Finally, try to make tasks fun so that your students enjoy doing them without necessarily realizing that they are leading to improvement. The following three examples, taken from actual classes, show how to design tasks so that youngsters can succeed.
Self-Adjusting Target Throwing
Each student has a beanbag and a cardboard box. Challenge them to throw the beanbag into the box but don't tell them how far away from the box to stand. Watch how they adjust the distance based on their ability. The less skilled stand closer to their boxes; the more skilled stand farther away. Several successful throws might result in students moving farther away; several failures might result in taking a few steps closer to the box. Notice, too, that the more highly skilled children tolerate a lower rate of success than the less-skilled children (Rogers, Ponish, & Sawyers, 1991). This example focuses on elementary school children, but it can also apply to adolescents. For example, when teaching volleyball, you can allow students to choose the spot from which they serve the ball; in soccer, you can have students set cone goals up on their own and thus self-adjust the size of the goal by how far apart the cones are.
Self-Adjusting Shampoo
One morning as I (GG) was showering, I read the label on the shampoo bottle. It claimed that the shampoo was self-adjusting - it would adjust its cleaning action to the particular needs of each person's hair. I thought, That's exactly what we need for our classes - self-adjusting tasks that change based on the abilities and interests of the students in the class!
Slanty Rope
Here's another example of designing a task to promote success. For elementary classes, set up two ropes on the floor in a slanty rope design (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). At one end, the ropes are close together. At the other end, the ropes are much farther apart. Challenge students to jump over the river (the ropes) without landing in the water. Observe how they choose the location at which they jump to match their ability to jump for distance - the less skilled jump the river at the narrower end, and the better jumpers jump at the wider end.
The slanty rope principle can also be used with middle and high school students. For example, a traverse climbing wall (students climb sideways with their feet never more than 3 feet [1 m] above the floor) has many holds. Low-skilled students can climb using any holds they like. More skillful students can be given specific routes marked with colored tape that use smaller and more difficult holds. Even the highest-skilled climbers can find appropriately challenging routes. At any time, students can choose a more easily accessible or larger hold.
The point is that a large range of task difficulty is available. Students have the option to choose where along the slanty rope to jump or which route is best for them for climbing.
Varied Basketball Goal Heights
A third example of students wanting to be successful can be observed when several basketball goals are set at various heights for elementary school children. If given a choice, many choose to play at the lowest goal, thereby increasing their chances for success. Equipment manufacturers have recognized this and now sell adjustable basketball goals.
You can apply the same principle with middle and high school students. For example, in a volleyball, lacrosse, or field hockey unit, give students a choice of leagues in which to sign up. Volleyball leagues can include recreation (modified rules such as allowing the volleyball to bounce, playing with a volley trainer, using a lower net, and serving from anywhere), city (no calling double hits, serving from anywhere, letting the server choose the ball to use), and professional (calling double hits, playing by official rules). Students choose the league that is best for them, and they can also move from league to league.
It's interesting to take any of the preceding examples and compare the involvement and interest of students when they have no choice (i.e., when the distance or height is the same for everyone). Typically, practice decreases and off-task behavior increases. The low-skilled student becomes frustrated; the higher-skilled ones become bored (Mandigo & Thompson, 1998). The purpose of designing and adjusting tasks so that students can be successful is to encourage them to continue trying. That is true in class and out of class. In math homework, for example, experts recommend that problems assigned to young learners allow them to succeed at a 100 percent success rate, thereby increasing their motivation to do the homework.
I (GG) wish I had had math teachers who provided math homework assignments at which I could have succeeded. My memories are still vivid of the frustration, leading to exasperation, when I could do only 2 of 10 math homework problems. I wonder how much that contributed to my feelings of incompetence in math today.
Obviously, not every task you design can be self-adjusting and allow students to be continually successful. The principle, however, is that success is fun and motivating - and you want them to feel good about their physical abilities. They will have plenty of opportunities to experience failure and frustration - you don't need to intentionally create them.
How Successful Are the Students?
One way to determine the success rate of your students is to use a coding form to provide objective evidence (figure 8.1). The form is easy to use; in fact, some children use it quite well (Wolfe & Sharpe, 1996). It is most effective, however, with practice attempts that are easily counted. Lessons emphasizing throwing, catching, kicking, and serving a volleyball are ideal. By counting the successful and unsuccessful tries for a low- and a higher-skilled student, you can obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of their success rates. Remember, however, that 80 percent is a general target and may not be the appropriate success rate for some students. Once again, observe and get to know your students. A youngster becoming off task is often an indication that the success rate isn't optimal and the task is either too hard or too easy.
Autonomy Supportive
In addition to creating success-oriented environments, you should try to find ways to help your students develop an intrinsic motivation for participating. This is called autonomy-supportive teaching.
Autonomy refers to a person's sense of control. We know that students who feel autonomous during physical education are more actively engaged in learning activities and are more physically active during physical education and outside of school (Bagøien & Halvari, 2005; Halvari et al., 2009). Teachers who are autonomy supportive display many of the pedagogical skills described in this book. Providing a motivating set induction that captures student interest (chapter 6), scaffolding instruction so that students see the relevance of what they are learning (chapter 6), and developing a safe learning environment with clear protocols and rules (chapter 2) are all characteristics of autonomy-supportive teaching. To create an autonomy-supportive environment, give your students the following:
- A variety of tasks
- Opportunities to make decisions about the tasks
- Feedback (private recognition and evaluation) of performance
- Self-paced instruction and choices of tasks
- Ways to measure personal improvement and avoid social comparisons
- Opportunities for experimentation and self-initiation
- Cooperative learning opportunities
An autonomy-supportive learning environment encourages students to develop a high sense of independence, thereby encouraging intrinsic motivation (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). You can help your students build and sustain intrinsic motivation by avoiding social comparisons, both with others in the class and with externally validated norms. Avoid contests that determine who can make the most shots, do the most sit-ups, or score the most points. Discourage your students from comparing their performances with state or national fitness test norms. Rather, invite them to compare their current and past performances to recognize how they are improving and to show them that practice and hard work eventually pay off (Alderman, Beighle, & Pangrazi, 2006; Lee, 2004; Rink, 2004; Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
Perhaps the emphasis on intrinsic motivation can best be understood when placed in the context of a popular activity such as jogging (Xiang, Chen, & Bruene, 2005). Most adults don't start jogging because they expect to win races or set records. They jog because they feel good about improving their fitness and perhaps losing weight. If they want to, they can chart their improvement using a wearable physical activity tracker (e.g., Fitbit, pedometer, GPS device, tracking app). If they were forced to run races and have their times published in the newspaper, we suspect many would quit jogging. From time to time, however, many choose to enter races. The important point is that they choose to enter races for their own reasons. They don't have to. Shouldn't children and adolescents have the same choices?
There is no way to prevent students from comparing their performances with those of others. They do compare accomplishments, especially the highly skilled. Nevertheless, you can encourage students to succeed on their own by downplaying comparisons and avoiding creating competitive situations.
As with virtually any endeavor, the higher-skilled seek extrinsic motivation by comparing themselves with others, typically through competition. You can make these opportunities available, but again, only for those who choose to compete.
Tech Tips: Tracking Participation
Use pedometers, MOVbands, Sqord Boosters, or some other cost-effective tool (approximately $20-$30 each) to record student participation. MOVbands and Sqord Boosters allow students to quickly upload their movements to a website that both you and they can monitor. You can set challenges for individual students or entire classes. Sqord Boosters allow students to create avatars who grow stronger as the students increase their own activity.
Ban the Spelling Bee
One of the most blatant violations of the idea that children should be allowed to choose whether they want to compete and have their performances compared with others is the spelling bee. For the few good spellers in a class, it's a marvelous competition. For the remainder of the students, who know they are not good spellers, not only is the spelling bee humiliating but it also publicly reinforces what they have been thinking all along: they can't spell - and now the whole class knows it (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). The United States has had spelling bees for years, culminating in a national competition every year in Washington, DC. Has this resulted in a nation of good spellers?
Developmentally Appropriate
A third characteristic of a motivating learning environment is that it reflects age-related and physical differences. An environment that is developmentally appropriate encourages students to work hard and remain on task (Graham et al., 1992; National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 2009; Stork & Sanders, 1996).
As children develop, they are motivated by different opportunities and experiences. Primary-grade youngsters, for example, are eager to please the teacher and are therefore motivated by teacher praise and encouragement. Observe any kindergarten class and you will hear children saying, "Watch me! Watch me!" all day long. Furthermore, if children haven't learned to remain in one location, teachers will continually be trailed by five-year-olds wanting them to say "Wonderful!" after every attempt they make to jump over a rope or throw a beanbag into a box.
As children grow older, the desire to please the teacher is accompanied (in some cases apparently replaced) by a desire to please their peers. They also refine their ability to distinguish between motor skill ability and effort (how hard they try) (Lee, 2004). Attention and respect from peers play an important role in the motivation of middle school youngsters. The opportunity to work in groups to design activities or solve problems is often motivating for adolescents who are interested in peer interaction. Examples include designing a game, dance, or movement sequence and making a video, perhaps to show to classmates (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
In addition to age-related differences (Garcia, 1994), skill level influences the type of support that is effective. Youngsters who are only minimally successful even when tasks are adjusted for them need lots of praise and encouragement to continue to work hard and to try. They also need help understanding that proficiency in motor skills requires a lot of appropriate practice (Rink, 2004).
Highly skilled students who receive satisfaction from succeeding at various tasks seem to be motivated by praise focused on the way they perform the task (sometimes the results), rather than by the fact that they are working hard. In fact, being praised for succeeding at tasks that are relatively easy for them might give highly skilled students the impression that PE is really for the poorly skilled. We believe that this occurs with many athletes who are not challenged in physical education classes. They receive a lot of praise for accomplishments that are much better than those of others in the class but that represent a relatively minimal effort on their part.
Strategies for Minimizing Off-Task Behavior
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems.
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems. Even if you have taught the behavior protocols presented in chapter 2, however, you are still going to have incidences of off-task behavior. Therefore, you need strategies that can minimize the misbehavior of students. Unfortunately, they are just strategies, not guarantees. Some of them succeed with some youngsters some of the time. We wish we knew foolproof strategies that work for all teachers all of the time, but we don't; no one does. Good teachers seem to have a repertoire of strategies that they use, sometimes consciously and sometimes without really thinking about them. They include back to the wall, proximity control, with-it-ness, selective ignoring, overlapping, learning names, and positive pinpointing.
Back to the Wall
One of the simplest strategies is referred to as back to the wall. Teachers use this technique for formative assessment (chapter 5) and also for behavior management. Standing on the outside of the boundaries (the wall in the gym or the edge of the playground) lets you see what is going on in a class. When you stand in the middle of a class, about 50 percent of the class is out of your sight; thus, you may not see off-task behavior until it has gone on for some time.
The ability to detect off-task behavior as soon as it begins appears to be a characteristic of successful teachers. Immediate detection seems to prevent the behavior from escalating. When the behavior persists for several minutes, several students might become involved. Thus, a relatively minor incident can escalate into a major incident (e.g., one student tries to wrestle a ball away from another). This is known as the ripple effect (Kounin, 1970). When you see the beginning of such an incident, you can quickly prevent it from escalating because your targeting and timing are appropriate. You can identify the students correctly and quickly, thus preventing the situation from developing into a crisis.
Proximity Control
One technique that can prevent the ball-taking episode just described from escalating is proximity control - simply walking in the direction of the off-task student to let her know that you see her. Giving her the look will let her know that she's off task.
Veteran teachers know what we mean by the look. It's a certain way a teacher looks at a youngster to say, "You're off task; now get back to work." Obviously, however, you need to be close enough so that the student can see your expressions.
Sometimes the look isn't even necessary. Simply standing by a group of students on the verge of becoming off task is often enough to let them know that you see them and expect them to remain focused.
Proximity control implies that you are moving around the gym. Early in their careers, teachers have a tendency to stand in one place. Although standing in one place may be more comfortable than moving around, it's not as effective. Virtually without exception, good teachers move about the classroom, the gym, and the outdoor space.
With-It-Ness
The strategies of back to the wall and proximity control give the class the impression that you have with-it-ness - it's like having eyes in the back of your head (Kounin, 1970). When he began his series of research studies on discipline, Kounin hypothesized that teachers whose students were well behaved and consistently on task were those who threatened them, basically scaring them into behaving. He discovered that this wasn't true. The teachers with the fewest discipline problems communicated to their classes in a calm and reassuring way that they knew what was going on in their classes, they knew the tricks, and therefore students shouldn't even bother to try them. By keeping their backs to the wall and quickly targeting youngsters tending toward off-task behavior, they convinced their students that indeed they were with it.
With It and Without It
Remembering my (GG) days in elementary school, I can recall a sixth-grade teacher who was particularly with it. She was friendly and warm, yet from the first day, we could tell that she wasn't about to let us get away with anything. It was uncanny how she could identify children who were off-task types and, with looks and proximity control, keep them from misbehaving much of that year. The next year, however, we had a teacher who was "without it"; the same class quickly escalated into a rowdy group of children who were continually yelled at and threatened, though without much success. I am sure we were difficult to teach that year. We were essentially the same children, but, among other things, the teacher was "without it."
Selective Ignoring
Recently, I (GG) watched a first-grade lesson focused on round, narrow, wide, and twisted shapes. At times the children were making shapes in their own space; at other times they were traveling around the gym in their shapes. Whenever the opportunity was given to travel, one of the children, Bryan, ran. My reaction and that of my college students who were also observing was to immediately want to stop Bryan from running. The teacher ignored him, however. As we watched, I realized that Bryan really wasn't bothering other children. In fact, they ignored him also. Another teacher might have considered Bryan's behavior off task; Bryan's teacher didn't. And, after watching the entire lesson, I think she was right. Bryan was one of those high-energy children - some might have labeled him hyperactive. He was doing what the teacher asked but at a fast speed. The teacher obviously saw him but chose to selectively ignore him. It was an effective strategy in that lesson.
Selective ignoring works when students have been helped to understand why a student looks or acts a certain way. The opportunity to learn to accept students who behave in ways outside of the norm has been one of the major advantages of mainstreaming in schools. When we observe students working with those with special needs, we are always warmed by their ability to understand the situation and their genuine willingness to help. This understanding doesn't happen automatically, however. Good teachers intentionally teach their classes to understand and work with special students.
Nick's Insight
When my (GG) oldest son, Nick, was in fourth grade, I remember talking to him about some of his classmates after I had observed his class. I commented on one boy who was off task constantly and obviously annoying the teacher. I said that the boy who was off task seemed to be a distraction to the class and a troublemaker. I expected Nick to agree. He surprised me, however, by providing me with one of those glimpses into how children view the world when he said: "Dad, it's not all his fault. The teacher doesn't understand him. He's really a good guy if you give him a chance. She never really gave him one." I try to remember Nick's insight when a child misbehaves in one of my classes.
Overlapping
Unlike back to the wall, which is an easily learned strategy, overlapping is a skill that is learned with practice. Overlapping is the ability to focus on several things at once and still maintain an intended direction.
As a teacher, you are continually required to deal simultaneously with several students or situations. For example, you may nod your head yes at the youngster who has to go to the bathroom; smile at the child who says "Watch me"; put your hand on the shoulder of the youngster who wants to talk to you to signal "Wait a second"; and continue to observe the whole class as you determine whether to change the task or continue it for several more minutes. Locke's vignette in chapter 1 is another illustration of the need to develop the ability to overlap.
Overlapping is a pedagogical skill learned through experience. It is critical because if you work with 30 or more students in a class, you will have to overlap at times to keep a lesson from coming to a complete stop. Obviously, establishing routines and protocols will minimize the need for overlapping, yet it is needed at times.
Tech Tips: ClassDojo
ClassDojo is a wonderful app that you can use to encourage your students, log classroom behavior, and engage parents and guardians. Compatible with any Apple or Android device, ClassDojo allows you to give behavior or skill feedback instantly to individual students and help them see their progress right away. Parents and guardians can see their children's behavior points on a daily basis, and you can even exchange messages with them through the app to keep them informed and engaged.
Learning Names
Learning students' names can be difficult, but it is possible even if you have 600 or more students. One of the frustrating aspects of teaching is attempting to get the attention of a student whose name you don't know. As you try to find out, you may halt the flow of the lesson as several youngsters volunteer the student's name and then stop moving to watch what you have to say to him. When you know a student's name, you can often speak it across the gym to let him know that you see him and offer praise or remind him to get on task.
Some teachers learn names with relative ease. For others it's a struggle. We have all heard of name-learning techniques (e.g., alliteration, using the name several times in conversation, having the students tell you their names when they enter and leave the gym, and taking photos of students) (Williams, 1995). PE Central (www.pecentral.org) provides a number of suggestions in the section "Tips for the Beginning Teacher." Increasingly, classroom teachers are making name tags for younger children who then wear them to PE until the teacher has time to learn their names. Learning names is even more challenging for teachers who work in schools with transient populations. Half of the youngsters they teach in September are gone in May, replaced by a new group. We wish we had a magical, instant solution to this challenge of learning several hundred names, but we don't. We do know, however, that it really helps to know students' names when trying to prevent off-task behavior.
Positive Pinpointing
Identifying one or more students and pointing them out to the rest of the class as modeling the desired behavior or skill is called pinpointing. This strategy is common in elementary schools. I like how Verenda and Tommy are standing quietly is an example of positive pinpointing. Our experience suggests that this technique is more effective with younger children who want to please the teacher. It can be overused, however. Some youngsters seem to ignore it because the teacher is constantly talking about how well someone is doing something. As with any of these strategies, pinpointing can work depending on the students, the way you use it, and how frequently you use it. Chapter 7 explains how to use pinpointing when teaching motor skills.
Many of these strategies or techniques seem to be innate characteristics of successful teachers. Although they are rarely taught or discussed, many teachers use them. But not all do - especially in the beginning of their careers. Beginning teachers are often anchored in the same location throughout their lessons, or fail to see students misbehave because their backs are turned. As with so many of the skills discussed in this book, it's easy to write about them and far more challenging to actually use them when teaching. We hope, however, that you will reflect on the subtle orchestration of teaching skills and strategies and their value for minimizing off-task behavior, whether you are a beginning or an experienced teacher (Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005). No matter how well you use these strategies, and others, some students will simply refuse to do what you ask (Timmreck, 1978). Such students are not off task; they have become discipline problems.
All teachers experience discipline problems in their classrooms from time to time. Some minimize the problems, however. What strategies do successful teachers use to minimize discipline problems? To begin with, they spend the first few days of the school year establishing the routines and teaching the management protocols described in chapter 2; they insist that the students learn these routines. They also use many of the strategies previously mentioned for minimizing off-task behavior. In addition, when inappropriate behavior occurs, good teachers examine their own performance. Is the lesson appropriate for the level of the student(s)? Has their behavior instigated student misbehavior? Have they engaged in negative interactions or differential treatment? Is the environment less than positive? Are they reactive rather than proactive?
Proactive or Reactive?
Proactive teachers focus on strategies to maintain or increase positive behavior, such as having established rules, planning appropriate lessons, and praising students who are following expectations (positive pinpointing). Proactive teachers try to avoid discipline problems before they happen. Ideally, we strive to be proactive!
Reactive teachers focus on strategies to stop inappropriate behavior once it has occurred, such as expressing dissatisfaction or imposing an appropriate consequence. Reactive teachers respond after an incident happens to try to avoid further discipline problems. We all must be reactive at times, and with a good discipline system in place, we know the consequences - and so do the students.
Save
Save
Save
Teaching Behavior Protocols
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
As with any teaching process, no single approach works for all teachers. However, teachers who create pleasant atmospheres seem to display certain attributes as they work on building their class environments. They are firm but warm while also being critically demanding. They also post their rules for classes to see and often discuss them so that students feel a certain degree of ownership.
Firm but Warm
At one time we believed that successful teachers threatened students: that is, that they scared them into being good. Today we know better (Bulger, Mohr, & Walls, 2002; Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005; Doyle, 1986; Fernandez-Balboa, 1990; Kounin, 1970). Successful teachers exhibit a certain degree of firmness: they mean what they say. At the same time, however, they are warm and caring toward the students. They don't want to frighten them, but they want them to know they mean business. Students quickly learn to discern whether teachers mean what they say. Good teachers mean what they say, and they exhibit it by not allowing their students to get away with not following the protocols. They don't get excited or hysterical or threaten, however. In calm, reassuring, firm ways, they simply and consistently communicate the message that things are going to be done a certain way and that not much else is going to happen until the protocols are learned. This is one of those skills used by effective teachers that is difficult to put into words. However, if you watched 10 teachers, you would quickly identify those who are firm but warm.
Critically Demanding
If we could write this section in flashing neon lights, we would, because this is an especially important teaching skill that makes a huge difference in the learning environment.
In addition to being firm but warm, effective teachers also are critically demanding. You can quickly recognize this quality when you see it. Teachers who are critically demanding have a built-in expectation that students follow the protocols, and they insist that they do. For example, they know how they want their students to enter the gym. When students enter that way, the lesson proceeds as planned. When they don't, these teachers don't accept their behavior. They insist (demand) that they go back and enter the gym the way they had practiced earlier.
This is especially difficult because, typically, you will want to get on with the lesson you have planned. It's hard to spend time having students go back and reenter the gym. In the long run, however, you will spend less time on these distracting events than if you hadn't spent the time reinforcing your expectations at the beginning of the year. One advantage for your students is that they know exactly what to expect. You can be consistent day after day because you know what is reasonable for your students and you expect that behavior of them.
One of the easiest ways to understand the quality of being critically demanding is to think back to when you were in high school. Did you have a curfew? What happened if you were late? If your parents or guardians were critically demanding, they followed through on the consequences you had discussed before (e.g., being grounded for a week or denied television). If your parents or guardians were not critically demanding, however, they likely let things slide and you knew that they really didn't mean what they said.
Rules - Clear, Positive, Posted
Posted rules also help with consistency. Rules are essentially brief reminders of the behavior protocols. Most teachers list five or six rules, state them in positive ways, and post them prominently (figure 2.1). Simply writing and posting them, however, is no guarantee they will be followed. They also must be practiced.
Physical Education Rules
Physical education rules might look like those in figure 2.1. One reason for posting rules, in addition to serving as reminders, is for the benefit of students new to the school. Posted rules allow you to briefly review the behavior protocols with new students. You may also video record classes in which you explained the behavior protocols and include student demonstrations. The video can then be made available to new students so that they can see exactly what is expected of them in physical education class.
Example of posted rules.
Used by permission of PE Central (pecentral.org), the premier website for physical education teachers. Our goal is to provide educational resources to teachers who, in turn, will help guide youngsters in the process of becoming physically active and healthy for a lifetime. PE Central is supported by S&S Worldwide (pe.ssww.com), a 110-year-old company dedicated to assisting teachers to motivate kids to play and learn using their innovative and educational products. http://pe.ssww.com/item/product-W12402/
Behavior videos are a good idea in places where teachers are often threatened with malpractice lawsuits. In this case, every new student should be required to view the video before participating in physical education. In extreme instances, teachers may quiz students (in writing or orally) or ask them to sign a copy of the rules, indicating that they have viewed the video. We also suggest that this behavior video be placed on the physical education section of the school website.
Locker Room Rules
Secondary programs frequently require students to change clothes in a locker room. You may need rules and protocols specific to the locker room. Here are some examples:
- Take pride in our school and keep the locker room CLEAN!
- Leave food, candy, gum, drinks, and cell phones in your locker or other space outside the gym or PE area.
- Act appropriately (keep your hands to yourself, no bad language).
- Be in the locker room when the bell rings.
- Enter and exit the locker room from the appropriate hallway.
- Dress at your locker.
- Be responsible for locking up all belongings and valuables.
Although these suggestions might seem extreme, teachers who have been involved in malpractice lawsuits will quickly recognize the benefit to posting such rules. This is especially important in schools with high rates of student turnover.
Some teachers send letters home to parents and guardians at the beginning of the school year outlining policies on dress for physical education (especially footwear), medical notes, and what the students will be learning in the coming year. These letters typically provide information about contacting the teacher if questions arise about classes, policies, or other issues (Hopple, 1998).
Developing Ownership
Rules (behavior protocols) are followed more closely when students, and parents and guardians for that matter, understand why they are necessary, and also when students have a sense of ownership of them. For this reason many teachers discuss rules with students to help them understand their importance. A video of students not following the rules can illustrate what happens when this occurs. (You will have no problem recruiting a class to help you make a video demonstrating all of the ways not to behave in the gym!) The video then becomes an excellent resource for involving students in discussions about why management protocols are important to have and follow.
In addition to sharing the rules with your students, provide the principal and classroom teachers with a copy of the rules. This is especially important if your school does not have a unified discipline plan (e.g., assertive discipline; see chapter 10). It might also be worthwhile to share the rules with parents and guardians, perhaps on the school website, especially if you plan to send notes home about students who do not follow the established behavior protocols. This will depend, however, on such factors as the philosophy of the school and the policies of the principal and the board of education.
The next chapters address many of the teaching skills effective physical educators use. The bottom line, however, is that if students do not practice the behavior protocols, as stated in the posted rules, until they become an understood and accepted way of doing business, then many of the pedagogical skills discussed later will have limited effect. Although it's not a lot of fun for you or your students to practice the behavior protocols that are critical to the development of a positive (enjoyable, fun, interesting) learning environment, it's absolutely necessary. If you want to enjoy teaching, spend time practicing the protocols. If you want to spend time nagging youngsters, skip the protocols and start trying to teach.
Three Keys to Motivating Youngsters
It’s common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels.
It's common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels. Successful teachers motivate children and adolescents by creating learning environments in which the tasks or activities are success oriented, autonomy supportive, and developmentally appropriate (Block, 1995; Hastie, Rudisill, & Wadsworth, 2013; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
Success Oriented
Failure, especially when we have never had much success, makes us want to quit trying. If we have never succeeded, there's no reason to believe that continuing to try, and failing, will eventually lead to improvement. This rationale is quite typical of young learners who have yet to make the connection between lots of practice and success (Lee, 2004). To motivate students to practice, the task needs to be one at which they can be successful - highly successful. The research literature, as well as common sense, suggests that when we're learning a new skill, success rates close to 80 percent are appropriate (Brophy & Good, 1986; Pellet & Harrison, 1996; Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
With experience and age, we start to make the connection between practice and expertise (Lee, 2004). For example, an adult might think, If I want to be a good skater, I will need to practice a lot. It will probably take months or even years. In contrast a child might think, I want to be a good skater. I tried it today. I fell down a lot. I can't skate.
To be a successful physical educator, you need to create and change tasks so that your students succeed at high rates. The variety of tasks described in chapter 4 provide the opportunity to accommodate a wide variety of skill levels in your class. You can also encourage your students to modify tasks on their own to make them easier or harder to better match their abilities. At the same time, discourage them from making social comparisons (Lee, 2004). Finally, try to make tasks fun so that your students enjoy doing them without necessarily realizing that they are leading to improvement. The following three examples, taken from actual classes, show how to design tasks so that youngsters can succeed.
Self-Adjusting Target Throwing
Each student has a beanbag and a cardboard box. Challenge them to throw the beanbag into the box but don't tell them how far away from the box to stand. Watch how they adjust the distance based on their ability. The less skilled stand closer to their boxes; the more skilled stand farther away. Several successful throws might result in students moving farther away; several failures might result in taking a few steps closer to the box. Notice, too, that the more highly skilled children tolerate a lower rate of success than the less-skilled children (Rogers, Ponish, & Sawyers, 1991). This example focuses on elementary school children, but it can also apply to adolescents. For example, when teaching volleyball, you can allow students to choose the spot from which they serve the ball; in soccer, you can have students set cone goals up on their own and thus self-adjust the size of the goal by how far apart the cones are.
Self-Adjusting Shampoo
One morning as I (GG) was showering, I read the label on the shampoo bottle. It claimed that the shampoo was self-adjusting - it would adjust its cleaning action to the particular needs of each person's hair. I thought, That's exactly what we need for our classes - self-adjusting tasks that change based on the abilities and interests of the students in the class!
Slanty Rope
Here's another example of designing a task to promote success. For elementary classes, set up two ropes on the floor in a slanty rope design (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). At one end, the ropes are close together. At the other end, the ropes are much farther apart. Challenge students to jump over the river (the ropes) without landing in the water. Observe how they choose the location at which they jump to match their ability to jump for distance - the less skilled jump the river at the narrower end, and the better jumpers jump at the wider end.
The slanty rope principle can also be used with middle and high school students. For example, a traverse climbing wall (students climb sideways with their feet never more than 3 feet [1 m] above the floor) has many holds. Low-skilled students can climb using any holds they like. More skillful students can be given specific routes marked with colored tape that use smaller and more difficult holds. Even the highest-skilled climbers can find appropriately challenging routes. At any time, students can choose a more easily accessible or larger hold.
The point is that a large range of task difficulty is available. Students have the option to choose where along the slanty rope to jump or which route is best for them for climbing.
Varied Basketball Goal Heights
A third example of students wanting to be successful can be observed when several basketball goals are set at various heights for elementary school children. If given a choice, many choose to play at the lowest goal, thereby increasing their chances for success. Equipment manufacturers have recognized this and now sell adjustable basketball goals.
You can apply the same principle with middle and high school students. For example, in a volleyball, lacrosse, or field hockey unit, give students a choice of leagues in which to sign up. Volleyball leagues can include recreation (modified rules such as allowing the volleyball to bounce, playing with a volley trainer, using a lower net, and serving from anywhere), city (no calling double hits, serving from anywhere, letting the server choose the ball to use), and professional (calling double hits, playing by official rules). Students choose the league that is best for them, and they can also move from league to league.
It's interesting to take any of the preceding examples and compare the involvement and interest of students when they have no choice (i.e., when the distance or height is the same for everyone). Typically, practice decreases and off-task behavior increases. The low-skilled student becomes frustrated; the higher-skilled ones become bored (Mandigo & Thompson, 1998). The purpose of designing and adjusting tasks so that students can be successful is to encourage them to continue trying. That is true in class and out of class. In math homework, for example, experts recommend that problems assigned to young learners allow them to succeed at a 100 percent success rate, thereby increasing their motivation to do the homework.
I (GG) wish I had had math teachers who provided math homework assignments at which I could have succeeded. My memories are still vivid of the frustration, leading to exasperation, when I could do only 2 of 10 math homework problems. I wonder how much that contributed to my feelings of incompetence in math today.
Obviously, not every task you design can be self-adjusting and allow students to be continually successful. The principle, however, is that success is fun and motivating - and you want them to feel good about their physical abilities. They will have plenty of opportunities to experience failure and frustration - you don't need to intentionally create them.
How Successful Are the Students?
One way to determine the success rate of your students is to use a coding form to provide objective evidence (figure 8.1). The form is easy to use; in fact, some children use it quite well (Wolfe & Sharpe, 1996). It is most effective, however, with practice attempts that are easily counted. Lessons emphasizing throwing, catching, kicking, and serving a volleyball are ideal. By counting the successful and unsuccessful tries for a low- and a higher-skilled student, you can obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of their success rates. Remember, however, that 80 percent is a general target and may not be the appropriate success rate for some students. Once again, observe and get to know your students. A youngster becoming off task is often an indication that the success rate isn't optimal and the task is either too hard or too easy.
Autonomy Supportive
In addition to creating success-oriented environments, you should try to find ways to help your students develop an intrinsic motivation for participating. This is called autonomy-supportive teaching.
Autonomy refers to a person's sense of control. We know that students who feel autonomous during physical education are more actively engaged in learning activities and are more physically active during physical education and outside of school (Bagøien & Halvari, 2005; Halvari et al., 2009). Teachers who are autonomy supportive display many of the pedagogical skills described in this book. Providing a motivating set induction that captures student interest (chapter 6), scaffolding instruction so that students see the relevance of what they are learning (chapter 6), and developing a safe learning environment with clear protocols and rules (chapter 2) are all characteristics of autonomy-supportive teaching. To create an autonomy-supportive environment, give your students the following:
- A variety of tasks
- Opportunities to make decisions about the tasks
- Feedback (private recognition and evaluation) of performance
- Self-paced instruction and choices of tasks
- Ways to measure personal improvement and avoid social comparisons
- Opportunities for experimentation and self-initiation
- Cooperative learning opportunities
An autonomy-supportive learning environment encourages students to develop a high sense of independence, thereby encouraging intrinsic motivation (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). You can help your students build and sustain intrinsic motivation by avoiding social comparisons, both with others in the class and with externally validated norms. Avoid contests that determine who can make the most shots, do the most sit-ups, or score the most points. Discourage your students from comparing their performances with state or national fitness test norms. Rather, invite them to compare their current and past performances to recognize how they are improving and to show them that practice and hard work eventually pay off (Alderman, Beighle, & Pangrazi, 2006; Lee, 2004; Rink, 2004; Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
Perhaps the emphasis on intrinsic motivation can best be understood when placed in the context of a popular activity such as jogging (Xiang, Chen, & Bruene, 2005). Most adults don't start jogging because they expect to win races or set records. They jog because they feel good about improving their fitness and perhaps losing weight. If they want to, they can chart their improvement using a wearable physical activity tracker (e.g., Fitbit, pedometer, GPS device, tracking app). If they were forced to run races and have their times published in the newspaper, we suspect many would quit jogging. From time to time, however, many choose to enter races. The important point is that they choose to enter races for their own reasons. They don't have to. Shouldn't children and adolescents have the same choices?
There is no way to prevent students from comparing their performances with those of others. They do compare accomplishments, especially the highly skilled. Nevertheless, you can encourage students to succeed on their own by downplaying comparisons and avoiding creating competitive situations.
As with virtually any endeavor, the higher-skilled seek extrinsic motivation by comparing themselves with others, typically through competition. You can make these opportunities available, but again, only for those who choose to compete.
Tech Tips: Tracking Participation
Use pedometers, MOVbands, Sqord Boosters, or some other cost-effective tool (approximately $20-$30 each) to record student participation. MOVbands and Sqord Boosters allow students to quickly upload their movements to a website that both you and they can monitor. You can set challenges for individual students or entire classes. Sqord Boosters allow students to create avatars who grow stronger as the students increase their own activity.
Ban the Spelling Bee
One of the most blatant violations of the idea that children should be allowed to choose whether they want to compete and have their performances compared with others is the spelling bee. For the few good spellers in a class, it's a marvelous competition. For the remainder of the students, who know they are not good spellers, not only is the spelling bee humiliating but it also publicly reinforces what they have been thinking all along: they can't spell - and now the whole class knows it (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). The United States has had spelling bees for years, culminating in a national competition every year in Washington, DC. Has this resulted in a nation of good spellers?
Developmentally Appropriate
A third characteristic of a motivating learning environment is that it reflects age-related and physical differences. An environment that is developmentally appropriate encourages students to work hard and remain on task (Graham et al., 1992; National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 2009; Stork & Sanders, 1996).
As children develop, they are motivated by different opportunities and experiences. Primary-grade youngsters, for example, are eager to please the teacher and are therefore motivated by teacher praise and encouragement. Observe any kindergarten class and you will hear children saying, "Watch me! Watch me!" all day long. Furthermore, if children haven't learned to remain in one location, teachers will continually be trailed by five-year-olds wanting them to say "Wonderful!" after every attempt they make to jump over a rope or throw a beanbag into a box.
As children grow older, the desire to please the teacher is accompanied (in some cases apparently replaced) by a desire to please their peers. They also refine their ability to distinguish between motor skill ability and effort (how hard they try) (Lee, 2004). Attention and respect from peers play an important role in the motivation of middle school youngsters. The opportunity to work in groups to design activities or solve problems is often motivating for adolescents who are interested in peer interaction. Examples include designing a game, dance, or movement sequence and making a video, perhaps to show to classmates (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
In addition to age-related differences (Garcia, 1994), skill level influences the type of support that is effective. Youngsters who are only minimally successful even when tasks are adjusted for them need lots of praise and encouragement to continue to work hard and to try. They also need help understanding that proficiency in motor skills requires a lot of appropriate practice (Rink, 2004).
Highly skilled students who receive satisfaction from succeeding at various tasks seem to be motivated by praise focused on the way they perform the task (sometimes the results), rather than by the fact that they are working hard. In fact, being praised for succeeding at tasks that are relatively easy for them might give highly skilled students the impression that PE is really for the poorly skilled. We believe that this occurs with many athletes who are not challenged in physical education classes. They receive a lot of praise for accomplishments that are much better than those of others in the class but that represent a relatively minimal effort on their part.
Strategies for Minimizing Off-Task Behavior
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems.
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems. Even if you have taught the behavior protocols presented in chapter 2, however, you are still going to have incidences of off-task behavior. Therefore, you need strategies that can minimize the misbehavior of students. Unfortunately, they are just strategies, not guarantees. Some of them succeed with some youngsters some of the time. We wish we knew foolproof strategies that work for all teachers all of the time, but we don't; no one does. Good teachers seem to have a repertoire of strategies that they use, sometimes consciously and sometimes without really thinking about them. They include back to the wall, proximity control, with-it-ness, selective ignoring, overlapping, learning names, and positive pinpointing.
Back to the Wall
One of the simplest strategies is referred to as back to the wall. Teachers use this technique for formative assessment (chapter 5) and also for behavior management. Standing on the outside of the boundaries (the wall in the gym or the edge of the playground) lets you see what is going on in a class. When you stand in the middle of a class, about 50 percent of the class is out of your sight; thus, you may not see off-task behavior until it has gone on for some time.
The ability to detect off-task behavior as soon as it begins appears to be a characteristic of successful teachers. Immediate detection seems to prevent the behavior from escalating. When the behavior persists for several minutes, several students might become involved. Thus, a relatively minor incident can escalate into a major incident (e.g., one student tries to wrestle a ball away from another). This is known as the ripple effect (Kounin, 1970). When you see the beginning of such an incident, you can quickly prevent it from escalating because your targeting and timing are appropriate. You can identify the students correctly and quickly, thus preventing the situation from developing into a crisis.
Proximity Control
One technique that can prevent the ball-taking episode just described from escalating is proximity control - simply walking in the direction of the off-task student to let her know that you see her. Giving her the look will let her know that she's off task.
Veteran teachers know what we mean by the look. It's a certain way a teacher looks at a youngster to say, "You're off task; now get back to work." Obviously, however, you need to be close enough so that the student can see your expressions.
Sometimes the look isn't even necessary. Simply standing by a group of students on the verge of becoming off task is often enough to let them know that you see them and expect them to remain focused.
Proximity control implies that you are moving around the gym. Early in their careers, teachers have a tendency to stand in one place. Although standing in one place may be more comfortable than moving around, it's not as effective. Virtually without exception, good teachers move about the classroom, the gym, and the outdoor space.
With-It-Ness
The strategies of back to the wall and proximity control give the class the impression that you have with-it-ness - it's like having eyes in the back of your head (Kounin, 1970). When he began his series of research studies on discipline, Kounin hypothesized that teachers whose students were well behaved and consistently on task were those who threatened them, basically scaring them into behaving. He discovered that this wasn't true. The teachers with the fewest discipline problems communicated to their classes in a calm and reassuring way that they knew what was going on in their classes, they knew the tricks, and therefore students shouldn't even bother to try them. By keeping their backs to the wall and quickly targeting youngsters tending toward off-task behavior, they convinced their students that indeed they were with it.
With It and Without It
Remembering my (GG) days in elementary school, I can recall a sixth-grade teacher who was particularly with it. She was friendly and warm, yet from the first day, we could tell that she wasn't about to let us get away with anything. It was uncanny how she could identify children who were off-task types and, with looks and proximity control, keep them from misbehaving much of that year. The next year, however, we had a teacher who was "without it"; the same class quickly escalated into a rowdy group of children who were continually yelled at and threatened, though without much success. I am sure we were difficult to teach that year. We were essentially the same children, but, among other things, the teacher was "without it."
Selective Ignoring
Recently, I (GG) watched a first-grade lesson focused on round, narrow, wide, and twisted shapes. At times the children were making shapes in their own space; at other times they were traveling around the gym in their shapes. Whenever the opportunity was given to travel, one of the children, Bryan, ran. My reaction and that of my college students who were also observing was to immediately want to stop Bryan from running. The teacher ignored him, however. As we watched, I realized that Bryan really wasn't bothering other children. In fact, they ignored him also. Another teacher might have considered Bryan's behavior off task; Bryan's teacher didn't. And, after watching the entire lesson, I think she was right. Bryan was one of those high-energy children - some might have labeled him hyperactive. He was doing what the teacher asked but at a fast speed. The teacher obviously saw him but chose to selectively ignore him. It was an effective strategy in that lesson.
Selective ignoring works when students have been helped to understand why a student looks or acts a certain way. The opportunity to learn to accept students who behave in ways outside of the norm has been one of the major advantages of mainstreaming in schools. When we observe students working with those with special needs, we are always warmed by their ability to understand the situation and their genuine willingness to help. This understanding doesn't happen automatically, however. Good teachers intentionally teach their classes to understand and work with special students.
Nick's Insight
When my (GG) oldest son, Nick, was in fourth grade, I remember talking to him about some of his classmates after I had observed his class. I commented on one boy who was off task constantly and obviously annoying the teacher. I said that the boy who was off task seemed to be a distraction to the class and a troublemaker. I expected Nick to agree. He surprised me, however, by providing me with one of those glimpses into how children view the world when he said: "Dad, it's not all his fault. The teacher doesn't understand him. He's really a good guy if you give him a chance. She never really gave him one." I try to remember Nick's insight when a child misbehaves in one of my classes.
Overlapping
Unlike back to the wall, which is an easily learned strategy, overlapping is a skill that is learned with practice. Overlapping is the ability to focus on several things at once and still maintain an intended direction.
As a teacher, you are continually required to deal simultaneously with several students or situations. For example, you may nod your head yes at the youngster who has to go to the bathroom; smile at the child who says "Watch me"; put your hand on the shoulder of the youngster who wants to talk to you to signal "Wait a second"; and continue to observe the whole class as you determine whether to change the task or continue it for several more minutes. Locke's vignette in chapter 1 is another illustration of the need to develop the ability to overlap.
Overlapping is a pedagogical skill learned through experience. It is critical because if you work with 30 or more students in a class, you will have to overlap at times to keep a lesson from coming to a complete stop. Obviously, establishing routines and protocols will minimize the need for overlapping, yet it is needed at times.
Tech Tips: ClassDojo
ClassDojo is a wonderful app that you can use to encourage your students, log classroom behavior, and engage parents and guardians. Compatible with any Apple or Android device, ClassDojo allows you to give behavior or skill feedback instantly to individual students and help them see their progress right away. Parents and guardians can see their children's behavior points on a daily basis, and you can even exchange messages with them through the app to keep them informed and engaged.
Learning Names
Learning students' names can be difficult, but it is possible even if you have 600 or more students. One of the frustrating aspects of teaching is attempting to get the attention of a student whose name you don't know. As you try to find out, you may halt the flow of the lesson as several youngsters volunteer the student's name and then stop moving to watch what you have to say to him. When you know a student's name, you can often speak it across the gym to let him know that you see him and offer praise or remind him to get on task.
Some teachers learn names with relative ease. For others it's a struggle. We have all heard of name-learning techniques (e.g., alliteration, using the name several times in conversation, having the students tell you their names when they enter and leave the gym, and taking photos of students) (Williams, 1995). PE Central (www.pecentral.org) provides a number of suggestions in the section "Tips for the Beginning Teacher." Increasingly, classroom teachers are making name tags for younger children who then wear them to PE until the teacher has time to learn their names. Learning names is even more challenging for teachers who work in schools with transient populations. Half of the youngsters they teach in September are gone in May, replaced by a new group. We wish we had a magical, instant solution to this challenge of learning several hundred names, but we don't. We do know, however, that it really helps to know students' names when trying to prevent off-task behavior.
Positive Pinpointing
Identifying one or more students and pointing them out to the rest of the class as modeling the desired behavior or skill is called pinpointing. This strategy is common in elementary schools. I like how Verenda and Tommy are standing quietly is an example of positive pinpointing. Our experience suggests that this technique is more effective with younger children who want to please the teacher. It can be overused, however. Some youngsters seem to ignore it because the teacher is constantly talking about how well someone is doing something. As with any of these strategies, pinpointing can work depending on the students, the way you use it, and how frequently you use it. Chapter 7 explains how to use pinpointing when teaching motor skills.
Many of these strategies or techniques seem to be innate characteristics of successful teachers. Although they are rarely taught or discussed, many teachers use them. But not all do - especially in the beginning of their careers. Beginning teachers are often anchored in the same location throughout their lessons, or fail to see students misbehave because their backs are turned. As with so many of the skills discussed in this book, it's easy to write about them and far more challenging to actually use them when teaching. We hope, however, that you will reflect on the subtle orchestration of teaching skills and strategies and their value for minimizing off-task behavior, whether you are a beginning or an experienced teacher (Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005). No matter how well you use these strategies, and others, some students will simply refuse to do what you ask (Timmreck, 1978). Such students are not off task; they have become discipline problems.
All teachers experience discipline problems in their classrooms from time to time. Some minimize the problems, however. What strategies do successful teachers use to minimize discipline problems? To begin with, they spend the first few days of the school year establishing the routines and teaching the management protocols described in chapter 2; they insist that the students learn these routines. They also use many of the strategies previously mentioned for minimizing off-task behavior. In addition, when inappropriate behavior occurs, good teachers examine their own performance. Is the lesson appropriate for the level of the student(s)? Has their behavior instigated student misbehavior? Have they engaged in negative interactions or differential treatment? Is the environment less than positive? Are they reactive rather than proactive?
Proactive or Reactive?
Proactive teachers focus on strategies to maintain or increase positive behavior, such as having established rules, planning appropriate lessons, and praising students who are following expectations (positive pinpointing). Proactive teachers try to avoid discipline problems before they happen. Ideally, we strive to be proactive!
Reactive teachers focus on strategies to stop inappropriate behavior once it has occurred, such as expressing dissatisfaction or imposing an appropriate consequence. Reactive teachers respond after an incident happens to try to avoid further discipline problems. We all must be reactive at times, and with a good discipline system in place, we know the consequences - and so do the students.
Save
Save
Save
Teaching Behavior Protocols
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
As with any teaching process, no single approach works for all teachers. However, teachers who create pleasant atmospheres seem to display certain attributes as they work on building their class environments. They are firm but warm while also being critically demanding. They also post their rules for classes to see and often discuss them so that students feel a certain degree of ownership.
Firm but Warm
At one time we believed that successful teachers threatened students: that is, that they scared them into being good. Today we know better (Bulger, Mohr, & Walls, 2002; Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005; Doyle, 1986; Fernandez-Balboa, 1990; Kounin, 1970). Successful teachers exhibit a certain degree of firmness: they mean what they say. At the same time, however, they are warm and caring toward the students. They don't want to frighten them, but they want them to know they mean business. Students quickly learn to discern whether teachers mean what they say. Good teachers mean what they say, and they exhibit it by not allowing their students to get away with not following the protocols. They don't get excited or hysterical or threaten, however. In calm, reassuring, firm ways, they simply and consistently communicate the message that things are going to be done a certain way and that not much else is going to happen until the protocols are learned. This is one of those skills used by effective teachers that is difficult to put into words. However, if you watched 10 teachers, you would quickly identify those who are firm but warm.
Critically Demanding
If we could write this section in flashing neon lights, we would, because this is an especially important teaching skill that makes a huge difference in the learning environment.
In addition to being firm but warm, effective teachers also are critically demanding. You can quickly recognize this quality when you see it. Teachers who are critically demanding have a built-in expectation that students follow the protocols, and they insist that they do. For example, they know how they want their students to enter the gym. When students enter that way, the lesson proceeds as planned. When they don't, these teachers don't accept their behavior. They insist (demand) that they go back and enter the gym the way they had practiced earlier.
This is especially difficult because, typically, you will want to get on with the lesson you have planned. It's hard to spend time having students go back and reenter the gym. In the long run, however, you will spend less time on these distracting events than if you hadn't spent the time reinforcing your expectations at the beginning of the year. One advantage for your students is that they know exactly what to expect. You can be consistent day after day because you know what is reasonable for your students and you expect that behavior of them.
One of the easiest ways to understand the quality of being critically demanding is to think back to when you were in high school. Did you have a curfew? What happened if you were late? If your parents or guardians were critically demanding, they followed through on the consequences you had discussed before (e.g., being grounded for a week or denied television). If your parents or guardians were not critically demanding, however, they likely let things slide and you knew that they really didn't mean what they said.
Rules - Clear, Positive, Posted
Posted rules also help with consistency. Rules are essentially brief reminders of the behavior protocols. Most teachers list five or six rules, state them in positive ways, and post them prominently (figure 2.1). Simply writing and posting them, however, is no guarantee they will be followed. They also must be practiced.
Physical Education Rules
Physical education rules might look like those in figure 2.1. One reason for posting rules, in addition to serving as reminders, is for the benefit of students new to the school. Posted rules allow you to briefly review the behavior protocols with new students. You may also video record classes in which you explained the behavior protocols and include student demonstrations. The video can then be made available to new students so that they can see exactly what is expected of them in physical education class.
Example of posted rules.
Used by permission of PE Central (pecentral.org), the premier website for physical education teachers. Our goal is to provide educational resources to teachers who, in turn, will help guide youngsters in the process of becoming physically active and healthy for a lifetime. PE Central is supported by S&S Worldwide (pe.ssww.com), a 110-year-old company dedicated to assisting teachers to motivate kids to play and learn using their innovative and educational products. http://pe.ssww.com/item/product-W12402/
Behavior videos are a good idea in places where teachers are often threatened with malpractice lawsuits. In this case, every new student should be required to view the video before participating in physical education. In extreme instances, teachers may quiz students (in writing or orally) or ask them to sign a copy of the rules, indicating that they have viewed the video. We also suggest that this behavior video be placed on the physical education section of the school website.
Locker Room Rules
Secondary programs frequently require students to change clothes in a locker room. You may need rules and protocols specific to the locker room. Here are some examples:
- Take pride in our school and keep the locker room CLEAN!
- Leave food, candy, gum, drinks, and cell phones in your locker or other space outside the gym or PE area.
- Act appropriately (keep your hands to yourself, no bad language).
- Be in the locker room when the bell rings.
- Enter and exit the locker room from the appropriate hallway.
- Dress at your locker.
- Be responsible for locking up all belongings and valuables.
Although these suggestions might seem extreme, teachers who have been involved in malpractice lawsuits will quickly recognize the benefit to posting such rules. This is especially important in schools with high rates of student turnover.
Some teachers send letters home to parents and guardians at the beginning of the school year outlining policies on dress for physical education (especially footwear), medical notes, and what the students will be learning in the coming year. These letters typically provide information about contacting the teacher if questions arise about classes, policies, or other issues (Hopple, 1998).
Developing Ownership
Rules (behavior protocols) are followed more closely when students, and parents and guardians for that matter, understand why they are necessary, and also when students have a sense of ownership of them. For this reason many teachers discuss rules with students to help them understand their importance. A video of students not following the rules can illustrate what happens when this occurs. (You will have no problem recruiting a class to help you make a video demonstrating all of the ways not to behave in the gym!) The video then becomes an excellent resource for involving students in discussions about why management protocols are important to have and follow.
In addition to sharing the rules with your students, provide the principal and classroom teachers with a copy of the rules. This is especially important if your school does not have a unified discipline plan (e.g., assertive discipline; see chapter 10). It might also be worthwhile to share the rules with parents and guardians, perhaps on the school website, especially if you plan to send notes home about students who do not follow the established behavior protocols. This will depend, however, on such factors as the philosophy of the school and the policies of the principal and the board of education.
The next chapters address many of the teaching skills effective physical educators use. The bottom line, however, is that if students do not practice the behavior protocols, as stated in the posted rules, until they become an understood and accepted way of doing business, then many of the pedagogical skills discussed later will have limited effect. Although it's not a lot of fun for you or your students to practice the behavior protocols that are critical to the development of a positive (enjoyable, fun, interesting) learning environment, it's absolutely necessary. If you want to enjoy teaching, spend time practicing the protocols. If you want to spend time nagging youngsters, skip the protocols and start trying to teach.
Three Keys to Motivating Youngsters
It’s common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels.
It's common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels. Successful teachers motivate children and adolescents by creating learning environments in which the tasks or activities are success oriented, autonomy supportive, and developmentally appropriate (Block, 1995; Hastie, Rudisill, & Wadsworth, 2013; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
Success Oriented
Failure, especially when we have never had much success, makes us want to quit trying. If we have never succeeded, there's no reason to believe that continuing to try, and failing, will eventually lead to improvement. This rationale is quite typical of young learners who have yet to make the connection between lots of practice and success (Lee, 2004). To motivate students to practice, the task needs to be one at which they can be successful - highly successful. The research literature, as well as common sense, suggests that when we're learning a new skill, success rates close to 80 percent are appropriate (Brophy & Good, 1986; Pellet & Harrison, 1996; Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
With experience and age, we start to make the connection between practice and expertise (Lee, 2004). For example, an adult might think, If I want to be a good skater, I will need to practice a lot. It will probably take months or even years. In contrast a child might think, I want to be a good skater. I tried it today. I fell down a lot. I can't skate.
To be a successful physical educator, you need to create and change tasks so that your students succeed at high rates. The variety of tasks described in chapter 4 provide the opportunity to accommodate a wide variety of skill levels in your class. You can also encourage your students to modify tasks on their own to make them easier or harder to better match their abilities. At the same time, discourage them from making social comparisons (Lee, 2004). Finally, try to make tasks fun so that your students enjoy doing them without necessarily realizing that they are leading to improvement. The following three examples, taken from actual classes, show how to design tasks so that youngsters can succeed.
Self-Adjusting Target Throwing
Each student has a beanbag and a cardboard box. Challenge them to throw the beanbag into the box but don't tell them how far away from the box to stand. Watch how they adjust the distance based on their ability. The less skilled stand closer to their boxes; the more skilled stand farther away. Several successful throws might result in students moving farther away; several failures might result in taking a few steps closer to the box. Notice, too, that the more highly skilled children tolerate a lower rate of success than the less-skilled children (Rogers, Ponish, & Sawyers, 1991). This example focuses on elementary school children, but it can also apply to adolescents. For example, when teaching volleyball, you can allow students to choose the spot from which they serve the ball; in soccer, you can have students set cone goals up on their own and thus self-adjust the size of the goal by how far apart the cones are.
Self-Adjusting Shampoo
One morning as I (GG) was showering, I read the label on the shampoo bottle. It claimed that the shampoo was self-adjusting - it would adjust its cleaning action to the particular needs of each person's hair. I thought, That's exactly what we need for our classes - self-adjusting tasks that change based on the abilities and interests of the students in the class!
Slanty Rope
Here's another example of designing a task to promote success. For elementary classes, set up two ropes on the floor in a slanty rope design (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). At one end, the ropes are close together. At the other end, the ropes are much farther apart. Challenge students to jump over the river (the ropes) without landing in the water. Observe how they choose the location at which they jump to match their ability to jump for distance - the less skilled jump the river at the narrower end, and the better jumpers jump at the wider end.
The slanty rope principle can also be used with middle and high school students. For example, a traverse climbing wall (students climb sideways with their feet never more than 3 feet [1 m] above the floor) has many holds. Low-skilled students can climb using any holds they like. More skillful students can be given specific routes marked with colored tape that use smaller and more difficult holds. Even the highest-skilled climbers can find appropriately challenging routes. At any time, students can choose a more easily accessible or larger hold.
The point is that a large range of task difficulty is available. Students have the option to choose where along the slanty rope to jump or which route is best for them for climbing.
Varied Basketball Goal Heights
A third example of students wanting to be successful can be observed when several basketball goals are set at various heights for elementary school children. If given a choice, many choose to play at the lowest goal, thereby increasing their chances for success. Equipment manufacturers have recognized this and now sell adjustable basketball goals.
You can apply the same principle with middle and high school students. For example, in a volleyball, lacrosse, or field hockey unit, give students a choice of leagues in which to sign up. Volleyball leagues can include recreation (modified rules such as allowing the volleyball to bounce, playing with a volley trainer, using a lower net, and serving from anywhere), city (no calling double hits, serving from anywhere, letting the server choose the ball to use), and professional (calling double hits, playing by official rules). Students choose the league that is best for them, and they can also move from league to league.
It's interesting to take any of the preceding examples and compare the involvement and interest of students when they have no choice (i.e., when the distance or height is the same for everyone). Typically, practice decreases and off-task behavior increases. The low-skilled student becomes frustrated; the higher-skilled ones become bored (Mandigo & Thompson, 1998). The purpose of designing and adjusting tasks so that students can be successful is to encourage them to continue trying. That is true in class and out of class. In math homework, for example, experts recommend that problems assigned to young learners allow them to succeed at a 100 percent success rate, thereby increasing their motivation to do the homework.
I (GG) wish I had had math teachers who provided math homework assignments at which I could have succeeded. My memories are still vivid of the frustration, leading to exasperation, when I could do only 2 of 10 math homework problems. I wonder how much that contributed to my feelings of incompetence in math today.
Obviously, not every task you design can be self-adjusting and allow students to be continually successful. The principle, however, is that success is fun and motivating - and you want them to feel good about their physical abilities. They will have plenty of opportunities to experience failure and frustration - you don't need to intentionally create them.
How Successful Are the Students?
One way to determine the success rate of your students is to use a coding form to provide objective evidence (figure 8.1). The form is easy to use; in fact, some children use it quite well (Wolfe & Sharpe, 1996). It is most effective, however, with practice attempts that are easily counted. Lessons emphasizing throwing, catching, kicking, and serving a volleyball are ideal. By counting the successful and unsuccessful tries for a low- and a higher-skilled student, you can obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of their success rates. Remember, however, that 80 percent is a general target and may not be the appropriate success rate for some students. Once again, observe and get to know your students. A youngster becoming off task is often an indication that the success rate isn't optimal and the task is either too hard or too easy.
Autonomy Supportive
In addition to creating success-oriented environments, you should try to find ways to help your students develop an intrinsic motivation for participating. This is called autonomy-supportive teaching.
Autonomy refers to a person's sense of control. We know that students who feel autonomous during physical education are more actively engaged in learning activities and are more physically active during physical education and outside of school (Bagøien & Halvari, 2005; Halvari et al., 2009). Teachers who are autonomy supportive display many of the pedagogical skills described in this book. Providing a motivating set induction that captures student interest (chapter 6), scaffolding instruction so that students see the relevance of what they are learning (chapter 6), and developing a safe learning environment with clear protocols and rules (chapter 2) are all characteristics of autonomy-supportive teaching. To create an autonomy-supportive environment, give your students the following:
- A variety of tasks
- Opportunities to make decisions about the tasks
- Feedback (private recognition and evaluation) of performance
- Self-paced instruction and choices of tasks
- Ways to measure personal improvement and avoid social comparisons
- Opportunities for experimentation and self-initiation
- Cooperative learning opportunities
An autonomy-supportive learning environment encourages students to develop a high sense of independence, thereby encouraging intrinsic motivation (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). You can help your students build and sustain intrinsic motivation by avoiding social comparisons, both with others in the class and with externally validated norms. Avoid contests that determine who can make the most shots, do the most sit-ups, or score the most points. Discourage your students from comparing their performances with state or national fitness test norms. Rather, invite them to compare their current and past performances to recognize how they are improving and to show them that practice and hard work eventually pay off (Alderman, Beighle, & Pangrazi, 2006; Lee, 2004; Rink, 2004; Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
Perhaps the emphasis on intrinsic motivation can best be understood when placed in the context of a popular activity such as jogging (Xiang, Chen, & Bruene, 2005). Most adults don't start jogging because they expect to win races or set records. They jog because they feel good about improving their fitness and perhaps losing weight. If they want to, they can chart their improvement using a wearable physical activity tracker (e.g., Fitbit, pedometer, GPS device, tracking app). If they were forced to run races and have their times published in the newspaper, we suspect many would quit jogging. From time to time, however, many choose to enter races. The important point is that they choose to enter races for their own reasons. They don't have to. Shouldn't children and adolescents have the same choices?
There is no way to prevent students from comparing their performances with those of others. They do compare accomplishments, especially the highly skilled. Nevertheless, you can encourage students to succeed on their own by downplaying comparisons and avoiding creating competitive situations.
As with virtually any endeavor, the higher-skilled seek extrinsic motivation by comparing themselves with others, typically through competition. You can make these opportunities available, but again, only for those who choose to compete.
Tech Tips: Tracking Participation
Use pedometers, MOVbands, Sqord Boosters, or some other cost-effective tool (approximately $20-$30 each) to record student participation. MOVbands and Sqord Boosters allow students to quickly upload their movements to a website that both you and they can monitor. You can set challenges for individual students or entire classes. Sqord Boosters allow students to create avatars who grow stronger as the students increase their own activity.
Ban the Spelling Bee
One of the most blatant violations of the idea that children should be allowed to choose whether they want to compete and have their performances compared with others is the spelling bee. For the few good spellers in a class, it's a marvelous competition. For the remainder of the students, who know they are not good spellers, not only is the spelling bee humiliating but it also publicly reinforces what they have been thinking all along: they can't spell - and now the whole class knows it (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). The United States has had spelling bees for years, culminating in a national competition every year in Washington, DC. Has this resulted in a nation of good spellers?
Developmentally Appropriate
A third characteristic of a motivating learning environment is that it reflects age-related and physical differences. An environment that is developmentally appropriate encourages students to work hard and remain on task (Graham et al., 1992; National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 2009; Stork & Sanders, 1996).
As children develop, they are motivated by different opportunities and experiences. Primary-grade youngsters, for example, are eager to please the teacher and are therefore motivated by teacher praise and encouragement. Observe any kindergarten class and you will hear children saying, "Watch me! Watch me!" all day long. Furthermore, if children haven't learned to remain in one location, teachers will continually be trailed by five-year-olds wanting them to say "Wonderful!" after every attempt they make to jump over a rope or throw a beanbag into a box.
As children grow older, the desire to please the teacher is accompanied (in some cases apparently replaced) by a desire to please their peers. They also refine their ability to distinguish between motor skill ability and effort (how hard they try) (Lee, 2004). Attention and respect from peers play an important role in the motivation of middle school youngsters. The opportunity to work in groups to design activities or solve problems is often motivating for adolescents who are interested in peer interaction. Examples include designing a game, dance, or movement sequence and making a video, perhaps to show to classmates (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
In addition to age-related differences (Garcia, 1994), skill level influences the type of support that is effective. Youngsters who are only minimally successful even when tasks are adjusted for them need lots of praise and encouragement to continue to work hard and to try. They also need help understanding that proficiency in motor skills requires a lot of appropriate practice (Rink, 2004).
Highly skilled students who receive satisfaction from succeeding at various tasks seem to be motivated by praise focused on the way they perform the task (sometimes the results), rather than by the fact that they are working hard. In fact, being praised for succeeding at tasks that are relatively easy for them might give highly skilled students the impression that PE is really for the poorly skilled. We believe that this occurs with many athletes who are not challenged in physical education classes. They receive a lot of praise for accomplishments that are much better than those of others in the class but that represent a relatively minimal effort on their part.
Strategies for Minimizing Off-Task Behavior
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems.
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems. Even if you have taught the behavior protocols presented in chapter 2, however, you are still going to have incidences of off-task behavior. Therefore, you need strategies that can minimize the misbehavior of students. Unfortunately, they are just strategies, not guarantees. Some of them succeed with some youngsters some of the time. We wish we knew foolproof strategies that work for all teachers all of the time, but we don't; no one does. Good teachers seem to have a repertoire of strategies that they use, sometimes consciously and sometimes without really thinking about them. They include back to the wall, proximity control, with-it-ness, selective ignoring, overlapping, learning names, and positive pinpointing.
Back to the Wall
One of the simplest strategies is referred to as back to the wall. Teachers use this technique for formative assessment (chapter 5) and also for behavior management. Standing on the outside of the boundaries (the wall in the gym or the edge of the playground) lets you see what is going on in a class. When you stand in the middle of a class, about 50 percent of the class is out of your sight; thus, you may not see off-task behavior until it has gone on for some time.
The ability to detect off-task behavior as soon as it begins appears to be a characteristic of successful teachers. Immediate detection seems to prevent the behavior from escalating. When the behavior persists for several minutes, several students might become involved. Thus, a relatively minor incident can escalate into a major incident (e.g., one student tries to wrestle a ball away from another). This is known as the ripple effect (Kounin, 1970). When you see the beginning of such an incident, you can quickly prevent it from escalating because your targeting and timing are appropriate. You can identify the students correctly and quickly, thus preventing the situation from developing into a crisis.
Proximity Control
One technique that can prevent the ball-taking episode just described from escalating is proximity control - simply walking in the direction of the off-task student to let her know that you see her. Giving her the look will let her know that she's off task.
Veteran teachers know what we mean by the look. It's a certain way a teacher looks at a youngster to say, "You're off task; now get back to work." Obviously, however, you need to be close enough so that the student can see your expressions.
Sometimes the look isn't even necessary. Simply standing by a group of students on the verge of becoming off task is often enough to let them know that you see them and expect them to remain focused.
Proximity control implies that you are moving around the gym. Early in their careers, teachers have a tendency to stand in one place. Although standing in one place may be more comfortable than moving around, it's not as effective. Virtually without exception, good teachers move about the classroom, the gym, and the outdoor space.
With-It-Ness
The strategies of back to the wall and proximity control give the class the impression that you have with-it-ness - it's like having eyes in the back of your head (Kounin, 1970). When he began his series of research studies on discipline, Kounin hypothesized that teachers whose students were well behaved and consistently on task were those who threatened them, basically scaring them into behaving. He discovered that this wasn't true. The teachers with the fewest discipline problems communicated to their classes in a calm and reassuring way that they knew what was going on in their classes, they knew the tricks, and therefore students shouldn't even bother to try them. By keeping their backs to the wall and quickly targeting youngsters tending toward off-task behavior, they convinced their students that indeed they were with it.
With It and Without It
Remembering my (GG) days in elementary school, I can recall a sixth-grade teacher who was particularly with it. She was friendly and warm, yet from the first day, we could tell that she wasn't about to let us get away with anything. It was uncanny how she could identify children who were off-task types and, with looks and proximity control, keep them from misbehaving much of that year. The next year, however, we had a teacher who was "without it"; the same class quickly escalated into a rowdy group of children who were continually yelled at and threatened, though without much success. I am sure we were difficult to teach that year. We were essentially the same children, but, among other things, the teacher was "without it."
Selective Ignoring
Recently, I (GG) watched a first-grade lesson focused on round, narrow, wide, and twisted shapes. At times the children were making shapes in their own space; at other times they were traveling around the gym in their shapes. Whenever the opportunity was given to travel, one of the children, Bryan, ran. My reaction and that of my college students who were also observing was to immediately want to stop Bryan from running. The teacher ignored him, however. As we watched, I realized that Bryan really wasn't bothering other children. In fact, they ignored him also. Another teacher might have considered Bryan's behavior off task; Bryan's teacher didn't. And, after watching the entire lesson, I think she was right. Bryan was one of those high-energy children - some might have labeled him hyperactive. He was doing what the teacher asked but at a fast speed. The teacher obviously saw him but chose to selectively ignore him. It was an effective strategy in that lesson.
Selective ignoring works when students have been helped to understand why a student looks or acts a certain way. The opportunity to learn to accept students who behave in ways outside of the norm has been one of the major advantages of mainstreaming in schools. When we observe students working with those with special needs, we are always warmed by their ability to understand the situation and their genuine willingness to help. This understanding doesn't happen automatically, however. Good teachers intentionally teach their classes to understand and work with special students.
Nick's Insight
When my (GG) oldest son, Nick, was in fourth grade, I remember talking to him about some of his classmates after I had observed his class. I commented on one boy who was off task constantly and obviously annoying the teacher. I said that the boy who was off task seemed to be a distraction to the class and a troublemaker. I expected Nick to agree. He surprised me, however, by providing me with one of those glimpses into how children view the world when he said: "Dad, it's not all his fault. The teacher doesn't understand him. He's really a good guy if you give him a chance. She never really gave him one." I try to remember Nick's insight when a child misbehaves in one of my classes.
Overlapping
Unlike back to the wall, which is an easily learned strategy, overlapping is a skill that is learned with practice. Overlapping is the ability to focus on several things at once and still maintain an intended direction.
As a teacher, you are continually required to deal simultaneously with several students or situations. For example, you may nod your head yes at the youngster who has to go to the bathroom; smile at the child who says "Watch me"; put your hand on the shoulder of the youngster who wants to talk to you to signal "Wait a second"; and continue to observe the whole class as you determine whether to change the task or continue it for several more minutes. Locke's vignette in chapter 1 is another illustration of the need to develop the ability to overlap.
Overlapping is a pedagogical skill learned through experience. It is critical because if you work with 30 or more students in a class, you will have to overlap at times to keep a lesson from coming to a complete stop. Obviously, establishing routines and protocols will minimize the need for overlapping, yet it is needed at times.
Tech Tips: ClassDojo
ClassDojo is a wonderful app that you can use to encourage your students, log classroom behavior, and engage parents and guardians. Compatible with any Apple or Android device, ClassDojo allows you to give behavior or skill feedback instantly to individual students and help them see their progress right away. Parents and guardians can see their children's behavior points on a daily basis, and you can even exchange messages with them through the app to keep them informed and engaged.
Learning Names
Learning students' names can be difficult, but it is possible even if you have 600 or more students. One of the frustrating aspects of teaching is attempting to get the attention of a student whose name you don't know. As you try to find out, you may halt the flow of the lesson as several youngsters volunteer the student's name and then stop moving to watch what you have to say to him. When you know a student's name, you can often speak it across the gym to let him know that you see him and offer praise or remind him to get on task.
Some teachers learn names with relative ease. For others it's a struggle. We have all heard of name-learning techniques (e.g., alliteration, using the name several times in conversation, having the students tell you their names when they enter and leave the gym, and taking photos of students) (Williams, 1995). PE Central (www.pecentral.org) provides a number of suggestions in the section "Tips for the Beginning Teacher." Increasingly, classroom teachers are making name tags for younger children who then wear them to PE until the teacher has time to learn their names. Learning names is even more challenging for teachers who work in schools with transient populations. Half of the youngsters they teach in September are gone in May, replaced by a new group. We wish we had a magical, instant solution to this challenge of learning several hundred names, but we don't. We do know, however, that it really helps to know students' names when trying to prevent off-task behavior.
Positive Pinpointing
Identifying one or more students and pointing them out to the rest of the class as modeling the desired behavior or skill is called pinpointing. This strategy is common in elementary schools. I like how Verenda and Tommy are standing quietly is an example of positive pinpointing. Our experience suggests that this technique is more effective with younger children who want to please the teacher. It can be overused, however. Some youngsters seem to ignore it because the teacher is constantly talking about how well someone is doing something. As with any of these strategies, pinpointing can work depending on the students, the way you use it, and how frequently you use it. Chapter 7 explains how to use pinpointing when teaching motor skills.
Many of these strategies or techniques seem to be innate characteristics of successful teachers. Although they are rarely taught or discussed, many teachers use them. But not all do - especially in the beginning of their careers. Beginning teachers are often anchored in the same location throughout their lessons, or fail to see students misbehave because their backs are turned. As with so many of the skills discussed in this book, it's easy to write about them and far more challenging to actually use them when teaching. We hope, however, that you will reflect on the subtle orchestration of teaching skills and strategies and their value for minimizing off-task behavior, whether you are a beginning or an experienced teacher (Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005). No matter how well you use these strategies, and others, some students will simply refuse to do what you ask (Timmreck, 1978). Such students are not off task; they have become discipline problems.
All teachers experience discipline problems in their classrooms from time to time. Some minimize the problems, however. What strategies do successful teachers use to minimize discipline problems? To begin with, they spend the first few days of the school year establishing the routines and teaching the management protocols described in chapter 2; they insist that the students learn these routines. They also use many of the strategies previously mentioned for minimizing off-task behavior. In addition, when inappropriate behavior occurs, good teachers examine their own performance. Is the lesson appropriate for the level of the student(s)? Has their behavior instigated student misbehavior? Have they engaged in negative interactions or differential treatment? Is the environment less than positive? Are they reactive rather than proactive?
Proactive or Reactive?
Proactive teachers focus on strategies to maintain or increase positive behavior, such as having established rules, planning appropriate lessons, and praising students who are following expectations (positive pinpointing). Proactive teachers try to avoid discipline problems before they happen. Ideally, we strive to be proactive!
Reactive teachers focus on strategies to stop inappropriate behavior once it has occurred, such as expressing dissatisfaction or imposing an appropriate consequence. Reactive teachers respond after an incident happens to try to avoid further discipline problems. We all must be reactive at times, and with a good discipline system in place, we know the consequences - and so do the students.
Save
Save
Save
Teaching Behavior Protocols
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
As with any teaching process, no single approach works for all teachers. However, teachers who create pleasant atmospheres seem to display certain attributes as they work on building their class environments. They are firm but warm while also being critically demanding. They also post their rules for classes to see and often discuss them so that students feel a certain degree of ownership.
Firm but Warm
At one time we believed that successful teachers threatened students: that is, that they scared them into being good. Today we know better (Bulger, Mohr, & Walls, 2002; Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005; Doyle, 1986; Fernandez-Balboa, 1990; Kounin, 1970). Successful teachers exhibit a certain degree of firmness: they mean what they say. At the same time, however, they are warm and caring toward the students. They don't want to frighten them, but they want them to know they mean business. Students quickly learn to discern whether teachers mean what they say. Good teachers mean what they say, and they exhibit it by not allowing their students to get away with not following the protocols. They don't get excited or hysterical or threaten, however. In calm, reassuring, firm ways, they simply and consistently communicate the message that things are going to be done a certain way and that not much else is going to happen until the protocols are learned. This is one of those skills used by effective teachers that is difficult to put into words. However, if you watched 10 teachers, you would quickly identify those who are firm but warm.
Critically Demanding
If we could write this section in flashing neon lights, we would, because this is an especially important teaching skill that makes a huge difference in the learning environment.
In addition to being firm but warm, effective teachers also are critically demanding. You can quickly recognize this quality when you see it. Teachers who are critically demanding have a built-in expectation that students follow the protocols, and they insist that they do. For example, they know how they want their students to enter the gym. When students enter that way, the lesson proceeds as planned. When they don't, these teachers don't accept their behavior. They insist (demand) that they go back and enter the gym the way they had practiced earlier.
This is especially difficult because, typically, you will want to get on with the lesson you have planned. It's hard to spend time having students go back and reenter the gym. In the long run, however, you will spend less time on these distracting events than if you hadn't spent the time reinforcing your expectations at the beginning of the year. One advantage for your students is that they know exactly what to expect. You can be consistent day after day because you know what is reasonable for your students and you expect that behavior of them.
One of the easiest ways to understand the quality of being critically demanding is to think back to when you were in high school. Did you have a curfew? What happened if you were late? If your parents or guardians were critically demanding, they followed through on the consequences you had discussed before (e.g., being grounded for a week or denied television). If your parents or guardians were not critically demanding, however, they likely let things slide and you knew that they really didn't mean what they said.
Rules - Clear, Positive, Posted
Posted rules also help with consistency. Rules are essentially brief reminders of the behavior protocols. Most teachers list five or six rules, state them in positive ways, and post them prominently (figure 2.1). Simply writing and posting them, however, is no guarantee they will be followed. They also must be practiced.
Physical Education Rules
Physical education rules might look like those in figure 2.1. One reason for posting rules, in addition to serving as reminders, is for the benefit of students new to the school. Posted rules allow you to briefly review the behavior protocols with new students. You may also video record classes in which you explained the behavior protocols and include student demonstrations. The video can then be made available to new students so that they can see exactly what is expected of them in physical education class.
Example of posted rules.
Used by permission of PE Central (pecentral.org), the premier website for physical education teachers. Our goal is to provide educational resources to teachers who, in turn, will help guide youngsters in the process of becoming physically active and healthy for a lifetime. PE Central is supported by S&S Worldwide (pe.ssww.com), a 110-year-old company dedicated to assisting teachers to motivate kids to play and learn using their innovative and educational products. http://pe.ssww.com/item/product-W12402/
Behavior videos are a good idea in places where teachers are often threatened with malpractice lawsuits. In this case, every new student should be required to view the video before participating in physical education. In extreme instances, teachers may quiz students (in writing or orally) or ask them to sign a copy of the rules, indicating that they have viewed the video. We also suggest that this behavior video be placed on the physical education section of the school website.
Locker Room Rules
Secondary programs frequently require students to change clothes in a locker room. You may need rules and protocols specific to the locker room. Here are some examples:
- Take pride in our school and keep the locker room CLEAN!
- Leave food, candy, gum, drinks, and cell phones in your locker or other space outside the gym or PE area.
- Act appropriately (keep your hands to yourself, no bad language).
- Be in the locker room when the bell rings.
- Enter and exit the locker room from the appropriate hallway.
- Dress at your locker.
- Be responsible for locking up all belongings and valuables.
Although these suggestions might seem extreme, teachers who have been involved in malpractice lawsuits will quickly recognize the benefit to posting such rules. This is especially important in schools with high rates of student turnover.
Some teachers send letters home to parents and guardians at the beginning of the school year outlining policies on dress for physical education (especially footwear), medical notes, and what the students will be learning in the coming year. These letters typically provide information about contacting the teacher if questions arise about classes, policies, or other issues (Hopple, 1998).
Developing Ownership
Rules (behavior protocols) are followed more closely when students, and parents and guardians for that matter, understand why they are necessary, and also when students have a sense of ownership of them. For this reason many teachers discuss rules with students to help them understand their importance. A video of students not following the rules can illustrate what happens when this occurs. (You will have no problem recruiting a class to help you make a video demonstrating all of the ways not to behave in the gym!) The video then becomes an excellent resource for involving students in discussions about why management protocols are important to have and follow.
In addition to sharing the rules with your students, provide the principal and classroom teachers with a copy of the rules. This is especially important if your school does not have a unified discipline plan (e.g., assertive discipline; see chapter 10). It might also be worthwhile to share the rules with parents and guardians, perhaps on the school website, especially if you plan to send notes home about students who do not follow the established behavior protocols. This will depend, however, on such factors as the philosophy of the school and the policies of the principal and the board of education.
The next chapters address many of the teaching skills effective physical educators use. The bottom line, however, is that if students do not practice the behavior protocols, as stated in the posted rules, until they become an understood and accepted way of doing business, then many of the pedagogical skills discussed later will have limited effect. Although it's not a lot of fun for you or your students to practice the behavior protocols that are critical to the development of a positive (enjoyable, fun, interesting) learning environment, it's absolutely necessary. If you want to enjoy teaching, spend time practicing the protocols. If you want to spend time nagging youngsters, skip the protocols and start trying to teach.
Three Keys to Motivating Youngsters
It’s common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels.
It's common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels. Successful teachers motivate children and adolescents by creating learning environments in which the tasks or activities are success oriented, autonomy supportive, and developmentally appropriate (Block, 1995; Hastie, Rudisill, & Wadsworth, 2013; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
Success Oriented
Failure, especially when we have never had much success, makes us want to quit trying. If we have never succeeded, there's no reason to believe that continuing to try, and failing, will eventually lead to improvement. This rationale is quite typical of young learners who have yet to make the connection between lots of practice and success (Lee, 2004). To motivate students to practice, the task needs to be one at which they can be successful - highly successful. The research literature, as well as common sense, suggests that when we're learning a new skill, success rates close to 80 percent are appropriate (Brophy & Good, 1986; Pellet & Harrison, 1996; Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
With experience and age, we start to make the connection between practice and expertise (Lee, 2004). For example, an adult might think, If I want to be a good skater, I will need to practice a lot. It will probably take months or even years. In contrast a child might think, I want to be a good skater. I tried it today. I fell down a lot. I can't skate.
To be a successful physical educator, you need to create and change tasks so that your students succeed at high rates. The variety of tasks described in chapter 4 provide the opportunity to accommodate a wide variety of skill levels in your class. You can also encourage your students to modify tasks on their own to make them easier or harder to better match their abilities. At the same time, discourage them from making social comparisons (Lee, 2004). Finally, try to make tasks fun so that your students enjoy doing them without necessarily realizing that they are leading to improvement. The following three examples, taken from actual classes, show how to design tasks so that youngsters can succeed.
Self-Adjusting Target Throwing
Each student has a beanbag and a cardboard box. Challenge them to throw the beanbag into the box but don't tell them how far away from the box to stand. Watch how they adjust the distance based on their ability. The less skilled stand closer to their boxes; the more skilled stand farther away. Several successful throws might result in students moving farther away; several failures might result in taking a few steps closer to the box. Notice, too, that the more highly skilled children tolerate a lower rate of success than the less-skilled children (Rogers, Ponish, & Sawyers, 1991). This example focuses on elementary school children, but it can also apply to adolescents. For example, when teaching volleyball, you can allow students to choose the spot from which they serve the ball; in soccer, you can have students set cone goals up on their own and thus self-adjust the size of the goal by how far apart the cones are.
Self-Adjusting Shampoo
One morning as I (GG) was showering, I read the label on the shampoo bottle. It claimed that the shampoo was self-adjusting - it would adjust its cleaning action to the particular needs of each person's hair. I thought, That's exactly what we need for our classes - self-adjusting tasks that change based on the abilities and interests of the students in the class!
Slanty Rope
Here's another example of designing a task to promote success. For elementary classes, set up two ropes on the floor in a slanty rope design (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). At one end, the ropes are close together. At the other end, the ropes are much farther apart. Challenge students to jump over the river (the ropes) without landing in the water. Observe how they choose the location at which they jump to match their ability to jump for distance - the less skilled jump the river at the narrower end, and the better jumpers jump at the wider end.
The slanty rope principle can also be used with middle and high school students. For example, a traverse climbing wall (students climb sideways with their feet never more than 3 feet [1 m] above the floor) has many holds. Low-skilled students can climb using any holds they like. More skillful students can be given specific routes marked with colored tape that use smaller and more difficult holds. Even the highest-skilled climbers can find appropriately challenging routes. At any time, students can choose a more easily accessible or larger hold.
The point is that a large range of task difficulty is available. Students have the option to choose where along the slanty rope to jump or which route is best for them for climbing.
Varied Basketball Goal Heights
A third example of students wanting to be successful can be observed when several basketball goals are set at various heights for elementary school children. If given a choice, many choose to play at the lowest goal, thereby increasing their chances for success. Equipment manufacturers have recognized this and now sell adjustable basketball goals.
You can apply the same principle with middle and high school students. For example, in a volleyball, lacrosse, or field hockey unit, give students a choice of leagues in which to sign up. Volleyball leagues can include recreation (modified rules such as allowing the volleyball to bounce, playing with a volley trainer, using a lower net, and serving from anywhere), city (no calling double hits, serving from anywhere, letting the server choose the ball to use), and professional (calling double hits, playing by official rules). Students choose the league that is best for them, and they can also move from league to league.
It's interesting to take any of the preceding examples and compare the involvement and interest of students when they have no choice (i.e., when the distance or height is the same for everyone). Typically, practice decreases and off-task behavior increases. The low-skilled student becomes frustrated; the higher-skilled ones become bored (Mandigo & Thompson, 1998). The purpose of designing and adjusting tasks so that students can be successful is to encourage them to continue trying. That is true in class and out of class. In math homework, for example, experts recommend that problems assigned to young learners allow them to succeed at a 100 percent success rate, thereby increasing their motivation to do the homework.
I (GG) wish I had had math teachers who provided math homework assignments at which I could have succeeded. My memories are still vivid of the frustration, leading to exasperation, when I could do only 2 of 10 math homework problems. I wonder how much that contributed to my feelings of incompetence in math today.
Obviously, not every task you design can be self-adjusting and allow students to be continually successful. The principle, however, is that success is fun and motivating - and you want them to feel good about their physical abilities. They will have plenty of opportunities to experience failure and frustration - you don't need to intentionally create them.
How Successful Are the Students?
One way to determine the success rate of your students is to use a coding form to provide objective evidence (figure 8.1). The form is easy to use; in fact, some children use it quite well (Wolfe & Sharpe, 1996). It is most effective, however, with practice attempts that are easily counted. Lessons emphasizing throwing, catching, kicking, and serving a volleyball are ideal. By counting the successful and unsuccessful tries for a low- and a higher-skilled student, you can obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of their success rates. Remember, however, that 80 percent is a general target and may not be the appropriate success rate for some students. Once again, observe and get to know your students. A youngster becoming off task is often an indication that the success rate isn't optimal and the task is either too hard or too easy.
Autonomy Supportive
In addition to creating success-oriented environments, you should try to find ways to help your students develop an intrinsic motivation for participating. This is called autonomy-supportive teaching.
Autonomy refers to a person's sense of control. We know that students who feel autonomous during physical education are more actively engaged in learning activities and are more physically active during physical education and outside of school (Bagøien & Halvari, 2005; Halvari et al., 2009). Teachers who are autonomy supportive display many of the pedagogical skills described in this book. Providing a motivating set induction that captures student interest (chapter 6), scaffolding instruction so that students see the relevance of what they are learning (chapter 6), and developing a safe learning environment with clear protocols and rules (chapter 2) are all characteristics of autonomy-supportive teaching. To create an autonomy-supportive environment, give your students the following:
- A variety of tasks
- Opportunities to make decisions about the tasks
- Feedback (private recognition and evaluation) of performance
- Self-paced instruction and choices of tasks
- Ways to measure personal improvement and avoid social comparisons
- Opportunities for experimentation and self-initiation
- Cooperative learning opportunities
An autonomy-supportive learning environment encourages students to develop a high sense of independence, thereby encouraging intrinsic motivation (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). You can help your students build and sustain intrinsic motivation by avoiding social comparisons, both with others in the class and with externally validated norms. Avoid contests that determine who can make the most shots, do the most sit-ups, or score the most points. Discourage your students from comparing their performances with state or national fitness test norms. Rather, invite them to compare their current and past performances to recognize how they are improving and to show them that practice and hard work eventually pay off (Alderman, Beighle, & Pangrazi, 2006; Lee, 2004; Rink, 2004; Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
Perhaps the emphasis on intrinsic motivation can best be understood when placed in the context of a popular activity such as jogging (Xiang, Chen, & Bruene, 2005). Most adults don't start jogging because they expect to win races or set records. They jog because they feel good about improving their fitness and perhaps losing weight. If they want to, they can chart their improvement using a wearable physical activity tracker (e.g., Fitbit, pedometer, GPS device, tracking app). If they were forced to run races and have their times published in the newspaper, we suspect many would quit jogging. From time to time, however, many choose to enter races. The important point is that they choose to enter races for their own reasons. They don't have to. Shouldn't children and adolescents have the same choices?
There is no way to prevent students from comparing their performances with those of others. They do compare accomplishments, especially the highly skilled. Nevertheless, you can encourage students to succeed on their own by downplaying comparisons and avoiding creating competitive situations.
As with virtually any endeavor, the higher-skilled seek extrinsic motivation by comparing themselves with others, typically through competition. You can make these opportunities available, but again, only for those who choose to compete.
Tech Tips: Tracking Participation
Use pedometers, MOVbands, Sqord Boosters, or some other cost-effective tool (approximately $20-$30 each) to record student participation. MOVbands and Sqord Boosters allow students to quickly upload their movements to a website that both you and they can monitor. You can set challenges for individual students or entire classes. Sqord Boosters allow students to create avatars who grow stronger as the students increase their own activity.
Ban the Spelling Bee
One of the most blatant violations of the idea that children should be allowed to choose whether they want to compete and have their performances compared with others is the spelling bee. For the few good spellers in a class, it's a marvelous competition. For the remainder of the students, who know they are not good spellers, not only is the spelling bee humiliating but it also publicly reinforces what they have been thinking all along: they can't spell - and now the whole class knows it (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). The United States has had spelling bees for years, culminating in a national competition every year in Washington, DC. Has this resulted in a nation of good spellers?
Developmentally Appropriate
A third characteristic of a motivating learning environment is that it reflects age-related and physical differences. An environment that is developmentally appropriate encourages students to work hard and remain on task (Graham et al., 1992; National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 2009; Stork & Sanders, 1996).
As children develop, they are motivated by different opportunities and experiences. Primary-grade youngsters, for example, are eager to please the teacher and are therefore motivated by teacher praise and encouragement. Observe any kindergarten class and you will hear children saying, "Watch me! Watch me!" all day long. Furthermore, if children haven't learned to remain in one location, teachers will continually be trailed by five-year-olds wanting them to say "Wonderful!" after every attempt they make to jump over a rope or throw a beanbag into a box.
As children grow older, the desire to please the teacher is accompanied (in some cases apparently replaced) by a desire to please their peers. They also refine their ability to distinguish between motor skill ability and effort (how hard they try) (Lee, 2004). Attention and respect from peers play an important role in the motivation of middle school youngsters. The opportunity to work in groups to design activities or solve problems is often motivating for adolescents who are interested in peer interaction. Examples include designing a game, dance, or movement sequence and making a video, perhaps to show to classmates (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
In addition to age-related differences (Garcia, 1994), skill level influences the type of support that is effective. Youngsters who are only minimally successful even when tasks are adjusted for them need lots of praise and encouragement to continue to work hard and to try. They also need help understanding that proficiency in motor skills requires a lot of appropriate practice (Rink, 2004).
Highly skilled students who receive satisfaction from succeeding at various tasks seem to be motivated by praise focused on the way they perform the task (sometimes the results), rather than by the fact that they are working hard. In fact, being praised for succeeding at tasks that are relatively easy for them might give highly skilled students the impression that PE is really for the poorly skilled. We believe that this occurs with many athletes who are not challenged in physical education classes. They receive a lot of praise for accomplishments that are much better than those of others in the class but that represent a relatively minimal effort on their part.
Strategies for Minimizing Off-Task Behavior
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems.
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems. Even if you have taught the behavior protocols presented in chapter 2, however, you are still going to have incidences of off-task behavior. Therefore, you need strategies that can minimize the misbehavior of students. Unfortunately, they are just strategies, not guarantees. Some of them succeed with some youngsters some of the time. We wish we knew foolproof strategies that work for all teachers all of the time, but we don't; no one does. Good teachers seem to have a repertoire of strategies that they use, sometimes consciously and sometimes without really thinking about them. They include back to the wall, proximity control, with-it-ness, selective ignoring, overlapping, learning names, and positive pinpointing.
Back to the Wall
One of the simplest strategies is referred to as back to the wall. Teachers use this technique for formative assessment (chapter 5) and also for behavior management. Standing on the outside of the boundaries (the wall in the gym or the edge of the playground) lets you see what is going on in a class. When you stand in the middle of a class, about 50 percent of the class is out of your sight; thus, you may not see off-task behavior until it has gone on for some time.
The ability to detect off-task behavior as soon as it begins appears to be a characteristic of successful teachers. Immediate detection seems to prevent the behavior from escalating. When the behavior persists for several minutes, several students might become involved. Thus, a relatively minor incident can escalate into a major incident (e.g., one student tries to wrestle a ball away from another). This is known as the ripple effect (Kounin, 1970). When you see the beginning of such an incident, you can quickly prevent it from escalating because your targeting and timing are appropriate. You can identify the students correctly and quickly, thus preventing the situation from developing into a crisis.
Proximity Control
One technique that can prevent the ball-taking episode just described from escalating is proximity control - simply walking in the direction of the off-task student to let her know that you see her. Giving her the look will let her know that she's off task.
Veteran teachers know what we mean by the look. It's a certain way a teacher looks at a youngster to say, "You're off task; now get back to work." Obviously, however, you need to be close enough so that the student can see your expressions.
Sometimes the look isn't even necessary. Simply standing by a group of students on the verge of becoming off task is often enough to let them know that you see them and expect them to remain focused.
Proximity control implies that you are moving around the gym. Early in their careers, teachers have a tendency to stand in one place. Although standing in one place may be more comfortable than moving around, it's not as effective. Virtually without exception, good teachers move about the classroom, the gym, and the outdoor space.
With-It-Ness
The strategies of back to the wall and proximity control give the class the impression that you have with-it-ness - it's like having eyes in the back of your head (Kounin, 1970). When he began his series of research studies on discipline, Kounin hypothesized that teachers whose students were well behaved and consistently on task were those who threatened them, basically scaring them into behaving. He discovered that this wasn't true. The teachers with the fewest discipline problems communicated to their classes in a calm and reassuring way that they knew what was going on in their classes, they knew the tricks, and therefore students shouldn't even bother to try them. By keeping their backs to the wall and quickly targeting youngsters tending toward off-task behavior, they convinced their students that indeed they were with it.
With It and Without It
Remembering my (GG) days in elementary school, I can recall a sixth-grade teacher who was particularly with it. She was friendly and warm, yet from the first day, we could tell that she wasn't about to let us get away with anything. It was uncanny how she could identify children who were off-task types and, with looks and proximity control, keep them from misbehaving much of that year. The next year, however, we had a teacher who was "without it"; the same class quickly escalated into a rowdy group of children who were continually yelled at and threatened, though without much success. I am sure we were difficult to teach that year. We were essentially the same children, but, among other things, the teacher was "without it."
Selective Ignoring
Recently, I (GG) watched a first-grade lesson focused on round, narrow, wide, and twisted shapes. At times the children were making shapes in their own space; at other times they were traveling around the gym in their shapes. Whenever the opportunity was given to travel, one of the children, Bryan, ran. My reaction and that of my college students who were also observing was to immediately want to stop Bryan from running. The teacher ignored him, however. As we watched, I realized that Bryan really wasn't bothering other children. In fact, they ignored him also. Another teacher might have considered Bryan's behavior off task; Bryan's teacher didn't. And, after watching the entire lesson, I think she was right. Bryan was one of those high-energy children - some might have labeled him hyperactive. He was doing what the teacher asked but at a fast speed. The teacher obviously saw him but chose to selectively ignore him. It was an effective strategy in that lesson.
Selective ignoring works when students have been helped to understand why a student looks or acts a certain way. The opportunity to learn to accept students who behave in ways outside of the norm has been one of the major advantages of mainstreaming in schools. When we observe students working with those with special needs, we are always warmed by their ability to understand the situation and their genuine willingness to help. This understanding doesn't happen automatically, however. Good teachers intentionally teach their classes to understand and work with special students.
Nick's Insight
When my (GG) oldest son, Nick, was in fourth grade, I remember talking to him about some of his classmates after I had observed his class. I commented on one boy who was off task constantly and obviously annoying the teacher. I said that the boy who was off task seemed to be a distraction to the class and a troublemaker. I expected Nick to agree. He surprised me, however, by providing me with one of those glimpses into how children view the world when he said: "Dad, it's not all his fault. The teacher doesn't understand him. He's really a good guy if you give him a chance. She never really gave him one." I try to remember Nick's insight when a child misbehaves in one of my classes.
Overlapping
Unlike back to the wall, which is an easily learned strategy, overlapping is a skill that is learned with practice. Overlapping is the ability to focus on several things at once and still maintain an intended direction.
As a teacher, you are continually required to deal simultaneously with several students or situations. For example, you may nod your head yes at the youngster who has to go to the bathroom; smile at the child who says "Watch me"; put your hand on the shoulder of the youngster who wants to talk to you to signal "Wait a second"; and continue to observe the whole class as you determine whether to change the task or continue it for several more minutes. Locke's vignette in chapter 1 is another illustration of the need to develop the ability to overlap.
Overlapping is a pedagogical skill learned through experience. It is critical because if you work with 30 or more students in a class, you will have to overlap at times to keep a lesson from coming to a complete stop. Obviously, establishing routines and protocols will minimize the need for overlapping, yet it is needed at times.
Tech Tips: ClassDojo
ClassDojo is a wonderful app that you can use to encourage your students, log classroom behavior, and engage parents and guardians. Compatible with any Apple or Android device, ClassDojo allows you to give behavior or skill feedback instantly to individual students and help them see their progress right away. Parents and guardians can see their children's behavior points on a daily basis, and you can even exchange messages with them through the app to keep them informed and engaged.
Learning Names
Learning students' names can be difficult, but it is possible even if you have 600 or more students. One of the frustrating aspects of teaching is attempting to get the attention of a student whose name you don't know. As you try to find out, you may halt the flow of the lesson as several youngsters volunteer the student's name and then stop moving to watch what you have to say to him. When you know a student's name, you can often speak it across the gym to let him know that you see him and offer praise or remind him to get on task.
Some teachers learn names with relative ease. For others it's a struggle. We have all heard of name-learning techniques (e.g., alliteration, using the name several times in conversation, having the students tell you their names when they enter and leave the gym, and taking photos of students) (Williams, 1995). PE Central (www.pecentral.org) provides a number of suggestions in the section "Tips for the Beginning Teacher." Increasingly, classroom teachers are making name tags for younger children who then wear them to PE until the teacher has time to learn their names. Learning names is even more challenging for teachers who work in schools with transient populations. Half of the youngsters they teach in September are gone in May, replaced by a new group. We wish we had a magical, instant solution to this challenge of learning several hundred names, but we don't. We do know, however, that it really helps to know students' names when trying to prevent off-task behavior.
Positive Pinpointing
Identifying one or more students and pointing them out to the rest of the class as modeling the desired behavior or skill is called pinpointing. This strategy is common in elementary schools. I like how Verenda and Tommy are standing quietly is an example of positive pinpointing. Our experience suggests that this technique is more effective with younger children who want to please the teacher. It can be overused, however. Some youngsters seem to ignore it because the teacher is constantly talking about how well someone is doing something. As with any of these strategies, pinpointing can work depending on the students, the way you use it, and how frequently you use it. Chapter 7 explains how to use pinpointing when teaching motor skills.
Many of these strategies or techniques seem to be innate characteristics of successful teachers. Although they are rarely taught or discussed, many teachers use them. But not all do - especially in the beginning of their careers. Beginning teachers are often anchored in the same location throughout their lessons, or fail to see students misbehave because their backs are turned. As with so many of the skills discussed in this book, it's easy to write about them and far more challenging to actually use them when teaching. We hope, however, that you will reflect on the subtle orchestration of teaching skills and strategies and their value for minimizing off-task behavior, whether you are a beginning or an experienced teacher (Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005). No matter how well you use these strategies, and others, some students will simply refuse to do what you ask (Timmreck, 1978). Such students are not off task; they have become discipline problems.
All teachers experience discipline problems in their classrooms from time to time. Some minimize the problems, however. What strategies do successful teachers use to minimize discipline problems? To begin with, they spend the first few days of the school year establishing the routines and teaching the management protocols described in chapter 2; they insist that the students learn these routines. They also use many of the strategies previously mentioned for minimizing off-task behavior. In addition, when inappropriate behavior occurs, good teachers examine their own performance. Is the lesson appropriate for the level of the student(s)? Has their behavior instigated student misbehavior? Have they engaged in negative interactions or differential treatment? Is the environment less than positive? Are they reactive rather than proactive?
Proactive or Reactive?
Proactive teachers focus on strategies to maintain or increase positive behavior, such as having established rules, planning appropriate lessons, and praising students who are following expectations (positive pinpointing). Proactive teachers try to avoid discipline problems before they happen. Ideally, we strive to be proactive!
Reactive teachers focus on strategies to stop inappropriate behavior once it has occurred, such as expressing dissatisfaction or imposing an appropriate consequence. Reactive teachers respond after an incident happens to try to avoid further discipline problems. We all must be reactive at times, and with a good discipline system in place, we know the consequences - and so do the students.
Save
Save
Save
Teaching Behavior Protocols
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
As with any teaching process, no single approach works for all teachers. However, teachers who create pleasant atmospheres seem to display certain attributes as they work on building their class environments. They are firm but warm while also being critically demanding. They also post their rules for classes to see and often discuss them so that students feel a certain degree of ownership.
Firm but Warm
At one time we believed that successful teachers threatened students: that is, that they scared them into being good. Today we know better (Bulger, Mohr, & Walls, 2002; Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005; Doyle, 1986; Fernandez-Balboa, 1990; Kounin, 1970). Successful teachers exhibit a certain degree of firmness: they mean what they say. At the same time, however, they are warm and caring toward the students. They don't want to frighten them, but they want them to know they mean business. Students quickly learn to discern whether teachers mean what they say. Good teachers mean what they say, and they exhibit it by not allowing their students to get away with not following the protocols. They don't get excited or hysterical or threaten, however. In calm, reassuring, firm ways, they simply and consistently communicate the message that things are going to be done a certain way and that not much else is going to happen until the protocols are learned. This is one of those skills used by effective teachers that is difficult to put into words. However, if you watched 10 teachers, you would quickly identify those who are firm but warm.
Critically Demanding
If we could write this section in flashing neon lights, we would, because this is an especially important teaching skill that makes a huge difference in the learning environment.
In addition to being firm but warm, effective teachers also are critically demanding. You can quickly recognize this quality when you see it. Teachers who are critically demanding have a built-in expectation that students follow the protocols, and they insist that they do. For example, they know how they want their students to enter the gym. When students enter that way, the lesson proceeds as planned. When they don't, these teachers don't accept their behavior. They insist (demand) that they go back and enter the gym the way they had practiced earlier.
This is especially difficult because, typically, you will want to get on with the lesson you have planned. It's hard to spend time having students go back and reenter the gym. In the long run, however, you will spend less time on these distracting events than if you hadn't spent the time reinforcing your expectations at the beginning of the year. One advantage for your students is that they know exactly what to expect. You can be consistent day after day because you know what is reasonable for your students and you expect that behavior of them.
One of the easiest ways to understand the quality of being critically demanding is to think back to when you were in high school. Did you have a curfew? What happened if you were late? If your parents or guardians were critically demanding, they followed through on the consequences you had discussed before (e.g., being grounded for a week or denied television). If your parents or guardians were not critically demanding, however, they likely let things slide and you knew that they really didn't mean what they said.
Rules - Clear, Positive, Posted
Posted rules also help with consistency. Rules are essentially brief reminders of the behavior protocols. Most teachers list five or six rules, state them in positive ways, and post them prominently (figure 2.1). Simply writing and posting them, however, is no guarantee they will be followed. They also must be practiced.
Physical Education Rules
Physical education rules might look like those in figure 2.1. One reason for posting rules, in addition to serving as reminders, is for the benefit of students new to the school. Posted rules allow you to briefly review the behavior protocols with new students. You may also video record classes in which you explained the behavior protocols and include student demonstrations. The video can then be made available to new students so that they can see exactly what is expected of them in physical education class.
Example of posted rules.
Used by permission of PE Central (pecentral.org), the premier website for physical education teachers. Our goal is to provide educational resources to teachers who, in turn, will help guide youngsters in the process of becoming physically active and healthy for a lifetime. PE Central is supported by S&S Worldwide (pe.ssww.com), a 110-year-old company dedicated to assisting teachers to motivate kids to play and learn using their innovative and educational products. http://pe.ssww.com/item/product-W12402/
Behavior videos are a good idea in places where teachers are often threatened with malpractice lawsuits. In this case, every new student should be required to view the video before participating in physical education. In extreme instances, teachers may quiz students (in writing or orally) or ask them to sign a copy of the rules, indicating that they have viewed the video. We also suggest that this behavior video be placed on the physical education section of the school website.
Locker Room Rules
Secondary programs frequently require students to change clothes in a locker room. You may need rules and protocols specific to the locker room. Here are some examples:
- Take pride in our school and keep the locker room CLEAN!
- Leave food, candy, gum, drinks, and cell phones in your locker or other space outside the gym or PE area.
- Act appropriately (keep your hands to yourself, no bad language).
- Be in the locker room when the bell rings.
- Enter and exit the locker room from the appropriate hallway.
- Dress at your locker.
- Be responsible for locking up all belongings and valuables.
Although these suggestions might seem extreme, teachers who have been involved in malpractice lawsuits will quickly recognize the benefit to posting such rules. This is especially important in schools with high rates of student turnover.
Some teachers send letters home to parents and guardians at the beginning of the school year outlining policies on dress for physical education (especially footwear), medical notes, and what the students will be learning in the coming year. These letters typically provide information about contacting the teacher if questions arise about classes, policies, or other issues (Hopple, 1998).
Developing Ownership
Rules (behavior protocols) are followed more closely when students, and parents and guardians for that matter, understand why they are necessary, and also when students have a sense of ownership of them. For this reason many teachers discuss rules with students to help them understand their importance. A video of students not following the rules can illustrate what happens when this occurs. (You will have no problem recruiting a class to help you make a video demonstrating all of the ways not to behave in the gym!) The video then becomes an excellent resource for involving students in discussions about why management protocols are important to have and follow.
In addition to sharing the rules with your students, provide the principal and classroom teachers with a copy of the rules. This is especially important if your school does not have a unified discipline plan (e.g., assertive discipline; see chapter 10). It might also be worthwhile to share the rules with parents and guardians, perhaps on the school website, especially if you plan to send notes home about students who do not follow the established behavior protocols. This will depend, however, on such factors as the philosophy of the school and the policies of the principal and the board of education.
The next chapters address many of the teaching skills effective physical educators use. The bottom line, however, is that if students do not practice the behavior protocols, as stated in the posted rules, until they become an understood and accepted way of doing business, then many of the pedagogical skills discussed later will have limited effect. Although it's not a lot of fun for you or your students to practice the behavior protocols that are critical to the development of a positive (enjoyable, fun, interesting) learning environment, it's absolutely necessary. If you want to enjoy teaching, spend time practicing the protocols. If you want to spend time nagging youngsters, skip the protocols and start trying to teach.
Three Keys to Motivating Youngsters
It’s common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels.
It's common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels. Successful teachers motivate children and adolescents by creating learning environments in which the tasks or activities are success oriented, autonomy supportive, and developmentally appropriate (Block, 1995; Hastie, Rudisill, & Wadsworth, 2013; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
Success Oriented
Failure, especially when we have never had much success, makes us want to quit trying. If we have never succeeded, there's no reason to believe that continuing to try, and failing, will eventually lead to improvement. This rationale is quite typical of young learners who have yet to make the connection between lots of practice and success (Lee, 2004). To motivate students to practice, the task needs to be one at which they can be successful - highly successful. The research literature, as well as common sense, suggests that when we're learning a new skill, success rates close to 80 percent are appropriate (Brophy & Good, 1986; Pellet & Harrison, 1996; Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
With experience and age, we start to make the connection between practice and expertise (Lee, 2004). For example, an adult might think, If I want to be a good skater, I will need to practice a lot. It will probably take months or even years. In contrast a child might think, I want to be a good skater. I tried it today. I fell down a lot. I can't skate.
To be a successful physical educator, you need to create and change tasks so that your students succeed at high rates. The variety of tasks described in chapter 4 provide the opportunity to accommodate a wide variety of skill levels in your class. You can also encourage your students to modify tasks on their own to make them easier or harder to better match their abilities. At the same time, discourage them from making social comparisons (Lee, 2004). Finally, try to make tasks fun so that your students enjoy doing them without necessarily realizing that they are leading to improvement. The following three examples, taken from actual classes, show how to design tasks so that youngsters can succeed.
Self-Adjusting Target Throwing
Each student has a beanbag and a cardboard box. Challenge them to throw the beanbag into the box but don't tell them how far away from the box to stand. Watch how they adjust the distance based on their ability. The less skilled stand closer to their boxes; the more skilled stand farther away. Several successful throws might result in students moving farther away; several failures might result in taking a few steps closer to the box. Notice, too, that the more highly skilled children tolerate a lower rate of success than the less-skilled children (Rogers, Ponish, & Sawyers, 1991). This example focuses on elementary school children, but it can also apply to adolescents. For example, when teaching volleyball, you can allow students to choose the spot from which they serve the ball; in soccer, you can have students set cone goals up on their own and thus self-adjust the size of the goal by how far apart the cones are.
Self-Adjusting Shampoo
One morning as I (GG) was showering, I read the label on the shampoo bottle. It claimed that the shampoo was self-adjusting - it would adjust its cleaning action to the particular needs of each person's hair. I thought, That's exactly what we need for our classes - self-adjusting tasks that change based on the abilities and interests of the students in the class!
Slanty Rope
Here's another example of designing a task to promote success. For elementary classes, set up two ropes on the floor in a slanty rope design (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). At one end, the ropes are close together. At the other end, the ropes are much farther apart. Challenge students to jump over the river (the ropes) without landing in the water. Observe how they choose the location at which they jump to match their ability to jump for distance - the less skilled jump the river at the narrower end, and the better jumpers jump at the wider end.
The slanty rope principle can also be used with middle and high school students. For example, a traverse climbing wall (students climb sideways with their feet never more than 3 feet [1 m] above the floor) has many holds. Low-skilled students can climb using any holds they like. More skillful students can be given specific routes marked with colored tape that use smaller and more difficult holds. Even the highest-skilled climbers can find appropriately challenging routes. At any time, students can choose a more easily accessible or larger hold.
The point is that a large range of task difficulty is available. Students have the option to choose where along the slanty rope to jump or which route is best for them for climbing.
Varied Basketball Goal Heights
A third example of students wanting to be successful can be observed when several basketball goals are set at various heights for elementary school children. If given a choice, many choose to play at the lowest goal, thereby increasing their chances for success. Equipment manufacturers have recognized this and now sell adjustable basketball goals.
You can apply the same principle with middle and high school students. For example, in a volleyball, lacrosse, or field hockey unit, give students a choice of leagues in which to sign up. Volleyball leagues can include recreation (modified rules such as allowing the volleyball to bounce, playing with a volley trainer, using a lower net, and serving from anywhere), city (no calling double hits, serving from anywhere, letting the server choose the ball to use), and professional (calling double hits, playing by official rules). Students choose the league that is best for them, and they can also move from league to league.
It's interesting to take any of the preceding examples and compare the involvement and interest of students when they have no choice (i.e., when the distance or height is the same for everyone). Typically, practice decreases and off-task behavior increases. The low-skilled student becomes frustrated; the higher-skilled ones become bored (Mandigo & Thompson, 1998). The purpose of designing and adjusting tasks so that students can be successful is to encourage them to continue trying. That is true in class and out of class. In math homework, for example, experts recommend that problems assigned to young learners allow them to succeed at a 100 percent success rate, thereby increasing their motivation to do the homework.
I (GG) wish I had had math teachers who provided math homework assignments at which I could have succeeded. My memories are still vivid of the frustration, leading to exasperation, when I could do only 2 of 10 math homework problems. I wonder how much that contributed to my feelings of incompetence in math today.
Obviously, not every task you design can be self-adjusting and allow students to be continually successful. The principle, however, is that success is fun and motivating - and you want them to feel good about their physical abilities. They will have plenty of opportunities to experience failure and frustration - you don't need to intentionally create them.
How Successful Are the Students?
One way to determine the success rate of your students is to use a coding form to provide objective evidence (figure 8.1). The form is easy to use; in fact, some children use it quite well (Wolfe & Sharpe, 1996). It is most effective, however, with practice attempts that are easily counted. Lessons emphasizing throwing, catching, kicking, and serving a volleyball are ideal. By counting the successful and unsuccessful tries for a low- and a higher-skilled student, you can obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of their success rates. Remember, however, that 80 percent is a general target and may not be the appropriate success rate for some students. Once again, observe and get to know your students. A youngster becoming off task is often an indication that the success rate isn't optimal and the task is either too hard or too easy.
Autonomy Supportive
In addition to creating success-oriented environments, you should try to find ways to help your students develop an intrinsic motivation for participating. This is called autonomy-supportive teaching.
Autonomy refers to a person's sense of control. We know that students who feel autonomous during physical education are more actively engaged in learning activities and are more physically active during physical education and outside of school (Bagøien & Halvari, 2005; Halvari et al., 2009). Teachers who are autonomy supportive display many of the pedagogical skills described in this book. Providing a motivating set induction that captures student interest (chapter 6), scaffolding instruction so that students see the relevance of what they are learning (chapter 6), and developing a safe learning environment with clear protocols and rules (chapter 2) are all characteristics of autonomy-supportive teaching. To create an autonomy-supportive environment, give your students the following:
- A variety of tasks
- Opportunities to make decisions about the tasks
- Feedback (private recognition and evaluation) of performance
- Self-paced instruction and choices of tasks
- Ways to measure personal improvement and avoid social comparisons
- Opportunities for experimentation and self-initiation
- Cooperative learning opportunities
An autonomy-supportive learning environment encourages students to develop a high sense of independence, thereby encouraging intrinsic motivation (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). You can help your students build and sustain intrinsic motivation by avoiding social comparisons, both with others in the class and with externally validated norms. Avoid contests that determine who can make the most shots, do the most sit-ups, or score the most points. Discourage your students from comparing their performances with state or national fitness test norms. Rather, invite them to compare their current and past performances to recognize how they are improving and to show them that practice and hard work eventually pay off (Alderman, Beighle, & Pangrazi, 2006; Lee, 2004; Rink, 2004; Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
Perhaps the emphasis on intrinsic motivation can best be understood when placed in the context of a popular activity such as jogging (Xiang, Chen, & Bruene, 2005). Most adults don't start jogging because they expect to win races or set records. They jog because they feel good about improving their fitness and perhaps losing weight. If they want to, they can chart their improvement using a wearable physical activity tracker (e.g., Fitbit, pedometer, GPS device, tracking app). If they were forced to run races and have their times published in the newspaper, we suspect many would quit jogging. From time to time, however, many choose to enter races. The important point is that they choose to enter races for their own reasons. They don't have to. Shouldn't children and adolescents have the same choices?
There is no way to prevent students from comparing their performances with those of others. They do compare accomplishments, especially the highly skilled. Nevertheless, you can encourage students to succeed on their own by downplaying comparisons and avoiding creating competitive situations.
As with virtually any endeavor, the higher-skilled seek extrinsic motivation by comparing themselves with others, typically through competition. You can make these opportunities available, but again, only for those who choose to compete.
Tech Tips: Tracking Participation
Use pedometers, MOVbands, Sqord Boosters, or some other cost-effective tool (approximately $20-$30 each) to record student participation. MOVbands and Sqord Boosters allow students to quickly upload their movements to a website that both you and they can monitor. You can set challenges for individual students or entire classes. Sqord Boosters allow students to create avatars who grow stronger as the students increase their own activity.
Ban the Spelling Bee
One of the most blatant violations of the idea that children should be allowed to choose whether they want to compete and have their performances compared with others is the spelling bee. For the few good spellers in a class, it's a marvelous competition. For the remainder of the students, who know they are not good spellers, not only is the spelling bee humiliating but it also publicly reinforces what they have been thinking all along: they can't spell - and now the whole class knows it (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). The United States has had spelling bees for years, culminating in a national competition every year in Washington, DC. Has this resulted in a nation of good spellers?
Developmentally Appropriate
A third characteristic of a motivating learning environment is that it reflects age-related and physical differences. An environment that is developmentally appropriate encourages students to work hard and remain on task (Graham et al., 1992; National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 2009; Stork & Sanders, 1996).
As children develop, they are motivated by different opportunities and experiences. Primary-grade youngsters, for example, are eager to please the teacher and are therefore motivated by teacher praise and encouragement. Observe any kindergarten class and you will hear children saying, "Watch me! Watch me!" all day long. Furthermore, if children haven't learned to remain in one location, teachers will continually be trailed by five-year-olds wanting them to say "Wonderful!" after every attempt they make to jump over a rope or throw a beanbag into a box.
As children grow older, the desire to please the teacher is accompanied (in some cases apparently replaced) by a desire to please their peers. They also refine their ability to distinguish between motor skill ability and effort (how hard they try) (Lee, 2004). Attention and respect from peers play an important role in the motivation of middle school youngsters. The opportunity to work in groups to design activities or solve problems is often motivating for adolescents who are interested in peer interaction. Examples include designing a game, dance, or movement sequence and making a video, perhaps to show to classmates (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
In addition to age-related differences (Garcia, 1994), skill level influences the type of support that is effective. Youngsters who are only minimally successful even when tasks are adjusted for them need lots of praise and encouragement to continue to work hard and to try. They also need help understanding that proficiency in motor skills requires a lot of appropriate practice (Rink, 2004).
Highly skilled students who receive satisfaction from succeeding at various tasks seem to be motivated by praise focused on the way they perform the task (sometimes the results), rather than by the fact that they are working hard. In fact, being praised for succeeding at tasks that are relatively easy for them might give highly skilled students the impression that PE is really for the poorly skilled. We believe that this occurs with many athletes who are not challenged in physical education classes. They receive a lot of praise for accomplishments that are much better than those of others in the class but that represent a relatively minimal effort on their part.
Strategies for Minimizing Off-Task Behavior
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems.
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems. Even if you have taught the behavior protocols presented in chapter 2, however, you are still going to have incidences of off-task behavior. Therefore, you need strategies that can minimize the misbehavior of students. Unfortunately, they are just strategies, not guarantees. Some of them succeed with some youngsters some of the time. We wish we knew foolproof strategies that work for all teachers all of the time, but we don't; no one does. Good teachers seem to have a repertoire of strategies that they use, sometimes consciously and sometimes without really thinking about them. They include back to the wall, proximity control, with-it-ness, selective ignoring, overlapping, learning names, and positive pinpointing.
Back to the Wall
One of the simplest strategies is referred to as back to the wall. Teachers use this technique for formative assessment (chapter 5) and also for behavior management. Standing on the outside of the boundaries (the wall in the gym or the edge of the playground) lets you see what is going on in a class. When you stand in the middle of a class, about 50 percent of the class is out of your sight; thus, you may not see off-task behavior until it has gone on for some time.
The ability to detect off-task behavior as soon as it begins appears to be a characteristic of successful teachers. Immediate detection seems to prevent the behavior from escalating. When the behavior persists for several minutes, several students might become involved. Thus, a relatively minor incident can escalate into a major incident (e.g., one student tries to wrestle a ball away from another). This is known as the ripple effect (Kounin, 1970). When you see the beginning of such an incident, you can quickly prevent it from escalating because your targeting and timing are appropriate. You can identify the students correctly and quickly, thus preventing the situation from developing into a crisis.
Proximity Control
One technique that can prevent the ball-taking episode just described from escalating is proximity control - simply walking in the direction of the off-task student to let her know that you see her. Giving her the look will let her know that she's off task.
Veteran teachers know what we mean by the look. It's a certain way a teacher looks at a youngster to say, "You're off task; now get back to work." Obviously, however, you need to be close enough so that the student can see your expressions.
Sometimes the look isn't even necessary. Simply standing by a group of students on the verge of becoming off task is often enough to let them know that you see them and expect them to remain focused.
Proximity control implies that you are moving around the gym. Early in their careers, teachers have a tendency to stand in one place. Although standing in one place may be more comfortable than moving around, it's not as effective. Virtually without exception, good teachers move about the classroom, the gym, and the outdoor space.
With-It-Ness
The strategies of back to the wall and proximity control give the class the impression that you have with-it-ness - it's like having eyes in the back of your head (Kounin, 1970). When he began his series of research studies on discipline, Kounin hypothesized that teachers whose students were well behaved and consistently on task were those who threatened them, basically scaring them into behaving. He discovered that this wasn't true. The teachers with the fewest discipline problems communicated to their classes in a calm and reassuring way that they knew what was going on in their classes, they knew the tricks, and therefore students shouldn't even bother to try them. By keeping their backs to the wall and quickly targeting youngsters tending toward off-task behavior, they convinced their students that indeed they were with it.
With It and Without It
Remembering my (GG) days in elementary school, I can recall a sixth-grade teacher who was particularly with it. She was friendly and warm, yet from the first day, we could tell that she wasn't about to let us get away with anything. It was uncanny how she could identify children who were off-task types and, with looks and proximity control, keep them from misbehaving much of that year. The next year, however, we had a teacher who was "without it"; the same class quickly escalated into a rowdy group of children who were continually yelled at and threatened, though without much success. I am sure we were difficult to teach that year. We were essentially the same children, but, among other things, the teacher was "without it."
Selective Ignoring
Recently, I (GG) watched a first-grade lesson focused on round, narrow, wide, and twisted shapes. At times the children were making shapes in their own space; at other times they were traveling around the gym in their shapes. Whenever the opportunity was given to travel, one of the children, Bryan, ran. My reaction and that of my college students who were also observing was to immediately want to stop Bryan from running. The teacher ignored him, however. As we watched, I realized that Bryan really wasn't bothering other children. In fact, they ignored him also. Another teacher might have considered Bryan's behavior off task; Bryan's teacher didn't. And, after watching the entire lesson, I think she was right. Bryan was one of those high-energy children - some might have labeled him hyperactive. He was doing what the teacher asked but at a fast speed. The teacher obviously saw him but chose to selectively ignore him. It was an effective strategy in that lesson.
Selective ignoring works when students have been helped to understand why a student looks or acts a certain way. The opportunity to learn to accept students who behave in ways outside of the norm has been one of the major advantages of mainstreaming in schools. When we observe students working with those with special needs, we are always warmed by their ability to understand the situation and their genuine willingness to help. This understanding doesn't happen automatically, however. Good teachers intentionally teach their classes to understand and work with special students.
Nick's Insight
When my (GG) oldest son, Nick, was in fourth grade, I remember talking to him about some of his classmates after I had observed his class. I commented on one boy who was off task constantly and obviously annoying the teacher. I said that the boy who was off task seemed to be a distraction to the class and a troublemaker. I expected Nick to agree. He surprised me, however, by providing me with one of those glimpses into how children view the world when he said: "Dad, it's not all his fault. The teacher doesn't understand him. He's really a good guy if you give him a chance. She never really gave him one." I try to remember Nick's insight when a child misbehaves in one of my classes.
Overlapping
Unlike back to the wall, which is an easily learned strategy, overlapping is a skill that is learned with practice. Overlapping is the ability to focus on several things at once and still maintain an intended direction.
As a teacher, you are continually required to deal simultaneously with several students or situations. For example, you may nod your head yes at the youngster who has to go to the bathroom; smile at the child who says "Watch me"; put your hand on the shoulder of the youngster who wants to talk to you to signal "Wait a second"; and continue to observe the whole class as you determine whether to change the task or continue it for several more minutes. Locke's vignette in chapter 1 is another illustration of the need to develop the ability to overlap.
Overlapping is a pedagogical skill learned through experience. It is critical because if you work with 30 or more students in a class, you will have to overlap at times to keep a lesson from coming to a complete stop. Obviously, establishing routines and protocols will minimize the need for overlapping, yet it is needed at times.
Tech Tips: ClassDojo
ClassDojo is a wonderful app that you can use to encourage your students, log classroom behavior, and engage parents and guardians. Compatible with any Apple or Android device, ClassDojo allows you to give behavior or skill feedback instantly to individual students and help them see their progress right away. Parents and guardians can see their children's behavior points on a daily basis, and you can even exchange messages with them through the app to keep them informed and engaged.
Learning Names
Learning students' names can be difficult, but it is possible even if you have 600 or more students. One of the frustrating aspects of teaching is attempting to get the attention of a student whose name you don't know. As you try to find out, you may halt the flow of the lesson as several youngsters volunteer the student's name and then stop moving to watch what you have to say to him. When you know a student's name, you can often speak it across the gym to let him know that you see him and offer praise or remind him to get on task.
Some teachers learn names with relative ease. For others it's a struggle. We have all heard of name-learning techniques (e.g., alliteration, using the name several times in conversation, having the students tell you their names when they enter and leave the gym, and taking photos of students) (Williams, 1995). PE Central (www.pecentral.org) provides a number of suggestions in the section "Tips for the Beginning Teacher." Increasingly, classroom teachers are making name tags for younger children who then wear them to PE until the teacher has time to learn their names. Learning names is even more challenging for teachers who work in schools with transient populations. Half of the youngsters they teach in September are gone in May, replaced by a new group. We wish we had a magical, instant solution to this challenge of learning several hundred names, but we don't. We do know, however, that it really helps to know students' names when trying to prevent off-task behavior.
Positive Pinpointing
Identifying one or more students and pointing them out to the rest of the class as modeling the desired behavior or skill is called pinpointing. This strategy is common in elementary schools. I like how Verenda and Tommy are standing quietly is an example of positive pinpointing. Our experience suggests that this technique is more effective with younger children who want to please the teacher. It can be overused, however. Some youngsters seem to ignore it because the teacher is constantly talking about how well someone is doing something. As with any of these strategies, pinpointing can work depending on the students, the way you use it, and how frequently you use it. Chapter 7 explains how to use pinpointing when teaching motor skills.
Many of these strategies or techniques seem to be innate characteristics of successful teachers. Although they are rarely taught or discussed, many teachers use them. But not all do - especially in the beginning of their careers. Beginning teachers are often anchored in the same location throughout their lessons, or fail to see students misbehave because their backs are turned. As with so many of the skills discussed in this book, it's easy to write about them and far more challenging to actually use them when teaching. We hope, however, that you will reflect on the subtle orchestration of teaching skills and strategies and their value for minimizing off-task behavior, whether you are a beginning or an experienced teacher (Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005). No matter how well you use these strategies, and others, some students will simply refuse to do what you ask (Timmreck, 1978). Such students are not off task; they have become discipline problems.
All teachers experience discipline problems in their classrooms from time to time. Some minimize the problems, however. What strategies do successful teachers use to minimize discipline problems? To begin with, they spend the first few days of the school year establishing the routines and teaching the management protocols described in chapter 2; they insist that the students learn these routines. They also use many of the strategies previously mentioned for minimizing off-task behavior. In addition, when inappropriate behavior occurs, good teachers examine their own performance. Is the lesson appropriate for the level of the student(s)? Has their behavior instigated student misbehavior? Have they engaged in negative interactions or differential treatment? Is the environment less than positive? Are they reactive rather than proactive?
Proactive or Reactive?
Proactive teachers focus on strategies to maintain or increase positive behavior, such as having established rules, planning appropriate lessons, and praising students who are following expectations (positive pinpointing). Proactive teachers try to avoid discipline problems before they happen. Ideally, we strive to be proactive!
Reactive teachers focus on strategies to stop inappropriate behavior once it has occurred, such as expressing dissatisfaction or imposing an appropriate consequence. Reactive teachers respond after an incident happens to try to avoid further discipline problems. We all must be reactive at times, and with a good discipline system in place, we know the consequences - and so do the students.
Save
Save
Save
Teaching Behavior Protocols
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
As with any teaching process, no single approach works for all teachers. However, teachers who create pleasant atmospheres seem to display certain attributes as they work on building their class environments. They are firm but warm while also being critically demanding. They also post their rules for classes to see and often discuss them so that students feel a certain degree of ownership.
Firm but Warm
At one time we believed that successful teachers threatened students: that is, that they scared them into being good. Today we know better (Bulger, Mohr, & Walls, 2002; Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005; Doyle, 1986; Fernandez-Balboa, 1990; Kounin, 1970). Successful teachers exhibit a certain degree of firmness: they mean what they say. At the same time, however, they are warm and caring toward the students. They don't want to frighten them, but they want them to know they mean business. Students quickly learn to discern whether teachers mean what they say. Good teachers mean what they say, and they exhibit it by not allowing their students to get away with not following the protocols. They don't get excited or hysterical or threaten, however. In calm, reassuring, firm ways, they simply and consistently communicate the message that things are going to be done a certain way and that not much else is going to happen until the protocols are learned. This is one of those skills used by effective teachers that is difficult to put into words. However, if you watched 10 teachers, you would quickly identify those who are firm but warm.
Critically Demanding
If we could write this section in flashing neon lights, we would, because this is an especially important teaching skill that makes a huge difference in the learning environment.
In addition to being firm but warm, effective teachers also are critically demanding. You can quickly recognize this quality when you see it. Teachers who are critically demanding have a built-in expectation that students follow the protocols, and they insist that they do. For example, they know how they want their students to enter the gym. When students enter that way, the lesson proceeds as planned. When they don't, these teachers don't accept their behavior. They insist (demand) that they go back and enter the gym the way they had practiced earlier.
This is especially difficult because, typically, you will want to get on with the lesson you have planned. It's hard to spend time having students go back and reenter the gym. In the long run, however, you will spend less time on these distracting events than if you hadn't spent the time reinforcing your expectations at the beginning of the year. One advantage for your students is that they know exactly what to expect. You can be consistent day after day because you know what is reasonable for your students and you expect that behavior of them.
One of the easiest ways to understand the quality of being critically demanding is to think back to when you were in high school. Did you have a curfew? What happened if you were late? If your parents or guardians were critically demanding, they followed through on the consequences you had discussed before (e.g., being grounded for a week or denied television). If your parents or guardians were not critically demanding, however, they likely let things slide and you knew that they really didn't mean what they said.
Rules - Clear, Positive, Posted
Posted rules also help with consistency. Rules are essentially brief reminders of the behavior protocols. Most teachers list five or six rules, state them in positive ways, and post them prominently (figure 2.1). Simply writing and posting them, however, is no guarantee they will be followed. They also must be practiced.
Physical Education Rules
Physical education rules might look like those in figure 2.1. One reason for posting rules, in addition to serving as reminders, is for the benefit of students new to the school. Posted rules allow you to briefly review the behavior protocols with new students. You may also video record classes in which you explained the behavior protocols and include student demonstrations. The video can then be made available to new students so that they can see exactly what is expected of them in physical education class.
Example of posted rules.
Used by permission of PE Central (pecentral.org), the premier website for physical education teachers. Our goal is to provide educational resources to teachers who, in turn, will help guide youngsters in the process of becoming physically active and healthy for a lifetime. PE Central is supported by S&S Worldwide (pe.ssww.com), a 110-year-old company dedicated to assisting teachers to motivate kids to play and learn using their innovative and educational products. http://pe.ssww.com/item/product-W12402/
Behavior videos are a good idea in places where teachers are often threatened with malpractice lawsuits. In this case, every new student should be required to view the video before participating in physical education. In extreme instances, teachers may quiz students (in writing or orally) or ask them to sign a copy of the rules, indicating that they have viewed the video. We also suggest that this behavior video be placed on the physical education section of the school website.
Locker Room Rules
Secondary programs frequently require students to change clothes in a locker room. You may need rules and protocols specific to the locker room. Here are some examples:
- Take pride in our school and keep the locker room CLEAN!
- Leave food, candy, gum, drinks, and cell phones in your locker or other space outside the gym or PE area.
- Act appropriately (keep your hands to yourself, no bad language).
- Be in the locker room when the bell rings.
- Enter and exit the locker room from the appropriate hallway.
- Dress at your locker.
- Be responsible for locking up all belongings and valuables.
Although these suggestions might seem extreme, teachers who have been involved in malpractice lawsuits will quickly recognize the benefit to posting such rules. This is especially important in schools with high rates of student turnover.
Some teachers send letters home to parents and guardians at the beginning of the school year outlining policies on dress for physical education (especially footwear), medical notes, and what the students will be learning in the coming year. These letters typically provide information about contacting the teacher if questions arise about classes, policies, or other issues (Hopple, 1998).
Developing Ownership
Rules (behavior protocols) are followed more closely when students, and parents and guardians for that matter, understand why they are necessary, and also when students have a sense of ownership of them. For this reason many teachers discuss rules with students to help them understand their importance. A video of students not following the rules can illustrate what happens when this occurs. (You will have no problem recruiting a class to help you make a video demonstrating all of the ways not to behave in the gym!) The video then becomes an excellent resource for involving students in discussions about why management protocols are important to have and follow.
In addition to sharing the rules with your students, provide the principal and classroom teachers with a copy of the rules. This is especially important if your school does not have a unified discipline plan (e.g., assertive discipline; see chapter 10). It might also be worthwhile to share the rules with parents and guardians, perhaps on the school website, especially if you plan to send notes home about students who do not follow the established behavior protocols. This will depend, however, on such factors as the philosophy of the school and the policies of the principal and the board of education.
The next chapters address many of the teaching skills effective physical educators use. The bottom line, however, is that if students do not practice the behavior protocols, as stated in the posted rules, until they become an understood and accepted way of doing business, then many of the pedagogical skills discussed later will have limited effect. Although it's not a lot of fun for you or your students to practice the behavior protocols that are critical to the development of a positive (enjoyable, fun, interesting) learning environment, it's absolutely necessary. If you want to enjoy teaching, spend time practicing the protocols. If you want to spend time nagging youngsters, skip the protocols and start trying to teach.
Three Keys to Motivating Youngsters
It’s common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels.
It's common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels. Successful teachers motivate children and adolescents by creating learning environments in which the tasks or activities are success oriented, autonomy supportive, and developmentally appropriate (Block, 1995; Hastie, Rudisill, & Wadsworth, 2013; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
Success Oriented
Failure, especially when we have never had much success, makes us want to quit trying. If we have never succeeded, there's no reason to believe that continuing to try, and failing, will eventually lead to improvement. This rationale is quite typical of young learners who have yet to make the connection between lots of practice and success (Lee, 2004). To motivate students to practice, the task needs to be one at which they can be successful - highly successful. The research literature, as well as common sense, suggests that when we're learning a new skill, success rates close to 80 percent are appropriate (Brophy & Good, 1986; Pellet & Harrison, 1996; Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
With experience and age, we start to make the connection between practice and expertise (Lee, 2004). For example, an adult might think, If I want to be a good skater, I will need to practice a lot. It will probably take months or even years. In contrast a child might think, I want to be a good skater. I tried it today. I fell down a lot. I can't skate.
To be a successful physical educator, you need to create and change tasks so that your students succeed at high rates. The variety of tasks described in chapter 4 provide the opportunity to accommodate a wide variety of skill levels in your class. You can also encourage your students to modify tasks on their own to make them easier or harder to better match their abilities. At the same time, discourage them from making social comparisons (Lee, 2004). Finally, try to make tasks fun so that your students enjoy doing them without necessarily realizing that they are leading to improvement. The following three examples, taken from actual classes, show how to design tasks so that youngsters can succeed.
Self-Adjusting Target Throwing
Each student has a beanbag and a cardboard box. Challenge them to throw the beanbag into the box but don't tell them how far away from the box to stand. Watch how they adjust the distance based on their ability. The less skilled stand closer to their boxes; the more skilled stand farther away. Several successful throws might result in students moving farther away; several failures might result in taking a few steps closer to the box. Notice, too, that the more highly skilled children tolerate a lower rate of success than the less-skilled children (Rogers, Ponish, & Sawyers, 1991). This example focuses on elementary school children, but it can also apply to adolescents. For example, when teaching volleyball, you can allow students to choose the spot from which they serve the ball; in soccer, you can have students set cone goals up on their own and thus self-adjust the size of the goal by how far apart the cones are.
Self-Adjusting Shampoo
One morning as I (GG) was showering, I read the label on the shampoo bottle. It claimed that the shampoo was self-adjusting - it would adjust its cleaning action to the particular needs of each person's hair. I thought, That's exactly what we need for our classes - self-adjusting tasks that change based on the abilities and interests of the students in the class!
Slanty Rope
Here's another example of designing a task to promote success. For elementary classes, set up two ropes on the floor in a slanty rope design (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). At one end, the ropes are close together. At the other end, the ropes are much farther apart. Challenge students to jump over the river (the ropes) without landing in the water. Observe how they choose the location at which they jump to match their ability to jump for distance - the less skilled jump the river at the narrower end, and the better jumpers jump at the wider end.
The slanty rope principle can also be used with middle and high school students. For example, a traverse climbing wall (students climb sideways with their feet never more than 3 feet [1 m] above the floor) has many holds. Low-skilled students can climb using any holds they like. More skillful students can be given specific routes marked with colored tape that use smaller and more difficult holds. Even the highest-skilled climbers can find appropriately challenging routes. At any time, students can choose a more easily accessible or larger hold.
The point is that a large range of task difficulty is available. Students have the option to choose where along the slanty rope to jump or which route is best for them for climbing.
Varied Basketball Goal Heights
A third example of students wanting to be successful can be observed when several basketball goals are set at various heights for elementary school children. If given a choice, many choose to play at the lowest goal, thereby increasing their chances for success. Equipment manufacturers have recognized this and now sell adjustable basketball goals.
You can apply the same principle with middle and high school students. For example, in a volleyball, lacrosse, or field hockey unit, give students a choice of leagues in which to sign up. Volleyball leagues can include recreation (modified rules such as allowing the volleyball to bounce, playing with a volley trainer, using a lower net, and serving from anywhere), city (no calling double hits, serving from anywhere, letting the server choose the ball to use), and professional (calling double hits, playing by official rules). Students choose the league that is best for them, and they can also move from league to league.
It's interesting to take any of the preceding examples and compare the involvement and interest of students when they have no choice (i.e., when the distance or height is the same for everyone). Typically, practice decreases and off-task behavior increases. The low-skilled student becomes frustrated; the higher-skilled ones become bored (Mandigo & Thompson, 1998). The purpose of designing and adjusting tasks so that students can be successful is to encourage them to continue trying. That is true in class and out of class. In math homework, for example, experts recommend that problems assigned to young learners allow them to succeed at a 100 percent success rate, thereby increasing their motivation to do the homework.
I (GG) wish I had had math teachers who provided math homework assignments at which I could have succeeded. My memories are still vivid of the frustration, leading to exasperation, when I could do only 2 of 10 math homework problems. I wonder how much that contributed to my feelings of incompetence in math today.
Obviously, not every task you design can be self-adjusting and allow students to be continually successful. The principle, however, is that success is fun and motivating - and you want them to feel good about their physical abilities. They will have plenty of opportunities to experience failure and frustration - you don't need to intentionally create them.
How Successful Are the Students?
One way to determine the success rate of your students is to use a coding form to provide objective evidence (figure 8.1). The form is easy to use; in fact, some children use it quite well (Wolfe & Sharpe, 1996). It is most effective, however, with practice attempts that are easily counted. Lessons emphasizing throwing, catching, kicking, and serving a volleyball are ideal. By counting the successful and unsuccessful tries for a low- and a higher-skilled student, you can obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of their success rates. Remember, however, that 80 percent is a general target and may not be the appropriate success rate for some students. Once again, observe and get to know your students. A youngster becoming off task is often an indication that the success rate isn't optimal and the task is either too hard or too easy.
Autonomy Supportive
In addition to creating success-oriented environments, you should try to find ways to help your students develop an intrinsic motivation for participating. This is called autonomy-supportive teaching.
Autonomy refers to a person's sense of control. We know that students who feel autonomous during physical education are more actively engaged in learning activities and are more physically active during physical education and outside of school (Bagøien & Halvari, 2005; Halvari et al., 2009). Teachers who are autonomy supportive display many of the pedagogical skills described in this book. Providing a motivating set induction that captures student interest (chapter 6), scaffolding instruction so that students see the relevance of what they are learning (chapter 6), and developing a safe learning environment with clear protocols and rules (chapter 2) are all characteristics of autonomy-supportive teaching. To create an autonomy-supportive environment, give your students the following:
- A variety of tasks
- Opportunities to make decisions about the tasks
- Feedback (private recognition and evaluation) of performance
- Self-paced instruction and choices of tasks
- Ways to measure personal improvement and avoid social comparisons
- Opportunities for experimentation and self-initiation
- Cooperative learning opportunities
An autonomy-supportive learning environment encourages students to develop a high sense of independence, thereby encouraging intrinsic motivation (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). You can help your students build and sustain intrinsic motivation by avoiding social comparisons, both with others in the class and with externally validated norms. Avoid contests that determine who can make the most shots, do the most sit-ups, or score the most points. Discourage your students from comparing their performances with state or national fitness test norms. Rather, invite them to compare their current and past performances to recognize how they are improving and to show them that practice and hard work eventually pay off (Alderman, Beighle, & Pangrazi, 2006; Lee, 2004; Rink, 2004; Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
Perhaps the emphasis on intrinsic motivation can best be understood when placed in the context of a popular activity such as jogging (Xiang, Chen, & Bruene, 2005). Most adults don't start jogging because they expect to win races or set records. They jog because they feel good about improving their fitness and perhaps losing weight. If they want to, they can chart their improvement using a wearable physical activity tracker (e.g., Fitbit, pedometer, GPS device, tracking app). If they were forced to run races and have their times published in the newspaper, we suspect many would quit jogging. From time to time, however, many choose to enter races. The important point is that they choose to enter races for their own reasons. They don't have to. Shouldn't children and adolescents have the same choices?
There is no way to prevent students from comparing their performances with those of others. They do compare accomplishments, especially the highly skilled. Nevertheless, you can encourage students to succeed on their own by downplaying comparisons and avoiding creating competitive situations.
As with virtually any endeavor, the higher-skilled seek extrinsic motivation by comparing themselves with others, typically through competition. You can make these opportunities available, but again, only for those who choose to compete.
Tech Tips: Tracking Participation
Use pedometers, MOVbands, Sqord Boosters, or some other cost-effective tool (approximately $20-$30 each) to record student participation. MOVbands and Sqord Boosters allow students to quickly upload their movements to a website that both you and they can monitor. You can set challenges for individual students or entire classes. Sqord Boosters allow students to create avatars who grow stronger as the students increase their own activity.
Ban the Spelling Bee
One of the most blatant violations of the idea that children should be allowed to choose whether they want to compete and have their performances compared with others is the spelling bee. For the few good spellers in a class, it's a marvelous competition. For the remainder of the students, who know they are not good spellers, not only is the spelling bee humiliating but it also publicly reinforces what they have been thinking all along: they can't spell - and now the whole class knows it (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). The United States has had spelling bees for years, culminating in a national competition every year in Washington, DC. Has this resulted in a nation of good spellers?
Developmentally Appropriate
A third characteristic of a motivating learning environment is that it reflects age-related and physical differences. An environment that is developmentally appropriate encourages students to work hard and remain on task (Graham et al., 1992; National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 2009; Stork & Sanders, 1996).
As children develop, they are motivated by different opportunities and experiences. Primary-grade youngsters, for example, are eager to please the teacher and are therefore motivated by teacher praise and encouragement. Observe any kindergarten class and you will hear children saying, "Watch me! Watch me!" all day long. Furthermore, if children haven't learned to remain in one location, teachers will continually be trailed by five-year-olds wanting them to say "Wonderful!" after every attempt they make to jump over a rope or throw a beanbag into a box.
As children grow older, the desire to please the teacher is accompanied (in some cases apparently replaced) by a desire to please their peers. They also refine their ability to distinguish between motor skill ability and effort (how hard they try) (Lee, 2004). Attention and respect from peers play an important role in the motivation of middle school youngsters. The opportunity to work in groups to design activities or solve problems is often motivating for adolescents who are interested in peer interaction. Examples include designing a game, dance, or movement sequence and making a video, perhaps to show to classmates (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
In addition to age-related differences (Garcia, 1994), skill level influences the type of support that is effective. Youngsters who are only minimally successful even when tasks are adjusted for them need lots of praise and encouragement to continue to work hard and to try. They also need help understanding that proficiency in motor skills requires a lot of appropriate practice (Rink, 2004).
Highly skilled students who receive satisfaction from succeeding at various tasks seem to be motivated by praise focused on the way they perform the task (sometimes the results), rather than by the fact that they are working hard. In fact, being praised for succeeding at tasks that are relatively easy for them might give highly skilled students the impression that PE is really for the poorly skilled. We believe that this occurs with many athletes who are not challenged in physical education classes. They receive a lot of praise for accomplishments that are much better than those of others in the class but that represent a relatively minimal effort on their part.
Strategies for Minimizing Off-Task Behavior
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems.
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems. Even if you have taught the behavior protocols presented in chapter 2, however, you are still going to have incidences of off-task behavior. Therefore, you need strategies that can minimize the misbehavior of students. Unfortunately, they are just strategies, not guarantees. Some of them succeed with some youngsters some of the time. We wish we knew foolproof strategies that work for all teachers all of the time, but we don't; no one does. Good teachers seem to have a repertoire of strategies that they use, sometimes consciously and sometimes without really thinking about them. They include back to the wall, proximity control, with-it-ness, selective ignoring, overlapping, learning names, and positive pinpointing.
Back to the Wall
One of the simplest strategies is referred to as back to the wall. Teachers use this technique for formative assessment (chapter 5) and also for behavior management. Standing on the outside of the boundaries (the wall in the gym or the edge of the playground) lets you see what is going on in a class. When you stand in the middle of a class, about 50 percent of the class is out of your sight; thus, you may not see off-task behavior until it has gone on for some time.
The ability to detect off-task behavior as soon as it begins appears to be a characteristic of successful teachers. Immediate detection seems to prevent the behavior from escalating. When the behavior persists for several minutes, several students might become involved. Thus, a relatively minor incident can escalate into a major incident (e.g., one student tries to wrestle a ball away from another). This is known as the ripple effect (Kounin, 1970). When you see the beginning of such an incident, you can quickly prevent it from escalating because your targeting and timing are appropriate. You can identify the students correctly and quickly, thus preventing the situation from developing into a crisis.
Proximity Control
One technique that can prevent the ball-taking episode just described from escalating is proximity control - simply walking in the direction of the off-task student to let her know that you see her. Giving her the look will let her know that she's off task.
Veteran teachers know what we mean by the look. It's a certain way a teacher looks at a youngster to say, "You're off task; now get back to work." Obviously, however, you need to be close enough so that the student can see your expressions.
Sometimes the look isn't even necessary. Simply standing by a group of students on the verge of becoming off task is often enough to let them know that you see them and expect them to remain focused.
Proximity control implies that you are moving around the gym. Early in their careers, teachers have a tendency to stand in one place. Although standing in one place may be more comfortable than moving around, it's not as effective. Virtually without exception, good teachers move about the classroom, the gym, and the outdoor space.
With-It-Ness
The strategies of back to the wall and proximity control give the class the impression that you have with-it-ness - it's like having eyes in the back of your head (Kounin, 1970). When he began his series of research studies on discipline, Kounin hypothesized that teachers whose students were well behaved and consistently on task were those who threatened them, basically scaring them into behaving. He discovered that this wasn't true. The teachers with the fewest discipline problems communicated to their classes in a calm and reassuring way that they knew what was going on in their classes, they knew the tricks, and therefore students shouldn't even bother to try them. By keeping their backs to the wall and quickly targeting youngsters tending toward off-task behavior, they convinced their students that indeed they were with it.
With It and Without It
Remembering my (GG) days in elementary school, I can recall a sixth-grade teacher who was particularly with it. She was friendly and warm, yet from the first day, we could tell that she wasn't about to let us get away with anything. It was uncanny how she could identify children who were off-task types and, with looks and proximity control, keep them from misbehaving much of that year. The next year, however, we had a teacher who was "without it"; the same class quickly escalated into a rowdy group of children who were continually yelled at and threatened, though without much success. I am sure we were difficult to teach that year. We were essentially the same children, but, among other things, the teacher was "without it."
Selective Ignoring
Recently, I (GG) watched a first-grade lesson focused on round, narrow, wide, and twisted shapes. At times the children were making shapes in their own space; at other times they were traveling around the gym in their shapes. Whenever the opportunity was given to travel, one of the children, Bryan, ran. My reaction and that of my college students who were also observing was to immediately want to stop Bryan from running. The teacher ignored him, however. As we watched, I realized that Bryan really wasn't bothering other children. In fact, they ignored him also. Another teacher might have considered Bryan's behavior off task; Bryan's teacher didn't. And, after watching the entire lesson, I think she was right. Bryan was one of those high-energy children - some might have labeled him hyperactive. He was doing what the teacher asked but at a fast speed. The teacher obviously saw him but chose to selectively ignore him. It was an effective strategy in that lesson.
Selective ignoring works when students have been helped to understand why a student looks or acts a certain way. The opportunity to learn to accept students who behave in ways outside of the norm has been one of the major advantages of mainstreaming in schools. When we observe students working with those with special needs, we are always warmed by their ability to understand the situation and their genuine willingness to help. This understanding doesn't happen automatically, however. Good teachers intentionally teach their classes to understand and work with special students.
Nick's Insight
When my (GG) oldest son, Nick, was in fourth grade, I remember talking to him about some of his classmates after I had observed his class. I commented on one boy who was off task constantly and obviously annoying the teacher. I said that the boy who was off task seemed to be a distraction to the class and a troublemaker. I expected Nick to agree. He surprised me, however, by providing me with one of those glimpses into how children view the world when he said: "Dad, it's not all his fault. The teacher doesn't understand him. He's really a good guy if you give him a chance. She never really gave him one." I try to remember Nick's insight when a child misbehaves in one of my classes.
Overlapping
Unlike back to the wall, which is an easily learned strategy, overlapping is a skill that is learned with practice. Overlapping is the ability to focus on several things at once and still maintain an intended direction.
As a teacher, you are continually required to deal simultaneously with several students or situations. For example, you may nod your head yes at the youngster who has to go to the bathroom; smile at the child who says "Watch me"; put your hand on the shoulder of the youngster who wants to talk to you to signal "Wait a second"; and continue to observe the whole class as you determine whether to change the task or continue it for several more minutes. Locke's vignette in chapter 1 is another illustration of the need to develop the ability to overlap.
Overlapping is a pedagogical skill learned through experience. It is critical because if you work with 30 or more students in a class, you will have to overlap at times to keep a lesson from coming to a complete stop. Obviously, establishing routines and protocols will minimize the need for overlapping, yet it is needed at times.
Tech Tips: ClassDojo
ClassDojo is a wonderful app that you can use to encourage your students, log classroom behavior, and engage parents and guardians. Compatible with any Apple or Android device, ClassDojo allows you to give behavior or skill feedback instantly to individual students and help them see their progress right away. Parents and guardians can see their children's behavior points on a daily basis, and you can even exchange messages with them through the app to keep them informed and engaged.
Learning Names
Learning students' names can be difficult, but it is possible even if you have 600 or more students. One of the frustrating aspects of teaching is attempting to get the attention of a student whose name you don't know. As you try to find out, you may halt the flow of the lesson as several youngsters volunteer the student's name and then stop moving to watch what you have to say to him. When you know a student's name, you can often speak it across the gym to let him know that you see him and offer praise or remind him to get on task.
Some teachers learn names with relative ease. For others it's a struggle. We have all heard of name-learning techniques (e.g., alliteration, using the name several times in conversation, having the students tell you their names when they enter and leave the gym, and taking photos of students) (Williams, 1995). PE Central (www.pecentral.org) provides a number of suggestions in the section "Tips for the Beginning Teacher." Increasingly, classroom teachers are making name tags for younger children who then wear them to PE until the teacher has time to learn their names. Learning names is even more challenging for teachers who work in schools with transient populations. Half of the youngsters they teach in September are gone in May, replaced by a new group. We wish we had a magical, instant solution to this challenge of learning several hundred names, but we don't. We do know, however, that it really helps to know students' names when trying to prevent off-task behavior.
Positive Pinpointing
Identifying one or more students and pointing them out to the rest of the class as modeling the desired behavior or skill is called pinpointing. This strategy is common in elementary schools. I like how Verenda and Tommy are standing quietly is an example of positive pinpointing. Our experience suggests that this technique is more effective with younger children who want to please the teacher. It can be overused, however. Some youngsters seem to ignore it because the teacher is constantly talking about how well someone is doing something. As with any of these strategies, pinpointing can work depending on the students, the way you use it, and how frequently you use it. Chapter 7 explains how to use pinpointing when teaching motor skills.
Many of these strategies or techniques seem to be innate characteristics of successful teachers. Although they are rarely taught or discussed, many teachers use them. But not all do - especially in the beginning of their careers. Beginning teachers are often anchored in the same location throughout their lessons, or fail to see students misbehave because their backs are turned. As with so many of the skills discussed in this book, it's easy to write about them and far more challenging to actually use them when teaching. We hope, however, that you will reflect on the subtle orchestration of teaching skills and strategies and their value for minimizing off-task behavior, whether you are a beginning or an experienced teacher (Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005). No matter how well you use these strategies, and others, some students will simply refuse to do what you ask (Timmreck, 1978). Such students are not off task; they have become discipline problems.
All teachers experience discipline problems in their classrooms from time to time. Some minimize the problems, however. What strategies do successful teachers use to minimize discipline problems? To begin with, they spend the first few days of the school year establishing the routines and teaching the management protocols described in chapter 2; they insist that the students learn these routines. They also use many of the strategies previously mentioned for minimizing off-task behavior. In addition, when inappropriate behavior occurs, good teachers examine their own performance. Is the lesson appropriate for the level of the student(s)? Has their behavior instigated student misbehavior? Have they engaged in negative interactions or differential treatment? Is the environment less than positive? Are they reactive rather than proactive?
Proactive or Reactive?
Proactive teachers focus on strategies to maintain or increase positive behavior, such as having established rules, planning appropriate lessons, and praising students who are following expectations (positive pinpointing). Proactive teachers try to avoid discipline problems before they happen. Ideally, we strive to be proactive!
Reactive teachers focus on strategies to stop inappropriate behavior once it has occurred, such as expressing dissatisfaction or imposing an appropriate consequence. Reactive teachers respond after an incident happens to try to avoid further discipline problems. We all must be reactive at times, and with a good discipline system in place, we know the consequences - and so do the students.
Save
Save
Save
Teaching Behavior Protocols
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
As with any teaching process, no single approach works for all teachers. However, teachers who create pleasant atmospheres seem to display certain attributes as they work on building their class environments. They are firm but warm while also being critically demanding. They also post their rules for classes to see and often discuss them so that students feel a certain degree of ownership.
Firm but Warm
At one time we believed that successful teachers threatened students: that is, that they scared them into being good. Today we know better (Bulger, Mohr, & Walls, 2002; Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005; Doyle, 1986; Fernandez-Balboa, 1990; Kounin, 1970). Successful teachers exhibit a certain degree of firmness: they mean what they say. At the same time, however, they are warm and caring toward the students. They don't want to frighten them, but they want them to know they mean business. Students quickly learn to discern whether teachers mean what they say. Good teachers mean what they say, and they exhibit it by not allowing their students to get away with not following the protocols. They don't get excited or hysterical or threaten, however. In calm, reassuring, firm ways, they simply and consistently communicate the message that things are going to be done a certain way and that not much else is going to happen until the protocols are learned. This is one of those skills used by effective teachers that is difficult to put into words. However, if you watched 10 teachers, you would quickly identify those who are firm but warm.
Critically Demanding
If we could write this section in flashing neon lights, we would, because this is an especially important teaching skill that makes a huge difference in the learning environment.
In addition to being firm but warm, effective teachers also are critically demanding. You can quickly recognize this quality when you see it. Teachers who are critically demanding have a built-in expectation that students follow the protocols, and they insist that they do. For example, they know how they want their students to enter the gym. When students enter that way, the lesson proceeds as planned. When they don't, these teachers don't accept their behavior. They insist (demand) that they go back and enter the gym the way they had practiced earlier.
This is especially difficult because, typically, you will want to get on with the lesson you have planned. It's hard to spend time having students go back and reenter the gym. In the long run, however, you will spend less time on these distracting events than if you hadn't spent the time reinforcing your expectations at the beginning of the year. One advantage for your students is that they know exactly what to expect. You can be consistent day after day because you know what is reasonable for your students and you expect that behavior of them.
One of the easiest ways to understand the quality of being critically demanding is to think back to when you were in high school. Did you have a curfew? What happened if you were late? If your parents or guardians were critically demanding, they followed through on the consequences you had discussed before (e.g., being grounded for a week or denied television). If your parents or guardians were not critically demanding, however, they likely let things slide and you knew that they really didn't mean what they said.
Rules - Clear, Positive, Posted
Posted rules also help with consistency. Rules are essentially brief reminders of the behavior protocols. Most teachers list five or six rules, state them in positive ways, and post them prominently (figure 2.1). Simply writing and posting them, however, is no guarantee they will be followed. They also must be practiced.
Physical Education Rules
Physical education rules might look like those in figure 2.1. One reason for posting rules, in addition to serving as reminders, is for the benefit of students new to the school. Posted rules allow you to briefly review the behavior protocols with new students. You may also video record classes in which you explained the behavior protocols and include student demonstrations. The video can then be made available to new students so that they can see exactly what is expected of them in physical education class.
Example of posted rules.
Used by permission of PE Central (pecentral.org), the premier website for physical education teachers. Our goal is to provide educational resources to teachers who, in turn, will help guide youngsters in the process of becoming physically active and healthy for a lifetime. PE Central is supported by S&S Worldwide (pe.ssww.com), a 110-year-old company dedicated to assisting teachers to motivate kids to play and learn using their innovative and educational products. http://pe.ssww.com/item/product-W12402/
Behavior videos are a good idea in places where teachers are often threatened with malpractice lawsuits. In this case, every new student should be required to view the video before participating in physical education. In extreme instances, teachers may quiz students (in writing or orally) or ask them to sign a copy of the rules, indicating that they have viewed the video. We also suggest that this behavior video be placed on the physical education section of the school website.
Locker Room Rules
Secondary programs frequently require students to change clothes in a locker room. You may need rules and protocols specific to the locker room. Here are some examples:
- Take pride in our school and keep the locker room CLEAN!
- Leave food, candy, gum, drinks, and cell phones in your locker or other space outside the gym or PE area.
- Act appropriately (keep your hands to yourself, no bad language).
- Be in the locker room when the bell rings.
- Enter and exit the locker room from the appropriate hallway.
- Dress at your locker.
- Be responsible for locking up all belongings and valuables.
Although these suggestions might seem extreme, teachers who have been involved in malpractice lawsuits will quickly recognize the benefit to posting such rules. This is especially important in schools with high rates of student turnover.
Some teachers send letters home to parents and guardians at the beginning of the school year outlining policies on dress for physical education (especially footwear), medical notes, and what the students will be learning in the coming year. These letters typically provide information about contacting the teacher if questions arise about classes, policies, or other issues (Hopple, 1998).
Developing Ownership
Rules (behavior protocols) are followed more closely when students, and parents and guardians for that matter, understand why they are necessary, and also when students have a sense of ownership of them. For this reason many teachers discuss rules with students to help them understand their importance. A video of students not following the rules can illustrate what happens when this occurs. (You will have no problem recruiting a class to help you make a video demonstrating all of the ways not to behave in the gym!) The video then becomes an excellent resource for involving students in discussions about why management protocols are important to have and follow.
In addition to sharing the rules with your students, provide the principal and classroom teachers with a copy of the rules. This is especially important if your school does not have a unified discipline plan (e.g., assertive discipline; see chapter 10). It might also be worthwhile to share the rules with parents and guardians, perhaps on the school website, especially if you plan to send notes home about students who do not follow the established behavior protocols. This will depend, however, on such factors as the philosophy of the school and the policies of the principal and the board of education.
The next chapters address many of the teaching skills effective physical educators use. The bottom line, however, is that if students do not practice the behavior protocols, as stated in the posted rules, until they become an understood and accepted way of doing business, then many of the pedagogical skills discussed later will have limited effect. Although it's not a lot of fun for you or your students to practice the behavior protocols that are critical to the development of a positive (enjoyable, fun, interesting) learning environment, it's absolutely necessary. If you want to enjoy teaching, spend time practicing the protocols. If you want to spend time nagging youngsters, skip the protocols and start trying to teach.
Three Keys to Motivating Youngsters
It’s common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels.
It's common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels. Successful teachers motivate children and adolescents by creating learning environments in which the tasks or activities are success oriented, autonomy supportive, and developmentally appropriate (Block, 1995; Hastie, Rudisill, & Wadsworth, 2013; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
Success Oriented
Failure, especially when we have never had much success, makes us want to quit trying. If we have never succeeded, there's no reason to believe that continuing to try, and failing, will eventually lead to improvement. This rationale is quite typical of young learners who have yet to make the connection between lots of practice and success (Lee, 2004). To motivate students to practice, the task needs to be one at which they can be successful - highly successful. The research literature, as well as common sense, suggests that when we're learning a new skill, success rates close to 80 percent are appropriate (Brophy & Good, 1986; Pellet & Harrison, 1996; Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
With experience and age, we start to make the connection between practice and expertise (Lee, 2004). For example, an adult might think, If I want to be a good skater, I will need to practice a lot. It will probably take months or even years. In contrast a child might think, I want to be a good skater. I tried it today. I fell down a lot. I can't skate.
To be a successful physical educator, you need to create and change tasks so that your students succeed at high rates. The variety of tasks described in chapter 4 provide the opportunity to accommodate a wide variety of skill levels in your class. You can also encourage your students to modify tasks on their own to make them easier or harder to better match their abilities. At the same time, discourage them from making social comparisons (Lee, 2004). Finally, try to make tasks fun so that your students enjoy doing them without necessarily realizing that they are leading to improvement. The following three examples, taken from actual classes, show how to design tasks so that youngsters can succeed.
Self-Adjusting Target Throwing
Each student has a beanbag and a cardboard box. Challenge them to throw the beanbag into the box but don't tell them how far away from the box to stand. Watch how they adjust the distance based on their ability. The less skilled stand closer to their boxes; the more skilled stand farther away. Several successful throws might result in students moving farther away; several failures might result in taking a few steps closer to the box. Notice, too, that the more highly skilled children tolerate a lower rate of success than the less-skilled children (Rogers, Ponish, & Sawyers, 1991). This example focuses on elementary school children, but it can also apply to adolescents. For example, when teaching volleyball, you can allow students to choose the spot from which they serve the ball; in soccer, you can have students set cone goals up on their own and thus self-adjust the size of the goal by how far apart the cones are.
Self-Adjusting Shampoo
One morning as I (GG) was showering, I read the label on the shampoo bottle. It claimed that the shampoo was self-adjusting - it would adjust its cleaning action to the particular needs of each person's hair. I thought, That's exactly what we need for our classes - self-adjusting tasks that change based on the abilities and interests of the students in the class!
Slanty Rope
Here's another example of designing a task to promote success. For elementary classes, set up two ropes on the floor in a slanty rope design (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). At one end, the ropes are close together. At the other end, the ropes are much farther apart. Challenge students to jump over the river (the ropes) without landing in the water. Observe how they choose the location at which they jump to match their ability to jump for distance - the less skilled jump the river at the narrower end, and the better jumpers jump at the wider end.
The slanty rope principle can also be used with middle and high school students. For example, a traverse climbing wall (students climb sideways with their feet never more than 3 feet [1 m] above the floor) has many holds. Low-skilled students can climb using any holds they like. More skillful students can be given specific routes marked with colored tape that use smaller and more difficult holds. Even the highest-skilled climbers can find appropriately challenging routes. At any time, students can choose a more easily accessible or larger hold.
The point is that a large range of task difficulty is available. Students have the option to choose where along the slanty rope to jump or which route is best for them for climbing.
Varied Basketball Goal Heights
A third example of students wanting to be successful can be observed when several basketball goals are set at various heights for elementary school children. If given a choice, many choose to play at the lowest goal, thereby increasing their chances for success. Equipment manufacturers have recognized this and now sell adjustable basketball goals.
You can apply the same principle with middle and high school students. For example, in a volleyball, lacrosse, or field hockey unit, give students a choice of leagues in which to sign up. Volleyball leagues can include recreation (modified rules such as allowing the volleyball to bounce, playing with a volley trainer, using a lower net, and serving from anywhere), city (no calling double hits, serving from anywhere, letting the server choose the ball to use), and professional (calling double hits, playing by official rules). Students choose the league that is best for them, and they can also move from league to league.
It's interesting to take any of the preceding examples and compare the involvement and interest of students when they have no choice (i.e., when the distance or height is the same for everyone). Typically, practice decreases and off-task behavior increases. The low-skilled student becomes frustrated; the higher-skilled ones become bored (Mandigo & Thompson, 1998). The purpose of designing and adjusting tasks so that students can be successful is to encourage them to continue trying. That is true in class and out of class. In math homework, for example, experts recommend that problems assigned to young learners allow them to succeed at a 100 percent success rate, thereby increasing their motivation to do the homework.
I (GG) wish I had had math teachers who provided math homework assignments at which I could have succeeded. My memories are still vivid of the frustration, leading to exasperation, when I could do only 2 of 10 math homework problems. I wonder how much that contributed to my feelings of incompetence in math today.
Obviously, not every task you design can be self-adjusting and allow students to be continually successful. The principle, however, is that success is fun and motivating - and you want them to feel good about their physical abilities. They will have plenty of opportunities to experience failure and frustration - you don't need to intentionally create them.
How Successful Are the Students?
One way to determine the success rate of your students is to use a coding form to provide objective evidence (figure 8.1). The form is easy to use; in fact, some children use it quite well (Wolfe & Sharpe, 1996). It is most effective, however, with practice attempts that are easily counted. Lessons emphasizing throwing, catching, kicking, and serving a volleyball are ideal. By counting the successful and unsuccessful tries for a low- and a higher-skilled student, you can obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of their success rates. Remember, however, that 80 percent is a general target and may not be the appropriate success rate for some students. Once again, observe and get to know your students. A youngster becoming off task is often an indication that the success rate isn't optimal and the task is either too hard or too easy.
Autonomy Supportive
In addition to creating success-oriented environments, you should try to find ways to help your students develop an intrinsic motivation for participating. This is called autonomy-supportive teaching.
Autonomy refers to a person's sense of control. We know that students who feel autonomous during physical education are more actively engaged in learning activities and are more physically active during physical education and outside of school (Bagøien & Halvari, 2005; Halvari et al., 2009). Teachers who are autonomy supportive display many of the pedagogical skills described in this book. Providing a motivating set induction that captures student interest (chapter 6), scaffolding instruction so that students see the relevance of what they are learning (chapter 6), and developing a safe learning environment with clear protocols and rules (chapter 2) are all characteristics of autonomy-supportive teaching. To create an autonomy-supportive environment, give your students the following:
- A variety of tasks
- Opportunities to make decisions about the tasks
- Feedback (private recognition and evaluation) of performance
- Self-paced instruction and choices of tasks
- Ways to measure personal improvement and avoid social comparisons
- Opportunities for experimentation and self-initiation
- Cooperative learning opportunities
An autonomy-supportive learning environment encourages students to develop a high sense of independence, thereby encouraging intrinsic motivation (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). You can help your students build and sustain intrinsic motivation by avoiding social comparisons, both with others in the class and with externally validated norms. Avoid contests that determine who can make the most shots, do the most sit-ups, or score the most points. Discourage your students from comparing their performances with state or national fitness test norms. Rather, invite them to compare their current and past performances to recognize how they are improving and to show them that practice and hard work eventually pay off (Alderman, Beighle, & Pangrazi, 2006; Lee, 2004; Rink, 2004; Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
Perhaps the emphasis on intrinsic motivation can best be understood when placed in the context of a popular activity such as jogging (Xiang, Chen, & Bruene, 2005). Most adults don't start jogging because they expect to win races or set records. They jog because they feel good about improving their fitness and perhaps losing weight. If they want to, they can chart their improvement using a wearable physical activity tracker (e.g., Fitbit, pedometer, GPS device, tracking app). If they were forced to run races and have their times published in the newspaper, we suspect many would quit jogging. From time to time, however, many choose to enter races. The important point is that they choose to enter races for their own reasons. They don't have to. Shouldn't children and adolescents have the same choices?
There is no way to prevent students from comparing their performances with those of others. They do compare accomplishments, especially the highly skilled. Nevertheless, you can encourage students to succeed on their own by downplaying comparisons and avoiding creating competitive situations.
As with virtually any endeavor, the higher-skilled seek extrinsic motivation by comparing themselves with others, typically through competition. You can make these opportunities available, but again, only for those who choose to compete.
Tech Tips: Tracking Participation
Use pedometers, MOVbands, Sqord Boosters, or some other cost-effective tool (approximately $20-$30 each) to record student participation. MOVbands and Sqord Boosters allow students to quickly upload their movements to a website that both you and they can monitor. You can set challenges for individual students or entire classes. Sqord Boosters allow students to create avatars who grow stronger as the students increase their own activity.
Ban the Spelling Bee
One of the most blatant violations of the idea that children should be allowed to choose whether they want to compete and have their performances compared with others is the spelling bee. For the few good spellers in a class, it's a marvelous competition. For the remainder of the students, who know they are not good spellers, not only is the spelling bee humiliating but it also publicly reinforces what they have been thinking all along: they can't spell - and now the whole class knows it (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). The United States has had spelling bees for years, culminating in a national competition every year in Washington, DC. Has this resulted in a nation of good spellers?
Developmentally Appropriate
A third characteristic of a motivating learning environment is that it reflects age-related and physical differences. An environment that is developmentally appropriate encourages students to work hard and remain on task (Graham et al., 1992; National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 2009; Stork & Sanders, 1996).
As children develop, they are motivated by different opportunities and experiences. Primary-grade youngsters, for example, are eager to please the teacher and are therefore motivated by teacher praise and encouragement. Observe any kindergarten class and you will hear children saying, "Watch me! Watch me!" all day long. Furthermore, if children haven't learned to remain in one location, teachers will continually be trailed by five-year-olds wanting them to say "Wonderful!" after every attempt they make to jump over a rope or throw a beanbag into a box.
As children grow older, the desire to please the teacher is accompanied (in some cases apparently replaced) by a desire to please their peers. They also refine their ability to distinguish between motor skill ability and effort (how hard they try) (Lee, 2004). Attention and respect from peers play an important role in the motivation of middle school youngsters. The opportunity to work in groups to design activities or solve problems is often motivating for adolescents who are interested in peer interaction. Examples include designing a game, dance, or movement sequence and making a video, perhaps to show to classmates (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
In addition to age-related differences (Garcia, 1994), skill level influences the type of support that is effective. Youngsters who are only minimally successful even when tasks are adjusted for them need lots of praise and encouragement to continue to work hard and to try. They also need help understanding that proficiency in motor skills requires a lot of appropriate practice (Rink, 2004).
Highly skilled students who receive satisfaction from succeeding at various tasks seem to be motivated by praise focused on the way they perform the task (sometimes the results), rather than by the fact that they are working hard. In fact, being praised for succeeding at tasks that are relatively easy for them might give highly skilled students the impression that PE is really for the poorly skilled. We believe that this occurs with many athletes who are not challenged in physical education classes. They receive a lot of praise for accomplishments that are much better than those of others in the class but that represent a relatively minimal effort on their part.
Strategies for Minimizing Off-Task Behavior
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems.
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems. Even if you have taught the behavior protocols presented in chapter 2, however, you are still going to have incidences of off-task behavior. Therefore, you need strategies that can minimize the misbehavior of students. Unfortunately, they are just strategies, not guarantees. Some of them succeed with some youngsters some of the time. We wish we knew foolproof strategies that work for all teachers all of the time, but we don't; no one does. Good teachers seem to have a repertoire of strategies that they use, sometimes consciously and sometimes without really thinking about them. They include back to the wall, proximity control, with-it-ness, selective ignoring, overlapping, learning names, and positive pinpointing.
Back to the Wall
One of the simplest strategies is referred to as back to the wall. Teachers use this technique for formative assessment (chapter 5) and also for behavior management. Standing on the outside of the boundaries (the wall in the gym or the edge of the playground) lets you see what is going on in a class. When you stand in the middle of a class, about 50 percent of the class is out of your sight; thus, you may not see off-task behavior until it has gone on for some time.
The ability to detect off-task behavior as soon as it begins appears to be a characteristic of successful teachers. Immediate detection seems to prevent the behavior from escalating. When the behavior persists for several minutes, several students might become involved. Thus, a relatively minor incident can escalate into a major incident (e.g., one student tries to wrestle a ball away from another). This is known as the ripple effect (Kounin, 1970). When you see the beginning of such an incident, you can quickly prevent it from escalating because your targeting and timing are appropriate. You can identify the students correctly and quickly, thus preventing the situation from developing into a crisis.
Proximity Control
One technique that can prevent the ball-taking episode just described from escalating is proximity control - simply walking in the direction of the off-task student to let her know that you see her. Giving her the look will let her know that she's off task.
Veteran teachers know what we mean by the look. It's a certain way a teacher looks at a youngster to say, "You're off task; now get back to work." Obviously, however, you need to be close enough so that the student can see your expressions.
Sometimes the look isn't even necessary. Simply standing by a group of students on the verge of becoming off task is often enough to let them know that you see them and expect them to remain focused.
Proximity control implies that you are moving around the gym. Early in their careers, teachers have a tendency to stand in one place. Although standing in one place may be more comfortable than moving around, it's not as effective. Virtually without exception, good teachers move about the classroom, the gym, and the outdoor space.
With-It-Ness
The strategies of back to the wall and proximity control give the class the impression that you have with-it-ness - it's like having eyes in the back of your head (Kounin, 1970). When he began his series of research studies on discipline, Kounin hypothesized that teachers whose students were well behaved and consistently on task were those who threatened them, basically scaring them into behaving. He discovered that this wasn't true. The teachers with the fewest discipline problems communicated to their classes in a calm and reassuring way that they knew what was going on in their classes, they knew the tricks, and therefore students shouldn't even bother to try them. By keeping their backs to the wall and quickly targeting youngsters tending toward off-task behavior, they convinced their students that indeed they were with it.
With It and Without It
Remembering my (GG) days in elementary school, I can recall a sixth-grade teacher who was particularly with it. She was friendly and warm, yet from the first day, we could tell that she wasn't about to let us get away with anything. It was uncanny how she could identify children who were off-task types and, with looks and proximity control, keep them from misbehaving much of that year. The next year, however, we had a teacher who was "without it"; the same class quickly escalated into a rowdy group of children who were continually yelled at and threatened, though without much success. I am sure we were difficult to teach that year. We were essentially the same children, but, among other things, the teacher was "without it."
Selective Ignoring
Recently, I (GG) watched a first-grade lesson focused on round, narrow, wide, and twisted shapes. At times the children were making shapes in their own space; at other times they were traveling around the gym in their shapes. Whenever the opportunity was given to travel, one of the children, Bryan, ran. My reaction and that of my college students who were also observing was to immediately want to stop Bryan from running. The teacher ignored him, however. As we watched, I realized that Bryan really wasn't bothering other children. In fact, they ignored him also. Another teacher might have considered Bryan's behavior off task; Bryan's teacher didn't. And, after watching the entire lesson, I think she was right. Bryan was one of those high-energy children - some might have labeled him hyperactive. He was doing what the teacher asked but at a fast speed. The teacher obviously saw him but chose to selectively ignore him. It was an effective strategy in that lesson.
Selective ignoring works when students have been helped to understand why a student looks or acts a certain way. The opportunity to learn to accept students who behave in ways outside of the norm has been one of the major advantages of mainstreaming in schools. When we observe students working with those with special needs, we are always warmed by their ability to understand the situation and their genuine willingness to help. This understanding doesn't happen automatically, however. Good teachers intentionally teach their classes to understand and work with special students.
Nick's Insight
When my (GG) oldest son, Nick, was in fourth grade, I remember talking to him about some of his classmates after I had observed his class. I commented on one boy who was off task constantly and obviously annoying the teacher. I said that the boy who was off task seemed to be a distraction to the class and a troublemaker. I expected Nick to agree. He surprised me, however, by providing me with one of those glimpses into how children view the world when he said: "Dad, it's not all his fault. The teacher doesn't understand him. He's really a good guy if you give him a chance. She never really gave him one." I try to remember Nick's insight when a child misbehaves in one of my classes.
Overlapping
Unlike back to the wall, which is an easily learned strategy, overlapping is a skill that is learned with practice. Overlapping is the ability to focus on several things at once and still maintain an intended direction.
As a teacher, you are continually required to deal simultaneously with several students or situations. For example, you may nod your head yes at the youngster who has to go to the bathroom; smile at the child who says "Watch me"; put your hand on the shoulder of the youngster who wants to talk to you to signal "Wait a second"; and continue to observe the whole class as you determine whether to change the task or continue it for several more minutes. Locke's vignette in chapter 1 is another illustration of the need to develop the ability to overlap.
Overlapping is a pedagogical skill learned through experience. It is critical because if you work with 30 or more students in a class, you will have to overlap at times to keep a lesson from coming to a complete stop. Obviously, establishing routines and protocols will minimize the need for overlapping, yet it is needed at times.
Tech Tips: ClassDojo
ClassDojo is a wonderful app that you can use to encourage your students, log classroom behavior, and engage parents and guardians. Compatible with any Apple or Android device, ClassDojo allows you to give behavior or skill feedback instantly to individual students and help them see their progress right away. Parents and guardians can see their children's behavior points on a daily basis, and you can even exchange messages with them through the app to keep them informed and engaged.
Learning Names
Learning students' names can be difficult, but it is possible even if you have 600 or more students. One of the frustrating aspects of teaching is attempting to get the attention of a student whose name you don't know. As you try to find out, you may halt the flow of the lesson as several youngsters volunteer the student's name and then stop moving to watch what you have to say to him. When you know a student's name, you can often speak it across the gym to let him know that you see him and offer praise or remind him to get on task.
Some teachers learn names with relative ease. For others it's a struggle. We have all heard of name-learning techniques (e.g., alliteration, using the name several times in conversation, having the students tell you their names when they enter and leave the gym, and taking photos of students) (Williams, 1995). PE Central (www.pecentral.org) provides a number of suggestions in the section "Tips for the Beginning Teacher." Increasingly, classroom teachers are making name tags for younger children who then wear them to PE until the teacher has time to learn their names. Learning names is even more challenging for teachers who work in schools with transient populations. Half of the youngsters they teach in September are gone in May, replaced by a new group. We wish we had a magical, instant solution to this challenge of learning several hundred names, but we don't. We do know, however, that it really helps to know students' names when trying to prevent off-task behavior.
Positive Pinpointing
Identifying one or more students and pointing them out to the rest of the class as modeling the desired behavior or skill is called pinpointing. This strategy is common in elementary schools. I like how Verenda and Tommy are standing quietly is an example of positive pinpointing. Our experience suggests that this technique is more effective with younger children who want to please the teacher. It can be overused, however. Some youngsters seem to ignore it because the teacher is constantly talking about how well someone is doing something. As with any of these strategies, pinpointing can work depending on the students, the way you use it, and how frequently you use it. Chapter 7 explains how to use pinpointing when teaching motor skills.
Many of these strategies or techniques seem to be innate characteristics of successful teachers. Although they are rarely taught or discussed, many teachers use them. But not all do - especially in the beginning of their careers. Beginning teachers are often anchored in the same location throughout their lessons, or fail to see students misbehave because their backs are turned. As with so many of the skills discussed in this book, it's easy to write about them and far more challenging to actually use them when teaching. We hope, however, that you will reflect on the subtle orchestration of teaching skills and strategies and their value for minimizing off-task behavior, whether you are a beginning or an experienced teacher (Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005). No matter how well you use these strategies, and others, some students will simply refuse to do what you ask (Timmreck, 1978). Such students are not off task; they have become discipline problems.
All teachers experience discipline problems in their classrooms from time to time. Some minimize the problems, however. What strategies do successful teachers use to minimize discipline problems? To begin with, they spend the first few days of the school year establishing the routines and teaching the management protocols described in chapter 2; they insist that the students learn these routines. They also use many of the strategies previously mentioned for minimizing off-task behavior. In addition, when inappropriate behavior occurs, good teachers examine their own performance. Is the lesson appropriate for the level of the student(s)? Has their behavior instigated student misbehavior? Have they engaged in negative interactions or differential treatment? Is the environment less than positive? Are they reactive rather than proactive?
Proactive or Reactive?
Proactive teachers focus on strategies to maintain or increase positive behavior, such as having established rules, planning appropriate lessons, and praising students who are following expectations (positive pinpointing). Proactive teachers try to avoid discipline problems before they happen. Ideally, we strive to be proactive!
Reactive teachers focus on strategies to stop inappropriate behavior once it has occurred, such as expressing dissatisfaction or imposing an appropriate consequence. Reactive teachers respond after an incident happens to try to avoid further discipline problems. We all must be reactive at times, and with a good discipline system in place, we know the consequences - and so do the students.
Save
Save
Save
Teaching Behavior Protocols
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
As with any teaching process, no single approach works for all teachers. However, teachers who create pleasant atmospheres seem to display certain attributes as they work on building their class environments. They are firm but warm while also being critically demanding. They also post their rules for classes to see and often discuss them so that students feel a certain degree of ownership.
Firm but Warm
At one time we believed that successful teachers threatened students: that is, that they scared them into being good. Today we know better (Bulger, Mohr, & Walls, 2002; Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005; Doyle, 1986; Fernandez-Balboa, 1990; Kounin, 1970). Successful teachers exhibit a certain degree of firmness: they mean what they say. At the same time, however, they are warm and caring toward the students. They don't want to frighten them, but they want them to know they mean business. Students quickly learn to discern whether teachers mean what they say. Good teachers mean what they say, and they exhibit it by not allowing their students to get away with not following the protocols. They don't get excited or hysterical or threaten, however. In calm, reassuring, firm ways, they simply and consistently communicate the message that things are going to be done a certain way and that not much else is going to happen until the protocols are learned. This is one of those skills used by effective teachers that is difficult to put into words. However, if you watched 10 teachers, you would quickly identify those who are firm but warm.
Critically Demanding
If we could write this section in flashing neon lights, we would, because this is an especially important teaching skill that makes a huge difference in the learning environment.
In addition to being firm but warm, effective teachers also are critically demanding. You can quickly recognize this quality when you see it. Teachers who are critically demanding have a built-in expectation that students follow the protocols, and they insist that they do. For example, they know how they want their students to enter the gym. When students enter that way, the lesson proceeds as planned. When they don't, these teachers don't accept their behavior. They insist (demand) that they go back and enter the gym the way they had practiced earlier.
This is especially difficult because, typically, you will want to get on with the lesson you have planned. It's hard to spend time having students go back and reenter the gym. In the long run, however, you will spend less time on these distracting events than if you hadn't spent the time reinforcing your expectations at the beginning of the year. One advantage for your students is that they know exactly what to expect. You can be consistent day after day because you know what is reasonable for your students and you expect that behavior of them.
One of the easiest ways to understand the quality of being critically demanding is to think back to when you were in high school. Did you have a curfew? What happened if you were late? If your parents or guardians were critically demanding, they followed through on the consequences you had discussed before (e.g., being grounded for a week or denied television). If your parents or guardians were not critically demanding, however, they likely let things slide and you knew that they really didn't mean what they said.
Rules - Clear, Positive, Posted
Posted rules also help with consistency. Rules are essentially brief reminders of the behavior protocols. Most teachers list five or six rules, state them in positive ways, and post them prominently (figure 2.1). Simply writing and posting them, however, is no guarantee they will be followed. They also must be practiced.
Physical Education Rules
Physical education rules might look like those in figure 2.1. One reason for posting rules, in addition to serving as reminders, is for the benefit of students new to the school. Posted rules allow you to briefly review the behavior protocols with new students. You may also video record classes in which you explained the behavior protocols and include student demonstrations. The video can then be made available to new students so that they can see exactly what is expected of them in physical education class.
Example of posted rules.
Used by permission of PE Central (pecentral.org), the premier website for physical education teachers. Our goal is to provide educational resources to teachers who, in turn, will help guide youngsters in the process of becoming physically active and healthy for a lifetime. PE Central is supported by S&S Worldwide (pe.ssww.com), a 110-year-old company dedicated to assisting teachers to motivate kids to play and learn using their innovative and educational products. http://pe.ssww.com/item/product-W12402/
Behavior videos are a good idea in places where teachers are often threatened with malpractice lawsuits. In this case, every new student should be required to view the video before participating in physical education. In extreme instances, teachers may quiz students (in writing or orally) or ask them to sign a copy of the rules, indicating that they have viewed the video. We also suggest that this behavior video be placed on the physical education section of the school website.
Locker Room Rules
Secondary programs frequently require students to change clothes in a locker room. You may need rules and protocols specific to the locker room. Here are some examples:
- Take pride in our school and keep the locker room CLEAN!
- Leave food, candy, gum, drinks, and cell phones in your locker or other space outside the gym or PE area.
- Act appropriately (keep your hands to yourself, no bad language).
- Be in the locker room when the bell rings.
- Enter and exit the locker room from the appropriate hallway.
- Dress at your locker.
- Be responsible for locking up all belongings and valuables.
Although these suggestions might seem extreme, teachers who have been involved in malpractice lawsuits will quickly recognize the benefit to posting such rules. This is especially important in schools with high rates of student turnover.
Some teachers send letters home to parents and guardians at the beginning of the school year outlining policies on dress for physical education (especially footwear), medical notes, and what the students will be learning in the coming year. These letters typically provide information about contacting the teacher if questions arise about classes, policies, or other issues (Hopple, 1998).
Developing Ownership
Rules (behavior protocols) are followed more closely when students, and parents and guardians for that matter, understand why they are necessary, and also when students have a sense of ownership of them. For this reason many teachers discuss rules with students to help them understand their importance. A video of students not following the rules can illustrate what happens when this occurs. (You will have no problem recruiting a class to help you make a video demonstrating all of the ways not to behave in the gym!) The video then becomes an excellent resource for involving students in discussions about why management protocols are important to have and follow.
In addition to sharing the rules with your students, provide the principal and classroom teachers with a copy of the rules. This is especially important if your school does not have a unified discipline plan (e.g., assertive discipline; see chapter 10). It might also be worthwhile to share the rules with parents and guardians, perhaps on the school website, especially if you plan to send notes home about students who do not follow the established behavior protocols. This will depend, however, on such factors as the philosophy of the school and the policies of the principal and the board of education.
The next chapters address many of the teaching skills effective physical educators use. The bottom line, however, is that if students do not practice the behavior protocols, as stated in the posted rules, until they become an understood and accepted way of doing business, then many of the pedagogical skills discussed later will have limited effect. Although it's not a lot of fun for you or your students to practice the behavior protocols that are critical to the development of a positive (enjoyable, fun, interesting) learning environment, it's absolutely necessary. If you want to enjoy teaching, spend time practicing the protocols. If you want to spend time nagging youngsters, skip the protocols and start trying to teach.
Three Keys to Motivating Youngsters
It’s common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels.
It's common knowledge that children learn by doing. Research on teacher effectiveness clearly supports this premise. The challenge for teachers is to involve all of their students most of the time in activities that are appropriate for their varying skill levels. Successful teachers motivate children and adolescents by creating learning environments in which the tasks or activities are success oriented, autonomy supportive, and developmentally appropriate (Block, 1995; Hastie, Rudisill, & Wadsworth, 2013; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
Success Oriented
Failure, especially when we have never had much success, makes us want to quit trying. If we have never succeeded, there's no reason to believe that continuing to try, and failing, will eventually lead to improvement. This rationale is quite typical of young learners who have yet to make the connection between lots of practice and success (Lee, 2004). To motivate students to practice, the task needs to be one at which they can be successful - highly successful. The research literature, as well as common sense, suggests that when we're learning a new skill, success rates close to 80 percent are appropriate (Brophy & Good, 1986; Pellet & Harrison, 1996; Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000; Tjeerdsma, 1995).
With experience and age, we start to make the connection between practice and expertise (Lee, 2004). For example, an adult might think, If I want to be a good skater, I will need to practice a lot. It will probably take months or even years. In contrast a child might think, I want to be a good skater. I tried it today. I fell down a lot. I can't skate.
To be a successful physical educator, you need to create and change tasks so that your students succeed at high rates. The variety of tasks described in chapter 4 provide the opportunity to accommodate a wide variety of skill levels in your class. You can also encourage your students to modify tasks on their own to make them easier or harder to better match their abilities. At the same time, discourage them from making social comparisons (Lee, 2004). Finally, try to make tasks fun so that your students enjoy doing them without necessarily realizing that they are leading to improvement. The following three examples, taken from actual classes, show how to design tasks so that youngsters can succeed.
Self-Adjusting Target Throwing
Each student has a beanbag and a cardboard box. Challenge them to throw the beanbag into the box but don't tell them how far away from the box to stand. Watch how they adjust the distance based on their ability. The less skilled stand closer to their boxes; the more skilled stand farther away. Several successful throws might result in students moving farther away; several failures might result in taking a few steps closer to the box. Notice, too, that the more highly skilled children tolerate a lower rate of success than the less-skilled children (Rogers, Ponish, & Sawyers, 1991). This example focuses on elementary school children, but it can also apply to adolescents. For example, when teaching volleyball, you can allow students to choose the spot from which they serve the ball; in soccer, you can have students set cone goals up on their own and thus self-adjust the size of the goal by how far apart the cones are.
Self-Adjusting Shampoo
One morning as I (GG) was showering, I read the label on the shampoo bottle. It claimed that the shampoo was self-adjusting - it would adjust its cleaning action to the particular needs of each person's hair. I thought, That's exactly what we need for our classes - self-adjusting tasks that change based on the abilities and interests of the students in the class!
Slanty Rope
Here's another example of designing a task to promote success. For elementary classes, set up two ropes on the floor in a slanty rope design (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002). At one end, the ropes are close together. At the other end, the ropes are much farther apart. Challenge students to jump over the river (the ropes) without landing in the water. Observe how they choose the location at which they jump to match their ability to jump for distance - the less skilled jump the river at the narrower end, and the better jumpers jump at the wider end.
The slanty rope principle can also be used with middle and high school students. For example, a traverse climbing wall (students climb sideways with their feet never more than 3 feet [1 m] above the floor) has many holds. Low-skilled students can climb using any holds they like. More skillful students can be given specific routes marked with colored tape that use smaller and more difficult holds. Even the highest-skilled climbers can find appropriately challenging routes. At any time, students can choose a more easily accessible or larger hold.
The point is that a large range of task difficulty is available. Students have the option to choose where along the slanty rope to jump or which route is best for them for climbing.
Varied Basketball Goal Heights
A third example of students wanting to be successful can be observed when several basketball goals are set at various heights for elementary school children. If given a choice, many choose to play at the lowest goal, thereby increasing their chances for success. Equipment manufacturers have recognized this and now sell adjustable basketball goals.
You can apply the same principle with middle and high school students. For example, in a volleyball, lacrosse, or field hockey unit, give students a choice of leagues in which to sign up. Volleyball leagues can include recreation (modified rules such as allowing the volleyball to bounce, playing with a volley trainer, using a lower net, and serving from anywhere), city (no calling double hits, serving from anywhere, letting the server choose the ball to use), and professional (calling double hits, playing by official rules). Students choose the league that is best for them, and they can also move from league to league.
It's interesting to take any of the preceding examples and compare the involvement and interest of students when they have no choice (i.e., when the distance or height is the same for everyone). Typically, practice decreases and off-task behavior increases. The low-skilled student becomes frustrated; the higher-skilled ones become bored (Mandigo & Thompson, 1998). The purpose of designing and adjusting tasks so that students can be successful is to encourage them to continue trying. That is true in class and out of class. In math homework, for example, experts recommend that problems assigned to young learners allow them to succeed at a 100 percent success rate, thereby increasing their motivation to do the homework.
I (GG) wish I had had math teachers who provided math homework assignments at which I could have succeeded. My memories are still vivid of the frustration, leading to exasperation, when I could do only 2 of 10 math homework problems. I wonder how much that contributed to my feelings of incompetence in math today.
Obviously, not every task you design can be self-adjusting and allow students to be continually successful. The principle, however, is that success is fun and motivating - and you want them to feel good about their physical abilities. They will have plenty of opportunities to experience failure and frustration - you don't need to intentionally create them.
How Successful Are the Students?
One way to determine the success rate of your students is to use a coding form to provide objective evidence (figure 8.1). The form is easy to use; in fact, some children use it quite well (Wolfe & Sharpe, 1996). It is most effective, however, with practice attempts that are easily counted. Lessons emphasizing throwing, catching, kicking, and serving a volleyball are ideal. By counting the successful and unsuccessful tries for a low- and a higher-skilled student, you can obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of their success rates. Remember, however, that 80 percent is a general target and may not be the appropriate success rate for some students. Once again, observe and get to know your students. A youngster becoming off task is often an indication that the success rate isn't optimal and the task is either too hard or too easy.
Autonomy Supportive
In addition to creating success-oriented environments, you should try to find ways to help your students develop an intrinsic motivation for participating. This is called autonomy-supportive teaching.
Autonomy refers to a person's sense of control. We know that students who feel autonomous during physical education are more actively engaged in learning activities and are more physically active during physical education and outside of school (Bagøien & Halvari, 2005; Halvari et al., 2009). Teachers who are autonomy supportive display many of the pedagogical skills described in this book. Providing a motivating set induction that captures student interest (chapter 6), scaffolding instruction so that students see the relevance of what they are learning (chapter 6), and developing a safe learning environment with clear protocols and rules (chapter 2) are all characteristics of autonomy-supportive teaching. To create an autonomy-supportive environment, give your students the following:
- A variety of tasks
- Opportunities to make decisions about the tasks
- Feedback (private recognition and evaluation) of performance
- Self-paced instruction and choices of tasks
- Ways to measure personal improvement and avoid social comparisons
- Opportunities for experimentation and self-initiation
- Cooperative learning opportunities
An autonomy-supportive learning environment encourages students to develop a high sense of independence, thereby encouraging intrinsic motivation (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). You can help your students build and sustain intrinsic motivation by avoiding social comparisons, both with others in the class and with externally validated norms. Avoid contests that determine who can make the most shots, do the most sit-ups, or score the most points. Discourage your students from comparing their performances with state or national fitness test norms. Rather, invite them to compare their current and past performances to recognize how they are improving and to show them that practice and hard work eventually pay off (Alderman, Beighle, & Pangrazi, 2006; Lee, 2004; Rink, 2004; Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
Perhaps the emphasis on intrinsic motivation can best be understood when placed in the context of a popular activity such as jogging (Xiang, Chen, & Bruene, 2005). Most adults don't start jogging because they expect to win races or set records. They jog because they feel good about improving their fitness and perhaps losing weight. If they want to, they can chart their improvement using a wearable physical activity tracker (e.g., Fitbit, pedometer, GPS device, tracking app). If they were forced to run races and have their times published in the newspaper, we suspect many would quit jogging. From time to time, however, many choose to enter races. The important point is that they choose to enter races for their own reasons. They don't have to. Shouldn't children and adolescents have the same choices?
There is no way to prevent students from comparing their performances with those of others. They do compare accomplishments, especially the highly skilled. Nevertheless, you can encourage students to succeed on their own by downplaying comparisons and avoiding creating competitive situations.
As with virtually any endeavor, the higher-skilled seek extrinsic motivation by comparing themselves with others, typically through competition. You can make these opportunities available, but again, only for those who choose to compete.
Tech Tips: Tracking Participation
Use pedometers, MOVbands, Sqord Boosters, or some other cost-effective tool (approximately $20-$30 each) to record student participation. MOVbands and Sqord Boosters allow students to quickly upload their movements to a website that both you and they can monitor. You can set challenges for individual students or entire classes. Sqord Boosters allow students to create avatars who grow stronger as the students increase their own activity.
Ban the Spelling Bee
One of the most blatant violations of the idea that children should be allowed to choose whether they want to compete and have their performances compared with others is the spelling bee. For the few good spellers in a class, it's a marvelous competition. For the remainder of the students, who know they are not good spellers, not only is the spelling bee humiliating but it also publicly reinforces what they have been thinking all along: they can't spell - and now the whole class knows it (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004). The United States has had spelling bees for years, culminating in a national competition every year in Washington, DC. Has this resulted in a nation of good spellers?
Developmentally Appropriate
A third characteristic of a motivating learning environment is that it reflects age-related and physical differences. An environment that is developmentally appropriate encourages students to work hard and remain on task (Graham et al., 1992; National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 2009; Stork & Sanders, 1996).
As children develop, they are motivated by different opportunities and experiences. Primary-grade youngsters, for example, are eager to please the teacher and are therefore motivated by teacher praise and encouragement. Observe any kindergarten class and you will hear children saying, "Watch me! Watch me!" all day long. Furthermore, if children haven't learned to remain in one location, teachers will continually be trailed by five-year-olds wanting them to say "Wonderful!" after every attempt they make to jump over a rope or throw a beanbag into a box.
As children grow older, the desire to please the teacher is accompanied (in some cases apparently replaced) by a desire to please their peers. They also refine their ability to distinguish between motor skill ability and effort (how hard they try) (Lee, 2004). Attention and respect from peers play an important role in the motivation of middle school youngsters. The opportunity to work in groups to design activities or solve problems is often motivating for adolescents who are interested in peer interaction. Examples include designing a game, dance, or movement sequence and making a video, perhaps to show to classmates (Valentini & Rudisill, 2004).
In addition to age-related differences (Garcia, 1994), skill level influences the type of support that is effective. Youngsters who are only minimally successful even when tasks are adjusted for them need lots of praise and encouragement to continue to work hard and to try. They also need help understanding that proficiency in motor skills requires a lot of appropriate practice (Rink, 2004).
Highly skilled students who receive satisfaction from succeeding at various tasks seem to be motivated by praise focused on the way they perform the task (sometimes the results), rather than by the fact that they are working hard. In fact, being praised for succeeding at tasks that are relatively easy for them might give highly skilled students the impression that PE is really for the poorly skilled. We believe that this occurs with many athletes who are not challenged in physical education classes. They receive a lot of praise for accomplishments that are much better than those of others in the class but that represent a relatively minimal effort on their part.
Strategies for Minimizing Off-Task Behavior
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems.
Appropriate on-task behavior is often described as students behaving positively in a way that is consistent with the goals of the educational setting (Siedentop & Tannehill, 2000). A class of students who are on task most of the lesson contributes to a positive learning environment and is unlikely to present discipline problems. Even if you have taught the behavior protocols presented in chapter 2, however, you are still going to have incidences of off-task behavior. Therefore, you need strategies that can minimize the misbehavior of students. Unfortunately, they are just strategies, not guarantees. Some of them succeed with some youngsters some of the time. We wish we knew foolproof strategies that work for all teachers all of the time, but we don't; no one does. Good teachers seem to have a repertoire of strategies that they use, sometimes consciously and sometimes without really thinking about them. They include back to the wall, proximity control, with-it-ness, selective ignoring, overlapping, learning names, and positive pinpointing.
Back to the Wall
One of the simplest strategies is referred to as back to the wall. Teachers use this technique for formative assessment (chapter 5) and also for behavior management. Standing on the outside of the boundaries (the wall in the gym or the edge of the playground) lets you see what is going on in a class. When you stand in the middle of a class, about 50 percent of the class is out of your sight; thus, you may not see off-task behavior until it has gone on for some time.
The ability to detect off-task behavior as soon as it begins appears to be a characteristic of successful teachers. Immediate detection seems to prevent the behavior from escalating. When the behavior persists for several minutes, several students might become involved. Thus, a relatively minor incident can escalate into a major incident (e.g., one student tries to wrestle a ball away from another). This is known as the ripple effect (Kounin, 1970). When you see the beginning of such an incident, you can quickly prevent it from escalating because your targeting and timing are appropriate. You can identify the students correctly and quickly, thus preventing the situation from developing into a crisis.
Proximity Control
One technique that can prevent the ball-taking episode just described from escalating is proximity control - simply walking in the direction of the off-task student to let her know that you see her. Giving her the look will let her know that she's off task.
Veteran teachers know what we mean by the look. It's a certain way a teacher looks at a youngster to say, "You're off task; now get back to work." Obviously, however, you need to be close enough so that the student can see your expressions.
Sometimes the look isn't even necessary. Simply standing by a group of students on the verge of becoming off task is often enough to let them know that you see them and expect them to remain focused.
Proximity control implies that you are moving around the gym. Early in their careers, teachers have a tendency to stand in one place. Although standing in one place may be more comfortable than moving around, it's not as effective. Virtually without exception, good teachers move about the classroom, the gym, and the outdoor space.
With-It-Ness
The strategies of back to the wall and proximity control give the class the impression that you have with-it-ness - it's like having eyes in the back of your head (Kounin, 1970). When he began his series of research studies on discipline, Kounin hypothesized that teachers whose students were well behaved and consistently on task were those who threatened them, basically scaring them into behaving. He discovered that this wasn't true. The teachers with the fewest discipline problems communicated to their classes in a calm and reassuring way that they knew what was going on in their classes, they knew the tricks, and therefore students shouldn't even bother to try them. By keeping their backs to the wall and quickly targeting youngsters tending toward off-task behavior, they convinced their students that indeed they were with it.
With It and Without It
Remembering my (GG) days in elementary school, I can recall a sixth-grade teacher who was particularly with it. She was friendly and warm, yet from the first day, we could tell that she wasn't about to let us get away with anything. It was uncanny how she could identify children who were off-task types and, with looks and proximity control, keep them from misbehaving much of that year. The next year, however, we had a teacher who was "without it"; the same class quickly escalated into a rowdy group of children who were continually yelled at and threatened, though without much success. I am sure we were difficult to teach that year. We were essentially the same children, but, among other things, the teacher was "without it."
Selective Ignoring
Recently, I (GG) watched a first-grade lesson focused on round, narrow, wide, and twisted shapes. At times the children were making shapes in their own space; at other times they were traveling around the gym in their shapes. Whenever the opportunity was given to travel, one of the children, Bryan, ran. My reaction and that of my college students who were also observing was to immediately want to stop Bryan from running. The teacher ignored him, however. As we watched, I realized that Bryan really wasn't bothering other children. In fact, they ignored him also. Another teacher might have considered Bryan's behavior off task; Bryan's teacher didn't. And, after watching the entire lesson, I think she was right. Bryan was one of those high-energy children - some might have labeled him hyperactive. He was doing what the teacher asked but at a fast speed. The teacher obviously saw him but chose to selectively ignore him. It was an effective strategy in that lesson.
Selective ignoring works when students have been helped to understand why a student looks or acts a certain way. The opportunity to learn to accept students who behave in ways outside of the norm has been one of the major advantages of mainstreaming in schools. When we observe students working with those with special needs, we are always warmed by their ability to understand the situation and their genuine willingness to help. This understanding doesn't happen automatically, however. Good teachers intentionally teach their classes to understand and work with special students.
Nick's Insight
When my (GG) oldest son, Nick, was in fourth grade, I remember talking to him about some of his classmates after I had observed his class. I commented on one boy who was off task constantly and obviously annoying the teacher. I said that the boy who was off task seemed to be a distraction to the class and a troublemaker. I expected Nick to agree. He surprised me, however, by providing me with one of those glimpses into how children view the world when he said: "Dad, it's not all his fault. The teacher doesn't understand him. He's really a good guy if you give him a chance. She never really gave him one." I try to remember Nick's insight when a child misbehaves in one of my classes.
Overlapping
Unlike back to the wall, which is an easily learned strategy, overlapping is a skill that is learned with practice. Overlapping is the ability to focus on several things at once and still maintain an intended direction.
As a teacher, you are continually required to deal simultaneously with several students or situations. For example, you may nod your head yes at the youngster who has to go to the bathroom; smile at the child who says "Watch me"; put your hand on the shoulder of the youngster who wants to talk to you to signal "Wait a second"; and continue to observe the whole class as you determine whether to change the task or continue it for several more minutes. Locke's vignette in chapter 1 is another illustration of the need to develop the ability to overlap.
Overlapping is a pedagogical skill learned through experience. It is critical because if you work with 30 or more students in a class, you will have to overlap at times to keep a lesson from coming to a complete stop. Obviously, establishing routines and protocols will minimize the need for overlapping, yet it is needed at times.
Tech Tips: ClassDojo
ClassDojo is a wonderful app that you can use to encourage your students, log classroom behavior, and engage parents and guardians. Compatible with any Apple or Android device, ClassDojo allows you to give behavior or skill feedback instantly to individual students and help them see their progress right away. Parents and guardians can see their children's behavior points on a daily basis, and you can even exchange messages with them through the app to keep them informed and engaged.
Learning Names
Learning students' names can be difficult, but it is possible even if you have 600 or more students. One of the frustrating aspects of teaching is attempting to get the attention of a student whose name you don't know. As you try to find out, you may halt the flow of the lesson as several youngsters volunteer the student's name and then stop moving to watch what you have to say to him. When you know a student's name, you can often speak it across the gym to let him know that you see him and offer praise or remind him to get on task.
Some teachers learn names with relative ease. For others it's a struggle. We have all heard of name-learning techniques (e.g., alliteration, using the name several times in conversation, having the students tell you their names when they enter and leave the gym, and taking photos of students) (Williams, 1995). PE Central (www.pecentral.org) provides a number of suggestions in the section "Tips for the Beginning Teacher." Increasingly, classroom teachers are making name tags for younger children who then wear them to PE until the teacher has time to learn their names. Learning names is even more challenging for teachers who work in schools with transient populations. Half of the youngsters they teach in September are gone in May, replaced by a new group. We wish we had a magical, instant solution to this challenge of learning several hundred names, but we don't. We do know, however, that it really helps to know students' names when trying to prevent off-task behavior.
Positive Pinpointing
Identifying one or more students and pointing them out to the rest of the class as modeling the desired behavior or skill is called pinpointing. This strategy is common in elementary schools. I like how Verenda and Tommy are standing quietly is an example of positive pinpointing. Our experience suggests that this technique is more effective with younger children who want to please the teacher. It can be overused, however. Some youngsters seem to ignore it because the teacher is constantly talking about how well someone is doing something. As with any of these strategies, pinpointing can work depending on the students, the way you use it, and how frequently you use it. Chapter 7 explains how to use pinpointing when teaching motor skills.
Many of these strategies or techniques seem to be innate characteristics of successful teachers. Although they are rarely taught or discussed, many teachers use them. But not all do - especially in the beginning of their careers. Beginning teachers are often anchored in the same location throughout their lessons, or fail to see students misbehave because their backs are turned. As with so many of the skills discussed in this book, it's easy to write about them and far more challenging to actually use them when teaching. We hope, however, that you will reflect on the subtle orchestration of teaching skills and strategies and their value for minimizing off-task behavior, whether you are a beginning or an experienced teacher (Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005). No matter how well you use these strategies, and others, some students will simply refuse to do what you ask (Timmreck, 1978). Such students are not off task; they have become discipline problems.
All teachers experience discipline problems in their classrooms from time to time. Some minimize the problems, however. What strategies do successful teachers use to minimize discipline problems? To begin with, they spend the first few days of the school year establishing the routines and teaching the management protocols described in chapter 2; they insist that the students learn these routines. They also use many of the strategies previously mentioned for minimizing off-task behavior. In addition, when inappropriate behavior occurs, good teachers examine their own performance. Is the lesson appropriate for the level of the student(s)? Has their behavior instigated student misbehavior? Have they engaged in negative interactions or differential treatment? Is the environment less than positive? Are they reactive rather than proactive?
Proactive or Reactive?
Proactive teachers focus on strategies to maintain or increase positive behavior, such as having established rules, planning appropriate lessons, and praising students who are following expectations (positive pinpointing). Proactive teachers try to avoid discipline problems before they happen. Ideally, we strive to be proactive!
Reactive teachers focus on strategies to stop inappropriate behavior once it has occurred, such as expressing dissatisfaction or imposing an appropriate consequence. Reactive teachers respond after an incident happens to try to avoid further discipline problems. We all must be reactive at times, and with a good discipline system in place, we know the consequences - and so do the students.
Save
Save
Save
Teaching Behavior Protocols
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
Deciding on the management protocols to use in your classes is relatively easy. The challenging part is teaching those protocols until students know them and they become a part of every class you teach over the entire year.
As with any teaching process, no single approach works for all teachers. However, teachers who create pleasant atmospheres seem to display certain attributes as they work on building their class environments. They are firm but warm while also being critically demanding. They also post their rules for classes to see and often discuss them so that students feel a certain degree of ownership.
Firm but Warm
At one time we believed that successful teachers threatened students: that is, that they scared them into being good. Today we know better (Bulger, Mohr, & Walls, 2002; Downing, Keating, & Bennett, 2005; Doyle, 1986; Fernandez-Balboa, 1990; Kounin, 1970). Successful teachers exhibit a certain degree of firmness: they mean what they say. At the same time, however, they are warm and caring toward the students. They don't want to frighten them, but they want them to know they mean business. Students quickly learn to discern whether teachers mean what they say. Good teachers mean what they say, and they exhibit it by not allowing their students to get away with not following the protocols. They don't get excited or hysterical or threaten, however. In calm, reassuring, firm ways, they simply and consistently communicate the message that things are going to be done a certain way and that not much else is going to happen until the protocols are learned. This is one of those skills used by effective teachers that is difficult to put into words. However, if you watched 10 teachers, you would quickly identify those who are firm but warm.
Critically Demanding
If we could write this section in flashing neon lights, we would, because this is an especially important teaching skill that makes a huge difference in the learning environment.
In addition to being firm but warm, effective teachers also are critically demanding. You can quickly recognize this quality when you see it. Teachers who are critically demanding have a built-in expectation that students follow the protocols, and they insist that they do. For example, they know how they want their students to enter the gym. When students enter that way, the lesson proceeds as planned. When they don't, these teachers don't accept their behavior. They insist (demand) that they go back and enter the gym the way they had practiced earlier.
This is especially difficult because, typically, you will want to get on with the lesson you have planned. It's hard to spend time having students go back and reenter the gym. In the long run, however, you will spend less time on these distracting events than if you hadn't spent the time reinforcing your expectations at the beginning of the year. One advantage for your students is that they know exactly what to expect. You can be consistent day after day because you know what is reasonable for your students and you expect that behavior of them.
One of the easiest ways to understand the quality of being critically demanding is to think back to when you were in high school. Did you have a curfew? What happened if you were late? If your parents or guardians were critically demanding, they followed through on the consequences you had discussed before (e.g., being grounded for a week or denied television). If your parents or guardians were not critically demanding, however, they likely let things slide and you knew that they really didn't mean what they said.
Rules - Clear, Positive, Posted
Posted rules also help with consistency. Rules are essentially brief reminders of the behavior protocols. Most teachers list five or six rules, state them in positive ways, and post them prominently (figure 2.1). Simply writing and posting them, however, is no guarantee they will be followed. They also must be practiced.
Physical Education Rules
Physical education rules might look like those in figure 2.1. One reason for posting rules, in addition to serving as reminders, is for the benefit of students new to the school. Posted rules allow you to briefly review the behavior protocols with new students. You may also video record classes in which you explained the behavior protocols and include student demonstrations. The video can then be made available to new students so that they can see exactly what is expected of them in physical education class.
Example of posted rules.
Used by permission of PE Central (pecentral.org), the premier website for physical education teachers. Our goal is to provide educational resources to teachers who, in turn, will help guide youngsters in the process of becoming physically active and healthy for a lifetime. PE Central is supported by S&S Worldwide (pe.ssww.com), a 110-year-old company dedicated to assisting teachers to motivate kids to play and learn using their innovative and educational products. http://pe.ssww.com/item/product-W12402/
Behavior videos are a good idea in places where teachers are often threatened with malpractice lawsuits. In this case, every new student should be required to view the video before participating in physical education. In extreme instances, teachers may quiz students (in writing or orally) or ask them to sign a copy of the rules, indicating that they have viewed the video. We also suggest that this behavior video be placed on the physical education section of the school website.
Locker Room Rules
Secondary programs frequently require students to change clothes in a locker room. You may need rules and protocols specific to the locker room. Here are some examples:
- Take pride in our school and keep the locker room CLEAN!
- Leave food, candy, gum, drinks, and cell phones in your locker or other space outside the gym or PE area.
- Act appropriately (keep your hands to yourself, no bad language).
- Be in the locker room when the bell rings.
- Enter and exit the locker room from the appropriate hallway.
- Dress at your locker.
- Be responsible for locking up all belongings and valuables.
Although these suggestions might seem extreme, teachers who have been involved in malpractice lawsuits will quickly recognize the benefit to posting such rules. This is especially important in schools with high rates of student turnover.
Some teachers send letters home to parents and guardians at the beginning of the school year outlining policies on dress for physical education (especially footwear), medical notes, and what the students will be learning in the coming year. These letters typically provide information about contacting the teacher if questions arise about classes, policies, or other issues (Hopple, 1998).
Developing Ownership
Rules (behavior protocols) are followed more closely when students, and parents and guardians for that matter, understand why they are necessary, and also when students have a sense of ownership of them. For this reason many teachers discuss rules with students to help them understand their importance. A video of students not following the rules can illustrate what happens when this occurs. (You will have no problem recruiting a class to help you make a video demonstrating all of the ways not to behave in the gym!) The video then becomes an excellent resource for involving students in discussions about why management protocols are important to have and follow.
In addition to sharing the rules with your students, provide the principal and classroom teachers with a copy of the rules. This is especially important if your school does not have a unified discipline plan (e.g., assertive discipline; see chapter 10). It might also be worthwhile to share the rules with parents and guardians, perhaps on the school website, especially if you plan to send notes home about students who do not follow the established behavior protocols. This will depend, however, on such factors as the philosophy of the school and the policies of the principal and the board of education.
The next chapters address many of the teaching skills effective physical educators use. The bottom line, however, is that if students do not practice the behavior protocols, as stated in the posted rules, until they become an understood and accepted way of doing business, then many of the pedagogical skills discussed later will have limited effect. Although it's not a lot of fun for you or your students to practice the behavior protocols that are critical to the development of a positive (enjoyable, fun, interesting) learning environment, it's absolutely necessary. If you want to enjoy teaching, spend time practicing the protocols. If you want to spend time nagging youngsters, skip the protocols and start trying to teach.