Articles

The Importance of Active Listening in Physical Education

This article was originally posted on the SPARK Blog by Jeff Mushkin (Link)

Physical Education (PE) classes are often associated with energetic activities, competitive sports, and a lot of movement. However, amidst all the action, there is one skill that is often overlooked but plays a critical role in a student’s success in PE – listening. Listening is not just about following instructions; it’s about understanding the purpose behind them, staying safe, and fostering a positive learning environment. In this blog, we will explore the significance of students practicing active listening in physical education.

Safety First

Safety is paramount in any physical activity, and listening is the first line of defense when it comes to preventing accidents and injuries. Students need to listen carefully to their PE teachers to understand how to perform exercises or use equipment safely. Without proper listening skills, students may not grasp essential safety guidelines, which can lead to accidents and injuries.

For instance, when playing sports or engaging in complex exercises, students must know the rules and proper techniques. Not listening to instructions can result in unintended collisions, overexertion, or even accidents involving PE equipment. By actively listening, students are better equipped to follow safety protocols, reducing the risk of harm.

Building a Foundation of Understanding

Listening in physical education is not limited to safety concerns; it’s also essential for building a solid foundation of understanding. Teachers often explain the objectives and benefits of specific exercises or activities. When students listen attentively, they gain a better comprehension of why they are doing a particular exercise and how it contributes to their physical development.

For example, a teacher may explain that stretching exercises help improve flexibility, prevent muscle injuries, and enhance overall physical performance. When students listen and understand these explanations, they are more likely to engage in these exercises wholeheartedly, knowing the long-term benefits they offer.

Following Directions

Listening is an integral part of following directions, a skill that is critical for success in PE and life in general. In PE classes, students are often required to perform specific movements, sequences, or routines. By listening carefully to the teacher’s directions, they can execute these tasks accurately and effectively.

What does active listening look like? Students should be facing the teacher or the person talking to them, looking at the speaker, and completely quiet. This demonstrates to the speaker they are listening, and they feel valued and appreciated for what they are trying to share. Students should not be playing with equipment, interacting with other students, or moving around the activity area. These can be distracting to the speaker and prevent the student from paying attention to the information being shared.

Enhancing Team Dynamics

Many physical education activities involve teamwork and cooperation. Whether it’s playing team sports like soccer or participating in group fitness classes, students need to work together cohesively. Listening plays a pivotal role in fostering positive team dynamics.

When students actively listen to their peers and teachers, they can respond effectively to calls, strategies, and adjustments during team-based activities. Effective communication through listening helps teams coordinate their efforts, make quick decisions, and respond to changing situations on the field or court.

Developing Discipline and Self-Control

Listening is not just about hearing words; it’s about exercising discipline and self-control. In PE, students are often required to follow a structured routine, maintain focus during exercises, and manage their behavior. These aspects of listening contribute to the development of discipline and self-control, which are valuable life skills.

By listening and adhering to rules, students learn the importance of self-regulation and respect for authority figures. These skills extend beyond the gym or playing field, as they are applicable in various life situations, including academics, work, and personal relationships.

Fostering a Positive Learning Environment

Active listening also contributes to creating a positive learning environment in physical education classes. When students listen respectfully to their teachers and peers, it promotes a culture of mutual respect and cooperation. This, in turn, encourages a more enjoyable and productive learning experience for everyone involved.

A positive learning environment not only enhances the educational aspect of PE but also encourages students to be more engaged and enthusiastic about physical activities. When students feel heard and respected, they are more likely to participate actively and take ownership of their physical education experience.

Conclusion

Listening is often an underrated skill in physical education, overshadowed by the physical prowess and energy that activities demand. However, its importance cannot be overstated. Listening is not just about hearing words; it’s about safety, understanding, discipline, teamwork, and creating a positive learning environment. Students who develop strong listening skills in PE are not only better equipped to excel in physical activities but also gain valuable life skills that will serve them well in various aspects of their lives. As educators, parents, and students themselves, it’s crucial to recognize the significance of listening in physical education. By emphasizing this skill and actively practicing it, we can ensure that students not only perform well in PE but also carry these essential life skills with them as they grow, face new challenges, and interact with their community.

This article was originally posted in KU News on 9 July 2023.

Study shows physical education teachers influence students' attitudes about physical activity later in life

By Mike Krings

LAWRENCE — Everyone who has gone through high school probably remembers gym class, for better or worse, and the influence their teachers had on the class environment.

A study from the University of Kansas shows that physical education teachers greatly influence students’ perception of the class and its purpose and also influence how likely they are to remain physically active later in life.

Research has long shown that as students get older, their physical activity level drops. Thus, high school can be the last chance to encourage students to be physically active and encourage a healthy lifestyle.

The current study found that physical education teachers greatly influence how students perceive the class, its purpose and that the teachers’ style influences whether they enjoy physical activity. Thus, teachers should focus on providing a positive, fun experience in PE classes instead of simply having students compete or complete rote physical tasks, students indicated.

“My thing is always, ‘Let’s ask the students.’ We should be shaping physical education around what they want and need, along with what we want to be teaching content-wise to our students,” said Ken Murfay, assistant teaching professor of health, sport & exercise science at KU and lead author of the study. “The more we can give PE meaning for students, the better it will be long-term. Students want it to be both fun and meaningful.”

Study authors conducted focus group interviews with 25 students entering high school. The school was chosen because its primary physical education teacher had a reputation as an effective educator and students entered the school via a lottery system, ensuring a diverse cross section of participants. The results showed the students understood the purpose of physical education was to provide them a time to be physically active and teach them ways they could continue to have activity throughout their lives.

To that theme, the students indicated they preferred a variety of activities to an overemphasis on certain sports or to simply understand the rules or scoring of a particular sport, such as basketball.

Students also indicated they felt PE should be a fun experience to be meaningful. Those who reported enjoying the class also indicated the class had purpose and taught them ways to be active. Those who had negative experiences reported the class was simply a way to take up an hour of their school day or that they were instructed to move with little guidance or had an overemphasis placed on competition.

Perhaps the most significant theme was that students reported the influence the teacher had on their experience. A teacher’s style and the experiences they designed and provided largely shaped how students viewed the class, the sport or activity they were taking part in and their attitudes toward activity itself.

“Definitely a noticeable effect if you have a strict hardcore gym teacher who’s like, ‘You have to do this perfectly.’ It’s going to make the gym experience less enjoyable, and then you’re going to probably not really try to stay as active because now you have a negative experience in that field,” one student said. “You’re like, ‘I don’t really feel like doing this anymore.’ And especially in gym class when you have to be there for an hour and it’s required. You have no way out of it. You have a teacher that’s just yelling at you all day, like commands and stuff. It definitely changes the experience entirely.”

Murfay and colleagues examine physical education through social cognitive theory. The theory holds that human thoughts and actions are based on personal, behavioral and environmental factors. PE as taught in school is an environmental factor that can influence personal factors like self-efficacy. Teachers’ social persuasion through words and actions can also influence student perceptions of physical education and activity, and the curriculum they choose to implement — whether only team sports or a variety of activities — can shape how students view physical activity throughout life.

The study, published in the journal European Physical Education Review, was co-written with Aaron Beighle, Heather Erwin and Erin Aiello of the University of Kentucky.

Previous research has shown perceptions of PE are mixed, with negative attitudes increasing with age. A better understanding of the role teachers play in those perceptions can both help improve the experience for students at a crucial time in their lives and educations as well as encourage teachers to use more effective approaches. Results showing students prefer a fun, positively motivating experience with a variety of activity options can help encourage better PE curriculum, Murfay said.

A former K-8 physical education teacher, he said the goal of his research is to continually improve physical education, as studies have shown physical activity has a wide range of benefits throughout life, both physical and mental. As physical education can often be overlooked or its importance not fully understood, illustrating the importance of good PE teachers as crucial.

“How a teacher frames physical education is very important in how the student interprets it,” he said. “The environment a teacher creates affects how they view activity and sport in general, and perceptions are influenced by experience. If they get a teacher who is passionate and lets students control their physical activity, it can make a big difference.”

Key Ideas

Teacher Impact on Activity Levels
PE teachers shape students' attitudes toward physical activity and influence their lifelong habits through positive, engaging experiences.
Preference for Variety and Fun
Students favour diverse, enjoyable activities in PE over competition or repetitive tasks, linking fun to long-term activity.
Environment Shapes Perception
Teachers’ styles and supportive environments foster positive views of PE and boost students’ confidence in staying active.

This article was originally posted in Digital Promise on 29 June 2022.

Un-Siloing Edtech: Stimulating Reflection and Metacognition in the Classroom

By Jeff Durney @MrDurney

An unfortunate reality in classrooms today is that edtech is often used in a way that siloes learning experiences. I felt this firsthand as a learner when I returned to graduate school full-time—an experience that became strictly virtual and tech-dependent due to the pandemic. I’d read an article, watch a video, or listen to a lecture and then find myself alone with my thoughts about what I had just learned. Like many of our students, I yearned for peer interaction to fully comprehend the information.

How can we as educators leverage edtech to ensure students have opportunities to discuss, reflect on, and iterate on their learning with each other? How can we use edtech to provide opportunities for learners to exercise metacognition (thinking about one’s thinking), which is key for making sense of content and understanding ourselves as learners?

Teachers today are inundated with large swaths of digital tools but are rarely supported with the professional learning needed to use them to their highest potential. As a result, edtech is used to teach foundational skills, often as independent work with headphones. Once that daily benchmark is met, students log off, (hopefully) wrap up their headphones, close their laptops, and move on to the next activity. This unfortunately results in little opportunity for students to reflect on their learning individually, with their peers, or with their teachers.

I’ve found these three activities to be valuable in un-siloing learning for my students:

Discussions: Many of the edtech products used in classrooms provide easy-to-read, real-time data on various fluency skills. By using this data, I can identify trends and patterns to help me plan lessons and support students’ own understanding of their learning. Before sending students off to achieve daily benchmark/minutes, I briefly meet with them individually or in small groups to discuss their progress and provide gentle reminders of the objectives for their learning. A quick check-in and some evidence-based feedback can motivate students to use their edtech time productively and with specific goals in mind.
Reflection Journals: I provide students with opportunities to use journals after edtech sessions to encourage students to reflect on their learning. As John Dewey said, “We do not learn from experience…We learn from reflecting on experience.” When students have the opportunity to freely reflect on their experiences or with quick teacher prompts, they gain additional opportunities to make sense of their learning. After they complete their daily benchmark, students can open their digital reflection journals (such as on a platform like Google Docs), and type their thoughts and feelings about that session. Many of these types of platforms have speech-to-text and/or capabilities for students to provide reflections in their native language, allowing all users to cohesively capture their responses. Additionally, these responses can be shared to spark future classroom discussions and ensure all students are included. If journaling is a practice that is used in various content areas, it can be shared with families to provide a snapshot of their child’s thinking and provide great insight to the question “What did you learn today?”
Charting: I use the data and analytics from edtech to demonstrate the achievements of the class. Students can even plot it themselves when they are given their own data. This asset-based visual representation (e.g., a bar graph or visual that ties into thematic classroom or school culture) celebrates the hard work of the whole class. Like other classroom displays, this kind of data display chart is designed to stimulate conversation that authentically engages students in academic discourse and shows visitors the learning and progress being made in your room. In addition, I use this data display as a motivating factor for classroom celebrations based on progress toward shared goals. Since all of our students are at different places academically, we shouldn’t focus on charting mastery levels, but can instead focus on growth happening at any level.

As educators, we need to be cognizant of the role edtech has in our students’ social learning. By using data and edtech platforms, we can not only strengthen our lessons but also create positive social learning discussions for students to share their thinking and invite joy into their learning experiences. These opportunities allow students to make sense of content as learners while also allowing them to hear their peers’ perspectives, which supports metacognition skills. As edtech continues to have a significant role in how we teach and learn, we must continue to embrace it as a way not to just build and strengthen one academic skill set, but rather use it in meaningful ways to support the development of the whole child.

Key Ideas

Edtech-based classroom activities are often leveraged in a way that focuses on individualistic tasks that feel disconnected to learners’ overall experience
Opportunities for student–student and student–teacher interaction help develop metacognition
Discussions, reflection journals, and charting are three strategies that can create opportunities for social learning and reflection

This article was originally posted in Edutopia on 15 Jan 2016. Click here to go to the original article.

Why Don’t We Differentiate Professional Development?

PD could be more effective if we differentiated it by gauging teachers’ readiness, utilizing their interests, and providing continual assessment opportunities.

By Pauline Zdonek

Whenever I prepare for an afternoon of district-provided professional development (PD) activities, I make sure that I bring plenty of work to do (papers to grade, lesson planning, etc.). This isn’t because I have a bad attitude and hate PD. A great PD event can really energize me to improve my classroom instruction. However, the sad fact is that the majority of PD sessions I attend are repetitive, simplistic, or downright boring. I bring other work to do so that I don’t get irritated when I feel that my time is being so carelessly wasted.

I am not alone. According to the Center for Public Education’s Teaching the Teachers report, almost all teachers participate in PD throughout the year. However, a majority of those teachers find the PD they participate in ineffective.

Thinking about this in the car on the way home after another wasted opportunity made me angry. Why is so much of the PD I attend such a waste of time? And the reason is, as Teaching the Teachers reports, a majority of PD is provided in a workshop model. And the workshop model is inherently ineffective because it amounts to giving everyone the same information, regardless of their prior knowledge, skills, and experience, and leaving it up to them to determine how (or if) it is implemented.

For us teachers, think of this in terms of teaching a lesson. I’m going to teach you how to add fractions, regardless of how much you know or don’t know about the concept. If you don’t even know what a fraction is, you’ll be so confused that the whole lesson will pass you by. If you already know how to multiply and divide fractions, you’ll spend the whole lesson bored to tears. Either way, I’m most likely never going to ask you about fractions again.

We wouldn't teach our students this way. And if we don’t expect our students to come to class at the same level and learn in the exact same way, why do we expect it from teachers?

4 Suggestions for Differentiation

Why don’t we differentiate PD like we differentiate our classrooms? Building off the ideas of differentiation guru Carol Tomlinson, I came up with some simple but effective strategies to improve PD sessions through differentiation.

1. Gauge teachers’ readiness: Take a survey of your teachers to see what they know about a professional development topic, and how skilled they consider themselves in that area. While you probably already have a sense of this from knowing the teachers in your building and being in their classrooms like any good principal or administrator, getting their reflective feedback is important as well.

This information will also allow you to tailor the PD session to meet teacher needs, designing smaller group sessions with flexible groupings to instruct teachers at their varying readiness levels. For example, maybe you want teachers to implement a new executive-functioning curriculum. Novice teachers can attend a curriculum overview session to learn about what it is and what it will entail for them. Instead of providing this overview for all staff and boring those teachers who might already have experience with such a curriculum, you can have more experienced teachers get together to problem-solve difficulties they might be having, or compare and share strategies they’ve used. This way, teachers of all readiness levels are engaged.

2. Utilize teachers’ interests: Obviously, district PD mandates come from a central office, but take some time to figure out what your teachers themselves want to improve upon. When you work on areas of their interest, they’re more likely to be engaged, making the work more productive—just like with students.

3. Get teachers involved: In the classroom, we often have stronger students help their struggling peers. Allow teachers who have skills or experience to run smaller group sessions. It provides leadership opportunities for teachers and develops a sense of ownership over the school improvement process. Also, sometimes teachers are more open to listening to someone in a similar position to themselves than they are in taking directives from an administrator.

In the example from above, teachers who have already worked with such a curriculum could run smaller breakout sessions with their grade-level or content-area peers, providing examples of how they have implemented such a curriculum in their instruction.

4. Provide opportunities for continual assessment: One of my pet peeves of PD is that often, after it’s given once or twice there’s never a follow-up, so many teachers never bother to implement these practices. Provide time for teachers to discuss and reflect on how they are incorporating the given area of development into their classroom practice. Have opportunities for feedback, allow teachers to set goals, provide continuous support, and assess progress toward the goals they’ve set. Only when you make follow through and action a priority will you see real results.

Isn’t it about time that we practice what we preach? If PD is about educators’ growth and improving our schools, then why can’t we improve the process itself?

Winning isn't everything - Why pe lessons need 'meaningful competition'

Original article published in Teachwire.net

By Lee Sullivan

Every Sunday morning, my local park comes alive. The typically empty car park is suddenly packed, and the usually desolate green space full of youngsters with their parents, variously shouting ‘Player on!’ and ‘Shoot!’

Sunday mornings, you see, are when the local football teams play.

During one recent weekend, I stopped for five minutes to watch a men’s game and an under 12s game being played on parallel pitches. The men’s game was a close contest, whilst the youth game was anything but.

On one side I could see grown men swearing at the referee and squaring up to each other, along with plenty of pushing and shoving. On the other were parents shouting when mistakes were made, frequent laughter at the one-sided scoreline and yet more referee-directed swearing.

I was left wondering whether this was the sort of behaviour we should expect from competing sides in team games. Do young people actually enjoy it? Is there anything we can learn from it, and how might it apply within a physical education setting?

A polarising topic

Competition plays a major role in sport, which in turn makes up a significant proportion of PE. For some, competition can induce feelings of excitement and joy, while for others it can incite feelings of dread and anxiety.

It’s therefore worth considering the attitudes young people seem to have towards competition:

45% of girls say ‘sport is too competitive’ (‘Changing the Game for Girls’ policy, 2017)
30% of girls and 50% of boys indicate that ‘playing to win’ is one of the reasons they enjoy being active in school (Youth Sport Trust, 2018)
64% of young people say they would be ‘relieved’, ‘not bothered’ or ‘happier’ if the competition element was removed from sport (Chance to Shine, 2018)
Only 10% of young people surveyed considered themselves ‘sports enthusiasts’ (Sport England’s ‘Under the Skin Research’, 2014)

While feelings around competition appear to be mixed, I would argue that competition plays an important role within PE lessons, and that there can be little doubt as to the learning potential it can provide.

True competition entails much more than just rules, points, winning and losing. If harnessed effectively, it can dramatically change a student’s experiences in PE, deliver meaningful learning and help nurture a more positive relationship with physical activity.

The 4 R’s

Our key task should be to make competition meaningful for all learners. When planning competition as part of our offering, we should thus observe the 4 R’s:

Rethink: consider the ‘who’ and the environment
Reframe: consider process over outcome
Relevancy: consider conceptual learning
Role model: consider behaviour

In his ‘Awesome PE in 5 Ways’ blended learning course, the teacher educator and former PE teacher Will Swaithes asserts that considering the needs of the students we teach is of utmost importance. After all, how can we expect to nurture genuine physical literacy if we don’t know what motivates our students to engage in physical activity in the first place?

Recent research suggests that young people value other outcomes in physical competition over simply ‘winning’. These include the enjoyment that comes from participation, the development of skills, time spent with friends and health improvements.

That makes it wise to consider the learning you’re hoping to deliver through a lesson’s competitive elements, and the nature of the students who will be experiencing it. Once you know the ‘who’, you can better meet their ‘why’.

Reframing the experience

Once we know our students’ needs and motivations we can then start to reframe their experiences of competition as something more meaningful.

It’s common practice in schools to enter into full games and matches using rules applied at the elite level of the relevant sport, but we’re not teaching adults or professionals. By adapting the level of competition to better meet our students’ needs, we can ensure the activity is more developmentally appropriate.

That involves focusing on processes, rather than outcomes. Consider the teachable moments that can emerge from competition and deliver powerful learning, while ensuring that any given game remains fun and inclusive, and that everyone has a role to play. Reward positive attitudes and progress over raw performance and ability.

In truth, some of the skills we teach in PE will be wholly irrelevant to certain students. When will most of them ever need to perform a drop shot in badminton outside of a PE lesson, for example? It’s for this reason that some will struggle to see the value in PE, and feel a weak connection with the subject as a result.

In 2021 I published the ‘Physical Education Concept Curriculum for Key Stage 3 and 4’ on the PE Scholar website, with the aim of ensuring that the ‘education’ in PE could remain relevant and meaningful to all students.

The PE Concept Curriculum seeks to change the content of PE lessons, so that there’s less reliance skill-specific learning that will be irrelevant and/or unachievable to most students, and instead more emphasis on learning that is inclusive, relevant and meaningful for all students.

Competition provides a perfect platform from which to deliver conceptual learning that’s relevant to everyone, covering areas such as resilience, teamwork, communication and leadership, to name but a few. By adopting a conceptual learning approach, competition can assume a deeper level of meaning, particularly for those not naturally motivated to compete.

Be a role model

That said, the way others behave during competitive activities is a key factor in whether young people come away with positive or damaging experiences of PE.

PE teachers are expected to encourage and motivate everyone during lessons, but how are the students behaving towards each other? If a pass is misplaced or a point is conceded, do the students encourage each other, or do they publicly call out their peers’ mistakes?

It’s necessary to set the climate and inclusive nature of your PE lessons very carefully. Identify the etiquette, attitudes and best practice you expect from your students, and model these with the class.

The main role model within a competitive PE lesson will, of course, be the teacher. One might expect PE teachers to always set the best possible examples of behaviour to their students, especially during competitive fixtures with other schools. I was interested in finding out how many PE teachers had experienced poor behaviour from their counterparts at other schools during such occasions, and therefore set up a Twitter poll.

Among those who responded, 90% had experienced poor behaviour from other teachers at inter school sports fixtures. Examples included swearing (at both adults and children), cheating, rudeness, anger and even actual fighting.

The thing to remember is that we’re not coaches. None of us are elite professionals who stand to receive bonuses for winning. We are educators. Yes, it feels nice to win, but it’s far more important that we model high standards of sportsmanship, etiquette and respect.

We should congratulate effort and reward contribution. We should play to win and behave to educate.

A Marmite subject

For many young people, PE is a ‘Marmite subject’ they either love or hate. The experiences we deliver now can have an impact on their engagement with physical activity that spans many years. Winning is fun for some, but not what motivates most.

We must rethink and reframe how we present competition in our lessons. We should ensure the behaviour of everyone – including ourselves – is fully in line with this approach.

Competition within a school context should always, first and foremost, serve an educational purpose, It should be used to enhance the learning environment, while encouraging motivation and self-improvement – not destroy it.

Lee Sullivan is a head of PE and author of the book Is PE in Crisis? – Leading Meaningful Change in Physical Education (£18.99); follow him at @Lee_Sullivan85

A Coaching Framework For Thinking Before Acting

Original article published in Education Week

By Elena Aguilar — October 21, 2013

Albert Einstein once said that if he had an hour to save the world he would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and five minutes finding the solution. This suggestion gets to the heart of coaching in proposing a ratio of thinking to acting in response to what we perceive as a problem. It’s a reminder to slow down and deeply analyze a situation before offering suggestions to remedy it.

I often feel that 90% of coaching is invisible and inaudible to an observer; the art of coaching is the thought process that takes place in the mind in of a coach. The more complex those thought processes are, the more likely it is that what the coach says and does will be transformational.

As my coaching has developed, I’ve learned to watch and listen to my own thinking while I’m working with a client. What I’ve observed is that my mind uses a series of analytical frameworks through which I explore what I’m hearing. These analytical frameworks give me insight and perspective that I might not otherwise see if I was just looking through my default frameworks (we all have these). Therefore, they direct me to respond in a way that might open up solutions.

Mind the Gap

One of the frameworks that I rely on is what I call the “Mind the Gap” Framework:Mind the Gap.docThis rests on the assumption that in order to successfully accomplish a task, we need four things:

1. The skills to do it--the technical skills2. The knowledge about content or pedagogy3. The will--the desire, passion, motivation4. The capacity--the mental, emotional, or physical ability, and5. The emotional intelligence--the ability to be aware of, manage and express one’s emotions and be aware of other’s emotions.

So when I hear a teacher describing something he’s struggling with, I think, Is there a skill gap here? A knowledge gap? A will gap? Where is the gap? Usually, if not always, there’s a gap somewhere. This framework reminds me to “mind,” to pay attention to, surface, and identify the gap.

Often there are multiple gaps--a skill gap can create a will gap: it’s hard to want to do something that you don’t know how to do. There might also be a fragment of a knowledge gap tangled up, and my job as a coach is to pull apart this complex puzzle and figure out exactly what those gaps are, and how big they are, and then how to help the client close the gaps.

Exercise Gap-Diagnosis Caution

One thing I’ve learned when using this framework is that sometimes what I perceive as a will gap is really a skill gap. I find this more common in working with teachers or administrators who have been in their field for some time and may have some embarrassment about the fact that they haven’t acquired some new skill (say, creating Excel spreadsheets) and so it manifests as what sounds like a will gap: “I don’t want to do that, we can share this data in the way we always have.”

Or what I think is a skill gap is actually a gap in emotional intelligence. I might hear a lot of requests for support in developing a particular kind of lesson (group work or cooperative learning, for example) and the teacher might ask for endless kinds of support (“I’ve never done that, can you model it? I will need to get piles of supplies for that, I think I need to observe someone else teaching that first...”). When I dig around, what I find is that underneath what might look like skill gaps there are feelings of anxiety about losing control of the class. If I don’t also coach around those gaps, then I might not get anywhere just coaching the skill gaps.

I’ve learned to be cautious about jumping to gap-diagnosis and to think through an inquiry lens: could this be a capacity gap? What is the capacity needed to successfully fulfill this task? How can I assess this teacher’s capacity? What else might I need to ask or know before I determine that this is a capacity gap? Asking myself all of these questions leads me into a place from which I can act and speak that often gets to the heart of the matter faster.

Using this Framework with Clients

I also share this framework with clients. This can sound like, “What I’m hearing is that you have some skill gaps. That’s great! Skill gaps are easy to learn--they’re just skills. With my coaching support, you can acquire new skills, right?” People are often relieved when you can contain their struggles into a domain from which there are next steps. You can also say something like, “I hear that you have some knowledge gaps. Does that sound accurate? Let’s get around to closing those, ok?”

Here’s a glance at what happens next (at the response we take after an accurate diagnosis): at this point in the conversation, the next step is to list out what we both see as those knowledge or skill gaps. We identify the task the teacher is trying to accomplish (cooperative learning, for example) and then list out the skills she’ll need to master in order to effectively do this. This is just the beginning of what the coaching will look like--but these actions emerge from a deep analysis of what’s going on for the client.

By the way, I’ve found that knowledge and skill gaps are the easiest to close, where as capacity and emotional intelligence are harder, and will gaps are very hard to close--but true will gaps are fairly rare. Remember that these gaps are all intertwined and making movement in closing one will affect the others.

I always carry around copies of this framework, printed out in these pretty colors (the colors help our brains remember this information) and I offer these sheets to people I’m coaching. This helps them understand what they may be experiencing as overwhelming (How will I ever gain control of my class!) and see their dilemmas in a manageable way.

Finally, I use this framework when I’m coaching myself (and I do that quite often). When I recognize that I’m struggling with something or someone, I ask myself, Elena, do you have a skill gap in working with this client? Or is it a will gap? Where’s the gap? There’s always a gap--perhaps I don’t know enough yet about the client or his context, perhaps I don’t know enough about the decision he needs to make, perhaps I don’t know how he learns best or what style of coaching will be most effective with him; perhaps I’m feeling some mixed emotions about coaching her, perhaps I’m emotionally triggered by what she says about kids, perhaps I’m stretched too thin and just don’t have the capacity to coach this person. When I can accurately identify the gap, I can figure out how to take effective action.

The concept that we have skill, will, knowledge, capacity and emotional intelligence gaps is just one analytical tool for figuring out what’s going on with someone. I didn’t develop it--and I don’t know who did (it’s referenced in a number of books and used in many workshops I’ve attended) but it’s a very useful one. However, it’s not the only one I use. There are several additional frameworks for analysis that my brain runs through when I’m coaching. I’ll describe these in upcoming posts.

For now, let me leave you with hopefully a recognition and appreciation of how complicated coaching is! This is, however, why I love this field--it’s so extensive and exciting and complex.

The opinions expressed in The Art of Coaching Teachers are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

Feature Article

1 Feb 2021

7 Reasons Why Differentiated Instruction Works

By ASCD Guest Blogger (This article was originally posted in the ASCD In Service website. Click here to access the original article.)

Differentiated instruction (DI) begins with an accurate understanding of what DI is—and is not. You may be surprised how easy it is to incorporate into your classrooms.

1. Differentiated instruction IS proactive.

In a differentiated classroom, the teacher assumes that different learners have differing needs and proactively plans lessons that provide a variety of ways to “get at” and express learning. The teacher may still need to fine tune instruction for some learners, but because the teacher knows the varied learner needs within the classroom and selects learning options accordingly, the chances are greater that these experiences will be an appropriate fit for most learners.

Effective differentiation is typically designed to be robust enough to engage and challenge the full range of learners in the classroom.

2. Differentiated instruction IS more qualitative than quantitative.

Many teachers incorrectly assume that differentiating instruction means giving some students more work to do, and others less. For example, a teacher might assign two book reports to advanced readers and only one to struggling readers. Or a struggling math student might have to complete only computation problems while advanced math students complete the computation problems plus a few word problems.

Although such approaches to differentiation may seem reasonable, they are typically ineffective. One book report may be too demanding for a struggling learner. A student who has already demonstrated mastery of one math skill is ready to begin work with a subsequent skill. Simply adjusting the quantity of an assignment will generally be less effective than altering the nature of the assignment.

3. Differentiated instruction IS rooted in assessment.

Teachers who understand that teaching and learning approaches must be a good match for students look for every opportunity to know their students better. They see conversations with individuals, classroom discussions, student work, observation, and formal assessment as ways to keep gaining insight into what works for each learner. What they learn becomes a catalyst for crafting instruction in ways that help every student make the most of his or her potential and talents.

In a differentiated classroom, assessment is no longer predominantly something that happens at the end of a unit to determine “who got it.” Diagnostic pre-assessment routinely takes place as a unit begins. Throughout the unit, the teacher assesses students’ developing readiness levels, interests, and approaches to learning and then designs learning experiences based on the latest, best understanding of students’ needs. Culminating products, or other means of “final” or summative assessment, take many forms, with the goal of finding a way for each student to most successfully share what he or she has learned over the course of the unit.

4. Differentiated instruction IS taking multiple approaches to content, process, and product.

In all classrooms, teachers deal with at least three curricular elements: (1) content—input, what students learn; (2) process—how students go about making sense of ideas and information; and (3) product—output, or how students demonstrate what they have learned.

By differentiating these three elements, teachers offer different approaches to what students learn, how they learn it, and how they demonstrate what they’ve learned. What the different approaches have in common is that they are crafted to encourage all students’ growth with established learning goals and to advance the learning of both the class as a whole and individual learners.

5. Differentiated instruction IS student centered.

Differentiated classrooms operate on the premise that learning experiences are most effective when they are engaging, relevant, and interesting to students. A corollary to that premise is that all students will not always find the same avenues to learning equally engaging, relevant, and interesting. Further, differentiated instruction acknowledges that later knowledge, skill, and understandings must be built on previous knowledge, skill, and understandings—and that not all students possess the same learning foundations at the outset of a given investigation.

Teachers who differentiate instruction in academically diverse classrooms seek to provide appropriately challenging learning experiences for all their students. These teachers realize that sometimes a task that lacks challenge for some learners is frustratingly complex to others.

6. Differentiated instruction IS a blend of whole-class, group, and individual instruction.

There are times in all classrooms when whole-class instruction is an effective and efficient choice. It’s useful for establishing common understandings, for example, and provides the opportunity for shared discussion and review that can build a sense of community.

A differentiated classroom is marked by a repeated rhythm of whole-class preparation, review, and sharing, followed by opportunity for individual or small-group exploration, extension, and production.

7. Differentiated instruction IS “organic” and dynamic.

In a differentiated classroom, teaching is evolutionary. Students and teachers are learners together. While teachers may know more about the subject matter at hand, they are continuously learning about how their students learn. Ongoing collaboration with students is necessary to refine learning opportunities so they’re effective for each student. Teachers monitor the match between learner and learning and make adjustments as warranted.

For more articles and ideas on how to DI in PE, go to the Differentiated Instruction in PE section in The Rice Bowl Page.

Feature Article

7 Feb 2021

Lifehacks of a BPET

By Jolene Tan (ZHPS)

Fresh out of NIE, you're brimming with energy and enthusiasm. Ever wondered what you need to do well as a Beginning PE Teacher (BPET)? Here are some life hacks that can enable you to succeed in your BPET life and keep your teaching journey enriching.

1. Be Open

Be open to trying new things and new experiences. It is a great opportunity for you to learn more about the way things are conducted or done in your school. It is also a good chance to stretch yourself and experience things you have never done before.

2. Ask

Ask if you are unsure, or if you need help. Making assumptions can be harmful. Do not be afraid to ask. It can help you clarify any doubts instantly and perhaps even resolve your problems much more quickly, than trying to guess or make assumptions. You can also learn much more than you thought you could, through asking.

3. Network

Interact with colleagues and friends to share ideas and resources. You may even be even inspired by their ideas!

4. Build resources

Share resources with others, gather resources and build resources on your lessons. As you build your own resources, you will find that you become more adept in your craft. It is also a great time to do so as your Beginning Teacher (BT) period is a rare period of time when you are offloaded. Do also observe lessons to learn new ideas and pedagogy from colleagues. It also enables you to hone your pedagogy and improve your craft.

5. Experiment and Make Mistakes

Adopt a growth mindset. Making mistakes is a natural process of growth. Do not be afraid to make mistakes. Through your mistakes, you can learn much more. Learn from your mistakes and strive to do better. Do also experiment new ideas for your lessons. It may not always be successful, but it is ok. That is how you grow and get better!

6. The Joy of Learning

Learning should never cease. Make learning your end goal. Attend courses/workshops to keep yourself updated on new pedagogy or ideas.

7. Stay Positive

Know that as a teacher, there'll be a mix of good times as well as challenging times. What's important is to stay positive and always look on the bright side. Bad times don't last, but tough people do. 8. Enjoy the journey Always remember your why and keep your passion for teaching alive! Enjoy your journey as a PE teacher! All the best!

Article Written & Contributed by: Jolene Tan Y.J (2021) 6th Year QPET Zhenghua Primary School

Feature Article

26 Jul 2020

Teaching P.E. in 2020. What Matters?

By Brandon Bull (This article was originally posted in the Physical Education Ideas website. Click here to access the original article.)

There is so much creativity and wonderful teachers doing wonderful things in the Physical Education space. As someone who has been through socially distant P.E. class, online learning and then slowly coming back to normal I, like many of you, kept asking myself if how I’m approaching this was right. How do I navigate Zoom, Seasaw, TEAMS, google classroom, etc, etc, to best educate my students? What if I am doing it wrong? I think in my learnings, I can offer some advice to those about to enter what we went through a few months back.

Truthfully, I’m not sure there is a wrong in this situation. Know that. My view changed daily when we were at our peak. Leadership wanted me to still focus on curriculum. I wanted to focus on curriculum. Which at the time was Track & Field. I did that, but I didn’t like it. I did one lesson on the techniques of running and it felt weird. I don’t think what we can do is wrong, but if I were to do it again, I would do it differently. The question I would have asked myself at the beginning of it all is… what matters?

As most of you embark on your new normal, I thought I would offer some advice. A scary thought. 😊 This is my journey.

The teacher in me wanted direction. That is OK, but if you are ever going to get creative, now is the time to do it. If you are ever going to put curriculum aside (even just a little bit) … now is the time to do it.

My leadership team approached me two weeks before our 2-week mid-term break in a frenzy because they wanted to know what I was doing for on-line learning in P.E. At that point, we still had more than half our student body attending school and no clear direction on the future. I was still focusing on the students at school and truthfully wasn’t sure about this whole on-line bit as we hadn’t been given clear direction, so I didn’t put in a lot of thought. There was a lot to process at that time when we were at our peak of Covid in Australia in March.

Nevertheless, I did some brainstorming and for the two weeks before holiday I created a YouTube channel and did a couple of fun, minute to win it type activities. I posted these via Seesaw (our school’s online learning platform) and they were a hit with students at home. Many students would even reply back with their own video of them doing the challenge. Families even joined in. It was fun.

During this time, our government made the call that all schools would be going to online learning after the holiday for 5 weeks. After discussion with my leadership team, it was decided we would stick with curriculum and get creative in teaching our students the skills associated with Track & Field.

I did one week of this with not a lot of participation. As mentioned, I created a Youtube video where I was teaching the fundamental skills of how to run. In the video I did a warm-up, focused on the skill and then did a running challenge called how slow can you go? And then I did a cool down. Maybe 30% of my students participated in this lesson. Way down from the student engagement I had with my minute to win it videos.

After that week, I discussed with leadership changing tactics and we came up with the idea of doing a Project Based Learning Unit. In this unit students would get to choose a skill, or activity that they want to get better at. Me as the teacher would monitor their learning goal, action plan and daily reflections. I mapped out a 4-week plan to get us through our stint of on-line learning and monitored student’s goals, action plans and daily reflections during this time. There were some amazing moments and some of our students did amazing things. I would say student engagement went up to around 50%. This was better, but still not as a good as my minute to win it videos.

When students came back after our 5-week online learning time, we had to create a program where students were socially distant. I thought of every element that we tie into a sound K – 6 PE program and tried to build that into a unit. Our students had a lot of fun and we were still within school’s policy. Our school did allow equipment, which made it easier.

Looking back at these months, and if I were to do it all again, I would have stuck with my minute to win it videos because what matters is that students are active, engaged and having fun. I’m a true believer that curriculum is important, but in this moment, I wish I would have pushed that right to the side and put my energy into getting really creative. Students in this time need the fun factor… so try and give them that.

The world we live in has forever changed, and that is OK. If you have read this far, you are doing an amazing job. Know that. Caring is half the battle. Our students come from a range of backgrounds and socio-economic statuses. Some will do our work, some won’t. Some are scared of what’s going on, some aren’t. For some, simply checking in with them and asking if they are OK might brighten their day. If there is any advice I can offer in all of this is to try something new and ask yourself… what matters?

Brandon Bull is a member of the PE Teacher Community Facebook Page. Click here to join.

PESG e-Roundtable Series: A Celebration of HBL

10 May 2020

The very first PESG e-Roundtable Series kicked off with a bang on 8 May 2020 via Zoom! Our sincerest thanks to all 95 of you who participated in the very first PE(SG) e-Roundtable Series on Zoom today. 👏👏👏

We are truly heartened by the strong turnout. It really was a ‘conversation among friends’.

PMTT Hanif A. Rahman set the stage by proposing that we use the 4Rs - Re-Framing, Re-Looking, Re-Defining and Re-Conceiving - as we reflect on our subject, our pedagogy, our competencies, and the many intertwining relationships (TSR, TTR, PTR, SSR) during the HBL period.

Our 6 speakers - Cassie Siua, Fabian Koh, Karthik Kumar, Lee Jk, Shahizan Ahmad and Muhammad Shufi Salleh shared their unique HBL journeys, celebrating both their successes and challenges. We heard how each of them negotiated professional, technological, pedagogical and systemic constraints to still deliver quality PE lessons for our students from home.

There were good questions, good participation and an overall celebratory mood as we recharge and restrategise for new challenges to come. It was truly an event For Teachers, By Teachers, With Teachers.

Will there ever be a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to do PE HBL? Today’s sharing proved that there is more than one way to ensure that we do justice to our subject - PE! - during these unique times.

Perhaps one quote to sum up our HBL journeys is this: “We are flying the plane while building it.” But from hence, we are flying it better, and building it with new tools and competencies gained from numerous test flights and ‘emergency landings’. The flight path is definitely getting clearer, thanks to the numerous collaborations and generous sharing of resources in the past 4 weeks by many, many of you!

Once again, thanks to all involved today!!! And special thanks to Fazlin Jaya Indra for ensuring a smooth running of the event!

This is just the beginning. Onward PE!!!

#pesgeroundtable #acelebrationofHBL #notwork #conversationamongfriends #forteachersbyteacherswithteachers

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