The 11 Rules of Teaching PE (in no specific order of importance)

1) You are not an athletic trainer or coach. The focus of PE is to learn, not win.

2) Don’t take preference with students. They all deserve your assistance and attention.

3) Communicate with your students, be open and honest with them and they will likely do the same for you.

4) Don’t play Dodgeball.

5) Encourage fun and enjoyment, but never to the detriment of safety or learning.

6) Make sure activities are developmentally appropriate; change activities that aren’t working and pair students with teammates/opponents of a roughly similar physical/skill level.

Not developmentally appropriate for a grade 8 class.

7) Include all students in class activities: don’t exclude anyone based on their abilities.

8) Make sure the class activities are be organized and transition well so there is less down time students can lose attention by setting up before an activity ends and the next one starts.

9) All class activities need at least one purpose that you should know them well.

10) Try to minimize activities where students are sitting around or waiting for turns.

11) Highlight students who are performing a skill well and other students who have improved significantly.

If you follow all of these rules in class you will have a much better chance of getting your students to make a positive mental connection with physical activity and will be more likely to be more active outside of school and in later life.