Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance

ISSN: 0730-3084 (Print) 2168-3816 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujrd20

Teaching Elementary Physical Education for the

First Time: A Practical Checklist for Before, During,
and After the First Week of School
Editor: Ferman Konukman

Christopher D. Pfledderer

To cite this article: Christopher D. Pfledderer (2019) Teaching Elementary Physical Education for
the First Time: A Practical Checklist for Before, During, and After the First Week of School, Journal
of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 90:4, 54-57, DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2019.1574127

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/07303084.2019.1574127

Published online: 04 Apr 2019.

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 Teaching Elementary Physical Education for
Teaching Tips
Editor: Ferman Konukman
the First Time: A Practical Checklist for Before,
During and After the First Week of School
Christopher D. Pfledderer
T
his article is meant to serve as
a macro guide for first-year
teachers as they begin their
career in elementary physical education.
It is hoped that this simple checklist can
serve as a tool for new teachers to stay
grounded and focused during the first
week of school.
Before
Have a Plan.  In the months lead-
ing up to your first year of teaching you
should develop an annual plan. If you
have already been hired at a school, align
your plan with the school calendar by
taking into account start and end dates,
field trips, breaks, and early release days.
Distribute this plan to the principal,
school secretaries, and especially teach-
ers, with the disclaimer that changes to
the plan will likely occur throughout the
year (Figure 1). Your plan does not need
to contain every detail for each lesson,
but it should contain a general overview
of units and themes. This information
might even be used to promote cross-
curricular learning. For example, you
and another teacher might work together
to incorporate multiplication skills
during PE if the class is learning that
skill during a particular time of the year.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by the
prospect of planning for an entire year,
take a look at Michael Metzler’s book
Instructional Models for Physical Educa-
tion (2017). He devotes an entire chapter
on the topic of planning for effective
instruction.
Once you have a basic framework of
units or themes, you can begin planning
specific lessons. This information does
not necessarily need to be shared with
other staff members but is more of a tool
for your personal use. The goal is to cre-
54  Volume 90  Number 4   April 2019
ate something that you can use every day
and also something that is dynamic. You
will be adding, subtracting and modify-
ing aspects of each lesson as you begin
to gain more experience teaching. This
type of planning will continue for your
entire career, and it is a good idea to put
all this information in one place so you
can reference it again at the beginning of
your second year and beyond.
Take Inventory and Get Organized.  priority at the beginning of the school
Find out what resources your school has
for their physical education program
and the details of the space in which you
will be teaching. Be sure to find out your
class sizes so you can plan accordingly.
Here are some questions to ask:
•• What equipment do I have, and do
I have enough for everyone? If I need
other equipment, then what is the budget
and when do teachers place orders?
•• Is the equipment shared with other
classes or after-school programs?
•• Where is the equipment stored, and
what does that space look like?
•• How large is the gym space?
•• Is the gym shared with other
departments? If so, will there be days
I need to plan on sharing the gym or
relocating?
•• What does the outdoor space look
like? Does the school have ball fields,
courts and play equipment, and how
large are each of these spaces? Are these
safe places to conduct PE?
You may or may not be given an of-
ficial inventory of equipment before the
school year begins. Either way, now is
the time to create an itemized list of the
things you have so you can keep track of
it all and identify resources you still need
to acquire. Finally, organize your stor-
age space so the things you plan to use
often are easily accessible (Figure 2). For
example, items such as colored jerseys
and poly spots might be placed in an
easy-to-access area, while less commonly
used items, such as hockey sticks and
badminton rackets, might be stored in
labeled containers near the back.
During
Establish Rules and Routines.  Class-
room management should be a top
year, especially for the novice teacher.
Effective classroom management tech-
niques have been found to create positive
outcomes for both students and teachers.
Invest time in establishing basic rules,
how to transition between activities, and
setting procedures for the start and end
of class.
For elementary-age students, keep
individual rules succinct, easy to
remember, and limit the number of
rules to five or fewer. Post these rules
somewhere in the gym where students
can easily see them and so you can ref-
erence them at any time during a lesson
(Figure 3). Transitioning between ac-
tivities can be a time sink if students are
not taught how to properly shift gears.
During the first few PE lessons you
should incorporate scenarios to practice
these changes until your students know
exactly where to go and how to get
there. This may seem monotonous, but
it will save you precious class time later
in the year. Just as you should practice
transitioning between activities, you
should also create and practice a routine
for starting and ending class. This sets
the tone for the entire lesson at the be-
ginning and creates a way for students
to gather themselves at the end. There
are many ways to begin class, and you
will eventually find something that
 PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Teaching Tips
MARCH 2018
4TH GRADE

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

01 02 03
FINISH SOCCER
UNIT NO SCHOOL
PRO. DEV. DAY
EARLY DISMISSAL
AT 1:15PM

04 05 06 07 08 09 10
START BASKETBALL UNIT BASKETBALL UNIT BASKETBALL UNIT BASKETBALL UNIT
BASKETBALL UNIT
WARM-UPS AND WARM-UPS AND DRIBBLING AND DRIBBLING AND SKILLS STATIONS
INTRO TO DRIBBLING PASSING PASSING
RULES/SKILLS

11 12 13 14 15 16 17
BASKETBALL UNIT BASKETBALL UNIT BASKETBALL UNIT BASKETBALL UNIT BASKETBALL UNIT
SHOOTING GAMES
SHOOTING SKILLS SHOOTING SKILLS SHOOTING SKILLS KNOCKOUT AND RUNNING PLAYS
AROUND THE
WORLD

18 19 20 21 22 23 24
BASKETBALL UNIT BASKETBALL UNIT BASKETBALL UNIT BASKETBALL UNIT BASKETBALL UNIT

RUNNING PLAYS RUNNING PLAYS “MARCH MADNESS” “MARCH MADNESS” “MARCH MADNESS”
TOURNAMENT TOURNAMENT TOURNAMENT

25 26 27 28 29 30 31
NO SCHOOL NO SCHOOL NO SCHOOL NO SCHOOL NO SCHOOL
SPRING BREAK SPRING BREAK SPRING BREAK SPRING BREAK SPRING BREAK

Figure 1.
A sample unit plan for the month of March that could be distributed to teachers and staff

works for your situation, but here is one
example of how to do it:
1.  Have students line up on the base-
line as soon as they enter the gym, or
assign them a location using a poly spot
or other marker (Figure 4). Once they
are situated, you can go over how class
will be structured for the day.
2.  Create a few warm-up drills that
get students active. Keep the warm-up
drills the same throughout the year, and
pick one student to lead the drills once
they have had practice. Incentivize good
behavior with the chance to lead drills
during the next class.
3.  Play one or two warm-up games
that incorporate constant movement
from every student. Different variations

JOPERD  55
Teaching Tips
Before and after: An organized storage space, no matter the size, can make your job easier.
of tag games are a favorite and usually do
not require any additional material.
Once you have found something that
works, keep it consistent for the entire
year. The same advice can be given for
56  Volume 90  Number 4   April 2019
Figure 2.
ending class. Have students assist you in
cleaning up materials. Afterwards, stu-
dents can get back in their original line
or spot in the gym and perform a few
static stretches. These stretches can oper-
Figure 3.
A set of simple rules
posted somewhere
in the gym makes it
easier for students
to remember
expectations.
ate the same way as the warm-up drills,
with different students leading them for
each class. The end of class is also a great
time to have a quick discussion about the
skills they learned that day. Talk to the
class about tasks they performed well,
things they need to work on, and what
will happen the next time you meet. This
way, students end class in the same way
they started and are ready to move on
with the rest of their day.
Inform Parents.  Past research has
shown that specific teacher–parent com-
munication is the most significant factor
in parent involvement with schools
(Yamamoto, Holloway, & Suzuki, 2016).
As the new teacher at your school, it is
important to introduce yourself to par-
ents. This can be done in various forms.
Some schools will have a meet-the-
teacher night, but you will not be able to
reach every parent this way. A better way
to communicate is to send a letter home,
either as a hard copy or email. Do this
at the beginning of the school year and
then again at the midpoint of the school
year, highlighting skills students have
been learning or are going to learn in the
future. Some items to consider incorpo-
rating in your first letter include:

Figure 4.
Poly spots can be used to assign students to an area of the gym.
Once they get used to the routine, take the spots away.
•• Your name and a brief description
of yourself
•• Your teaching philosophy
•• Classroom expectations and safety
•• An overview of the skills students
will be learning during the first half of
the school year
•• Best ways and times to contact you
Parent communication can be a
source of anxiety for inexperienced
teachers, but the best way to gain confi-
dence is by practicing. Some schools may
even offer inservice teacher training for
communication skills. Once you have
opened a line of dialogue with parents,
it will be much easier to solve potential
problems as they arise throughout the
year.
After
Reflect and Respond.  It is likely that
you will have a lot to think about after
your first week of teaching. Reflect on
what strategies worked well and what
strategies need an adjustment. If you are
having trouble getting your thoughts
organized, one tool to consider using is
the Reflective Framework for Teach-
ing in Physical Education (RFTPE).
The RFTPE, originally developed by
Tsangaridou and O’Sullivan (1995), has
been used to help preservice physical
education teachers critically analyze
their teaching and become proactive in
changing future lessons based on that
analysis. Consider using the RFTPE in
the beginning as a framework for your
thoughts and then develop your own
personalized reflective-practice strategy
in the future.
Relax and Recuperate.  Teacher
burnout is a serious problem in today’s
educational landscape. In the past few
years alone, many studies have explored
the relationships between teacher burn-
out and a variety of factors including
attrition rates, discipline problems, low
student motivation, time pressure, value
dissonance, and job satisfaction (Benoliel
& Barth, 2017; Skaalvik & Skaalvik,
2017). Because burnout has been linked
to attrition rates and because teacher
turnover occurs at a higher rate among
those beginning their career, it is espe-
cially important for first-year teachers
to habitually manage stress and become
proactive about curbing burnout. There
are many ways to do this, and some
schools have even implemented success-
Teaching Tips
ful interventions focusing on topics such
as well-being and awareness, mindful-
ness, and stress management. Your
school might offer similar programs, so
take advantage of those opportunities. If
not, find something that works for you
and make it a daily or weekly practice.
Conclusion
This article provided a general over-
view of what first-year teachers might
consider doing before, during and after
their very first week in the profession.
Burgeoning educators will eventually de-
velop their own process, with elements of
this guide making an appearance in one
form or another. If you are a first-year
teacher, you will find that the aspects of
teaching discussed in this guide, which
include planning, organization, manage-
ment, communication and reflection,
will become reoccurring aspects of your
professional practice, not just something
you do during the first week.
References
Benoliel, P., & Barth, A. (2017). The implications
of the school’s cultural attributes in the rela-
tionships between participative leadership and
teacher job satisfaction and burnout. Journal
of Educational Administration, 55, 640–656.
Metzler, M. (2017). Instructional models for physi-
cal education. London, UK: Taylor & Francis.
Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2017). Dimen-
sions of teacher burnout: Relations with
potential stressors at school. Social Psychology
of Education, 20, 775–790.
Tsangaridou, N., & O’Sullivan, M. (1995). Using
pedagogical reflective strategies to enhance
reflection among preservice physical educa-
tion teachers. Journal of Teaching in Physical
Education, 14, 13–33.
Yamamoto, Y., Holloway, S. D., & Suzuki, S.
(2016). Parental engagement in children’s
education: Motivating factors in Japan and the
US. School Community Journal, 26, 45.
Christopher D. Pfledderer (chris.pfledderer
@utah.edu) is a graduate student in the
Department of Kinesiology at the Univer-
sity of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT.
JOPERD  57