Student Led Phys. Ed.

We are doing a “Sport Education” model this year with 6^th grade.  In a nutshell, this is a curriculum and instruction model designed to provide the students with more authentic experiences through sports.  Not to mention that it has created a student-led learning environment!

The class is divided into teams for each “season” (formerly known as units) and each team member has a job, on top of being a player.  They are taking control of the P.E. classroom and are more responsible for their education.  The “jobs” each team member takes puts them into a different leadership role.

        Jobs:

•          Coach – Assists all players.  Organizes team’s practices and games/matches. They also work with teammates to find ways to best prepare for upcoming games.  Organize players before and during a game with substitutions
•       Captain – Team captains are important team builders.  They help make a group of players into a team.  They lead by example, help teammates to do their best, and motivate them to want to get better.  Assist their team’s coach or fill in other roles if someone is absent.
•          General Manager – Team managers organize and support the team, helps the equipment manager as needed.
•        Fitness Trainer – Leads warm-up activities every day.
•        Equipment Manager – Is in charge of the team’s equipment needs. 
•        Publicist – Communicates relevant information about your team to the teacher and possibly to the rest of the class.  Taking attendance, organizing any paperwork, gathering the team’s performance data.

           

By running P.E. this way, I am putting more responsibility and ownership on the students.  They are holding each other accountable to make sure all jobs are done correctly and efficiently, so the team can be successful.

 

So far it is going great! 

The publicist comes in each day, takes attendance and the Fitness Trainer gets them moving with their warm up.  The Equipment Manager is fantastic – for one, it makes my job way easier when the kids are moving the equipment around!  And secondly, there are designated people who spring into action when their coach needs something.  No one fights over who got to carry what. They have a job and everyone respects who is doing it!