Best Practices: A Description of Instant Activities, Lesson Introductions, and Meaningful Closures for Quality Physical Education

There are many aspects of effective teaching in a quality physical education program. Things considered best practice in one setting may not necessarily be considered best practice in another. Further, what is best practice for one teacher in one program may not be best practice for another teacher in a different program. This brief article includes three examples of best practice for effective teaching, emphasizing instant activities, lesson introductions, and meaningful lesson closures.

Instant Activities. Most students have been sedentary in their school classrooms or other learning environments for lengthy periods of time on any given school day. When they arrive to physical education class, it’s time to move. One example of best practice is to include instant activities for students to participate as soon as they enter the physical activity environment. The instant activities are meant to be enjoyable, provide opportunity for developing social skills, and simply get students physically active. Teachers might have students involved in one or more instant activities for the first few minutes of class, then proceed with the student learning objectives and instruction. Dozens of instant activities are possible and may or may not be connected to the specific learning content of the day’s lesson.

Lesson Intro. At the appropriate time, teachers should begin with a lesson introduction. This prepares students for the lesson and should answer the questions What? How? and Why? The teacher describes what is going to take place during the lesson, how the lesson will progress, and why this content is meaningful and relevant for students. Answering these questions in a lesson intro effectively gets students ready and often motivates students for learning and participation. A quality lesson intro should be no longer than three minutes!

Meaningful Lesson Closures. When it’s nearly time to end the lesson, best practice includes a brief review of what was learned, student checks for understanding, a highlight of what might happen next lesson, and the promotion of physical activity outside of class. At times, physical educators lose track of time and simply stop the game or activity by immediately dismissing students. This leaves no opportunity for clarifying lesson content, resulting in less long-term student learning. A quality closure helps bring students’ heart rates near a resting pulse, provides an opportunity to review or explain a concept one more time, and can be used to remind students to get physically active outside of school. Like a quality set, a lesson closure should be less than three minutes!

The examples included here can be provided for teachers in professional development sessions. Numerous instant activities will be offered so that physical educators can experience kinesthetic learning, discuss modifications of the instant activities, and even practice giving quality lesson intros and meaningful lesson closures. Here’s one example of an instant activity:

My Buddies. On the signal, all students move throughout the playing area and keep moving without stopping. When the teacher calls out “1”, students find a buddy and give a 3-part handshake, then immediately begin traveling again, individually. When the teacher sees that all students are traveling, the teacher calls out “1” “2”. Students find the original buddy (1), complete the 3-part handshake, then find a new buddy (2) and complete a new 3-part handshake. They immediately travel again, individually. At the signal by the teacher (“1” “2” “3”), students find their first buddy (1), then their second buddy (2), then a new third buddy (3). Students repeat this pattern until at least six new buddies, each with a different 3-part handshake have been identified. Hint: If a student cannot locate a new buddy (which sometimes happens), that student can buddy with the teacher by a fist bump. Once at least six new buddies have been identified with a new 3-part handshake each time, the teacher can make it a game: On the signal, see which individuals can complete their entire sequence first. This is a fun, physically active, social skills developing instant activity!

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