Skip to main content

Applying Classroom Rules and Procedures

In my PE classroom, positive reinforcement is my main and key management tool. I use it as students walk in and get right on task, when students follow command cues, during and after game play, and at any point when I am giving directions or someone is following set classroom procedures. I almost always have an instant activity for my students everyday, like a warm up or partner activity. I give the instruction verbally or post it on a white board for students to read as they head into class. Once students enter, the minute I see students on task, I start throwing out clear and specific positive reinforcement. I have a rule of three minimum positive reinforcement interactions, but I like to acknowledge as many students as possible before we have to move on. I make this one of my main focuses because it serves so many purposes. My classroom has a much more positive tone, I am setting clear expectations of behavior, and students can look to others for an example. This kind of positive reinforcement sets up your day to have a much more manageable and positive class where students are self-motivated to have better behavior and meet our classroom expectations.


Positive reinforcement also works as a response to students who are off task or breaking the rules. Taking the class entry example from above, we can imagine two students who are off task and not following directions. The first step would be to positively reinforce students near them that are on task. Usually, that is an instant way for them to recognize what they should and redirect. If they do, I will immediately acknowledge and reinforce their behavior. If not, I usually follow up with proximity to the students. I get closer to them and use positive reinforcement on other students nearby again. If they respond and shift behavior this time when I am closer, positive reinforcement is the immediate response. If they are still off task, I try and discretely as possible pull them aside and remind them of the task and ask them to put some space between themselves and get on task. This is generally the last interaction I have with them, because they have been separated and had a gentle redirection to the task at hand. I never have to use a negative or accusatory tone, just a positive reminder and separation to bring them in line with the rest of the class. Once they get on task, I will positively reinforce the behavior and by that time, it is generally time to move on. 

Below I attached a flow chart of my decision making process when it comes to behavior modifications. Teacher instruction and interaction can be seen in teal, positive student behavior is shown in green, and negative student behavior is shown in red. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pre-Assessment For Differentiation

Pre-assessment is important at PE because we jump through units very quickly and it is essential to get baseline for each class so you can avoid reteaching concepts they already know and reinforce ideas that students struggle with. A pre-assessment that I use often is to use the summative assessment for the grade below the student's current grade. Looking at the beginning of a fourth grade football unit, I would distribute a third grade level summative assessment to gauge where the class is at. Students are divided into three separate differentiation groups. The first differentiation group is a group of five students who answered most, including the most difficult, of the pre-assessment questions correctly. It is important to me that these students are challenged and given curriculum that engages them in learning. I would want these students to help other students who are struggling, but also have time to experience gameplay at their level. The students progress would be monitored ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Using Assessment Data To Inform Instruction

This mock data was used to simulate the assessment results from the Football unit for my 4th grade Physical Education students. Homogenous Groups — My class operates on the principle of having six teams for game play and team work. In this class there are 23 students, which equates to 5 groups of four students and 1 group of three. When looking into homogenous groups for this class, I decided to make my strongest students my smallest group because they would have the easiest time functioning as a team of three during gameplay. After setting up that team, I worked through the data to make groups mainly based on the end of unit assessment. There were a few students in between the groups that either progressed or regressed throughout the unit. In general, I decided to place those students in the lower level group so they could support or be supported within their group. The groups were then assigned colors in rainbow order based on skill level with Red being my strongest studen...
Post a Comment
Read more