Many physical educators have limited dance experience and may lack the skills, knowledge and confidence to teach dance in their school programs. Yet, including dance units in physical education curriculums can provide positive experiences for students who may not enjoy traditional instruction. This article provides step-by-step instructions for…

The development of fundamental movement skills is essential in quality physical education. It has become widely accepted that school-age children who fail to reach the automatic phase in fundamental movement-skill development may choose physically inactive and unhealthy lifestyles. Therefore, physical educators must continue to discover ways to…

This article identifies homework as an underutilized strategy in physical education. It reviews the benefits associated with the use of homework in the physical education setting, and provides guidelines for the effective implementation of this strategy. The guidelines include practical application examples and define structured active homework…

The purpose of this article is to introduce a potentially new and exciting group of activities that can be taught in physical education. Activities based on Scottish Highland Games can be an interesting way to incorporate history and literature into the curriculum, as well as introduce students to a variety of unique physical activities. This…

This article focuses on defining academic language in physical education and provides a step-by-step approach designed to help preservice and inservice teachers understand and incorporated academic language into their lesson planning. It provides examples of discipline-specific vocabulary, language functions, syntax, and discourse, aiming to…

The purpose of this article is to highlight the need for physical activity-integrated lessons for classroom teachers, provide strategies for effective integration, and encourage physical education teachers to be an additional resource and an advocate for physical activity in their schools. (Contains 5 online resources.)

Integrative curriculum has been noted as a best practice toward effective learning. Quality physical educators struggle and search for different ways to integrate other content areas (e.g.., language arts, math, and social studies) into their daily lessons; however, due to budgetary limitations, they must find ways to do so with educationally…

Fitness programs can be greatly enhanced with the addition of fitness balls. They are a fun, challenging, economical, and safe way to incorporate a cardiovascular, strength, and stretching program for all fitness levels in a physical education setting. The use of these balls has become more popular during the last decade, and their benefits and…

In response to a lack of active participation by students in physical education, the Ultimate Flag Games curriculum was created and has thrived in the decades since its inception. The curriculum has been successful at the middle school, high school, and higher education levels. This article introduced the curriculum, different games, and rules and…

The six national content standards from NASPE define what a student should know and be able to do as a result of a high quality physical education program. The "NASPE SIX" serve as a North Star to guide teachers as they prepare and implement programs. Simply stated, the NASPE Standards for Physical Education are all about six simple…

NASPE recently published the newly revised Appropriate Practices documents (elementary, middle and high school), intending to clearly distinguish between teaching practices that "should" and "should not" occur in physical education classes. Good physical education teachers incorporate appropriate practices into their teaching. However, there are…

An ongoing challenge that both classroom and physical education teachers face on a daily basis is how to organize and manage large groups of students. This is particularly true in many urban settings where classrooms and gymnasiums are typically understaffed and/or under equipped. Educators in these settings often struggle with how to minimize…