Student teachers and beginning teachers in most states are required to receive supervisory visits. These visits are meant to ensure that student teachers and/or beginning teachers are demonstrating effective teaching behaviors and warrant progression to initial certification (or licensure) and/or endorsement as professionals. One of the first…

The focus on student motivation is an ever evolving and interesting area within physical education. Although motivation can be important, teachers today face students who are less motivated, and often implement teaching approaches or instructional models that do not positively influence student motivation. A model of instruction that has been…

Using role playing during physical education provides limitless opportunities for intervention and for the demonstration of personal and social qualities. The purpose of this article is to provide easy steps for implementing role playing as a strategy to teach social skills to students in the physical education setting.

At the most recent SHAPE America National Convention held in St. Louis, MO, an international perspective of the term "physical literacy" was introduced. Experts representing North America, Europe, and Asia provided insight into the increased acceptance and implementation of the term. Since the terms "physical education" and…

As a result of their participation in K-12 physical education, students should obtain high levels of physical activity and learn motor and/or sport skills. How to accomplish these outcomes in the context of K-12 physical education is a continuous challenge for teachers. The purpose of this article is to introduce the play community model, which…

This article invites the reader to gain a deeper understanding of the aesthetics of African-based dance through the elements of tradition, transformation, and social justice. A discussion of the aesthetics of African dances within Africa and throughout the African diaspora opens the doors to present these dances in a K-12 setting, to explore a…

Online physical education, although seemingly an oxymoron, appears to be the wave of the future at least for some students. The purpose of this article is to explore research and options for online learning in physical education and to examine a curriculum, assessment, and instructional model for online learning. The article examines how physical…

Two forms of assessment, summative and formative, are the primary means by which teachers determine student progress and achievement. Summative assessments help teachers determine what students have learned at the end of a unit of instruction. They are often used to help teachers determine whether their instruction was effective or to grade…

Comparable to the K-12 teacher who is charged with demonstrating student achievement, the physical education teacher education (PETE) faculty member is charged with preparing teacher candidates to enter the profession with the knowledge and skills needed to deliver a standards-based physical education program. PE Metrics provides the K-12 teacher…

The Detroit Healthy Youth Initiative is a 10-year partnership between the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) and Wayne State University (WSU) with the goal of improving the quality of school health and physical education programs throughout the city schools. Drawing on the experiences of WSU and DPS faculty, administrators, teachers, and project staff,…

Sustained school-university partnerships are recognized as a means by which school physical education can move forward and sustain itself. Yet, these partnerships have been more the exception than the rule. There is little public knowledge about the benefits of sustained partnerships or of the process to achieve them. This article summarizes the…

Those who advocate for dance in education inevitably face many roadblocks, including ignorance of how dance can contribute to education, implementation of standardized performance assessments, lack of funding, entrenched issues of politics and power, and fear and discomfort about the body. It is dance teachers' responsibility to enlighten,…

Historically, physical education has had a low status in schools. Physical education teachers have struggled to secure the resources and support needed to teach in an appropriate manner. As a result, physical education has been marginalized and has received limited attention in the school community. The purpose of this two-part feature is to…

There is no denying that physical educators have traditionally been considered second-class citizens within the K-12 educational system in the United States. In some cases the low status of physical educators has resulted from the views of others (e.g., colleagues, administrators, parents, etc.), while at other times physical educators themselves…

Physical education teacher education (PETE) programs have contributed to the marginalization of physical education in three significant ways. First, the nature of content knowledge is contested. Is content knowledge disciplinary knowledge, or is movement the content knowledge of our field? Second, PETE has failed to produce a critical mass of K-12…