Planning Physical Education Units

Changing the "Culture of Games": "...​This "culture of games" exists in our physical education history and will exist in our physical education futures unless we are prepared to acknowledge that it exists and take steps to create better physical education experiences for our students...."​
SHAPE America Appropriate Practices
  • 2.3.2 Stretching, if included in the lesson, occurs ​only after​ an appropriate general warmup activity and is appropriate and beneficial for maintaining and improving flexibility.
  • ​3.1.1 The physical education curriculum has an obvious scope and sequence, based on goals and objectives that are appropriate for all students and that are derived from national or state standards.
  • 3.1.2 The physical educator includes motor skill development, physiological and biomechanical concepts, health-enhancing physical activities that lead to a physically active lifestyle, and opportunities to develop appropriate social behaviors.
  • 3.1.3 Instruction follows a scope and sequence that is designed to scaffold prior learning and develop mature forms of skills and strategies.
  • 3.1.4 Teachers design progressions that allow students to build on previously learned content and skills, by focusing on lifetime activities.
  • Revisit content throughout the year.
K-12 ROAD MAP FOR PHYSICAL EDUCATION
The Diamond Conceptual Framework helps illustrate the progression of skills and concepts taught in physical education, which are guided by national and state standards and research on physical activity and physical education. While we believe this is a useful framework, we acknowledge that there are other philosophies that can also achieve quality physical education.
NATIONAL STANDARDS AND GRADE LEVEL OUTCOMES
PHYSICAL EDUCATION'S "HALL OF SHAME" ACTIVITIES
WHY DODGEBALL IS AN INAPPROPRIATE ACTIVITY for P.E.
DESIGNING STANDARD BASED UNITS
Select standards/outcomes based on the developmental level of your students, which may differ from their grade level, ​and include additional learning objectives to meet the needs of your students and community.
Open as PDF
DESIGNING STANDARD BASED LESSONS
How to Design a Standards Based Lesson
Breakdown of a Standards Based Lesson
Key Questions for Lesson Planning in Physical Education
(3rd edition Instructional Models for Physical Education, Metzler, M., 2011; Exhibit 6.7, p. 147)
Open as PDF
UNPACKING STANDARDS
​Standards and student learning outcomes are often comprehensive. After reading each Standard/Outcome, ask yourself “What do my students need to know and be able to do to meet this Standard/Outcome?” The table below shows how many student learning outcomes can be created from one Psychomotor Standard. Find more information on unpacking standards from The Physical Educator.
Picture
Click to Enlarge
Using DOMAINS OF LEARNING ​taxonomies to write Learning objectives
Below are examples of student learning outcomes for the psychomotor, cognitive, and affective domains of learning. The purpose of the taxonomies below are to make it easier to sequence learning tasks in a logical order of difficulty. For more information see our ​Domains of Learning and Writing Learning Objectives page.