Chapter 3 Reflection:Creating a Positive Learning Environment

QUESTION: When you think of yourself teaching, which of the protocols is the easiest for you to develop?  The hardest?  Why?

This chapter is about the importance of creating a positive learning environment in a PE class.  Having protocols is an important component of a positive learning environment.  When students are familiar with protocols, less time is wasted with the teacher having to explain, demonstrate and reinforce everything s/he wants the students to do.  The teacher designs protocols to maximize use of time, to insure tasks are done correctly and to minimize conflict and off-task behavior.   A result is a positive environment - students are happier when there is less friction, more on-task time and less teacher nagging.  The correct way to enter the gym, start and stop signals, warmup routines, “Home Base” behavior, grouping methods, equipment management – these are examples of things that can be routinized and practiced.  When the typical PE class is only a half hour long, protocols are not just advisable, they are a necessity!

I have a relatively easy time designing protocols for the things mentioned above.  These areas involve moving and organizing people and things in the most efficient ways.  For example, what is the easiest and quickest way to create groups of students: have them built-in, ready-made.  With students sitting on a number grid, you can easily pick by row, by odds and evens, by multiples.  Labeling vertical and horizontal rows with letters or colors gives more possibilities.  Each spot also has a shape (triangle, square, diamond, etc.) which yields yet another way to call out groups.  Protocols should originate in the planning stage as the teacher thinks about an activity.  The key is to visualize every step in the process that will be required of students and to think of ways to streamline and avoid confusion.  These are logistical challenges – not rocket science.  However not all things that we’d like to routinize are as easy.  For example, how do you make a routine of students showing appreciation and spirit in a competition without having to constantly repeat a reminder to “High Five!”  What about protocols for strategizing?  And most difficult of all, protocols for student self- and formative assessment during drills and games?  These are behaviors that don’t simply require students to line up in pairs, or drop the red balls in the red buckets.  They require students to think and perform multi-step tasks.  Possibly the best approach is to break them down into small pieces.