As a PE teacher in a Montessori school, I know my situation is unique compared to PE teachers in traditional schools. I recognize that I have it easier compared to many of my peers, especially in the public school setting. My class sizes are smaller than the horror stories I read about on Facebook from teachers who have to manage fifty or more students at a time. I also only meet with each class once a week. On the other days, they go to other co-curriculars like drama, music, and art. Four days a week, I teach two classes in the afternoon, and on Fridays, I have middle school all morning and one more 6-9 class to finish out the week. Coupled with my responsibilities as an athletic director, this is a manageable PE class workload, but I do have to budget my time between these two very different roles.
I can already imagine some of you reading this who are grizzled PE teachers who have been teaching five to seven classes a day for thirty years, giving me the tiniest of violin gestures as I dare to "complain" about my class load. But, as I mentioned, I know I have it easier than most—this post isn't about how I have too much to do, though. No, it's about how I have too little time to work with my students, and I can do little to change that. This time constraint trained me to maximize time efficiency, but it also put metaphorical blinders on as well. When I only see a class once a week, each PE class is important to cover a full week of content in one session.
Every week, I have a mere 50 minutes to pack in as much as possible. I start with a quick pre-game explanation, move into the game itself, and finish with a post-game debrief with classroom content connections. I take as many questions as the students have, but they understand that the more questions they ask, the less time they have to play. They also know that sometimes playing the game sooner may also answer their question. So we all are trying to get to the playing time as quickly as possible, and my assumptions about their understanding of the gross motor movement(s) often mean we skip practice and go straight to the game.
Not long ago, I worked hard to categorize my lessons using the SHAPE standards (Society of Health and Physical Educators) to ensure I covered key movement patterns and motor skills. It was an eye-opening and fulfilling exercise. The standards gave me a clear framework and reassured me that I was offering a well-rounded curriculum for the most part, but there are holes that I need to develop new content. However, as I started reflecting more deeply on the development of my students, it became clear that I wasn't spending enough time on purposeful skill-building before diving into the games.
This realization came when I thought about my own experience as both a father and coach to my kindergarten-aged son. I’d never expect my son to just pick up all the skills necessary for the sport he was trying without some type of preparation. In some ways, I had been treating my students like a coach who only scrimmages without giving the players enough time to practice the necessary drills. The kids may like it because they just wanna play, but they are not learning the fundamentals of the game. In my PE class, I was so focused on making cultural connections to a traditional Indigenous sport that I had often overlooked the need for targeted skill instruction, especially for the younger students.
In trying to balance the demands of traditional sports and curriculum integration, I made too many assumptions about my students' ability to pick up complex skills independently. I frequently run multiple simultaneous games: one for the higher-skilled players and another for those still developing their abilities. This was only a band-aid to a more significant systemic problem of not giving enough time for skill acquisition. While splitting the students into different groups enabled more balanced gameplay and appropriate skill matching, I realized it wasn't enough. I needed to create more intentional opportunities for all students to build skills, not just play.
It took me some time to come to this conclusion, but I'm still actively working to improve it. In recent months, I've put more effort into breaking down complex traditional Indigenous sports with intricate rule sets and multiple skills required into smaller, more digestible mini-games. This allows my students to experience different facets of the game without overwhelming them. I've noticed more engagement and improvement by slowing down and focusing on skill development before jumping into the whole game.
My journey towards a more balanced PE experience is ongoing, and I acknowledge that there is still much to be done. However, this shift in my approach has allowed me to strike a better balance between providing an authentic Montessori PE experience and supporting my students' physical development. It's about finding a middle ground where students not only play games but also learn the skills they need to truly succeed. I believe that I've made significant progress in this direction, and I'm committed to continuing this journey of providing my students with a comprehensive, skill-rich PE experience.