r/PhysicalEducation

Hey everyone 🙂

I’m 23 years old and currently working as a teaching assistant at a school. Lately I’ve been thinking about studying education and becoming a full-time PE teacher.

For those of you who are teachers (or studied education), would you recommend becoming a PE teacher as a career path?

I’d love to hear your honest thoughts and experiences.

Thank you and have a wonderful day! 🙏🏻

I’ve got an interview coming up and I will be doing a demo for a 4th grade class. I’ve never done an interview like this and I’m looking for advice. All I know is that there will be 25 students in my class and I’ll have 30 min to teach them a lesson. Any tips or advice on simple lesson that showcases my skills?

Hi All!

I am a middle school PE teacher that is looking to work for a high school. I had my first interview and now the admin wants me to come back for an in person mini (20 minutes) lesson.

Just looking for any help on something that might work with the students and the guidelines I was given. I’ve been teaching middle school for around 10 years and would be my first time transitioning to HS. Any help would be appreciated.

Guidelines:

27 students

You will be responsible for designing and leading the lesson, which should serve as a recap of soccer skills and components students have recently covered, such as dribbling, passing, and scoring.

2 soccer goals
6–7 soccer balls
Cones as needed

California Elementary PE teacher, tenured 7 years, and I am finishing up administering physical fitness tests on my fifth grade classes. I have one student in particular who has not passed a single fitness test yet - push ups, curl ups, mile, pacer, not even trunk lift or shoulder flexibility.

He is admittedly overweight, but otherwise happy, positive, shows up to class, tries his best. Ive noticed that he always has an excuse ready for why he gets these scores; ie: “I fell down this weekend and hurt my wrist so my push ups might not be very good”, or “I rolled my ankle yesterday so I won’t be able to run the whole time…”

I don’t suspect abuse, but I do suspect overall unhealthy habits, or lack of healthy habits that have culminated in his inability to meet national fitness standards.

Should I email parents about this? Or let him know he’s failed and help him set personal goals for summer / middle school!?
OR
Should I just leave it as is and check the box that I did my job to assess and forget about it (for my jobs sake, and not to be rude)

I was asked to have field day for a tiny high school I've taught at once a week all school year. Most of the students are not competitive or motivated to participate. There will be groups of about 5 students and 1-2 teachers and 15 min. stations. Too cold for water games and I only have a car so nothing huge.

I have most of it planned with leisure activities like cornhole, bocce, volleyball, ladder golf, scavenger hunt, etc. but I'm interested in any other ideas that have worked with a similar group of students. I know it's uncommon for high school to have field days. I've tried "retro" lessons before like parachute and no one would participate. TIA

I’m a second year elementary PE teacher, and while it’s definitely hard and I still have a lot to learn, I think I’m doing a solid job. I make an effort to expose my students to a wide range of skills, exercises, and activities.

I use a whiteboard daily to go over skills, goals, and expectations, and I base my lessons on a curriculum with standards, at least most of them. I don’t fully agree with every standard, though. I think there should be some flexibility, and that not everything should be dictated strictly by data and research. Teaching isn’t one size fits all.

My classes generally have a good flow, and we transition through units about every month. I haven’t fully implemented assessments yet because I feel like my classroom management and instruction still need a lot more work.

Overall, I’d say I’m a good PE teacher. I could be better and put in more effort but Im almost living pay check to paycheck so I’ll pass on that. With that said, there are definitely weeks where I take a step back. Do things like freeze tag, free play, or some kind of fun, less structured game just to get through the day.

What I’m really curious about is the stereotypical PE teacher. The ones who don’t seem to do much. The ones who recycle the same handful of games all year, don’t follow a curriculum, and treat PE like recess. You know, the “I rolled out some balls, go play” type of teaching.

We all have off days like that, but have you ever come across teachers who operate like that all year? How do they keep their jobs? How do they get away with it? I’m genuinely curious because I haven’t personally encountered anyone like that.

Me currently 163 cm M am wanting to increase height by atleast 8-10 cm
I’m in my 19s so can anybody suggest what can I do for it?!?!

I have currently joined a gym for physical activity (I do hanging for 15 sec 3 times)
Also am joining swimming membership soon

Please suggest what I’m missing up on guys!!!

As the title says, I graduate in a few weeks from Queens College with a degree in PE K-12. The thing is it wasn’t until student teaching where I realized being a teacher is just something I don’t have an interest in doing right now. Not even subbing.

There were some decent days, but most of my entire experience has been me dreading going in day after day for something I don’t have interest in. I enjoy fitness and helping people improve their lives but not in a classroom.

I always hear people say, “It gets better when you have your own classroom”, but I don’t want to take that chance.

I just wish I had figured this out before spending all this time and money on this degree.

My mom is a teacher and is really pushing me to start looking for jobs but I want to try and do something else. I’ve applied/taken other city jobs like FDNY, and I plan on taking the DSNY exam when it comes out.

Does anyone have any recommendations of other careers/jobs I can do with a physical education degree? Doesn’t even have to completely PE related, just a decent salary for someone fresh out of college. Any help would be appreciated, thank you!

I just accepted my first position as a K-8 PE/Health teacher. Any advice or tips for a first-year teacher?

Hello. I have a demo lesson on Monday at a high school that will be 20 minutes with 25 juniors and they want to see volleyball. This will be an extremely rushed. I don’t have a lot of experience with high school, I got riffed from my elementary job and am desperate for anything. What are some ideas? I was thinking of doing partner passing and then a game where everyone partner team passes back and forth with each other and if you miss the ball you sit down. Last team standing wins. Start with a walk and talk and end with some stretches? I need this fucking job.

I’m finishing up my 2nd year teaching, and I’m moving grade levels again.

I started off my first year in an elementary school. I loved the kids and the content, the schedule was a bit overwhelming though. I had 12 classes for 25 minutes each. Pretty much back to back. I started coaching Jr. High & high school softball. At the end of the year, the Jr. High principal reached out to me and wanted me to come to the Jr. High. This was the age group I really wanted as I was finishing my degree, and I thought it would be better since I’m coaching there too. I could recruit some more girls/ have a better relationship with my players.

So my second year I’m at the Jr. High. I picked up girls basketball on top of softball at both schools. I really love this age group because it’s all about getting students to try new things and finding what they’re good at. I had a co teacher this year who is 3 years away from retiring. Don’t get me wrong, he’s great, but you can tell he’s ready to be done. He doesn’t plan out anything, lots and lots of free time. We started separating boys and girls PE when we had our health unit 3rd quarter. I told him I really liked being separated, because I got better engagement from the girls and the class sizes were a lot more manageable. We have a smalllllll gym, and our average class size is about 40 kids. I think he just liked hanging out with me, because in the 4th quarter, he always took the boys and did whatever we were doing. I would take my girls outside and he would send the boys with us. Or I would stay in and he’d grab some basketballs for the boys to play. So I never really had the chance to run class the way I wanted to.

Fast forward to today, I get pulled into the office with my principal, athletic director, and the high school principal. The high school PE teacher is retiring, and they want me to come do high school PE. He asked what my concerns might be. I told him I loved this age group, and I worry about being too close in age to the high school kids and not being able to be the authority figure, if that makes sense. I’m turning 25 this summer. My Jr. High kids tower over me. He told me that I do great with my high school softball players, and they’re really looking for someone like me to fill the spot. I told them I would prefer to stay here, but I would do whatever is best for the district.

I think it may just be nerves. I’m super bummed about having to tell my students that I won’t be here next year. We’ve had 7 teachers announce that they are leaving the junior high already (there’s been some drama with our principal, he’s not my favorite person by any means, but I haven’t had any major issues). We’re also a small school, maybe 70-80 kids per grade, 6th-8th. That’s a lot of change for the kids, and I feel awful about leaving. Like I feel like they need SOME normalcy when they get back from summer break.

Ughhhhhhh I’m so torn. Everyone keeps telling me that the high school is a much better environment, and that I would love it there. I don’t doubt that. I just feel guilty.

Anyway, sorry for ranting. Any tips on how to manage high schoolers? 🙃

Next year I will be moved from the high school level to elementary. I have a meeting tomorrow at my new site to find out my schedule and meet some of the staff. What are some questions I should ask while I'm there to help better prepare for the transition?

May sure is “March-ing” but that’s okay, almost over.

I got tenure this year, and I remember telling myself that after I got tenure, I would leave D75 to teach general ed. I teach PHYS. ED. I have a great job, I do summer school every year. But I never saw myself as a career teacher in D75.

Is there anyone that started out D75 and then switched to gen ed PHYS ED? Or even classroom teachers. What was your experience like.

The only thing that bugs me in D75 and I’m sure PHYS Ed or other specials in Gen Ed elementary can relate, but I am nothing more than a prep teacher and I’m very much over it.

I teach HS Weight training at a public charter school. Usually, I teach 4 sections of Weights but this upcoming year I will only have 3. I want to make sure my role at the school stays relevant and am going to pitch to the principal that adding another pe elective to the school curriculum is helpful. I was thinking a class that would be less intense than weights, and not just a high school PE class. This would be like a wellness/life skills/nutrition health type of class. 2-3 days a week of lessons and 1-2 days of basic fitness. I need to attract more students, and maybe this will help. I need to stay full-time for insurance and the salary.

any ideas ?

We wear shorts, red polo top or red sports top and non marking tennis footwear.

If we forget then you get spare shorts and a top and do it barefoot.