7 Reasons to Accompany Your Students in PE Class.

Often, lead teachers choose to stay in their classroom and work on planning, grading, or preparing the environment while their students go to P.E. class. While all these are crucial parts of being a Montessori lead teacher, here are seven reasons why it is essential to accompany your students in PE.

1. Supporting Your Students

The P.E. teacher does not have the time and opportunities to know all students on a personal level as well as the lead teacher. This fact makes it harder to know class dynamics and various issues in students’ lives. Having a lead teacher to support with management, group settings, and knowledge regarding personal issues can be helpful and smoothen the lesson. Both teachers can share observations and insights and collaborate on mutual solutions to support struggling students. Learning from the lead teacher that a primary student is timid about choosing work in the classroom, allowed me to support his choices in P.E. and to let him participate as an observer and helper.

2. Observing Opportunity

P.E. lessons bring to the surface behavior issues, class dynamics, and deeper developmental problems. In addition, student’s strengths, abilities, and talents also pop up. The lead teacher can learn a lot about the individuals in their classroom and about the way the group functions. Seeing their students' strengths and weaknesses helps the teacher see them as a whole. And build an individualized lesson plan that builds intrinsic motivation. One of my colleagues prepared a counting job using different small basketballs after observing her energetic basketball enthusiastic student!

3. Connecting with Students

Going outside can be an excellent opportunity for the lead to connect with students playfully. This can be a good time to laugh, dance, and play. Here, you can build close relationships as it is crucial for students to feel safe in their environment. P.E. is a great opportunity to connect with students who are usually difficult inside and are avoiding work. These students are the ones that love movement and need it the most. Building better connections with them will ease conflicts in the classroom.

4. Teaching Grace and Courtesy

Being active and playful in P.E. class can be a good time to demonstrate good sportsmanship and teach students grace and courtesy in a concrete hands-on way. P.E. provides so many chances to win or lose gracefully. The lead teacher can be a role model, emphasizing the desired behavior.

5. Integrating Academics and Movement

Lead teachers can bring it all together by participating in PE. Using concepts that are taught in PE, whether it is locomotor movement, basketball rules, or games around the world. The lead teacher can use what students learn and integrate it into their weekly journal, spelling test, cultural studies, or practical life area.

6. Understanding how to Teach P.E.

By stepping outside and observing P.E., lead teachers learn what students are doing in class. So, on the occasion of having the P.E. teacher out (we are human, and will, sometimes, get sick…) the lead can take the lead! Instead of canceling P.E. or letting students have extra recess (I feel so guilty when I am sick!), teachers can take students outside and lead a PE class. Our Adolescent Community teacher sent me a picture once when I was out, demonstrating how students organized their favorite game, Capture the Flag 4 ways. They ran the entire class independently with their lead teacher's support.

7. Moving, breathing, stretching

How often do you have a chance to go outside and move? You are getting paid to go out, get some vitamin D, play, dance, and stretch with students. Embrace that opportunity to build your health and resilience. Be thankful for having someone else in charge for a while.

So, next time your school’s P.E. teacher comes to your classroom’s door to take the students outside, line up at the caboose and join them. You are about to be a good colleague by supporting a coworker, and a great teacher by playing and engaging with your students. You are prioritizing your students and your relationships with them. Not only that, but you are learning how to integrate PE and academics, how to teach the students as a whole, and how to sub for PE. And as a bonus, you are taking care of your health.

Learn, teach, and move like Montessori.