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Through my years of teaching Primary PE, one aspect of my lessons that I always try to be mindful of is giving students a voice within a lesson.
This voice may range from selecting the games we play, adapting the rules and scoring processes, or allowing students to choose the partner/teams they participate in within a lesson.
However, if you ever step back and watch a class have free reign over their teams/partners, it is an unforgiving and brutal process. Students who excel in PE often team up to create a superteam, social networks quickly gravitate toward each other, and then there are a small number of students who haven’t been accepted into either of the aforementioned groups, or they feel shy or completely overwhelmed and don’t know how to ask someone if they can join them. They often look around puzzled and lost, wondering who is going to save them from the awkward place they find themselves in.
Based upon witnessing this - as I have certainly thrown out the line “...find yourselves a partner and we’ll start” or “...you can make your teams today” - over the past few years I have started to become more conscious of ways in which this process can be made less daunting, overwhelming and potentially embarrassing, yet maintaining an element of freedom and choice.
In games that require a partner, or a team, I still allow them to have voice and choice over their teams, but I give simple parameters that must be met.
The idea behind placing these parameters on the pairings/teams is to create common ground amongst all students, and in some cases, stop particular pairings from happening.
With this in mind, when playing games requiring a partner, or allowing students to create a team I will say;
“You can choose your partner/team but you must… be wearing the same color or length of socks”
“You can choose your partner/team but you must… have a similar color or length of hair”
“You can choose your partner/team but you must… be wearing the same uniform top” (It may be the same sports top, school polo, hoodie, etc )
“You can choose your partner/team but you must… be born in the same month as each other”
“You can choose your partner/team but you must…have similar-colored eyes”
“You can choose your partner/team but you must…be of a similar height”
You can see that these are simple, generic, and sometimes uncontrollable parameters, but (in my experience) they play a huge role in breaking down the status and power that some students hold within a class and place everyone on an even playing field. Something to note on this is that I never use 'brands' as a way of creating a connection, as this can create a level of 'class' or raise stigmas about various brands.
I should also mention that when I say to a class “You can choose your partner/team…” I like to follow this with;
“If you are finding it hard to find someone, move to the middle circle of the court (or another central location) and I may be able to help”.
The idea of this is to create a 'safe place' and assist students if they feel lost, or cannot find a partner, and 90% of the time, these students start moving toward the middle circle and notice someone else who is doing the same, and they partner up together.
At other times, it becomes a teachable moment, as some students simply struggle with the social element, or skills, of asking someone else to pair up with them, and you can help them with this process - which becomes a teachable moment in itself.
Furthermore, given the whole class has to abide by the same set of parameters, friends cannot deliberately
ignore the instructions and team up anyway, as the remainder of the class will be quick to point out the injustice.
From my experience over the last few years in which I have strategically used this within my classes, I have seen great benefits, and believe that it creates a safer, calmer, and more inclusive environment when finding partner/teams. Based upon this, I do not doubt that this approach can also add value, and inclusivity to your PE program.
If you're interested in talking about this more, feel free to reach out on any of the @headsuphpe socials or via email headsuphpe@gmail.com
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