Hi James,

I like how your middle school deals with students who refuse to participate. It is a good idea not to just let the student sit out and watch the activity, but be forced to complete work while sitting out. Personally, I think that makes the students less likely to commit the offense over and over again. Allowing them to use the cardio equipment promotes physical activity if they dont enjoy what is being taught that day.

Rich

I am at the high school level and we subscribe to the same system for non dressers, however I have actually had students who still don't care to dress or participate, or do the packets. Now, these are not the students who just forgot to wash their uniform or limited offenders, my issue is with students who don't care the entire semester. Parents are involved and they do little to help as I perceive them not to care either. With the current pressure on the teachers to be magician motivators and kids who CANNOT fail, we find ourselves as a department unavoidably striking deals with kids to "give me pennies on the dollar" just to pass at the end of the unit, quarter, semester. I share this because we now have a culture of students who know to just put it off until the end and do the bare minimum just pass with a D.
Any thoughts on how to go about "fixing" the issue?

We are transitioning to a standards based grading system. With this students must meet the standards in order to receive their credits and graduate with a diploma. We are using the national standards at our school. Those students that do not meet standards in all classes cannot receive a diploma, they can only receive a certificate of attendance. Unfortunately there are students who do not care or say they do not care if they earn their diploma. Some are enabled by their parents in that thought process unfortunately while others simply just feel they will be passed though like they may have been previously. At this time our administration is holding strong to enforcing that students must pass standards. Hopefully this will continue to be the case but only time will tell.

I dont have a written plan for students that don't participate but I do have a couple ideas. I'm an elementary P.E. teacher and when students refuse to participate I start with a call down to their teacher. If that doesn't work then I tell them that I'm going to make a phone call to their parents. If neither of those work, then I personally walk them down to the principals office which usually ends with a lunch-time spent in her office. Since students in grades K-2 don't get report cards, telling them that its going to affect their grade is not applicable. I usually talk to them about making good decisions and sometimes not having a choice whether they can sit out or not. I make a comparison between taking a test in class and participating in P.E. class, sometimes you dont have a choice. Depending on how the child is behaving, I talk to them about why they dont want to participate and giving them easier options than the game/activity that they are choosing to sit out of. For example, if we are working on dribbling in basketball, I could modify the activity for them saying that they have to dribble for 1 minute away from the rest of the class. and then they can take a small break.

In my class I rarely have this problem. The students know that they will be penalized, although I do encourage them to participate in class even though they did't change their clothes. I used to have them write reports, or take a zero, all which isn't good. I want them moving. Also, you could have them walk the gym, jumprope, or lift weights, the object is to keep them active!

I think having a very simple set of expectations that all students understand. I teach a fitness class for grades7/8. Their grade is based on their numbers improving. What that means is that they are competing against themselves. If they can improve on what they did the previous week, they get their points. I think this gives them a comfort level where they are not being compared to the rest of the group.

Good Morning,

I teach PE/Health at the high school level. We have had a similar issue with motivating high school students to participate in our classes as well as changing into appropriate clothes for activity. I will personally allow students to participate for some credit if they have proper shoes on, but are not fully changed. I think it is more important to have them physically active instead of being punished because they do not have sweats/shorts on, but are wearing sneakers. As a department, we have come up with some ideas that we are going to implement in the future which include student choice of activities and rotating through a variety of activities throughout the class to keep motivation and student engagement levels high.

Enjoy!

I'm surprised your principal said that this is tied to your observation. I'm surprised because if a student does not participate at the school that I teach at, they lose credit for the day. They are "allowed" one miss but then after that, they go down a letter grade.
If a student is prepared by changing, but does not participate they still lose credit.
That's part of their responsibly, my job is discuss this with them and to remind them of this. Most of the students remember this daily objective because they want the "A" average

I have been teaching for 20+ years and I finally have a great solution. Yes, I tried the sitting out, reports, detention etc. We want our students active. I teach middle school so this is the first year they change clothes. I explain why they need to change, deodrant, among other health and fitness concerns. i have come up with a rubric I hope helps,

Grading Policy

Individual grades are based on a daily point system. Each class period is worth 10 points.

Breakdown of Points

Dress Out/Suit-up 3 points
Active Warm-up 2 points
Active Participation 2 points
Sportsmanship/Teamwork 1 point
Conduct/Behavior/Effort 1 point
Safety/Cooperation 1 point

Point Deductions

Late to class/Warm-ups
Lack of effort in warm-ups and/or class activities
First “time out” of activity
First inappropriate comments
Poor Sportsmanship
Non-Participation
Disruptive behavior
Not following safety rules
Ignoring instructions

Loss of Entire Daily Points and/or Principal Referral

Cut/Unexcused Absence/Suspension
Second “time out”/removal from activity

I agree with you 100%! I have the same issues in middle school. I have talked to the counselor about bringing back credits in middle schools. I think that could help motivate students to participate. Not sure that will happen though. For the past few years we have had changes in our grading policies for PE. We started at 10 points per day, now 5 points per day. We were told by our Dean of physical education a few years ago that we can't take points off for not dressing. We have to assign a detention for not dressing. WE implemented this and it has helped somewhat. We still have students who refuse to come, or after talking to parents we have to move the detention time. We have also had to change the way we have done things due to our principal overriding the Dean of PE. So we will see what the new year brings.

For my younger students, I have them read a Sport's Illustrated Kids magazine. When they are done they have to write a reflection on an article that interested them. It has worked out pretty well, although I don't have a lot of students who sit out of class.