Grading in PE

Grading in PE can be a controversial subject.  Some PE teachers grade solely based on participation.  Others document all their grades and make sure what they are scoring is factual.  I do a combination of the two.  I grade in four different categories: Participation, Attitude, Sportsmanship, and Skills Improvement. When it comes to the first three categories I grade based on my observations.  They get 10 points in each of the first three categories every week.  If I observe a girl off to the side in a game not trying very hard, she might get a 8 out of 10 on the week.  She may also lose points in the attitude category for this.  Sportsmanship is different than attitude.  Sportsmanship counts for encouragement, working well with your team for whatever game we are playing, not complaining about the performance of at teammate, etc.  When it comes to skills improvement I can actually document the students grades.  I do pre and post testing for skills and give them a grade based on the improvement between the tests.  For example, we just finished a volleyball unit in PE.  The students were pre and post tested on passing, setting, and serving.  If I saw improvement in their scores and in my observations of them during the games I would give them a good score.  If the improvement was minimal, they would get a lower grade, and if there was no improvement at all they would get a low grade.

When it comes to dressing out for class I do not grade for this.  As long as the students are wearing appropriate shoes they can still participate and earn their participation points.  I keep track of how many times they don't dress out and after 5 they receive a detention.

Currently all of my PE students have an A in my class except for one student.  This student has a hard time respecting my authority.  He is always complaining about teams I create or talking back to me when I ask him to do something.  I have given demerits and detentions to try to rectify this behavior and we have had numerous conversations about this.  He knows it is affecting his grade and he seems to care about it, and yet the behavior continues.  He loses points in each category because his poor attitude and demeanor affect his participation and sportsmanship.  Pray that God will change his attitude!

Although its easy to earn an A in my class, you still have to earn it.  I wouldn't say my class is hard by any means, but you do have to learn the skills and prove to me that you are trying to improve.  Enjoy my thoughts on grading!