10 Resources Health and Physical Education Teachers Use to Help Students Learn

While there's no standardized test for physical education, it is no less important than other subjects like reading and math. Physical education helps students develop habits for a healthy lifestyle, which have numerous benefits for their overall health and well-being. Research connects regular physical education with positive academic outcomes for students, noting that higher levels of physical activity improve cognition, executive function, attention and academic performance.

Physical education teachers enrolled with Rutgers Alternate Route are committed to the health and academic development of their students, and they take their roles as health ambassadors seriously. They are sharing their go-to resources for planning great lessons and enhancing their teaching in health and physical education.

Canva
Canva is a website that allows you to create and customize worksheets. Physical education teacher Kimberly J. uses Canva and recommends the website as a great resource for creating engaging and effective worksheets for students of all ages.

Edpuzzle
Edpuzzle is a website that provides videos and questions to help students learn. According to physical education teacher Job P., Edpuzzle is a great way to help students brush up on their content. Another teacher, Ava R., explains that Edpuzzle allows you to upload your own videos or search for videos related to any topic. Within these videos, they automatically stop and prompt questions for students to answer. This website also connects to Google Classroom and you can see which students have completed the material and how far along they got to completing it.

Panorama Education
Panorama Education is on Kimberly J.’s list of recommended resources for physical education colleagues as a great resource for teachers who want to help their students develop social and emotional skills. She says Panorama Education provides lessons designed to support SEL needs.

PBS Learning
PBS Learning is a website that provides videos and questions to help students learn. Job P. uses PBS Learning to help students learn about a variety of topics.

PE Central
PE Central is a website that provides resources for physical education teachers. Michael A. says this website is a great resource for answering many questions about teaching PE and health. Even though he only teaches two PE classes, this resource helps him a lot when it comes to planning lessons and executing them. Michael F. finds this site super helpful for creating new games and lessons for his PE classes. Nathan P. also recommends PE Central as a great resource for PE information in general. Ava R. recommends this site as it provides different lessons, activities, tips, and other resources that work well in a physical education class. It also provides professional development for teachers.

PE Shed
High school physical education teacher Roy M. has used PE Shed with his students in grades 9-12, however, he recommends this website as a great resource for younger students. PE Shed provides warm-up activities, tag games, thinking games and themed topics to use in class.

The PE Specialist
Michael A. uses The PE Specialist with his high school students and finds that it outlines many topics about PE. Like him, other new PE teachers can spend hours on this site. Nathan P. also recommends The PE Specialist as a great resource for PE classes, as he takes the ideas from this site and modifies and adapts them to fit his classes, which range from middle to high school.

PE Universe
Michael F. uses PE Universe because it provides videos that are able to be shown to a class about each skill and game they will perform throughout the school year. This site provides sample lessons and games that can be played in class.

Shape America Society
Julie Y. recommends Shape America Society to fellow PE teachers. She explains that this website is a great resource for lesson planning as it provides a tool kit and video demonstrations for teachers and their appropriate age groups. Along with this, there is also a tab on their website that guides HPE teachers in applying for grants and scholarships for their programs. Unfortunately, this website does require a membership fee.

SPARK PE
Roy M. thinks his Physical Education colleagues should try SPARK PE. He recommends this website because it provides activities for many sports, including videos and assessments that teachers can use, including lesson plans. This website is great for any grade.
 

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