No matter how much time you have for PE, what matters most is making every minute count. Smart planning, efficient setup, and keeping students moving are the keys to turning any class into a great one.
In many countries, PE lessons don’t get nearly enough time each week. And it’s no surprise to hear PE teachers complaining — with very good reason — about this situation.
But no matter how much time you have, here’s one thing that makes all the difference: what really matters is making every single minute count.
Whether you only have one class per week or you’re lucky enough to have a more generous schedule, how you organize your lesson can turn an average class into a great one.
Plan smart — improvise only when you really need to
Improvisation has its moments. But it shouldn’t be your go-to strategy.
The better prepared you are, the more time your students will spend moving — and after all, that’s what PE is really about.
Here are three key things to figure out before your class even starts:
How many students will you have?
Knowing the number of students helps you adjust games, teams, and equipment. Good communication with other teachers really helps here.
Absences are one of our biggest enemies as PE teachers. Sometimes we plan a lesson for a certain number of students, and then due to a flu outbreak or any other reason, we end up with far fewer. To avoid this, my recommendation is to always plan flexible activities that don’t fall apart if the number of students is lower than expected. Once you’ve designed an activity, ask yourself if it could still work if 20 or 30% of the class is absent. If yes, go ahead. If not, ask yourself if it could be adapted somehow in that case. If the answer is still no, bring a different activity as plan B just in case. Some adaptations are simple. For example, in simple tagging games, you can adapt the space being used with this resource I’m sharing here: [LINK]
What equipment do you need?
Never assume everything will be ready. Check and prepare it ahead of time.
Exactly how long is your class?
It sounds obvious, but being clear about the time allows you to organize warm-up, main activities, and cool down properly.
Win extra minutes without anyone noticing
Here’s a simple but powerful habit: get all the equipment ready before your students arrive.
A lot of teachers wait until the students are on the court or in the gym to start setting up… and that’s lost time.
Can’t set it up before class because of school rules? No problem. Teach your students a go-to warm-up they can do independently while you get everything ready. That’s teaching too.
If you want to know more about this independent warm-up, I recommend checking out this article here: [LINK]
And above all… keep them moving
Because there’s no point saving minutes if you lose them later with activities where half the class is just standing around waiting.
Watch out for activities like 1v1 drills or big relay races with long lines. If there are more kids standing still than moving… it’s time to rethink the plan.
Remember: beyond whether an activity is technically good or bad, one of the golden rules of PE is simple — keep your students moving for as long as possible.
For obstacle course relays, the adaptation is simple: create more groups with fewer students in each one. In other cases it might be more complicated, but remember that if someone has to sit out of an activity, you can add different roles like the observer role, where that person watches and shares with their teammates what they see from the outside, or the referee role, among others.
Give instructions efficiently
It’s important to explain activities well so they develop as we want and meet the desired objectives. However, spending too much time on it only makes students bored. Use a short explanation and quickly move to a visual demonstration that will keep students’ attention.
Sometimes it’s not a bad idea to start the activity before students know 100% of the rules, and introduce new rules only when needed.
When Things Don’t Go According to Plan
I wish things always went as planned, but sometimes they just don’t. That’s why you should always have a plan B with you, a game they enjoy that can fill those moments when, for whatever reason, an activity can’t be done or has finished earlier than expected.
In my case, each class has a favorite game we use for those moments. For example, the younger students love Sharks and Minnows, though we call it “The Crossing Game.” Another class prefers an adapted version of dodgeball.
The Bottom Line
I know most of us would like more time for our PE classes. But the reality is we can’t always control that.
What we can control is how we use the time we have. Plan well. Prepare ahead. Keep students moving. Have a backup plan.
Do this consistently, and every minute will count.
