Large P.E class presents challenges; hiring of second teacher helps solve them

When teacher Richard Ellis saw the class list for his seventh-period sports P.E. class, he was astonished by how many students were in the class. On the first day of school, nearly 80 students filled the gym, compared to the usual 30 to 40 students.

    “The class is gigantic,” said freshman Jeffrey Xu, who is in the class. “At first, I thought it was two classes combined, but it turned out to be only one class.”

    According to guidance counselor Alinna Satake, the seventh-period P.E. class is exceptionally large mostly because more students signed up for spring sports than fall sports. Many more students have also tried to transfer into this class, but their requests were denied because the class had already reached capacity.

The sports P.E. class has always had as many as 50 students, but this year was “particularly bad,” she said.

The first challenge the class faced was safety, since one teacher could not possibly supervise 80 students, Ellis said.

    Three weeks into the school year, the school hired Danielle Burks as a teaching assistant. Burks used to be the school’s strength and conditioning coach. Since the arrival of Burks, the class has effectively been split into two, Xu said. At the beginning of class, Ellis instructs the boys while Burks teaches the girls, but halfway through the period, the students switch instructors.

In addition, he noted that Ellis usually oversees running while Burks teaches weightlifting.

    With Burks’s help, Ellis can create a more engaging environment that was lost in the large class, as it was challenging to learn every student’s name, set up activities quickly and provide individual attention.

    “I definitely saw the kids beginning to lose interest, since The activities were easy to get out of because there were so many students,” Ellis said.

However, the new arrangement has ensured a rigorous exercise curriculum for students. Hiring Burks has been greatly appreciated by both Ellis and his students.

    Another accommodation the administration made was allowing students who participate in both winter and spring sports to be excused from taking the P.E course, because they would have had 10 P.E. credits already. After this change was implemented, only 62 students remained in the class.

    “Some students did choose to take up that option, but the flip side of that is if they don’t take a winter sport, they won’t get credits for the first semester,” Satake said.

    The amount of available equipment, though, was never an issue. This is because the students usually take turns doing the workouts. Also, in previous years, there were two P.E. classes during the same period with enough equipment for 80 students to use.

However, the high student enrollment in P.E. classes have led to a shortage of uniforms, forcing some students to wear their own athletic gear.

Even with the abnormally large class size, the administration’s quick accommodations have made seventh-period P.E. manageable and effective.     

“I would say that it’s the best seventh-period athletic P.E. we’ve ever had,” Ellis said. “I feel that it’s very much setting up our athletes for success in their sport.”