July 21, 2025 • 12 mins
Welcome aboard PE Nation!
New to teaching Physed? Or are you always growing and learning? Either way, this episode is for you!
• Space - Define your teaching boundaries both indoors and outdoors, assess storage areas, and create a vision for your program
• Equipment - Categorize into keep, discard, and maybe piles; focus on items that benefit the most students
• Time - Structure your day with consistent routines for class beginnings, transitions, and endings
• Size - Know your typical class sizes and adult-to-student ratios to plan accordingly
• The SETS approach helps establish organization and structure in PE programs
Take care,
Dave
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First Year PE Blueprint ebook
Beg, Borrow, Build and Steal ebook with links, Free game PDFs and my personal grant writing files: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Beg-Borrow-Build-and-Steal-Equipment-13063549
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hello and welcome to the Supersize Phys Ed podcast.
My name is Dave and today Iwant to talk about SETS, the
SETS strategy, what I call thesecret to smarter teaching
method, and this is especially,I think, helpful for newer
teachers or teachers that arejust starting a new program,
like myself.
(00:31):
I've done it a couple of times.
So, without further ado, herewe go.
Rip Nation welcome in.
So, like I said, it is calledSETS.
(00:52):
What I'm going to talk abouttoday, and that is space,
equipment, time and size of yourclass.
So these are all things I thinkform the foundation of your
teaching, your program.
And, again, I've done thistwice, which has been not easy
at times, just getting thingsstarted, getting the culture I
(01:12):
want built.
So this will be the first of afour-part series of just how to
get your PE program off theground.
And again, I think this is thefoundation of where you should
begin your journey.
So let's make this a boomer.
Here's the first one.
Let's go All right.
(01:36):
The first one is space, and itis not the final frontier, it is
not star Wars, it is definingyour boundaries.
So, are you inside or are yououtside?
Do you have a pavilion,basketball courts, a track?
What do you got?
You got a playground.
Are you again always inside?
I'm always outside and unlessit's like a rainy day or
whatever, that's a whole other.
You know podcast and thingslike that.
(01:57):
But you know what does yourspace look like, and that
includes your storage and youroffice areas.
So I know what it's like towalk into an unknown territory.
You know you look around, youfeel overwhelmed.
You see all this stuff from theprevious teacher and you don't
know what's going on.
My first school I had a lot ofspace.
(02:18):
I had a lot of as far asstorage.
My office was bright and cleanand really nice.
I did have to throw out a lotof junk after the first,
especially first year, when Ididn't use a lot of things,
which we'll talk about.
But you know I had a nice,clean, big environment, a lot of
space and my pavilion was huge.
(02:39):
My, you know I had a lot of big, big track, big field, two big
basketball courts and aplayground which we use during
like free time, sometimes likefun, fun Fridays, things like
that.
So you know it was, it was nice, and my current school is 20
years older than my formerschool.
So you're talking thedifference between 2008 and 1988
(03:03):
.
And you know I walked in.
It was creepy, it was dark, itwas, you know, a lot of just
bugs on the ground and I had toclean up the kind of the rafters
.
The pavilion is actuallysmaller and it's lower and it
was disgusting.
I spent at least a day duringthe pre-service week just
(03:27):
pressure washing the roof, thetop of the pavilion, underneath
like, yeah, the roof, basicallythe awning, and there were
spiders and cobwebs everywhere.
It was like raining spiders andI hate spiders.
I really do.
I don't ever like like get mespiders for Christmas or
anything.
It just I I'm.
(03:48):
It was awful and I spent a lotof time on that.
It honestly looked like no onehad done it in 20 years.
I mean it was awful.
So you know, that was the.
That's my current school and mygoal was to brighten it up
because it was it was bad.
It was, you know, dingy, oldand my storage is a lot less
(04:10):
Like.
Basically, my office and mystorage are together and it's
not even close to my formerschool, so I have to really make
do with you know what I haveand it's not easy.
My goal for both my schools wasthe same.
However, after taking it all in.
I decided to focus on what Icould control.
I got my notebook, my trash canand I got moving.
I also got with my principaland my AP and discussed how, you
(04:35):
know, rainy days might affectus picture days, recess, you
know, I didn't know what I waswalking into, so I wanted to
make sure I protected my spaceto.
So I wanted to make sure Iprotected my space and I took
all that information in and kindof developed a program, a
vision for my program.
I wrote everything down, mappedit out and wrote down even
games I want to play in thesecertain spots, like under my
pavilion, in the field, on thetrack, on the basketball courts,
(04:57):
all that stuff.
So take a deep breath as youwalk in, form a plan and get to
work.
Number two is equipment, andagain I know what it's like to
walk into a big old mess.
Equipment that's everywherethat's tangled, this bunch of
(05:18):
random crap, I guess, and youknow it looks like it could be
useful some of it, while therest of it was from the last
century.
I'm not kidding you.
I found trophies from 1992 inmy storage closet.
I really did so.
I know what it's like to havelittle or no budget as well.
But I also know how to flip iton its head and build a massive
treasure chest of new, excitingand innovative equipment for
(05:38):
many years by writing grants bythe Beg, bower and Steal and
Build, I guess, method that Ihave I'll put in the show notes
the e-book I made and I talkedabout it on one of my recent
podcasts.
So you know, equipment is like.
You know, opening equipment islike Christmas Day.
I love getting equipment right.
So you know, definitely go outand get the equipment you want.
(06:00):
That will be the best bang foryour buck.
You want to make sure it canaffect the most amount of
students and you want to get ridof the junk.
So and it took me a couple ofyears to get rid of the junk you
know I wanted to use everythingand I just didn't.
So I separated the equipmentinto three categories, not
literally, but I just kind of inmy mind or I wrote it down the
(06:21):
yes, I'm definitely keeping it.
The no, definitely not, and Itossed it out.
And the maybe.
So that's the keep for now andthen trash it after a year if
you don't use it.
And you know, with less storage, that's what I have in this,
like I said, my current school.
I've got to get rid of the junk.
I can't keep things that I'mnever going to use or that are
just really beaten up.
So get the equipment that makesthe most sense for you, for
(06:46):
your students, for the number ofstudents you have, which we'll
talk about.
And I'd say, as far asequipment, use it or lose it.
All right, t is time, and I wasa mess when I first started
teaching PE.
I you know the days would go by.
(07:08):
I didn't accomplish much as faras planning, as far as getting
organized, getting structure.
As long as the kids are movingand no one's going to hurt, I
was okay with that, and that'snot good teaching.
A lot can happen in the day andyou can't be prepared for
everything.
So you've got to have a planNow.
I didn't at first.
Again, my planning time waslike scroll the internet.
I just kind of chit chat withmy parents, which is great.
You do want to havecommunication with them and you
(07:30):
want to have good rapport withthem, but you need to get the
work done as well.
So I realized I couldn't justwing it and go with the flow,
right.
I had to realize that time islimited and I better serve my
students.
I need to be on task.
So I started to map out my timeand have a purpose behind every
moment.
At school I structured eachclass so everyone knew what the
first few minutes looked like.
They knew how we transitionedinto stations.
(07:52):
They knew how classes ended andwhere to go.
My paras had defined roles andI'm going to do another podcast
soon about paras.
We had direction and a purposefor everything.
So, years later, I'm stilllearning and growing as a
professional.
I'm not perfect at all.
I'm never going to say I'mperfect.
I'm learning and growing, justlike you, I hope.
(08:12):
But the goal is for this is tomake a plan, structure your day
and remember every second counts.
So the last S is size of classesand I wasn't ready for my first
day.
I remember my principal told methe numbers and he's like you
(08:33):
know you have five or sixclasses at a time, but you got
three paras.
You know it's going to be okay.
But you know, until you walk inand you see 140 to 150 students
just staring at you and thepara is looking at you for
direction and they don't evenknow who you are, you're just
walking into a new space, neweverything, a new program.
(08:54):
You know I wanted to hide andyou know I'm not an outgoing
person.
I'm really not.
I've learned I can speak infront of large crowds of
students, but not really infront of adults as much.
So you know, some of you haveone class at a time and you
teach indoors.
Some of you are like me and youhave large groups and teach
outside.
Either way, you have to knowwhat you're walking into and how
(09:16):
to plan for that.
So last year and this year, Ifeel like I've gotten lucky or
I've gotten yeah, gotten a break.
I feel like I've gotten luckyor I've gotten yeah, gotten a
break.
I have three to four classesper grade level with two paras,
and that's really three adultsfor three classes.
I'm getting used to it and it'sawesome I'm.
(09:38):
I usually, throughout my career,I've had two classes by myself
and that's just how it's been,like there's always been one
extra class per adult.
So in the past, you know, therewas five classes and four
adults.
So there was even when I firststarted at this school, there
was four classes and threeadults.
So I'd always take two bymyself.
(09:59):
I'd always have, you know, 60kids by myself kind of thing, or
around there, by myself kind ofthing, or around there.
So you know, you have to knowwhat the size of your class,
your classes, are and how to get.
You know, get again, the mostequipment, the most time on task
per student.
So, and what I mean byequipment is you have to make
sure you have enough equipmentfor the number of students you
have.
Okay, we have a lot of students, but I make sure we have the
(10:21):
right equipment and plan inplace for our numbers.
Okay, we make it work and thekey is to know your class sizes
and plan accordingly.
And now it is time for yourcowbell tip of the day.
(10:42):
All right, so your tip of theday is to incorporate the set
strategy into your PE program,especially if you're a first
year PE teacher or you're cominginto a new space or new program
.
And I did create an e-book onthis, which you can click on the
link in the show notes topurchase.
It's $1.99 and it has all thethings I talked about, plus the
(11:05):
graphics and other cool thingslike that, and that is called
the First Year PE Blueprint.
It is the first in the seriesof books I'm creating.
Either way, have a plan inplace for your sets, for your
program, and that is yourcowbell tip of the day.
Thank you everybody for tuningin today.
(11:31):
I really do appreciate it.
As always, go tosupersizefizadcom for more
information and definitely checkout the e-book that I talked
about in the cowbell tip of theday and with that, pe Nation
have a great day, week, weekend,summer or whenever you're
listening to this.
You guys and girls are awesomeand let's keep pushing our
profession forward.
(11:53):
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to the Supersize Phys Ed podcast.
My name is Dave and today Iwant to talk about SETS, the
SETS strategy, what I call thesecret to smarter teaching
method, and this is especially,I think, helpful for newer
teachers or teachers that arejust starting a new program,
like myself.
(00:31):
I've done it a couple of times.
So, without further ado, herewe go.
Rip Nation welcome in.
So, like I said, it is calledSETS.
(00:52):
What I'm going to talk abouttoday, and that is space,
equipment, time and size of yourclass.
So these are all things I thinkform the foundation of your
teaching, your program.
And, again, I've done thistwice, which has been not easy
at times, just getting thingsstarted, getting the culture I
(01:12):
want built.
So this will be the first of afour-part series of just how to
get your PE program off theground.
And again, I think this is thefoundation of where you should
begin your journey.
So let's make this a boomer.
Here's the first one.
Let's go All right.
(01:36):
The first one is space, and itis not the final frontier, it is
not star Wars, it is definingyour boundaries.
So, are you inside or are yououtside?
Do you have a pavilion,basketball courts, a track?
What do you got?
You got a playground.
Are you again always inside?
I'm always outside and unlessit's like a rainy day or
whatever, that's a whole other.
You know podcast and thingslike that.
(01:57):
But you know what does yourspace look like, and that
includes your storage and youroffice areas.
So I know what it's like towalk into an unknown territory.
You know you look around, youfeel overwhelmed.
You see all this stuff from theprevious teacher and you don't
know what's going on.
My first school I had a lot ofspace.
(02:18):
I had a lot of as far asstorage.
My office was bright and cleanand really nice.
I did have to throw out a lotof junk after the first,
especially first year, when Ididn't use a lot of things,
which we'll talk about.
But you know I had a nice,clean, big environment, a lot of
space and my pavilion was huge.
(02:39):
My, you know I had a lot of big, big track, big field, two big
basketball courts and aplayground which we use during
like free time, sometimes likefun, fun Fridays, things like
that.
So you know it was, it was nice, and my current school is 20
years older than my formerschool.
So you're talking thedifference between 2008 and 1988
(03:03):
.
And you know I walked in.
It was creepy, it was dark, itwas, you know, a lot of just
bugs on the ground and I had toclean up the kind of the rafters
.
The pavilion is actuallysmaller and it's lower and it
was disgusting.
I spent at least a day duringthe pre-service week just
(03:27):
pressure washing the roof, thetop of the pavilion, underneath
like, yeah, the roof, basicallythe awning, and there were
spiders and cobwebs everywhere.
It was like raining spiders andI hate spiders.
I really do.
I don't ever like like get mespiders for Christmas or
anything.
It just I I'm.
(03:48):
It was awful and I spent a lotof time on that.
It honestly looked like no onehad done it in 20 years.
I mean it was awful.
So you know, that was the.
That's my current school and mygoal was to brighten it up
because it was it was bad.
It was, you know, dingy, oldand my storage is a lot less
(04:10):
Like.
Basically, my office and mystorage are together and it's
not even close to my formerschool, so I have to really make
do with you know what I haveand it's not easy.
My goal for both my schools wasthe same.
However, after taking it all in.
I decided to focus on what Icould control.
I got my notebook, my trash canand I got moving.
I also got with my principaland my AP and discussed how, you
(04:35):
know, rainy days might affectus picture days, recess, you
know, I didn't know what I waswalking into, so I wanted to
make sure I protected my spaceto.
So I wanted to make sure Iprotected my space and I took
all that information in and kindof developed a program, a
vision for my program.
I wrote everything down, mappedit out and wrote down even
games I want to play in thesecertain spots, like under my
pavilion, in the field, on thetrack, on the basketball courts,
(04:57):
all that stuff.
So take a deep breath as youwalk in, form a plan and get to
work.
Number two is equipment, andagain I know what it's like to
walk into a big old mess.
Equipment that's everywherethat's tangled, this bunch of
(05:18):
random crap, I guess, and youknow it looks like it could be
useful some of it, while therest of it was from the last
century.
I'm not kidding you.
I found trophies from 1992 inmy storage closet.
I really did so.
I know what it's like to havelittle or no budget as well.
But I also know how to flip iton its head and build a massive
treasure chest of new, excitingand innovative equipment for
(05:38):
many years by writing grants bythe Beg, bower and Steal and
Build, I guess, method that Ihave I'll put in the show notes
the e-book I made and I talkedabout it on one of my recent
podcasts.
So you know, equipment is like.
You know, opening equipment islike Christmas Day.
I love getting equipment right.
So you know, definitely go outand get the equipment you want.
(06:00):
That will be the best bang foryour buck.
You want to make sure it canaffect the most amount of
students and you want to get ridof the junk.
So and it took me a couple ofyears to get rid of the junk you
know I wanted to use everythingand I just didn't.
So I separated the equipmentinto three categories, not
literally, but I just kind of inmy mind or I wrote it down the
(06:21):
yes, I'm definitely keeping it.
The no, definitely not, and Itossed it out.
And the maybe.
So that's the keep for now andthen trash it after a year if
you don't use it.
And you know, with less storage, that's what I have in this,
like I said, my current school.
I've got to get rid of the junk.
I can't keep things that I'mnever going to use or that are
just really beaten up.
So get the equipment that makesthe most sense for you, for
(06:46):
your students, for the number ofstudents you have, which we'll
talk about.
And I'd say, as far asequipment, use it or lose it.
All right, t is time, and I wasa mess when I first started
teaching PE.
I you know the days would go by.
(07:08):
I didn't accomplish much as faras planning, as far as getting
organized, getting structure.
As long as the kids are movingand no one's going to hurt, I
was okay with that, and that'snot good teaching.
A lot can happen in the day andyou can't be prepared for
everything.
So you've got to have a planNow.
I didn't at first.
Again, my planning time waslike scroll the internet.
I just kind of chit chat withmy parents, which is great.
You do want to havecommunication with them and you
(07:30):
want to have good rapport withthem, but you need to get the
work done as well.
So I realized I couldn't justwing it and go with the flow,
right.
I had to realize that time islimited and I better serve my
students.
I need to be on task.
So I started to map out my timeand have a purpose behind every
moment.
At school I structured eachclass so everyone knew what the
first few minutes looked like.
They knew how we transitionedinto stations.
(07:52):
They knew how classes ended andwhere to go.
My paras had defined roles andI'm going to do another podcast
soon about paras.
We had direction and a purposefor everything.
So, years later, I'm stilllearning and growing as a
professional.
I'm not perfect at all.
I'm never going to say I'mperfect.
I'm learning and growing, justlike you, I hope.
(08:12):
But the goal is for this is tomake a plan, structure your day
and remember every second counts.
So the last S is size of classesand I wasn't ready for my first
day.
I remember my principal told methe numbers and he's like you
(08:33):
know you have five or sixclasses at a time, but you got
three paras.
You know it's going to be okay.
But you know, until you walk inand you see 140 to 150 students
just staring at you and thepara is looking at you for
direction and they don't evenknow who you are, you're just
walking into a new space, neweverything, a new program.
(08:54):
You know I wanted to hide andyou know I'm not an outgoing
person.
I'm really not.
I've learned I can speak infront of large crowds of
students, but not really infront of adults as much.
So you know, some of you haveone class at a time and you
teach indoors.
Some of you are like me and youhave large groups and teach
outside.
Either way, you have to knowwhat you're walking into and how
(09:16):
to plan for that.
So last year and this year, Ifeel like I've gotten lucky or
I've gotten yeah, gotten a break.
I feel like I've gotten luckyor I've gotten yeah, gotten a
break.
I have three to four classesper grade level with two paras,
and that's really three adultsfor three classes.
I'm getting used to it and it'sawesome I'm.
(09:38):
I usually, throughout my career,I've had two classes by myself
and that's just how it's been,like there's always been one
extra class per adult.
So in the past, you know, therewas five classes and four
adults.
So there was even when I firststarted at this school, there
was four classes and threeadults.
So I'd always take two bymyself.
(09:59):
I'd always have, you know, 60kids by myself kind of thing, or
around there, by myself kind ofthing, or around there.
So you know, you have to knowwhat the size of your class,
your classes, are and how to get.
You know, get again, the mostequipment, the most time on task
per student.
So, and what I mean byequipment is you have to make
sure you have enough equipmentfor the number of students you
have.
Okay, we have a lot of students, but I make sure we have the
(10:21):
right equipment and plan inplace for our numbers.
Okay, we make it work and thekey is to know your class sizes
and plan accordingly.
And now it is time for yourcowbell tip of the day.
(10:42):
All right, so your tip of theday is to incorporate the set
strategy into your PE program,especially if you're a first
year PE teacher or you're cominginto a new space or new program
.
And I did create an e-book onthis, which you can click on the
link in the show notes topurchase.
It's $1.99 and it has all thethings I talked about, plus the
(11:05):
graphics and other cool thingslike that, and that is called
the First Year PE Blueprint.
It is the first in the seriesof books I'm creating.
Either way, have a plan inplace for your sets, for your
program, and that is yourcowbell tip of the day.
Thank you everybody for tuningin today.
(11:31):
I really do appreciate it.
As always, go tosupersizefizadcom for more
information and definitely checkout the e-book that I talked
about in the cowbell tip of theday and with that, pe Nation
have a great day, week, weekend,summer or whenever you're
listening to this.
You guys and girls are awesomeand let's keep pushing our
profession forward.
(11:53):
Thank you.
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