As a teacher of Physical Education, you will use a variety of cues during any given class period, and it is important to be able to clearly know and identify these different types of cues. The cues are separated into five categories:

1. Instructional Cue (Teaching Cue)
2. Class Management Cue
3. Prompting Cue
4. Attentional Cue
5. Behavioral Cue

It is equally important to note that since a cue is a form of communication, any of these cues can be verbal, non-verbal, or a combination of both (Sather).

Instructional Cue

A teaching cue is a word or a phrase that calls attention to the key points of skill technique (Pangrazi, 2007).

When delivering teaching cues during a lesson, it is important that you make your cues short and specific. This is important because short and specific cues are easier for students to remember. The best kinds of teaching cues are ones that give a good visual picture (Pangrazi, 2007).

•An example of this would be to say “squashing the bug” if you are trying to get students to rotate their hips while swinging a bat during the baseball unit. What this cue means is that you twist your back foot when you swing the bat like you are squashing a bug into the dirt. This helps students use their hips for power in a swing.
•Another example of a teaching cue would be if you are trying to get students to absorb the force of a ball when catching. As a teacher, you can use the cue “create a soft home”. What this means is that as the student catches the ball they have their hands under it and bend their arms at the elbow and bring the ball into their chest, absorbing its force.

Teaching cues can also be short, specific phrases that help your students remember key ideas and concepts (Pangrazi, 2007).
•An example of a short phrase would be “keep your eyes on the ball”. This reminds students to watch the ball so that they know where it is and when to catch it.
•Another example of a short phrase is during a Frisbee unit you can say “point your right hip towards the target”. This helps students get in line with their target and strike a proper pose. When students are presented with a target, they become so focused on the target that they forget about form. If you do not use a cue to get students into their proper form, they will end up lining up to the target with strait hips. This cue helps to remind students that they need to have one hip towards the target and not two.
•Another cue you may have for teaching Frisbee is “fingertips under rim”. This cue reminds students how to properly hold a Frisbee so that they begin their throw with the proper technique.

However, when teaching students it is important that you do not overload them with cues. It is appropriate for a teacher to have two or three cues per lesson, but any more than four cues and the students will become confused and start forgetting. So, as a teacher, you must decide what the most important aspects of a skill are and provide cues for those. In later lessons, once your students have mastered your first cues, you can build upon previously learned cues and add in more (Pangrazi, 2007).

As a teacher, it is also important that you demonstrate your cues to your students so that your students understand the motion that goes along with your verbal command. While demonstrating your cue, make sure to break down the parts and verbally describe what the body is doing. This will help your students to understand exactly what you are asking them to do when you call out a cue (Pangrazi, 2007). If your demonstration requires an object like a ball, make sure that you ask your students to focus on certain aspects by telling them not to watch the object. Objects are distracting and students will be more likely to watch the objects than you unless you tell them exactly what you want them to look at. A great source to find more teaching cues for a variety of activities is any of Hilda Fronske’s educational books (Sather).

Class Management Cue

A class management cue is used in order to organize a class so that the students may be provided with an effective and efficient learning environment (Pangrazi, 2007).
The most readily used class management cue come when a teacher starts and stops his/her class. It is important that when stopping or starting a class you use both and audio and a visual cue because gyms are loud and if students cannot hear you audio cue, then they should still be able to see your visual cue. However, it is also important that if you use a whistle for a stop or start cue that you do not use that whistle for anything else during your class. This helps to avoid student confusion about cues, while helping you maintain classroom control (Pangrazi, 2007).
•An example of a stop cue would be blowing a whistle a certain amount of times along with a hand raised in the air.
•Another example of a stop cue would be saying freeze while having a hand raised in the air.

Another class management cue happens when a teacher moves his/her students into groups, partners, or formations.
•An example of a class management cue that is used in order for students to partner up is the use of the activity toe to toe. As the students move randomly though out the gym, the teacher can call out toe to toe and the students find a person nearest them and go toe to toe with that person. This activity can also be used in order to divide the class in half. This management cue assures that students find a partner quickly and provides students with a way to meet other students (Pangrazi, 2007).
•Another example of a class management cue is the use of the command “fall in”. As students move randomly through out the gym, the teacher can call out fall in and the students move to the perimeter of the teaching area and fall in behind another person. This cue is used to create circles or single-file lines quickly and efficiently (Pangrazi, 2007).

Prompting Cue

A prompting cue is a cue most often used in aerobics in order to trigger the next move or movement (Sather).

Attentional Cue

An attentional cue is a cue that calls a students focus to a specific movement so that a student may make an appropriate response to that movement (Sather).
•An example of an attentional cue is having a students focus on a pitcher’s release. This allows for the students to make an assumption about the kind of pitch is being delivered and where the ball may go in reference to the student’s strike zone.
•Another example of an attentional cue is having a student focus on a defenders alignment.

Behavioral Cue

I am not sure if this is the fifth cue or if this falls under management cues.

Pangrazi, R. (2007). Dynamic Physical Education for Elementary School Children (5th ed.). San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings.

Sather, B. Physical Education Cues. Eastern Oregon University. La Grande. 14 April. 2009.