As PE teachers, we have been there. Students are engaged, working on the skill you just taught, and we do not want to disrupt them. So we move around the gym offering encouragement. "Good job." "Way to go." "Keep it up."

It feels like we are helping. But are students actually getting the information they need to improve?

A question to consider

Praise is easy to give. It lands softly. It can keep the energy in the class warm. The student gets a quiet sense of approval. We get the sense of having responded and encouraged them to keep going. The lesson feels productive. Win-win!

But here is a harder question: did the student actually leave that moment knowing what they did well or what to do differently?

Most of the time, they don’t.

That is the line between praise and feedback. And this matters if we want students to believe they can grow and succeed in PE.

A moment from outside of teaching PE

Recently, I was watching my kids at a basketball camp as a parent, not a PE teacher. I had nothing to manage, no group to lead, no next activity to prepare. I was just watching for joy.

That distance gave me a moment of clarity that can be harder to see when we are teaching a PE class.

The coaches walked the kids through cues for shooting: footwork, hand position, follow-through. Then the kids began practicing, and the coaches circulated. The praise never stopped. "Nice shot." "Way to go." "Perfect." "Almost." The kids were smiling and kept trying.

That is when I saw it.

It seemed like the kids were locked in and practicing, but the cues they had just learned were never addressed. Within minutes, the kids were simply trying to get the ball in the net, ignoring the techniques they had been shown.

No feedback on what they were doing well. No simple adjustment to make. Just soothing words over and over again.

At the water break, I gave each of my kids one piece of information about their foot position. Nothing elaborate. One cue each, like bend at the knees or have your strong foot slightly in front of the other one. They went back out and focused on their specific cue in their next few shot attempts. The focus was on the process, not the product (the ball didn’t go in much, but we weren’t focusing on that).

It was not a coaching breakthrough. It was just feedback doing what feedback is supposed to do: guide and improve learning.

Why praise fills the space

What I saw at the basketball camp is not unique to camps. It happens in PE classes too. I have experienced this in my own teaching, among my colleagues, and with PE teachers I get to support. When you are managing a class, watching engagement, keeping things safe, and planning what comes next, your attention is spread across many things.

Praise fits naturally into that reality. It is quick. It does not require you to stop and look deeply. It keeps the mood up.

Feedback asks more of you in the moment, which is part of why it often gets overlooked or left out. It is what can happen in a complex and dynamic environment like a PE class.

And feedback does not have to be an epic dialogue or compete for activity time. It just needs to help the receiver understand what they did well and what they can do next to improve.

What feedback actually gives students

Praise tells a student how we feel about what they did.

Feedback responds to the learning. It affirms something they did well and gives them something they can act on.

A simple shift:

Instead of "good job," try "good job keeping your eyes up as you dribbled. Now try protecting the ball with your other arm."

Same warmth, but more detailed information about what they did a “good job” with and something they can focus on in the next attempt. It helps students see where they are and what to do next.

Praise cannot do this.

No amount of "good try" closes the gap between where a student is and where they can get to. Only feedback and purposeful practice do that (and the feedback does not always have to come from teachers).

None of this means we stop encouraging students. Acknowledgment matters, especially for those who feel uncertain or visible. But if acknowledgment is all they are getting, they can work hard, stay positive, and still end the lesson no closer to improving.

One small thing to try

Before your next lesson, pick one specific thing to watch for while students are active. Something tied to what you have taught them and aligned with the lesson success criteria. That becomes your focus.

When you see something connected to that focus, offer one specific piece of information to a student. Not just a reaction to their effort or whether the skill worked. Something they did well and something to work on, tied to the cues or decisions they just made.

Keep encouraging students when they try. That still has a place.

Just do not skip giving them feedback on what they did well and something they can use to improve.

Both matter. Only one moves learning forward.