A teacher's ability to present clear and appropriate movement tasks to the learner is strongly related to student learning (Gusthart & Kelley, 1993; Kwak, 1993; Werner & Rink, 1989). Little research has been conducted to examine how teachers acquire these skills. The purpose of this study was to describe how preservice teachers develop task presentation skills. Participants were 15 students enrolled in an elementary methods class. All participants had successfully completed a previous methods course that emphasized task presentation. Eleven participants were undergraduates and four were seeking master's level teacher certification. Participants were videotaped teaching six lessons to groups of eight to twelve elementary children in grades three and four. Lessons one and two focused on striking skills, lessons three and four on dance, and lessons five and six on games content. The task presentations of all participants teaching each of the six lessons were analyzed by three independent observers using the Qualitative Measures of Teaching Performance Scale (QMTPS). Interobserver agreement was above 85% for all categories. The mean total scores for the six lessons on the QMTPS for all participants ranged from 59.6 to 68.8. Performance within the group of participants was highly variable. To explain a portion of the variability, participants were placed in groups: masters level students, undergraduates who completed the degree, undergraduates who did not complete the degree for academic reasons, and students who made a C in the previous course. A 4 (group) x 3 (content) x 2 (lesson) ANOVA with repeated measures on the last two factors was conducted on the total score and subscores of the QMTPS. The main effect of group was significant for the total QMTPS score, accuracy of cues, number of cues, feedback, and demonstrations. Students not completing the degree had significantly lower scores than the other groups. Scores for demonstrations, feedback, and student responses were lower when students taught dance in comparison with teaching striking or games content. A total score above 50 on the QMTPS is an indicator of effective task presentations (Gusthart & Kelley, 1993). Thus, these preservice teachers were able to maintain effective task presentations when the teaching environment became more complex (increase in number of students, change in age level, different content). Students with overall academic problems had difficulty with task presentation skills. All students gave less effective task presentations in the dance content possibly due to the lack of content knowledge. Keyword(s): motor skills, physical education PK-12, professional preparation