Years ago, business visionary Peter Drucker challenged companies to imagine what they’d look like if they hadn’t inherited their present structure. In other words, what would they do differently? What would success look like? It was a novel way to think about change and to resist complacency. A way for companies to anticipate how to stay relevant in a fast-changing world.

Similarly challenged, I’m confident that most physical educators would imagine success as a world in which all of their students choose to be physically active and healthy. It’s something clearly not a reality today but indisputably desirable. The tough part has been translating this vision into practice. Having a clear destination is one thing, but like summiting a mountain, choosing the best route to the top is harder to agree upon. And within the physical education profession, despite consensus about what we’d like to achieve, agreeing on how to get there continues to elude us. This isn’t new. Looking back, it pretty much characterizes our history since the birth of our professional association, the Association for the Advancement of Physical Education (AAPE) 130 years ago.

Unresolved divisions and differences of opinion over professional practice have for more than a century handicapped efforts to move the physical education profession forward. Contentious debate has prevented us from realizing our potential and getting the respect we’ve worked hard to deserve. The lack of agreement on content and outcomes has muddled our mission, confused our thinking, and bewildered the outside world as to what “good” PE looks like. While we may argue otherwise, to the public there’s no difference between physical activity, physical education and athletics, and PE teachers and coaches.

Personally, I like kale, though I haven’t always enjoyed it. Likewise, while I could eat kale plain, I prefer it sauteed in garlic and olive oil or better yet, blended with bananas and strawberries in a smoothie! Practicing skills is the same to me. I have always loved to move but I definitely needed competition, challenge, or socialization to make it palatable for me in my younger years.

Over the past year, I have noticed a recurring theme at conferences: the role of games in physical education. Here is my take on the topic.

Literature Enhanced Physical Education

Editor’s Note: Tracy wrote this essay back in spring 2014. We sought an opportune time to share it with pelinks4u readers. As we start out 2015 and soon many of us will come together at the national SHAPE America convention in Seattle, Tracy’s message is an inspirational reminder of a way all of us can help to move the profession forward.

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I make a conscious effort to stay positive. This attitude, I believe, gives me the power to overcome the obstacles I face and leads to success. However, I have to admit, the last couple of months of school were more demanding this year than I can remember. The kids were a little tougher. The adults were a little grumpier. For the first time I was looking forward to summer a little more than I feel I should. I even thought about going into administration. How dreadful. What’s worse is that I can’t point to one specific cause. When I reflect on these last two months my mind moves quickly between HSPE testing, AP testing, EOC testing, finals testing, school culture, staff culture, department culture, course proposals, course offerings, scheduling, staffing, meetings, influence, lack of influence, administrative decisions, (some good, some not as good), TPEP, CCSS, NGSS and a long list of other mind numbing acronyms. It goes on and on. It has been a draining end of the year. Am I ever thankful for the summer and a chance to energize myself as an educator!

These challenges continued to dominate my thoughts as I boarded my flight to St. Louis yesterday where I have the opportunity to meet with leaders in our field over the next few days and listen in as they discuss the future of physical education. I brought with me for the flight a book by Jon Gordon called The Carpenter. The publisher bills the book as “A story about the greatest success strategies of all.” I was drawn to Gordon’s writing because the strategies I have been using over the past twenty plus years to further our field are producing diminishing returns. It’s time to progress. Time to challenge myself. This book seemed like a good starting point.