Meet Tracy Krause: Tahoma High School PE Teacher and 2012 NFL Teacher of the Year

In 2012, Tahoma High School physical education teacher Tracy Krause was recognized as the NFL Physical Education Teacher of the Year, and received $10,000 to spend on his PE program. In 2008, Tracy was the NASPE National High School Physical Education Teacher of the Year. The PE program at Tahoma HS was previously featured in pelinks4u, and Tracy was interviewed by pelinks4u staff.

Well first, how did you spend the $10,000 you received from the NFL for your PE program?

We built a disk golf course, and bought more indoor rock climbing equipment and balance items such as Indo Boards (video) and slacklines (video). We also purchased three GoPro video cameras so that our students could film what they were doing during class activities.

Why did you to choose become a physical education teacher?

I grew up with a passion for being physically active. Whether hiking Washington's Cascade mountain range, or competing in sports, I've always been more at peace when moving. When, like most people, becoming a professional athlete didn't pan out, I started college in business school but the lack of movement and some great experiences at a sports camp motivated me to switch to physical education.

What is your teaching philosophy?

The way I think about teaching continues to evolve. Presently, I'm convinced in the importance of "Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships." Actually, I view relationships as my first priority. If we don't connect with our students there's not much motivation for them to listen to us. If young people don't see what we teach as meaningful, we're also all wasting our time. But my classes are very demanding. I expect my students to work hard physically, mentally, and socially. And physical education is a great place to develop these skills.

What do you want your students to get out of your physical education program?

We want our students to leave school with the foundation, experience, and skills that will motivate them to be active movers for a lifetime. We need to do more to connect our schools and communities so that our students know where to go and how to be healthy and physically active when we're not there to direct them.

How can we better connect schools and local communities?

At Tahoma HS, we try hard to get the staff and teachers involved in physical activity. Students notice this. They're smart enough to see what adults view as important. When they see adults making time to exercise and eating healthy, they copy them. We have a staff wellness program and an annual wellness week. For physical education to succeed in the future, there needs to be mutual respect in schools for all curriculum areas.

We've also partnered with a lot of community organizations and local businesses. Students in our PE program not only hike trails, but also get to build and maintain them. Several companies provide equipment for our students to use and sometimes give instruction. We even have city police officers join us for a class bike outing. The great thing is that our kids are not only active but become familiar with the great community resources surrounding them.

How did National Board Certification help you?

The national board process made me reflect on my teaching. Today I constantly ask myself "Why did I do that?" or "How do I know they understand what I'm teaching?" This thinking benefits my students and helps me improve. When I do this I feel much better about my teaching and enjoy it more.

What motivated you to become more professionally involved?

After several years teaching, Jeana Haag (who teaches with me at Tahoma HS) and I felt we needed to change what we were doing but weren't sure what direction to take. At that time the program was pretty traditional; team sports, weight training, aerobics, etc. We'd polled our students, and they told us they wanted things like dance and more outdoor activities. Neither of us had been professionally involved much, mostly because we weren't aware of the opportunities.

We ended up meeting Deborah Tannehill at a conference. Deborah encouraged us to get more involved in the school, district, and state. It energized me and led me to ask myself "How can I truly impact our profession?" Since then I've tried to change the way people, especially decision-makers, think about school physical education. I ended up helping to develop our state standards and revising the PE standards for National Board Certification. I'm also involved with NASPE's PE 2020 initiative.

Tell us more about the "Outdoor Academy" at your high school

We're now in our ninth year of offering a class that combines science, language arts, and physical education. I work with two colleagues, and we meet every other day for the entire day with a group of about 85 students. We're free to organize the schedule however we like. We can have whole group activities, or split them into smaller groups.

Each teacher has specific learning objectives, and we meet regularly to plan how to best integrate classroom activities. Spending this much time with our students really helps us to develop good personal relationships. Integrating content also makes learning more meaningful for the students. And each of us has high expectations. So far it's been a great success and, not insignificantly, our students have performed exceptionally well in the state's academic tests.

What are some of the challenges you see us facing in physical education?

Not long ago, a local school district cut its PE teachers as a way to balance its budget. In its place the district hired the YMCA to provide physical activity and saved thousands of dollars. But at what cost? The students are not becoming "physically educated." It worries me that too often physical activity is viewed the same as physical education. We have to become more involved in advocating for physical education programs that give students experiences they can't get elsewhere.

But I'm worried that there are too many PE programs that don't belong in our schools. If today's policymakers remember negative PE experiences, or see them with their own kids, they won't support us. With today's economy, and the pressure of academic testing, the threat of program and position cuts should concern us all. It's pretty ironic that all this is happening when the public is concerned about worsening obesity. We should be an important part of the solution, but we aren't.

How can we move the physical education profession forwards?

I think we need to do more to help develop tomorrow's great teachers. It's vital pre-service teachers get a great first experience. This sets the foundation for the rest of their teaching careers. We also need physical educators to commit themselves to continuous professional development. This encourages all of us to reflect on what we're doing, and be willing to change. Education is changing, and all of us have a responsibility to help shape physical education’s role in that future.

Through 2011, the NFL Network awarded nearly $625,000 in PE grants to 47 schools. Keep Gym in School has trained 7,500 students with NFL players in minicamps, and has used PE to motivate and inspire fitness for 125,000 students at 212 schools across 13 school districts.

For more information on this year's grants go to: http://www.keepgyminschool.com/. For information about the Tahoma HS PE program you can contact Tracy at TKrause@TahomaSD.us.

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