When the nominees for physical education teacher of the year were announced, Sara Russell was looking at the teacher she knew was going to win. When Russell’s name was called out as the winner, she was speechless.
Russell has taught physical education and health at Tahoma Junior High for 13 years. Last year, Russell was named the High School Physical Education Teacher of the Year by SHAPE (Society of Health and Physical Educators), in the Northwest district. This year, she was among four other district winners up for SHAPE’s national title of District High School Physical Education Teacher of the Year.
Russell was first nominated for the Northwest District award by a fellow teacher. Once she was nominated, there was a lot of paper work and an interview process. After she was nominated, she went to an award ceremony where she was named the district winner. Once a teacher becomes the district winner, they can continue to be in the running for the national title.
“It’s a long process but I have respect for the teacher that nominated me,” Russell said. “I felt like I owed it to them”
The award is given in recognition of outstanding performance at the high school level and the ability to motivate today’s youth to participate in a lifetime of physical activity, according to SHAPE’s website.
Russell’s main goal for her students is to teach them how to be active and love moving, no matter what it is they’re doing, she said.
“It’s not about how athletic or fast someone is, it’s more about just moving and doing your best,” Russell said.
Teaching students that it’s not a matter of skill level but to meet their own goals makes them understand better, Russell said.
One of the ways she helps students be more active is by exposing students to more activities, some of which they might have never done before, Russell said. Yoga and ultimate Frisbee are two activities she likes to teach because they’re different from most traditional activities students are exposed to, Russell said.
Children should be active a minimum of 60 minutes a day, Russell said. It’s harder now to get students motivated with so much technology around, she said. Anything active counts toward the 60 minutes a day, even a walk around the block.
Russell teaches students ways to move and be active in her physical education class and teaches students about eating habits in her health class.
Reading food labels is a big part of her health class because students don’t realize all of the ingredients that go into their food, Russell said.
“When the students start to read labels they finally see just how bad some of the items they’re consuming are,” Russell said. “Especially in beverages, they see how much sugar they are actually consuming.”
Food is fuel for the body. Russell teaches students how to fuel their body in a healthy way and how to get all of the nutrients they need.
For the next year, Russell will be going to conferences and events around the US to talk about nutrition as part of being named the National Physical Education Teach of the Year.
