The PE Literacy Playbook

Tomorrow is the day.

My book releases in the morning. Just like I do about my work in the classroom, I’ve reflected a lot the last several days about the journey writing it has taken me on. 

I struggled in school. Honestly, “struggled” might be generous. I didn’t understand myself as a learner, I had no real academic self-awareness, and metacognition wasn’t even a word in my universe. I tried — I truly tried — but the traditional system never clicked for me.

Physical education didn’t feel any different at the time. It wasn’t a place where I found inspiration or clarity — it was just another class. Run, go, do. Show up, move, then move on. No one ever explained the “why.” No one pointed to the thinking, the strategy, the science beneath it. PE, to me, was just a place for activity.

I didn’t find the cognitive side of PE in a gym or classroom — I found it on my own. Curiosity eventually led me into exercise science, biomechanics, kinesiology… and something happened that I had never experienced in a classroom before. My brain didn’t just “light up” — it activated. Concepts clicked. Ideas connected. For the first time in my academic life, I didn’t feel like I was trying to catch up to learning — I felt like learning had finally met me where I was wired to understand it. I didn’t just feel interested; I felt capable. My mind wasn’t waking up because I suddenly “cared more,” it was waking up because I finally found a pathway that spoke my language.

I finally discovered a version of learning that recognized me.

That realization didn’t just change my path —

it shaped my purpose as a teacher.

I wanted to make sure my students didn’t have to wait as long as I did to feel seen academically. I wanted them to have the chance to discover their thinking, their voice, and their confidence within a space they already felt connected to.

Not by stopping movement, but by pairing it with reflection, communication, and expression in ways that feel natural, relevant, and authentic to PE.

That’s why this book exists.

That’s why this work matters to me.

It’s not about checking a literacy box during an observation.

It’s about giving students who identify with movement and sport the chance to discover who they are as learners, thinkers, and communicators — right here, in our content area.

Tomorrow, Rigorous Literacy in Physical Education goes live. The digital copy will be available, and the print release will follow shortly after.

If even one teacher reads this book and uses it to help a student find themselves sooner than I did, it will have been worth every late night, every draft, and every moment of doubt.

To the PE teachers who believe our space can unlock academic confidence —

I hope this adds fuel to your fire.