Proudly teaching PE for over 23 years, Lisa Summers’ mission is to create and sustain physically literate students. With Lisa's strong and sound teaching practices, her students develop the knowledge and application of knowledge in many cognitive concepts that promote health, fitness, and appropriate training. They practice a variety of skills from sport, game, and fitness. Perhaps most importantly Lisa’s teaching strengthens behaviors that encourage sportspersonship, increases confidence and competence, helps students understand rules, empowers student relationships, and a maintains positive learning environment.
For Lisa, earning her National Board Certification in physical education was humbling and inspiring. She gained validation that she was accomplished in established teaching standards. In 2009, Lisa was named National Association Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance High School PE Teacher of the Year. This title afforded her the opportunity to present, speak, collaborate, and train at state, district, and national PE conferences. She was able to gain valuable resources, connections, and partnerships with other PE professionals. Because she saw an incredible need to improve formative and summative assessment not only in her classes but to other PE professionals, Lisa co-wrote and published a textbook, Meeting PE Standards Through Meaningful Assessments.
Mentoring her own former students in Physical Education career fields has been her most rewarding accomplishment. For Lisa, having students want to follow in her sneakers is the ultimate testament to her teaching practice. Lisa continues to develop her craft and improve her teaching methods. She incorporates new games, technology, and fitness trends to make sure that every student and every body can be successful both in an outside of her gym walls. As PE evolves, Lisa is excited to evolve as well and continue to instill a sense of physical literacy in future generations.
“She makes everyone in the room feel like they are a favorite,” says alumni and student teacher Whitney Lowe. “Her ability to never judge a student, player, or coworker and treat everyone with the same and equal respect was something that I admired and want to strive to be one day. When you say the name Lisa Summers everyone knows who you are talking about in this town, and everyone’s response is ‘I don’t know how she does it. She is amazing.’ That, to me, is what I wanted to be; the person that when people say my name, they know me as hardworking, confident, nonjudgmental, and the type of person who doesn’t settle for average.”
