Howard Gravelle III
- PE Teacher, Head Girls Track Coach
- Granger High School – UT
- 19 Years of Experience
- PLT4M Certified Educator
About Howard
Howard Gravelle is a PE teacher and Head Girls Track Coach at Granger High School in Utah with 19 years of experience. He is a Leadership Team member for the school’s PE department and has taught, organized, and created much of the content used in the school’s PE 9, Lifetime Activities, Fitness for Life, and Swim classes. He also coached girls volleyball for nine years, five as head coach. His own classes are in Fitness for Life, where he uses PLT4M most heavily.
Howard’s Approach & Insights
Howard shared his philosophy, approach, and how PLT4M plays a role in his program. Here’s what he had to say
Goals & Mission
“Exposure. I work in an area where life is a little rougher for many of the students and their families. I want to provide opportunities and plant seeds so they know what is available to help them establish healthier lifestyles. Even if not now, I want them to have skill and wonder to fall back on and be curious about that will fuel future discovery.
In athletics, it’s all about building a foundation of controlling the controllable, working hard, and long-term success, which are skills that will benefit them on and off the field of competition.”
How I Use PLT4M
“I use PLT4M most heavily in my Fitness for Life class. I appreciate that exercises are broken down with the key coaching points, so my students know where their focus should be.
I also like the videos because we have a large number of students for whom English is not their first language. With the videos, they are able to follow along and mimic proper form. The videos also allow students to re-watch and absorb the information at a pace that works for them.
The activity tracking provides solid accountability. My favorite use, though, remains fitness testing and the comparison-over-time graphs those results generate.”
Why I Use PLT4M
“PLT4M is like having a second teacher in the room with the video examples, and it frees me up for more one-on-one interaction. It provides a stable yet flexible structure that gives me more time for doing and less time spent in the weeds. PLT4M has allowed us to better serve the wide variety of our students who have very diverse capabilities academically and physically.”
Impact on My Program
“I feel like students have stopped ‘blaming’ me for the workouts, eliminating a me-versus-them mentality for the vast majority of students. Instead of saying, ‘That workout you gave us was so hard, you better not do that to us next time,’ it has become, ‘Wow, that was a hard workout. Is the next one going to be like that?’ That opens a conversation rather than being confrontational. As a result, they just do them.”
Favorite Feature
“Graphing fitness testing results. The visual really helps kids see their improvement.”
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