Philosophy of Coaching

            Coaching provides students an opportunity to engage in physical activity outside of school at a competitive level. Not only do children who play on interscholastic teams gain the benefit of being active several hours a day, they also learn the value of being on a team. My philosophy on coaching is meant to build up sport specific skills, and should not only help students become as skilled as possible in that sport, but should also teach them values of being on a team and developing relationships.

            As a coach I will strive to focus on each player and their ability. Once their present level of ability is noted in their particular sport, I will help to bring them to the next level. I would like players to not only see what they are, but what they can be. I will also focus on problem solving and the tactical approach of coaching. A player should be taught how to do each movement required for their sport well, and how to apply it in an authentic environment.

            In my opinion, the values taken away from playing a interscholastic sport are much more important than how skilled your team becomes or what their record is. Being a part of a team, with a good coach, should produce athletes who value teamwork, communication, punctuality, respect, problem solving, determination, goal setting, loyalty, community and motivation. Having these players every day for practice time, you will see physical improvements, but it is just as important to make sure your team understands that becoming a team will ultimately lead them to success. All of these skills that are learned from playing on a team will carry over to the real world, in college or in employment opportunities. A prospective employer or college will look for people with determination, a good work ethic, loyalty, and honesty. If my players can walk away from a season of playing on my team and have an understanding of what it means to be a team player, and have all of these attributes, I believe I did my job.

Philosophy of Physical Education

II. Physical Education

    As a professional physical educator I believe that there are three major ideas that frame what I do and value in the field.  These ideas are building physically competent/proficient students, developing an understanding of why physical education is important, and implementing life long fitness into students lives. Teaching a child to become physically competent, showing them the numerous benefits of physical education, and ‘giving them the tools to keep up activity for a lifetime are the basis of my philosophy in physical education.

            Within physical education I would like to expose students to a diverse array of activities. In doing so we will find an activity that a student is competent in, and could build up to become proficient in. Also by showing students a variety of physical activities from many parts of the world students are becoming more well rounded and open minded about other cultures and countries activities. While trying to build competent students, it is important to keep in mind that students have varying ability. I would like to set students up for success. In order to ensure students improvement and build toward competency and proficiency, I will implement various levels of tasks and progress from the level a child is at, upward and onwards.

            I also believe it is very important to not only express to our students why physical education is important, but to all of society. I will push to make sure students understand the benefits of physical education. My students will know that being physically active and eating healthy will not only better their bodies, but it will also allow their minds to thrive and build even better academic students. I will show students information about childhood obesity and its increase in the recent years. While presenting all of this information about how positive physical education is, I will not scare the children. The point of discussing how important physical education is in school is to get students motivated and interested in moving their bodies.

            Lifelong fitness is an ever growing aspect of physical education. I believe life long fitness is one of the most important things you can teach to your students within the curriculum. In traditional PE there is a lot of team sports, such as basketball, soccer, and volleyball. Although I do value some aspects learned through team sports, you cannot play these sports for a lifetime. I want my students to have the tools to keep them fit for their whole lives, not just for when they walk into my classroom. Some activities I would like students to get into are activities they can do on their own, for their lifetime. These activities include dance, yoga, Pilates, hiking, canoeing, biking, ice skating, rollerblading, and skiing. There are plenty more activities than those listed, and I would like to implement as many lifetime activities into my PE curriculum as possible. Exposing students to these new activities may be just the jump they need to become passionate about being physically active.

Philosophy of Education

I. Education

               As a professional educator I rest my philosophy of education upon three major pillars of belief. Together, these three beliefs provide the basis of what I value, what I do, and why I do it as an educator.  These four beliefs include: building good, moral, sound young men and women, encourage self discovery, develop a sense of community as a class, and preparing students for life after high school. Being an educator is not just about presenting material to students; it is about making sure these students understand what you are teaching them, and why. As a teacher it is not only your job to educate these children when it comes to the books, but also educate them about life to come.

            Every person in the world has a set of morals or ethics. Depending on where your students come from, their experiences, and their environment, they may come into school with varying beliefs. As an educator I will strive to express my beliefs and morals to my students, while keeping an open mind and not imposing my beliefs on my students. I would like to express to my students my value in honesty, mutual respect, and welcoming diversity.

            Within my guidance to encourage students to become honest, respectful, and well rounded, I would like to have students discover for themselves what they value, and their value to their school, community, and society. I believe every student is talented in some endeavor, and they just need to discover their talent. To give students greater opportunity for self discovery, I will have a diverse classroom. Not only with students, but information presented. I would like to expose children to a number of activities so that every student may find something they enjoy and are good at. While exposing students to a number of subjects or activities, and educator should also be a keen observer. Once a student is seen excelling at a particular subject, it is important to help foster their growth within that subject.

            Whether students discover they are good leaders, good organizers, great designers, or good at movement, I would like to give every student a role in the classroom. I believe building a classroom with a sense of community is vital to success not only for student learning,  but also for their preparation to be released into life after high school.  Within the classroom I believe it is important for everyone to have a task, to feel as if they are contributing to the classroom running smoothly. Here giving the students a responsibility and opportunity to express attributes that are looked for in life after high school, such as punctuality, hardworking, honesty, and in some cases group collaboration, will give them an idea of what kind of people are successful in the world

Questions for thought...

1. The purpose of schools is… to educate and shape young minds and bodies. Not only should students go to school for an education to help them further in life, but they should also be exposed to learning ethics, morals, and lifelong lessons to shape them as young adults. Students should also learn how to take care of their health independently, including diet and exercise.

2. Faculty and staff in schools should…put students first. Faculty and staff must be caring and enthusiastic about their students, not only in their academic lives, but in social, emotional, and physical well being.

3. Curriculum should…..consider students individual needs, such as learning styles, age, culture, and ability. The curriculum should wholly educate the students in a verity of subjects.

4. Instructional approaches must…be diverse to accommodate a verity of learning styles. They also must be fresh, interesting, and every changing to keep student interest.

5. School leaders…. must be good examples. School leaders must be positive role models and set good examples for students to strive towards.

6. The ideal school includes…a sense of community. The school should function as a unit, with everyone having respect for themselves and others and they all strive for the same goal of success in the school.

7. Parents and communities need to…become involved in the school. Parents need to help foster growth in their children outside of the classroom. Communities should offer programs to better student learning in the hours they are outside of school.

8. The major problems facing education today are…funding and lack of motivation, both in educators and students. School with poor funding have trouble implementing programs that are effective, and tend to have students who do worse within the environment. Students in public schools have less resources to become successful, and their lack of success may have a negative effect on the teachers. Some educators give up on their students if they show no improvement or drive to succeed, while they really should be finding ways to help these students become successful.

9. What is physical education about? Physical Education is about educating students on their body, the benefits of exercise, nutrition, and life long fitness. Physical Education is unique in its ability to integrate almost any subject matter into an activity within the gym. Here you may combine student learning with kinesthetic movement. Physical Education is used to teach students new skills involved in sport, and to understand lifetime fitness which can be used in the community and throughout the students lifetime.

10. What does it mean to be “physically educated”? A physically educated person should learn skills needed to perform a verity of physical activities. A physically educated person is physically fit and participates in daily activity. A physically educated person values the benefits of physical education.

11. What is the role of the field in society? Currently in society physical education isn't exactly looked at as a profession. There must be a lot of work to push for a better reputation for Physical Educators in society. Our job is important, and vital to the success of America. With the rates of childhood obesity increasing,  physical education needs to be pushed for and students must become active.

12. The ideal physical education program would……keep kids interested day in and day out. An ideal program would get all children involved and active each day. This program should have a wide verity of activities including sport, recreation and lifetime activities.

13. What is athletics about?  What is its purpose? Athletics is about competing an physical activity in a controlled, recorded settings outside of the school day. It is a commitment to a team, the coach and its team members. Personally I think the purpose of athletics is to build character and learn life lessons through the use of sport.

14. The role of the coach is to…..A coach should be able to teach his/her players the core values of respect, loyalty, friendship, support, and compassion. Although a sport should strive towards physical excellence, it should also include building students roles in the community and as young adults.

Bullying In Education

Tonight in my night class we discussed the recent events of bullying in school. These events have been widely publicized in the media, yet even before they were given public attention, bullying has occurred all over our country for years. My professor, Ralph Hesse opened with this video...

The fact that these young boys were bullied to their death breaks my heart. The most concerning thing Ive found after watching this video is that even when parents and students reported this bullying to the school, nothing was done. This was an ongoing discussion in our class about what is considered bullying, and why does it go unnoticed? Why do teachers often under-estimate the rate of bullying at their schools? We came up with some answers to these questions. Bullying usually occurs in a place where teachers do not have supervision; such as in the bathroom, locker room, during recess, in the hallways, and on the walks home. Often teachers may turn a blind eye, or simply not notice certain ways of bullying, and that is how things get so out of hand. Also many schools within the state and the country don't have specific plans to deal with reports of bullying.

My professor then showed us this video of a school in Norway that has a phenomenal anti-bullying program at their school. If schools in the United States could take a page from Norway's book, we may be on our way to building better school systems, and more well rounded students.


To view this video click here. The program implemented in Norway is pretty amazing. Developing a sense of community within their schools has had an positive effect on their schooling. There is almost no bullying and when there are instances they are dealt with immediately and with seriousness.

PreSchooler Depression?

I came across this article in my Behavioral Disorders in Education class about diagnosing preschoolers with depression. It is very interesting to see the early signs, and the debate of whether we can diagnose children who barely yet understand their environment with depression. My major concern in this article, is if your child is diagnosed with depression, what do you do about it? In adults the most common and effective treatment for depression is medication, but would you give your preschooler, or even a child in early elementary school anti-depression medication?

Its an interesting read.. check it out...Can Preschoolers Be Depressed??

Chapter 2/3- Different Ways of Learning & Teaching Your Diverse Students

1. How do cognitive, affective, and physiological factors impact learning?
Cognitive factors impact learning greatly. Students have much "different ways of perceiving, organizing, and retaining information"(p. 31). Here is where students will say they are a "visual learner", or a learner who learns through movement and participation. These cognitive factors impact learning and may shape how a teacher should present a lesson. A teacher should understand that students all have different cognitive approaches, and try to include something that will help each different learner understand the information in the best way possible. The affective domain can impact learning just as much as cognitive. If students have behavioral problems and do not respect their peers or their teacher, it will be hard for them to learn, and will also effect other students in the class. Physiological factors can vary depending on the environment and students background. If a student is from a less wealthy family and cannot afford a healthy breakfast, or warm cloths, their attention will not be as great as a student who is in class that is comfortable.

2. How can teachers respond to different learning styles?

 Teachers can respond to different learning styles by planning their lessons according to their students needs and learning ability. For example, if a teacher is presenting in a lecture, they can have visual markers in the slides, including words and pictures, as well as audio segments to go along with them speaking out loud, and even some in class activities that get students moving to help understand the concepts being taught. 

3. What are the classroom implications of Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences?

 Gardener's theory of multiple intelligences includes 8 intellegences. These intelligences are:

- Logical-Mathematical

- Linguistic

- Bodily-kinesthetic

- Musical

- Spatial

- Interpersonal

- Intrapersonal

- Naturalist 

These 8 intelligences are important to consider in education because every student learns differently and has certain things they excel at and will have greater success in learning when taught through those mediums.  Teachers should consider how they can include music in lessons, how to use movement activities in a traditionally lecture styled classroom, how to get students to interact with their peers throughout a lesson, implementing visual aids to better student learning, and include activities outside the classroom.

 

4. How does emotional intelligence influence teaching and learning?

As defined in the text, "Emotional intelligence is a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' emotions, to discriminate among them, and use the information to guide one's thinking and actions" (p. 40).  Students have varying emotional intelligences, some tend to be more adventurous and confident, while other students may be more stubborn and frustrated. Teachers must take in to account that not all students will be confident in their learning and motivated to do well. 

5. How can teachers meet the diverse needs of an increasingly multicultural student population?

Teachers must first understand the needs of their students. Since there is an increasing number of multicultural students, teachers should be prepared and understand that they may learn in different ways and need alternative approaches to be successful in school.  One thing I specifically want to do in my classroom is make sure that everyone is treated equally and all students have respect for one another regardless of ability, race, religion, culture, or socioeconomic status. 

6. What are the different levels of multicultural education?

Level 1: The Contributions Approach- focuses on heroes, holidays, and discrete cultural elements.

Level 2: The Additive Approach- Content, concepts, themes and perspectives are added to the curriculum without changing its structure. 

Level 3: The Transformation Approach- The structure of the curriculum is changed to enable students to view concepts, issues, events, and themes from the perspectives of diverse ethnic and cultural groups. 

Level 4: The Social Action Approach- Students make decisions on important social issues and take actions to help solve them. 

7. What are the political and instructional issues surrounding bilingual education?

There are many views of the idea of bilingual education. Some are for it and others are against it. "Critics of bilingual education advocate an immersion model, claiming that many bilingual programs simply do not work, placing ELLs into lower academic tracks in which they may never emerge"(p.70). Those on the other end "point to studies that show first- and second-generation Hispanic students who attended bilingual programs from the 1970s to the 1990s earned considerably less money than Hispanics who attended "English-only" programs. 

8. How are the needs of special learners met in today's classrooms?

In the 1970s the courts established 5 critical principles of special education:

1. Zero Reject: This asserts that no child with disabilities may be denied a free, appropriate public education.  

2. Nondiscriminatory Education: Mandates that children with disabilities be fairly assessed, so that they can be protected from inappropriate classification and tracking. 

3. Appropriate Education: Implies that children have the right to an education involving the accurate diagnoses of individual needs, as well as responsive programs keyed to those needs.

4. Least-restrictive Environment: Protects children with disabilities from being inappropriately segregated from their age-group peers. 

5. Procedural Due Process: Upholds the rights of those with disabilities to protest a schools decision about their education. Gives parents right to challenge actions of the school using a counsel and expert witnesses.

9. Does technology exacerbate racial, class, geographic, and gender divisions?

I personally think technology can help, not hinder, those regardless of class, location or gender. Some argue technology such as spell check hinders student learning. Although this may be true, if students are using technology to research articles relevant to education and access a vast amount of information which could be beneficial to any educational program.