What I have learned!

I have learned many thing from this semester in school. My education classes have taught me that to be a teacher I will have to be a student my whole career. I will have to be willing to learn not only from my students, but from workshops and possibly more college. I have to be very organized and stay on top of the new technology. I will have to get to know my students individually. I am excited about this new adventure in life and can not wait to become a teacher. I have always enjoyed being around children, but that is not the reason I want to teach. I want my students to understand that they can do anything they put their hearts to. ANYTHING! They will succeed if they put in the work and time.

DREAMS!

When I was a child I had so many dreams and goals. As a coach and teacher I want to encourage my players and students to do whatever they can to reach their goals and dreams. I always had a coach or a teacher tell me that my dreams were unrealistic. I even had a counselor in high school tell me that I would not amount to anything ,and she told my parents that they should not waste their money by sending me to college. She was right for twelve years of my life. When I graduated from high school I was not ready for college, and I also quit dreaming and going for my goals. I let a counselor and old coaches determine my outcome. I have had some time to grow as a person and finally realized that I can do anything that I put my heart to. I decided to go back to school and reach my dream of being a teacher and a coach. I am now doing both. Thanks to GOD!!! I will teach my players to have goals for their whole life. If they want to professional football players, then it is my job to help them reach their potential. If the goal of the student is to attend an Ivy league school, then it is my job to help them reach their goal. The children our are future. I do not mean to sound like the song. We need to build our student's up to be something in life.

Technology and P.E.

I have thought of many different ways to incorporate technology in Physical Education. EDM 310 has taught many that just by having a blog is a great way to help my students and parents learn more. In the field of Physical Education, we do a lot of weight lifting and running. I could post on my blog what we will be doing for the week and what is required of the students to pass the test. I will post their times and weights so they can compare it with other students. I know that when I was in high school, everything was a competition. Still to this day I find activities more fun if I am competing against someone else.
Also, blogs are a good way for me to stay in touch with parents. If their child has to miss practice, then it is a good way for them to get in touch with me. Another way of getting in touch with me is facebook. I am friends with many of my players as well as their parents. If the parents are having trouble with their children, they usually send me a message or email me. Also, email has made life easier for me as a coach. I get our practice schedule every morning, which helps me in getting my drills ready for practice.
Technology has helped me tremendously as a coach. I am excited about the future and learning as much as I can about all the new technology. I will have to stay up to date so I am able to teach my players.

Education

As a football coach, it is my job and duty to make sure that every kid that I coach succeeds academically. This does not mean that they will be allowed to cheat or that I will try to get their grades changed. As a high school football coach, it is my responsibility to get to know the teachers and to check on my players grades regularly. If they are struggling in a subject, then I need to set up a time for the student and teacher to meet. I could even tutor him or her myself. I will have a study hall for my students after practice. If they are falling behind then they will have to miss practice and possibly a game to make up their work. This goes right along with the discipline of the student. I will teach each of my players what it takes to be responsible on and off the field. Education comes first, no matter what. If the student cannot succeed in the classroom, then they do not need to play sports. After my sports career was over, I had to make a few mistakes before I realized that education was very important. Education comes first!

Respect

There should be a certain respect between the student and the teacher. As a teacher/coach I have to have respect for all of my students. I believe it is my job to show each student that I care for them. I need to get to know each student as an individual. This is a lot of work, but it is work that needs to be done. Also, I need to try to get to know the parents of my students. This will give me an idea of where they come from and a better idea of their needs. I talked about discipline in my first post. I think that respect and discipline go hand in hand. If I have the respect of my student's then they will want to work for me and do their studies. I am the running backs coach at a local high school. My running backs played their heart out. I believe they did this because they did not want to disappoint me. We built a trusting relationship with each other. Both of us gave it are all every day in practice and for games.
Also, the students had to earn my respect. They did that by doing what I said and by working hard. I did give them a little incentive by taking them out to eat. We built a strong relationship with each other. They know that they can call me anytime and I will be there for them.

Disclipline

My whole life I have hated discipline, but it is necessary to succeeding in the classroom as well as the football field. As a football coach, I have to be a disciplinarian. If I am not then the kids will run all over me. When I was in high school, I got into trouble all of the time. I never had a real authority figure in my life to teach me right from wrong. I never had consequences. I believe if I had consequences for my actions then I might not be a 30 year old junior at the University of South Alabama. I believe that I would have been done with school a long time ago. Hopefully, as a coach and a teacher I might be able to help my students not make the same mistakes as I did. There are consequences for everything. If a player of mine is not doing good in school, or talking in class, he knows that when I find out that he will be running for hours. This does not work for every child. Sometimes, the punishment might be sitting out of practice or even the game. We all need discipline! Even I still need discipline. I believe if a child has consequences for their actions, then they are more likely to succeed in life.