Monday, February 14, 2011

Philosophies


                                                              Educational Philosophy:

My education philosophy is based upon three main ideas of perennialism, progressivism and essentialism.  I believe with the framework of these ideas that it will provide the best education experience for the students.  Education is a place where student can grow, express themselves, and feel comfortable in doing so.  Education should be geared to make students learn valuable knowledge content, have life experiences and mold students into morally respectable citizens.  That is why the combination of all three ideas for the framework of education will create the best learning environment possible.

            Essentialism is very important in education because there needs to be a core of knowledge that is passed on to the students.  Times are always changing in society and essentialism will provide students with the content knowledge that will allow them to succeed in society.  Students need to be taught real life knowledge that is practical and will set students up to become valuable members of society.  Education should be more than just relaying information to the students.  This core idea will teach students morals, discipline and hard work.  Education is a major part of ones life where values and real life knowledge needs to be learned.  Society is always changing, therefore education needs to always be adapting for the students’ future endeavors.  Educators need to be kept up to date in today’s world and teach accordingly to give the students the tools to succeed to modern society.

            Perennialism is like a cousin to essentialism, but it still has a very important purpose in education.  Unlike essentialism where knowledge content changes with time, perennialism is a framework of facts, ideas and knowledge that is always constant.  It is important to keep students up to date in today’s world using essentialism, but it is just as important to teach students a core of knowledge that will always be needed.  This knowledge is also known as ‘everlasting’ knowledge.  This is the framework of reading, writing and arithmetic that is imperative to a students future in education.  Education needs to teach students unchanging knowledge such as the worlds history, math, reading, etc.  It is necessary that all students are being taught the underlying principles that will give them the framework to expand their knowledge in the classroom.

            Progressivism is equally important as the other two ideas as life experiences are giving to the students.  Learning about history, math, reading, writing, society and morals are a great framework to success in education, but that knowledge needs to be put to real life experiences.  As educators we are not doing our jobs if students graduate from high school with out having real life experiences.  This is the third main idea that will tie all the loose ends together to create students with knowledge and experiences.  Students need to have real life experiences to understand how the real world works.  Students need to develop problem solving skills and answers through real world experiences.  Progressivism is about students working together towards a common goal with out the teacher commanding them in the classroom.  I believe that if students are giving the opportunity to problem solve with their peers from a young age on, that our future students will be much more prepared for life.  Teamwork, problem solving, learning through experiences is not something that can be taught from a book or from a lecture.  As educators we need to provide students with an environment that will allow them to grow through individuals experiences, interests and to their abilities.

            I believe that with the framework of the three main ideas of essentialism, perennialism and progressivism that our students will have all of the tools to succeed in life.  With a blend of all three ideas students will learn value, morals, content knowledge and how to use all of their knowledge learned in real life experiences they will have before graduating high school.  Education is more than just learning how to read, write and do math.  Education is a place where students should learn, grow as human beings and have experiences that will create a framework to succeed in life.

                                                         Physical Education:



Physical Education is crucial in developing a students fitness, physical abilitiy, character, social interactions and giving them the tool to live a long physically active life.  Physical education is imperative to all students because with out a sound body, the mind is useless.  I believe physical education is meant to allow students to not only grow physically, but to allow them to grow mentally and emotionally.  Physical activity is necessary for all human beings, it is a way of life.  As physical educators we need to provide students with the environment to allow the most positive experience to have students be life long physically active people.

            Physical education is a place where students can learn life long skills that will help them after school and during school.  Physical education should be an environment that is positive where students can grow not only physically, but socially and mentally.  Through physical activity it is our duty to not only teach our students the fundamentals of physical activity.  It is our duty as physical educators to teach students cooperation, problem solving activities, sportsmanship and much more.  Not only will these skills will be important during physical activity, it will be necessary to have these skills inside the classroom and for life outside of school.
           
            Throughout a student’s physical education career in education the students should have the opportunity as they get older to specify in different types of physical activity.  As a student gets older they may realize what interests them with physical activity and this is our job as physical educators to facilitate an environment for this to occur.  Students should have the opportunities to experience real life physical activities that they may want to pursue on their free time or even a career.  I believe that when students first begin physical education they should be learning basic locomotor movements, with a heavy importance on student to student interaction and proper behavior with physical activity.  As the students get older that is when life long physical activity learning needs to begin to ensure that all of the students will have the tools to live life long physically active lives. 

                                                                 Athletics

Coaching Philosophy

Athletics play a crucial role in an individual’s life and in a school district.  Athletics are a place that students of all ages can grow physically, mentally and socially.  Athletics for any age should be a positive and comfortable environment where student athletes feel that they can express themselves through sport with out feeling discouraged in anyway.  It is my job as a future coach to provide this environment for my future student athletes.  It is imperative that a positive environment is always kept on the athletic field to ensure that the athletics are getting the maximum benefits from the sport.  Yes, there is much more to athletics than getting better, practicing and games.  I believe that athletics is a place where students can learn respect, dedication, accountability, discipline and many more life long lessons. Throughout my 16 years of playing organized sport I can say that I have learned the most life lessons through athletics.  My past and present coaches all have taught me something in sport that relates directly to life and I believe it has a lot to do with the person I am today.  I am believer that as a coach you need to teach your students more than just the sport itself, be a role model and be someone looked up to in the community.  As a present athlete and future coach I understand that being on an athletic team you are held to a higher standard.  As a coach I will instill in my players that each player is very important to the team, but no individual is more important that the team itself.  My players will understand that they are representing the school, their family and will act accordingly on and off the field.  In today’s world athletes are held to a higher standard at any level of competition and my players will understand this.  My players will understand that schoolwork comes before athletics.  Athletics are very important, but with a doubt schoolwork comes before athletics.  My athletes will not have a sense of entitlement concerning their schoolwork because I will create an environment where schoolwork is the first priority.  In today’s world student athletes do feel that academics is not as important as athletics because of the media and professional athletes, but that will not be the case for my student athletes.  Athletics are a great way to motivate students to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner in the classroom and off the field in their social lives.  As a present athlete and having coaching experience I believe the best atmosphere for the team is to always have fun.  Having fun does not mean that the team will not work hard, respect one another and follow directions.  Having fun is when the team works hard, cheers for one another and always trying to get better everyday.  For any level of athletics I will always make sure that my athletes are having fun, working hard and always creating drills to promote the excitement of practice.  As a coach it will also be my job to have a goal for the team to reach.  Every team that I have been on from modified all the way to collegiate the coach has created a goal for us to attain as a team.  I thought this worked out great and no matter what happened the coach created an environment where we did not lose sight of that goal.  I understand what ora and atmosphere at a team needs to possess to have the most successful season that they can.  I have been on a state championship high school football team and a national championship college lacrosse team and both years there was something special in the atmosphere that was created by my coaches.  I will always remember the qualities and traits of all my coaches from when I was little to my coach in college.  I will take the great qualities and personalities from my past coaches and try to make them my own as a future coach.