Why, you ask, am i starting another blog? What is the purpose?
Well here it is. I am getting ready to start in the education program at Utah Valley University. I am hoping to someday teach high school mathematics, general education as well as resouce classes, and having for a minor in Health. I also would love to coach a cheer squad (I am an assistant coach now and love it). My idea for this blog is this. I am surrounded by teachers, teaching moments, and coaching moments everyday. I come home each night, or even during the day, thinking about some of the techniques my teachers, the teachers i work with, and coaches i work with use. Some i think are great and i would love some way to remember them! Others i highly disagree with, and as a side note to this i may just not know the reasoning behind it. Sometimes I come up with my own ideas i feel could be great and like i said above i always think "man i really need to make sure i remember this"! So my idea is this: A daily journal that i come home evey night and quickly type my thoughts for the day. When i finally graduate i can look back through and i won't have to rely on my forgetful mind to remember each and everything i encountered. Feel free to PLEASE comment! I would love to hear anyones opinions to my own ideas, my thoughts towards my teachers techniques (maybe you can give me some insight into why they might do the things they do???), and any new thoughts you may have for me having been students at one time or another in your life. So.... without further ado here goes Day 1.
Day 1. January 19th, 2010.
I've been thinking a lot lately towards the coaching end of things. Maybe with the school year quickly coming to a close i'm reflecting on how my year of coaching went. One thing i've had the most struggle with is the lack of inconsistency. How do you feel about different punishments for different athletes? Yes individually they are different. As a team though i feel you do this, this happens....
Another thing i have thought a lot about is consequences consisting of excercise. I have been an athlete since as long as i can remember. Any time someone is late or a rule is broken i remember having to run, or do extra conditioning. Thats just how its always been in mind. It wasn't until recently that i've actually thought more, well anything really, about it. Today in our world we have become a very obese society. Some coaches and others in the sports world have started to wonder whether using conditioning as a punishment is creating a hatred for working out in people (athletes by nature) that generally really like working out. So, with that in mind, what do you feel? Do you feel extra conditioning is completely fine? Do you feel it is creating a hate for working out? If so, for the latter, what could you do in place of extra conditioning? Take for instance with a cheer squad. What is "painful" enough to ensure that the breaking of the rule doesn't happen again? What is "painful", or so memorable, that creates a respect in these girls that they understand promptness is a sign or respect?
Anyway. These are my thoughts for today. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to those who comment! Hopefully you will hear from me yet again tomorrow, meaning i kept to my guns and made it one more post =)
HAVE A FANTASTIC REST OF THE DAY AND MAKE TOMORROW AN AWESOME ONE!
"The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book." ~Author Unknown
Alex this is a great idea. With your memory you should be writing stuff down ;) I think extra conditioning is the way to go. People will always find a reason to "blame" something for their actions. They need to take it up with a psychiatrist. I'm a complete "you choose what you do no one makes you a certain way" person, so I may not be the one to ask.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing I can tell you is to watch "forever strong" if you haven't, it's the one about the rugby team here in Utah. I got to meet the actual coach at my sister in-laws graduation and he is an amazing man and he has great insight on how to coach a team (it helps in your actual life too)! On a more personal note remember that you are there as a coach not a friend and you should demand respect and there should be consequences for actions good or bad and physical pain is great! haha just kidding but seriously! :) Hopefully that helped!
ReplyDeleteThis is a good idea Alex!! I do agree that you are their as their coach not as a friend - it is hard sometimes to seperate the two. You could try a couple of things and see which works for each year. 1. Money - so much money is due for every five minutes they are late. The money just goes into a cheer fund for treats or something. 2. Individual punishment - they run more or do wall sits, if tardyness becomes a problen take them out of a routine and then off the squad if it doesn't get better. 3. Team - "there's no "I" in team, so the whole squad is punished for the lateness, then maybe everyone will make sure no one is late. High school is tricky!! And every squad is different you have to find what works with each one.
ReplyDeleteHey Al, so here is my 2 cents. I think that maybe it is a bit of a reason for people hating to work out. (ie becky hates to write because as a punishment she had a teacher make them write and write and write.) But in athletics, there is not really too much wrong with more conditioning unless it gets to a point where someone gets hurt. But with a cheerleading squad...if you chose not to do conditioning, maybe something that is important to them being taken away is a good punishment. Or...punish the whole team because of a person's mistake because then they won't do it again if EVERYONE has to suffer. use peer pressure to your advantage! (like making them all show up to a football game but not get to cheer). just some ideas. good luck!
ReplyDeleteI think that running, push-ups etc. as punishment are creating hate for the exercise because our minds associate that as punishment and it's hard to get over that. This is something we talked a lot about in my exercise science classes, especially sports psych. I agree with using a little peer pressure too, after-all they represent a TEAM and the team re presents the school. Not saying you're not already, but make sure that you are always on time to anything you have to be to (classes, work, cheer, church) so you are living the way you expect the girls on the squad to. Emphasis how much smoother things run in your life when you are on time. These are just some things that I use when I teach dance. When I make an effort to "practice what I preach" I feel like my students respect me more and there is a better feeling in the class. Love the blog idea!!
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