Sunday, April 3, 2011

An Inspiring Wrestler


Anthony Robles is a wrestler as ASU and he only has one leg. Anthony has
always had the determination to do whatever he has put his mind too.
Anthony is a die-hard raiders fan and always wanted to be a football player
growing up. He has played football and basketball which is amazing with
only having one leg. Anthony is a true inspiration that with determination
and a positive attitude that anything can be achieved. Anthony runs an 8
minute mile on his crutches! That is an unbelievable statistic that he can
crutch that fast for that long. Anthony is an inspiration to his teammates,
but I believe he can be an inspiration to everyone that wants to achieve
something. People like Anthony can put things in a different perspective and
I believe can change people's outlook on life. If students in my physical
education class ever get down on themselves or are not believing in
themselves, Anthony Robles story could be a great motivation tactic. This is
a great story and I always get amazed at what people are capable of.

An Inspiring Wrestler

Anthony Robles is a wrestler as ASU and he only has one leg.  Anthony has always had the determination to do whatever he has put his mind too.  Anthony is a die-hard raiders fan and always wanted to be a football player growing up.  He has played football and basketball which is amazing with only having one leg.  Anthony is a true inspiration that with determination and a positive attitude that anything can be achieved.  Anthony runs an 8 minute mile on his crutches!  That is an unbelievable statistic that he can crutch that fast for that long.  Anthony is an inspiration to his teammates, but I believe he can be an inspiration to everyone that wants to achieve something.  People like Anthony can put things in a different perspective and I believe can change people's outlook on life.  If students in my physical education class ever get down on themselves or are not believing in themselves, Anthony Robles story could be a great motivation tactic.  This is a great story and I always get amazed at what people are capable of.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Parents: To much emphasis on youth sports?


Now a days it seems that parents believe their child needs to go to every camp, clinic, practice, tournament and even higher private training sessions.  When I was growing up I never had private training sessions and I do not remember my up bringing during my youth years to be hectic with sports.  I participated in lacrosse, football, wrestling and basketball.  From what I remember I had a great time and I had more time than I knew what to do with for free time.  Now a days I feel that the mindset has changed that every parents child has to be the best one on the field.  This is not going to be the case all the time and parents lose sight on the fact that it is just a game.  Sports are supposed to be fun.  I play lacrosse at the collegiate level and my fellow seniors and I always tell the team to have fun.  If the game starts to become a job and not fun, then what’s the point?  Yes, there are times where I am working hard and it seems more work than play, but I am in college going for another title run.  If children in sports spend to much time being forced to play the fun will be taken out of it and they will lose interest over time.  Some people think that 12 hours a week is to much for an 11 year old to dedicate to sports.  I believe that it depends on the situation.  If the 11 year old is self motivated and is asking the parents to participate this much then by all means it is not to much time at all.  If the parents force the child to participate that much because they think it is right and the child sort of likes it, then I think that can be a problem.  Growing up I had football practice 4 nights a week and then when games started I had 3 practices and 1 game a week.  I personally loved football growing up and I could not get enough of it.  Practices were around 2 hours long and a game would take around 3 hours.  This would amount to around 8 to 9 hours a week and I personally remember wanting to play in a game everyday of the week.  Honestly, I believe it all depends on the situation with the parents and the children.  Now a question is raised that we are putting to much emphasis on competitions.  Again with this dilemma I believe it all depends on the situation.  The situation is how hold the children are.  If they are 6 years old there is no need to put a high emphasis on winning, losing and competitions.  At this age it all needs to be instructional and to make it fun so the children do not lose motivation for sports.  As the children get older into middle school I believe there has to be more of an emphasis on competition.  If we do not put an emphasis on competition where does the athletic drive come from?  Are we going to shelter our kids until they get to high school and still think losing a J.V. football game is Okay?  There has to be a time where the children learn the ways of sports.  Yes losing can make someone upset, but it will teach them life lessons.  I remember losing when I was in youth football in the championship and I was so upset that me and my teammates cried.  Looking back I thought that was a great experience to have.  It made me realize the truth behind sports that there are winners, losers and everyone is not going to win every game they play.  As I kept playing I remembered that experience and it motivated me and allowed to truly realize the reality of sport.  I think that in the beginning stages of youth sports it should be fun, but there needs to be a time where the children get old enough to start learning the truth behind sports.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Can Coaches Coach Sports They Are Unfamiliar With?

I video tape myself in a solo discussion about coaching philosophies and coaches learning new sports.


Teachers & Their Personal Lives

Chris Atkinson (physical education major @ SUNY Cortland) and I discuss teachers and their personal lives.

Good Hard Coaching or Coaching out of line?

I am here with Eric Martin and Justin Schneidman who are both fellow SUNY Cortland Men's Lacrosse teammates of mine.  Both Eric, Justin and myself are all aspiring coaches.  Here we discuss this coach's actions during a basketball practice.  Click Here! to watch the video of the basketball coach & player.


Student Athlete or Athlete Student?

Chris Atkinson, Kyle Wenzel and myself talk about student athletes.  Both chris and kyle are student athletes at SUNY Cortland where they are members of Cortland Men's Lacrosse Team.


Horace Mann

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Are all teachers in it for the right reasons?

A Teacher's job on the line because of her blog...Click here! to view the video.
This ordeal is dividing the community and creating an uproar of parents against the teacher.  The teacher on her blog, was writing about students anonymously and go suspended with pay because of her remarks about the students.  Some people might say that this is a free country and that people can write and be public about their feelings.  I can agree with that statement, but I can not agree with this teacher's actions.  Being a teacher is more than just showing up from the beginning of the school day until the end.  Teacher's are to be professionals, mentors, looked up to and are to be helping people.  Being a teacher is more than a profession, it is a life style.  It is sad that there are people out there who teach because of the pay, summers off and the benefits.  Teachers are not to get impatient with students and resort to their blog to vent on how much they dislike their students.  Teachers are here to help students with their struggles in education, mold students into better individuals and do this because they know they are making difference, not collecting a pay check.  I am not a lawyer and do not know the legalities behind this situation and I do not know if she can be fired for her blog.  I do know that this teacher should of chosen a different profession.  It is teachers like this who create a bad reputation for other educators in the world.  Do you think a true educator would ever talk about their students like this?  Let alone blog about it for the entire world to see?  The answer is no. The bottom line is that teachers are to be helpful, role models and to be in teaching for the right reasons.

Monday, February 21, 2011

"Mickey" - My classmate, teammate & friend

Mickey is an Mexican-American and we grew up together. We are the same age and have been playing football together since I can remember. The town we grew up in was predominantly white students, but Mickey did not let this affect him. Mickey’s parents are immigrants and do not speak English very well. When we were younger I remember Billy used to be picked on once in a while because of his ethnicity. He never let this bother him and I thought was very brave how handled situations.
As we got into high school there was pressure from Mickey’s parents for him to start working as a day laborer with his father and uncle. Mickey saw it as a great opportunity to make money in the summer. As we got older Mickey’s father and uncle wanted to have Mickey work on weekends during the school year and then they wanted to have him work on school days. Mickey did not see this dilemma coming, he was torn by his family and his schoolwork. As time went on he was getting pressure from his family to work and his friends and teachers to stay in school. Mickey always wanted to be a biology teacher and he did not let his stereotype and other influences get in the way. Mickey kept working in the summers, but he finished out his high school degree and went onto college. Mickey is going to graduate in May and have his teaching degree in biology. Mickey did not let the stereotypes and other people putting him down get in the way of his goals. Mickey is a story of inspiration and that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Tracking

Tracking is when students are put into different classes based on their abilities.  Low, middle and high are assigned to different “tracks” where each group will be learning at different speeds.  In most cases the different “tracks” learn different material.  The lower group might learn vocational skills with technology or working skills (cashier, etc.) where the higher group will learn subjects that will get them ready for college.  Students are usually put into “tracking groups” early on in their education and rarely have a chance to change groups once they are in them.  Some teachers view tracking as a great way to manage students, some teachers believe that it is a bad system.  As time goes on in one’s education career some students might start questioning their grouping and their groupings name.  If students know they are in the slow or low tracking group, this could create jealousy and other emotions against their group and others.  Teachers have argued and admitted that they do put more effort into the higher tracking groups opposed to the lower tracking groups.  If this is the case than the tracking system is flawed for that particular district.  Many studies have been done that the tracking groups have to do with socio-economic status and race playing a major factor.  A student of low socio-economic status has a higher chance of getting put into the lower track.  The lower track usually deals with management and social problems, rather than the academic problems the higher tracks deal with.  I personally believe tracking is not a good 

WWYD? Prosthetics and Sport

My first reaction to the video is I feel bad for the player that has been cut from the baseball team.  I also find it amazing that the young man can pitch the ball so hard while having prosthetic legs.  Even though the player got cut from the team it shows that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.  The mother and son seemed very shocked that he got cut from the baseball team.  Not only did they both looked shocked, they both seemed like it was very unfair.  From their point of view he got cut because of his disability, not his skills in baseball.  I am not totally sure if going on the air is going to help the teenager make the baseball team.  I know that with this big of media coverage the school is not going to be able to just turn their back on the situation.  The situation will have to be dealt with, but is the school going to let the teenager on the team just because of the media coverage?  It seems very odd to me that the teenage could be a prospect by the Major Leagues, but can not make a high school baseball team.  I do not think that the school is going to let the teenager right back on the team just because of the media coverage.  Cuts and teams should be made by ability and the betterment for the team.  If the school allows the teenager back on the team it looks as if they treated him unfairly just because of his disability.  Their body language and voice tone helped their argument against the school.  It helped because they were very disappointed and sounded very upset that the school is letting his disability hold him back.  The video makes the viewer question the schools decision based on the facts given by the mother and the son. 
WWYD:
If I were the High School coach:  I would give the teenage baseball player the same opportunity as any other player on the team.  I would try to be as unbiased as possible and make a decision based on the betterment for the team and ability.  As a coach if you can honestly say that the decision to cut a player is solely based ability and the betterment for the team, then that coach should not be worried about the video.  I understand that politics, media and parents play a huge role in high school sports and sometimes avoiding conflict is not possible.  I am not sure what happened with this student athlete, but I would not be surprised if the school changed their decision.

The video makes it look as if the teenager was cut just because his disability and not because of his talent level.  If the video is completely true than the student never should have been cut in the first place.  There is a possibility that the student did get cut purely based on talent and not just because of his disability.  Many parents now a days find it their duty to make sure their son/daughter is given the same opportunity as every other student.  Sometimes parents get very involved even when the school or coaches are correct on their decision making.  I am not sure if the teenager is back on the baseball team, but with all of this media coverage I would not be surprised if the school had to put the teenager back on the baseball team.

Link to story: http://abcnews.go.com/US/disabled-pitcher-anthony-burruto-cut-high-school-baseball/story?id=12891530

Sayville High School


I went to Sayville High School where it is located in Suffolk County, Long Island, NY.  I played sports growing up in Sayville all the way up to the varsity level where I found it to be one of the better experiences of my life.  Sayville has taken pride in education and athletics. http://sayville.k12.ny.us/curriculum.cfm?subpage=18277  is the link to the curriculum page where there are goals, beliefs, values and a mission statement. http://sayville.k12.ny.us/files/23685/athletic%20handbook.pdf  is the link to the interscholastic hand book for Sayville athletics.  In the handbook you will find teams, philosophies for all levels of athletics, policies, beliefs, safety issues and much more. http://sayville.k12.ny.us/highschool.cfm?subpage=230 is the link to the physical education department where you will find what is being taught in the high school, objectives for all three domains and a mission statement. All three of the mission statements for education, physical education and athletics have the same core idea.  The core idea that Sayville’s programs are getting their students ready for life.  Whether it be in physical education where they are being taught life long activities or in athletics where they are being taught the value of teamwork and leadership skills.  All three departments strive to have the students ready for life after high school.

http://chrisdelucaportfoliophilosophies.blogspot.com/ is the link to my philosophies.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Teaching Diverse Learners


In all levels of education there will be students with different learning styles, where us teachers will have to create different ways to teach the material.  There are visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners which all need different type of teaching styles.  In the fall of 2010 I student taught and I had a great experience teaching the students with all three types of learning styles.  Visual learners learn better from viewing the material and having visual aids to look at when performing an activity.  When I taught the Sport Ed. Model Football unit for the 4th-6th grade co-ed classes, I knew that it would be essential to have visual aids.  I put up the rules, different routes, the jobs of the different positions and the jobs on the team (coach, equipment manager, playbook keeper fitness specialist, etc) on all four sides of the gymnasium.  I did this for the students to look over while they were in their drills or games to keep the class flowing smoothly and to give the students another way to learn than watching me demonstrate.  This also helped myself because I could spend my time physically demonstrating to other students, while other students could be possibly answering their own questions with the visual aids.  It was nice when I would overlook my physical education classes watching the students using the visual aids on their own to remember what the receiver patterns.  This was only one of the three different learning styles and only one of my ways in my student teaching experience I taught in different ways to meet the needs of the three student learning abilities.


Sunday, January 30, 2011

NEA & AFT


The National Education Association (NEA) & American Federation of Teachers (AFT) are two major teacher organizations in the nation.  Both organizations are very similar because they both try to benefit teacher’s working conditions, improve salaries and much more, but there are differences between the two companies.  The NEA has about 3 million members in the organization and the AFT has about 1.5 million people.  Both organizations provide very similar benefits, but AFT provides them on a smaller scale.  The NEA having more members can be used as a political force for teachers.  Free legal services, publications and professional growth opportunities are provided by each organization.  These organizations are going to play a major role in my lifetime, especially when I am first starting out my teaching career.  I understand that I will not have the protection of tenure and that these organizations can help take pressures off of feeling vulnerable.  Also an aspiring teacher I am going to want to keep up to date and gather as much knowledge as possible through meetings, publications, etc.  As a future teacher I understand that there is always knowledge to gain and by being a part of an organization I will be able to further my knowledge as a teacher.  In my lifetime I am sure that there are going to be changes to teaching careers, whether it be pay or retirement plans.  Being a part of big organizations like these will help protect myself and other teams from unfair changes to a teacher’s career or retirement plan.