For Power or Pleasure

Time and time again we see burnt out athletes by the time they are ages 13-15. Why do we have this constant dropout rate for such promising athletes? Well the answer can stem from many sources; parents, over exposure, life pressures, financial issues, hobby changing, and life experiences. What does this mean for our athlete, this means that at a young age our athlete was exposed to a certain sport which they showed considerable interest, (or no interest at all) parents saw this as an opportunity to get a jump start on their child’s athletic ability. Enrolling their child in as many youth programs as possible, this spells disaster for this athletes future, don’t get me wrong I think starting out children with a sport young is the best idea, but being able to tell the difference between how much the child actually wants to be there verses a parent trying to live through their kids is crucial. Once again I’d hate for this too look like I’m bashing dedicated parents, I want it to be clear that the athlete is my main priority, with this as a physical educator my goal is to instill “Life-Long Fitness and physical activity involvement” and having an athlete burn out before they could reach their prim is one of the saddest things anyone following an athlete can experience. Also when getting into sports we must realize that any sport participation will cause financial issues on any level, and gagging where and how to spend the money is also crucial. Paying 100 dollars a week for your 5 year old to learn to pitch may not be the best financial investment. Rather than later on in life when a child has been able to hone in on the specific sport and the specific position that they enjoy playing spending 100 dollars a week on training would be more proficient. Kids are more often than not pushed to the brink of pleasure to where it just becomes a chore to have to go to softball practice, or play in that basketball game on a Saturday night. Parents and coaches need to recognize the signs of when an athlete is losing interest in a sport that they used to “eat, breath, and live” before it is too late can save a lot of athletes potential. Parents relationships is closely linked to the interest held by the athletes, we want to impress our parents but when the demand becomes too much some parents keep expecting more and more and are blind to the fact that they are being detrimental to their athletes and their performance. Another factor is time, we like to call it Student-Athlete but we all know that when it comes to certain players they are really, Athlete-Students. Just hitting the books to get by and spending all their time on the field or court. As an educator I must realize that yes I want my students to be physically educated and participate in physical activities, but it is just as important as the rest of their subjects and life responsibilities. There must be equality when it comes to sports and studies, with the help of educators, responsible parents, and respectful coaches us as a team could create a new generation of athletes that were born to love sports and continue throughout the rest of their lives! Long live Life-long Physical Fitness!

Something out of your box!

Looking for something new? Something thrilling and exciting? How about something extreme! Test yourself, break your boundaries, and get out there. Everyday people are living exciting lives due to their out of the box activities, by not sticking to the norms people create discoveries and further expand the knowledge we crave for physical activities. Can be as simple as going for a hike in a nearby wooded area or as extreme as jumping out of a plane and sky diving for that rush. I for one like to go fast and in the most abstract ways. Cliff Swinging, Bike riding, Rollerblading, Mountain Climbing, Scuba-Diving, Snowboarding, and surfing! These are just a few examples of how most of physically educated and physically healthy people spend their time, craving the rush that compels them to challenge their boundaries. Yes, we can all go to the weight room and exercise, or go out to the courts and shoot a basketball around, and we will get our physical activity. But doesn't that get boring to any of you? The same activity day in and day out! Everyone needs a little verity in their lives, if not than the lifelong activities we hold dear to us now will slowly become obsolete to us and the enjoyment we gain from participating in such events will dwindle, deterring us away from wanting to pursue our activity. When we integrate an extreme sport into our activities, the spark that lights any physically involved person’s fire will burn ever strong. Most say its like becoming reborn when one of these extreme activities is accomplished. With a little push everyday anyone can become an extreme physical activist, bringing new life to anyone's physical activity repertoire. So don't be scared! Step out of your box and break the norms around you!

Diversity! Yes we want it!

Yes, we want diversity! But in order for us to see it we must experience it. Everyday someone is a the new student at a school, no matter how different they may seem to be they are all feeling the same things, how will these kids treat me? Will I be accepted? Will they respect my differences? Sadly most of the time the answer will be no, students especially at young ages are not sensitive to cultural differences, whether this has to do with parental involvement or just for lack of understanding most students will be picked on for being different. If we look at the profile of a student named Jimmy Tribo we can get an idea of just how different life can become when changing schools.
Jimmy Tribo is a 13-year-old white American boy; his parent’s work very hard for him and his brother to have the “life” that they never had as kids. They instill values and morals for their kids to follow as well as the importance of education; with it they will be able to go far. But to their disappointment things have not gone to plan and Jimmy’s father has been laid off, and they are forced to sell their house and move. Coming from a predominantly white community Jimmy was never exposed to the life of a minority. His new home and school district are in a predominantly African American and Spanish American communities, this is now making Jimmy and his family the minority. On Jimmy’s first day of school he was brought to the office by one of the security guards, who were claiming that Jimmy had been fighting a group of students. In reality Jimmy had been asking a group of students where he could find one of the classrooms, the students had called him a “white boy” and told him to go back to his prep school where he belongs, at this one of the students pushed Jimmy and another had punched him. Jimmy had never been placed in this type of situation before so he fought back. When telling conveying this to the principle he was called a liar many times, where he eventually gave up and just accepted his punishment. From that moment on Jimmy was never the same student again, he stopped trying in school, didn’t go out for sports, and eventually by age 17 dropped out of school.
Jimmy’s whole life was altered, not by this move but by his experience he faced when diversity was non-existent. With the help of all educators we can create a world that promotes equality and understanding across all communities!

I Hope & I Believe!

Hope & Believe

SCOPE: Multiculturalism, Diversity and Stereotypes. Including WRUP!

SCOPE: Broadcast

Should we be segregated?

I have interviewed two people from both a public school and a private school about their take on how it has effected their academic perofrmance and their values of equality for all people. after this i think any educational setting could be right for anyones education.

Kinect! or Not!

My Roommates and I really enjoy using the Xbox Kinect and today i have interviewed my friend on his position about the use of this type of technology for educational & physical activity purposes.

Mainstreamed

One constantly battle being fought by parents and educators is whether or not we should mainstream disabilities students. This is a sensitive issue we face because there is a severity of disabilities so it is hard to classify students as a whole. So I would like to break it down as an individual situation, using myself as an example. Being a student with ADHD I was placed in a special needs class as a youngster, slowly but surely I mainstreamed myself first with math in the 3rd grade and finally with English fully mainstreamed by the 10th grade. Now this process took a lot of time and hard work by not only myself, but mostly by my mother who is a huge advocate for my education and I owe a lot to her for it. But during my processes of mainstreaming myself, I faced several walls. My socialization skills were at a low when I first started moving out of the special needs class, as well as my presence with my peers was known as “a special kid” this can cause many issues for young students, when acceptance is such a crucial part of the school system. Of course most parents are going to say education is the most important part of mainstreaming, but you have to look at the success rates of students who’s social skills were hindered by not being mainstreamed, you will see a low correlation between the two. Students need a good social environment to have good academic success. Now reality is, more goes into mainstreaming than just a social aspect, but it is a huge help when we look at student

Challenge them!

In Education there is a common acceptance to the bell curve when it comes to student performance, most students will fall in the middle of the curve as “average learners” with a small percent on both sides of the curve as “exceptional learners”. What this means is that you are going to have students who will be able to excel in every subject, while on the other hand you are going to have students who struggle with most. When looking at this situation, we must be able to create a curriculum that challenges all students regardless of where they land on the learning curve. Too often we focus on just getting the majority of students to pass, but passing is not our goal, our goal is to create educated youngsters to better our future generations. So when we educate we must CHALLENGE those who must be challenged and HELP those who need help. From personal experience my brother was a student who needed to be challenged, and he was not slowly but surely his motivation for knowledge dropped off because of his lack of academic challenges in our school. This is an issue that needs to be addressed by all educators. We must challenge our students not just pass them through the school systems.

Student Learning Styles

Between Myth and Fact teachers can identify which students are certain kinds of learners when looking at how students process information in the most efficient way for them. This is a crucial part of any students learning experience! So why would we as educators not want to identify and then therefore gear that students learning towards their style of learning? We would or at least we should! It is our responsibility. Personally I know I am a Kinesthetic learner, meaning hands on learning. Getting students up moving through the lesson physically rather than sitting listening to information just go in through one ear and out of the other. This learning style influences my teaching style as well, learning towards a Kinesthetic approach for students I would like all students to be able to problem solve through physical movement. But even myself I have to realize that not all my students are going to be like me, others could be Auditory learners (learning by hearing information) or Visual Learners (Learning by seeing) by combining all of these styles of teaching, I hope to one day create the most effective teaching approach for my students to be successful. As my students grow as learners and learn more about themselves, I myself will grow as an educator learning more about who I am as a Physical Educator.