Children playing AAU basketball at an early age has become a normalcy.  The youth leagues are focuses more on competition than development.  For every one or two practices a game is played.  Unfortunately, playing endless amounts of games does not improve a child’s skill set, but it can reinforce bad habits.  For this reason leagues for young players place restrictions on how the game can be played. Would these limitations be emphasized if our young players were skilled before they could play full court basketball?  Creating a solid foundation for a child is far more important than having them run plays and sprinting up and down the court.  Footwork and ball handling are critical for kids to develop and master in the younger years and many times these areas are overlooked.  AAU and recreation teams will not always have the most qualified coaches, so as a parent, you must understand what is instrumental in the progress of your child’s development.  Investing money on basketball camps , basketball training DVDs, and or credible trainers could be far more beneficial in the long run.

Research different basketball camps and or trainers before investing.  Once you registered, attend the camps and take notes.  Taking notes should also be utilized after purchasing basketball training DVDs.  If you have decided to to invest in a trainer, talk with the trainer about your role in the developmental process.  Recording important objectives, points, and progressions will be important.  Showing up with a note pad while your child is at a basketball camp or video taping workout sessions or consistently examining basketball film will provide your child an opportunity to see how important it is to study the game.  This will allow children to be more accepting to watch and study film of players, film discussing tactics, fundamentals, and different philosophies when they become older.  It is imperative that young players understand that there is a cognitive side of sports and developing a high IQ in basketball will make them more efficient players.

Once your child has practiced certain skills, then games would allow for mastery of fundamental skills in a game setting.  3-on-3 games are the best game for novice players.  This will allow players to learn how to play basketball.  Players will learn about spacing, passing, pick and roll, screening and cutting while each player will have the opportunity to have more ball touches.  This also will allow players to defend against the skills named above.  Once the player has become proficient with executing these different skills in a half court setting, it would then be time to start playing full court basketball.

This ideal may sound odd but parents who focus on the long term process will allow there child to grow and become better basketball players, while ensuring there child does not burn out.  This developmental process is completely opposite of the United States model but followed throughout Europe.  Europe has earned a reputation of teaching and developing fundamentally sound players.  Players are not rushed on a court to play games and can barely dribble and do not understand the concept of traveling.  This is counterintuitive and will allow players to practice and strengthen bad habits.  However, if time is taken to strengthen fundamentals a players self-esteem will grow and the game will be more fun for the player.  By focusing on the development and not games played, you can ensure that your child will become fundamentally sound intelligent basketball player, who loves the game of basketball.

Players who practice more and play less will become strengthen there fundamentals, allow there body to rest,
More time practicing, less time playing (4-6 workouts for every game) one to two practices for every game
allow a developmental process so that kids do not get burned out

#neveridle168  #LFT168  #wedotheydont

"Coach" best describes the every day practices of a teacher. Think about it.

Teaching Philosophy

Although educators wear many hats, the concept of “coach” comes to mind when describing my ideals on what defines a successful educator. The two professions coalesce and easily can be confused when describing one another. I inspire, mentor, instruct, and prepare individuals to become better in their skill and then enable them to collaborate in order to achieve goals. I set high standards for myself and the individuals I am enriching, while maintaining the focus of the objectives. Coaches study their profession through evaluating the microcosm of their art through self-reflection, observing their vocation through different vantage points and assessing what needs to be mastered in order to be successful. As a coach, I use the service-learning technique module which encourages dialogue to influence successful outcomes during competition. Although I am a teacher, I am a student of my craft and I encourage my community to be students of their craft. Every second is a teaching moment, and every action can be connected to the objectives that are being sought out. I borrow ideals, then modify and incorporate these concepts to fit my class chemistry. Coaches compel individuals to self-reflect and see the potential they have within and then extract that potential into fruition. Furthermore, a coach also means a device that moves passengers from one place to another, whether by land, sea or air. As a coach, I am responsible for taking care of my passengers while in transition. I must provide a safe atmosphere for my students that protects and yet connects their mind, heart, body, and soul during the journey of erudition. Throughout this journey I focus on the importance of systems. What they are and why it is important to not only establish systems, but master the systems they are affiliated with. Whether these ideologies deal with social, political or economic systems, my students will understand they must play the game, and avoid the bench at all cost. Preparation, making the right decisions, understanding their opponent's mindset and tendencies will put them on a road to success. A coach creates an atmosphere that allows for absolute truth to be discovered, respected, and accepted through collaboration while protecting the sanctity of the individual. When the coach has successfully created a team, the team resembles a family which no longer competes against each other through conflict, but is in harmony to make the individual stronger; this allows the community to be strengthened because truth is being continually pursued. The pursuit for truth and execution of the found truth are ideals that are the cornerstone of the community. The role of coach is synonymous with my ideals of being an educator. High standards, assessment through different vantage points, learning while teaching, keeping the subject as the focal point, protecting my students through the transition of learning, and teaching students to develop and master systems are the expectations I have set for myself.


What are your thoughts? 

‪#‎neveridle168‬ ‪#‎LFT168‬

Fewer students are pursuing doctorate degrees in special education.  This creates voids within universities special education departments and students from kindergarten to collegiately suffer from inadequate education.   Lack of special education degrees also creates a lack of research, uneducated administration and policy makers.  Multi-education has been difficult to implement and with minority shortages, this problem will continually get worse unless a contingency plan is devised to entice minorities to pursue a career in special education.  The FIRST program tries to tackle this problem by focusing on two of the least represented minority groups in special education.  The Native Americans and Spanish communities are grossly misrepresented and the FIRST program has created a cohort which allows teachers of these ethnicities to earn a doctoral degree while not having to sacrifice like the average doctoral student.  This program will allow for more minorities to pursue special education, while researching their effects on academics, linguistics and social outcomes.  These teachers will be taught how to be culturally diverse while implementing strategies, and technology in an inclusive setting.

This article discusses three major problems within the education community.  The shortage of teachers in special education, the shortage of minorities in special education.  Due to the need at my previous school, I became a special education teacher and limited research within special education.  I have had experience with the special education department shortage on teachers.  I taught special education with no formal training and no assistance on how educate special needs students.  I studied and incorporated different strategies that allowed me to be successful but that was done through trial and error.  Some counties like fairfax, pay for interns to study in the field and hires them after they have completed the cohort.  The shortage with minorities in education is difficult to asses when teaching in a urban setting that is culturally diverse, however when looking at America, this is a major problem.  In the article "Preparing Preservice Educators for Cultural Diversity: How Far Have We Come?" discusses that the teacher population is becoming more White although the schools are becoming more culturally diverse.  Most of the studies that were orchestrated in the review were dominated by white teachers, and actually showed the lack of diversity within education.  The last problem is the culmination of there being a shortage of education teachers.  The lack of research hinders the growth and knowledge of teachers and students.  "A huge gap remains between the quantity of studies published in both fields, with the larger number of studies being published by general education researchers" (Trent, CEC, p. 345).  Since there is a lack of research, teachers are left to questionnaires and surveys, and these surveys are isolated from other teachers.  

The idea of the FIRST program is a great idea and I agree with getting Spanish and Native American teachers interested in obtaining a doctorate degree.  However, I do not agree that this great idea is limited to these ethnicities.  With the shortage of special education teachers, the objective should be to create an influx of students into this field.  By focusing on the microcosm of two ethnicity, the program limits the growth and the research of the effects of this program on special education.  Caucassion females dominate the field, but if there was a focus on multicultural education, this would not be a problem but an issue.  There is no doubt that there needs to be a diverse population in the education field but the pundits have not figured out how to instigate this growth.

Peterson's research is relevant because it brings to light crucial issues in the special education field and how answers are being developed and exercised to fix this problem.  This articles content is not necessarily relevant for this course, but the ideals emerged in the text are very benificial.  I will not benifit from the program that was discussed in this article, however the knowledge I gained has strengthened the possibilites about earning a doctorate in education.  The focus will be to connect special and general education together.  I am not eligible for the FIRST program but I am sure that I will be effected indirectly by the context of this article.

I enjoyed this article although I was not entirely happy that all minorities was not incorperated in the plan.  The article was extremely limited and focused on the Native American and Spanish Americans, when the article first discussed the shortage of special eduation teachers in general.  I would have loved to see data that discussed all minority teachers compared to white minority teachers in the university setting.  This article did peek my curiosity with how many minority students have doctoral degrees and work in the colligiate setting.  I believe the more minority professors, the easier ideals on multieducation can spread within the educational sphere.  The lack of information about minorities in education allows me to analyze the importance of obtaining a doctorate in the educational feild that focus on special education.  I have met six skillful female professors and two interns, one a male who teach at George Washington University.  I however have not encountered a minority who has or is pursuing a doctorate.  Maybe I will fill this void after I have completed this cohort.