I had been teaching at Old Redford Academy in Detroit, Michigan for five years when I decided to begin my Master of Arts in Education program through Michigan State University in the summer of 2011.  I was approaching my deadline to accumulate the amount of credits needed to renew and obtain my professional teaching certificate.  I have always had the idea and goal to teach for a fair amount of years before I moved on to the next stage of my career, which has always been to enter into the administrative side of education, preferably as an athletic director.  I coach baseball almost year round and have a very busy schedule, so I decided that the online program through MSU was an ideal fit for what I needed.  I went to Western Michigan University for my undergrad, after being accepted to MSU but chose to head to Kalamazoo.  Both of my brothers went to MSU, the oldest obtaining two bachelors degrees, a master’s degree, and his PhD and my other brother obtaining his bachelors.  My family has had season tickets to MSU football since 1998 and I am a diehard fan, so what better place to pursue my Master’s degree than MSU.  I would officially become a Spartan and gain a top-notch education to further my career.

            I always had an interest in working with kids and teaching/coaching.  In high school, I played many sports and served as the captain on many of them, I also worked at a local batting cage and baseball academy where I worked with Barbaro Garbey from the 1984 Detroit Tigers World Series Championship team and I assisted him with his lessons and worked many camps as a counselor.  In my senior year of high school I had two catastrophic injuries that helped lead me down the course of becoming a teacher and coach.  I tore my ACL, MCL, and meniscus cartilage in my left knee playing football and if I would have had it fixed right away I would have missed basketball and baseball, so I chose to rehab and strengthen the muscles around the joint, miss my basketball season and come back for my last baseball season.  I went through the workouts and tryouts without any hitches, but in the first practice after “cut day” my knee gave out on my while taking batting practice and I fell on my left arm during my follow through of the swing.  I broke both bones in my forearm and required surgery and had two titanium alloy plates inserted.  I never missed a practice or game of football or baseball with my injuries and the athletic director and football coach realized my potential as a leader, teacher, and coach and encouraged me to pursue these dreams. 

            Having these positive mentors that influenced me helped me realize that I was meant to work with kids and be a mentor and coach to help influence the lives of youths, both in the classroom, and on the field.  I have enjoyed my experiences as a physical education teacher for youths in the intercity of Detroit and feel that I have been a positive influence on many youths’ lives.  As an educator, I am always looking to further my own abilities and capabilities to teach children and feel that the MAED program at MSU has helped me improve my skills as an educator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           The MAED program at MSU drew me in because it seemed to have quite a bit of flexibility.  I was able to choose two areas of concentration that would help improve myself as an educator and improve my education towards meeting my goals.  I chose the Sports Leadership and Coaching concentration area and P-12 School and Post Secondary Leadership concentration areas because they were perfect for me to pursue my goals.  The courses that were offered in these two areas of concentration were very informative and helpful to me to improve my skills as a coach and educator as I indulge myself deeper towards the goals that I set forth.  Along with the great variety of courses offered in my two areas of concentration, I was also able to take the required reading and writing course to obtain my professional teaching certificate as an elective.  Another aspect of this program that I found to be very informative was that I not only learned about how to be a better educator, but I learned about myself as a learner and how to relate to my students and their educational needs.  There were many relative and influential courses I took during the program, but I will highlight the ones I felt most important in this essay.

            One of the most interesting classes that I partook in was Positive Youth Development Through Sport (KIN 857).   This course covered key areas of positive youth development through sport and had many key concepts and ideas that covered why sports are great for children, not just for the physical aspect, but for the social learning aspect as well.  I found this course to be very interesting in the regard of how parents, kids, and society as a whole view sports and the necessity of children’s involvement of team activities.  This course helped me develop an integral part of my philosophy as an educator and coach, that sports can help youth develop positive skills to be a part of society.  This course not only taught me how to positively influence the children I work with, but how to present myself in a manner that is conducive to promoting this concept.  We discussed how to be better teachers, coaches, mentors, and leaders for our youth.

            Another course that was very important to any physical educator and coach was KIN 855, Physcosocial Basis of Coaching.  This course had a plethora of information about how athletes learn, perceive, adapt, and improve from strategic philosophies of teaching youth.  I do not think there was a more informative course in this program that I took than this one.  Scientific aspects of how athletes learn and their mental state during practice were key concepts that helped me become a better teacher of physical education and coach of sport specific skills of my sport.  This course not only taught me about how students learn mentally while participating in physical activity, but also the best way to present material and the manner in which to do so.  We learned about how learners learn and the best way to instruct student athletes with best practices of their personal activities. 

            In this course, we discussed at great length the philosophy of sport and how important it was to have positive influences from coaches and teachers.  I was able to think about how important it was for sports to influence youth in todays society and why my job is as important as any other educator in schools today.  Also, within this course I learned about the proper way of skill development and progression for youth to learn about skills within my sport or activity.  We worked specifically on developing practice plans and best methods to implement them, I have directly used these ideas in my current positions as a teacher and coach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          Along the same lines of KIN 855 was KIN 856, Physical Basis of coaching.  KIN 855 covered every aspect of how children learn from the mental aspect of teaching and coaching, but KIN 856 covered how the learners body worked and the best practices of teaching them.  The course was a great eye opener for anyone who works with youth on a teaching, coaching, or administrator side of things and how to deal with physical activities and the consequences of failing to protect the athletes while they participate in the activities we are in charge of.  This course went in depth of the anatomy and physiology of athletes and helped me further my own knowledge of the human body and best practices of teaching and working with youth.  This course helped me learn about the proper prevention, care, and rehabilitation of injuries as well as ways to avoid any unnecessary activities that will influence bad physical behaviors.   Within this course, I was able to learn about the systematic breakdown of skills to help the child learn.  This course helped me develop activities and practices that were safe for the learner to further develop their abilities within the sport.

            The last course that I will discuss may have been the most influential and informative course of my program, KIN 854, Legal and Administrative Issues of Coaching.  This course covered more information than I ever thought possible about the very important aspects of being a sports administrator.  My goal is to eventually be an athletic director and this course discussed every single aspect you could imagine of that particular job.  It covered legal aspects of responsibilities and liabilities of hosting and participating in athletic events, to Title IX, to safety of athletes and sports programs.  The class covered everything from stadium safety, to employees responsibilities, to how to handle budgets of multiple sports programs at a high school or university.  This course also offered examples and assignments for future athletic administrators to run their athletic programs from setting up meetings with coaches from all sports teams, to handling individual programs at a school.

            I feel that the MAED online program through MSU has offered me the opportunity to learn at my own pace with the courses that best fit my goals as a learner and has allowed me to work towards my goals as I so wish.  The Capstone course has offered me the chance to show my skills and learning abilities as an educator and future administrator and to showcase everything I have worked hard for over the past two years.  When I wrote my goals statement two years ago when I entered the MAED program at MSU, I did not know what I was getting myself into or how I would meet my career goals.  This program has offered me the chance to learn about everything I had in mind and the capstone course is a great avenue to showcase everything I have worked hard to achieve over the past two years.  When entering the Capstone course, I did not know what to expect, but through expert tutelage, I have achieved everything I set out for and hope to utilize this tool in the near future as I pursue every one of my goals as an educator and administrator throughout my career.   This program has helped me pursue these goals and take the first steps towards a new beginning in my career.  I could not have asked for better course offerings, leadership, teaching, and learning as I have found at Michigan State University.  I am definitely a better, educator, coach, and learner from my experiences with the MAED program and will advocate every chance I get for online learning.