Lesson learned through Step Aerobics - Lab D

To this point in my teaching profession i've experienced different types of enviornments and found many ways to keep my students moving and listening. Apart from that these past 2 semesters have been an absolute joy! To say i've improved in teaching is an understatement. From the 1st day, chills have been running down my spine when i got in front of a group of students. To watch myself improve and provide feedback to a lesson i taught shows my growth as a future educator. Rock on!

With that being said let's talk about lab D and Step Aerobics shall we? A few things i've learned from this lab. 1) Not all students will cooperate when  you expect them too, 2) Your lesson may or may not go as planned, and 3) some college students aren't as mature as they should be. . . . say whattttt? Okay lets be honest, with these lab experiences i believe the class should be respectful to those that are teaching UNLESS, UNLESS, I say again UNLESS told to do so by the teacher! Take into account that i understand when i get out teaching this won't be the case however for LEARNING PURPOSES this experience should be a respectful one. Why talk about this you ask? Well a few students in my class thought it would be nice to be disruptive because well. . . . they simply felt like it. Out of all the things to expect, imaturity out of college students? Yep, they had me fooled and if my body language during my lesson didn't show it then i can sit her and type away how i felt. Hopefully people grow up in the future but i digress from this lab write-up.

As far as what i did well and what i need to improve on. Apart from lab C when i taught The Cha Cha i felt like my intro wasn't as strong for lab D. I thought i was creative when i came up with the instant activity of "no pressure" to simulate high and low blood pressure. This game took me forever to come up with but it went well i thought apart from the fact that i didn't tell the students they can't whip the ball at each other! My lesson itself was in shambles i'll be honest. My music wasn't hooked up until halfway through my lesson but if i can give myself a little more credit i tried to give as much feedback as i could with the time i had. I felt that the students i talked to got a hint of that and they thanked me for helping them out which helped boost my moral a little bit! When it comes to future lessons there is one thing i shall take note of. INTRA-TASK VARIATION. I had none of it the past 2 lessons and well to be honest i'm disappointed in myself. But listen to me feel bad for myself. As far as Eric getting kicked out of class, yes that may have not been the best way to go about it although i was following my rules. However to be honest i showed 100% respect during his lesson so to only get 5% in my lesson was a slap in the face. As a future educator i'm going to focus on ALL aspects of different teaching styles and bring them togetehr into my own masterpiece. It starts here and it will end when i retire from this profession! I look forward to it, Rock On!

Lesson plan

Task progress  

Time coding

Content development

SteckTacularPE goes CHA CHA!!!!!

For the Lab C portion of my class, we had to pick an international game and turn it into our own creation. For me i chose the Cha Cha to spice up the life of our future educators. The road getting to this point has been one filled with joy and excitement. From an elementary school learning different motor skills and assessment, to incorporating technology into a lesson, this experience has brought me out of my shell and into a new world. 



Technology is an extraordinary was to show case who you are and you want to be as a future educator. Those who take advantage of it will reap the awards of sharing professional pictures and videos that YOU CREATE. You may think i'm bluffing but what the use of programs like picasa, prezi, and youtube you can show the world that hey you know what i am an educator and this is why! Let your actions speak louder than your words

 So the Cha Cha, how to incorporate a dance into your lesson. When people think PE they think "oh hey dodgeball, tag, soccer, volleyball, basketball, etc". Throw that idea out the door, and the lesson plans that go with it. You want to integrate PE the right way? Use sports that haven't been thought of yet. Use your own ideas to shape your students learning. You are the adult responsible, You control their learning, and You have the opprotunity to take PE to a whole new level. A level that your students will remember forever!

The Cha Cha on Prezi

So any individual can use a youtube video, copy and paste it onto a prezi to use for their presentation. Let's think for a minute. That would be too easy now wouldn't it? To take a video you didn't post and use it for your own presentation. Copyright issues much? Forget all that. Take 20 minutes out of your time to make a video for your students! Show them you care by taking time out of your your schedule to ensure their education! Now why aren't all teachers doing that? Answer - They are LAZY!! So prezi, why use it? Sick of dragging a poster board full of clas rules and cues? Never fear! Upload it onto a picasa and you my friend have your own personal lesson plan! Don't like how it looks? Never fear, you can always edit it after you present it to fit it to your liking. Pretty snazzy eh?

The Cha Cha. When i sat down a few days before this lesson i thought to myself how awesome is this experience going to be! What i got was a handful of mistakes that changed my outlook on the lab itself. Many mistakes to choose from, which one should i explain first? Well how about the fact that i didn't plug in m lap top to my speakers? Or how about not getting my music playing when i planned to do that? Or how about not giving feedback to my students? Or how about my peers telling me my introduction was the best part of my lesson because of my prezi and how i presented it? Well that's exactly how i felt when i was teaching. I was so passionate about the intro that when i got to my lesson i didn't quite figure out everything. Just goes to show how much effort i put in each. My hook and intro were on point to the task that was given. The demonstrations i felt were good as well and i pinpointed some students which made me lesson more efficient.   



Lesson Plan
Task Progress
Task Progress
Feedback
Time Coding
Content Development

I love the crazy kickers and they love me too i'm in their video!!!!!!

What to do and not to do when Jumping Rope

     My performance this lab was similar to that of the other times I had taught in my career here in SUNY Cortland. I felt like I did a few things well and others not so much. Every good teacher has some kind of hook. My hook related jumping on a trampoline with jumping rope. When I mentioned jumping on a trampoline I saw some heads nod and I saw other people with a confused look on their face. I guess you can’t win them all huh?

     Having good cues means you put thought into what you want your students to recall. My cues were one, two, three, tuck. Simple enough I thought. If you have easy cues that students can follow they’ll recite your activity easily even if they can’t execute the skill.

     Above all else having the ability to pinpoint would be the most important was to keep your students motivated. Having those not as coordinated enough demonstrate in front of the class shows that not only you want your students to learn but it gives them a chance to be in the spotlight. Giving encouraging words is important when your students are helping you demonstrate. Keeping everyone involved is the key and I felt I did that. Apart from that i didn't do a good job at all circulating to each of my students. I felt a slight distance as my lesson went on and besides that i didn't have any visual aids. Way to be prepared Mr. Steck.

Another day of Affirmation! Where do you stand amongst it all?

To my fellow rockstars,

Today's inspiration comes from learning. That is learning from life. Take another moment and reflect what this story means to you personally and professionally. We all have different opinions about how portray life and portray our profession. Let's share it with one another not just through the blog but through ourselves

A life of learning

Your 1st Affirmation and quite frankly not your last

     First off i want to send a shout out to Shirley Cahill for giving me this idea. She was the one that brought me into the concept of the DailyOM. This website is desinged to nature the mind and spirit by supplying us with stories that touch our hearts and open our mind to ideas that we should carry throughout of lives. For you future educators out there take a moment each day and reflect on these stories. How do they relate to your everyday lives? How do they relate to your profession? What bits and pieces of these stories remind you of your day in general? Most importantly how can you use this as a future educator to motivate your students? Take a moment and read through the story provided in the link below, you never know what may change your life! Rock on rockstars!


Sending Love Ahead to Your Day

Motor Skills of the 2nd chapter. The training wheels for this lifestyle we call Physical Education

3) Learning new skills require the mastery of easier skills. These prerequisites are the foundation of the fundamental motor skills. Students need to know the task at hand so they can adapt their bodies to different situations to accomplish these tasks. If the task isn't clear the students wont be able to learn new abilities and advance to more advanced skills. It's important as an instructor to provide proper feedback to the students as they perform different skills. Pinpointing is a great way to allow students to demonstrate their skills and it will allow them to stay motivated to progress in motor movment. Without practice the students won't improve. In simplistic terms pratice makes perfect.

4) Different skills can be classified in 2 categories:  open and closed. Closed skills are under spatial control meaning that they occur in a stable and predictable enviornment. Discrete skills have a specific ending and they are more effective in a closed enviornment. Discrete skills can be performed in a series. These are called serial skills. Open skills like those performed in a game like setting are done in a variable and unpredictable enviornment. Skills performed here are more continous meaning they are linked together with other parts or skills.

Communication and Demonstration. . . Communistration for physical education. A chapter 4 review

2)  Getting the attention of students in a class room how is that different from a gymnasium? There is no difference silly your a physical educator, the gymnasium is your class room. Maintaining the attention of your students is the most important criteria for instruction. In a gym setting your students are going to wander and wander quickly. It's our job as an educator to provide protocols in the class room. You are the instructor, you are the inspiration for the next generation, so provide some rules that are clear and positive so that students know what's expected of them. We want to keep this brief however because we can't hold them back from having fun.

3) What better way to educate than to demonstrate? It's a great way for students to observe how to execute skill concepts properly. But why should you demonstrate alone right? Let's get the students involved right? Pinpointing is a perfect way not only to get students involved but to keep them motivated. Pull a boy and girl aside who's doing the skill correctly, let their talent shine through the whole class. Then again what about little Jimmy your student who's struggling with a volleyball bump? Bring him up in front, let him show his stuff because you know he deserves your support to. You get Jimmy motivated, you give the Jimmy the ability to succeed and that's our goal as educators. We want our students to excel.

5) When performing a movement it needs to follow a sequence that your students can follow to understand. Closed skills such as free-throws and serving in Tennis are better taught using verbal cues. Students will process this information as they perform the skill continually. The more they practice the better they will get be sure to remind them of the cues needed to perform the skill. Open skills occur in a constantly changing enviornment so demonstrating a skill would benefit them more. Providing feedback to the students is a great way for them to fix mistakes and to continually process the correct movement

I screammmmm for ICE CREAMMMMM

One of the main things i've learned about teaching a lesson is that you NEED to keep your students MOTIVATED and focused on you. You are the physical educator, you are the standard to what great teachers should be and it has to show through your performance.

As the top photo shows Greg and Tyler were into my lesson and you can see that in their faces as well as their body language. The 2nd photo down shows from left to right Rob and Matt and how thye reacted while i was explaining my lesson. As you can tell the smiles say it all and that's what we need to focus on. Not only the fine motor skills but the affective domain. Are your students having fun? Are they engaged in your activity? Are they focused on you and nothing else? Does your presense keep the kids physically active? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves.

Lets get back to the basics shall we. As you can from this photo i brought the students to a corner or a wall where there are NO DISTRACTIONS. How important is this concept? If you want your voice to project to your students and if you want them to focus on you and only you than this concept is for you. That's one of the first things i've learned during my time here at SUNY Cortland, you need to stand out.

Let's be honest your not going to have a perfect lesson. Teachers make mistakes and while i was standing up there i knew i made some but i went with it anyway. As future educators we need to understand that our focus are the kids. We need to do everything in our power to press on with a lesson no matter how many mistakes or pauses we endure. The beginning of my lesson i thought went pretty well. I brought students to a corner so they would keep their focus on me and not get distracted. Before i even said a word, i had them do diffferent things to be motivated such as stomping your feet and clapping your hands. My focus was to keep attention and not to let go. My hook was ice cream. Realistic i don't know any student who doesn't love ice cream so why not right? I go from motivation, to ice cream, to learning how to throw ice cream. I'll admit i don't think that was the best approach especially if the students end up going home and have ice cream for dessert. They get to tell their parents that they learned how to throw ice cream during physical education. What ind of program am i running and who's gonna clean that ice cream off the wall later? Demonstrating the "T" for overhand throws was the best way i saw for the kids to learn. Last semester i observed my classmates at St. Mary's working on the "T" at St. Mary's and saw how easily the students picked it up. I guess you can say i stole it but i think it was just a brilliant idea. I gave the students an option indirectly. If you can throw from a "T" then you get more ice cream because my activity involved getting ice cream into the truck so we can make more. I wouldn't say perfect by any means but everyone was involved. I saw a lot of smiles to and what more could i have asked for? Overall i think my performance speaks for itself. Literally because i could actually hear myself this time. I would change some things like introducing myself before we start the activity so that the class knows my name! I think that was a critical point i misjudged. Also i didn't give the students feedback about throwing because i was to involved with being the ice cream truck and if i were to assess my students i wouldn't be able to give them pointers on what they are doing wrong or right. Also time i didn't use it productively. I spent more time instructing than i did with my activity and that is a no no. You want to keep kids active and involved and not lecture them for the entire period. The only good part about my time management was not having the students wait long at all. I was up there, motivated, and got their attention right away. As a future educator my focus will be mainly on the affective because without it there is no way your students will engage in motor movement or even think about it. We all play a role in the fate of the future lets decide how we want to be remembered. I want my students to be motivated everytime i walk through those gym doors.

Goals for the physical educator. . . well chapter 1 questions

1) Teaching a goal-oriented physical education program is realistically up to the educators themselves. Every physical education program needs to focus on goals based on the three domains (psychmotor, cognitive, and affective). Students need to develop skills that will promote life-long physical fitness. Skill assessment is only a third of the battle. Students also need to develop the habits of absorbing the movement and thinking about it while they do it. Educators need to give them a challenging program that helps students learn to use mind and body to accomplish given tasks. Most importantly students need to have fun while they learn. To put it easily the more fun they have, the more they'll remember what's happened in pe. My teachers did a wonderful job in high school, i'm glad i learned tennis and soccer skills in college.

2)The movement task-student response unit is key in physical education because we need to know how were doing as far as teaching certain skills. Every student learns differently and it's our job as educators to modify our curriculums to meet the standards for each individual student. No one should fall behind which is another reason why most physical education curriculums fail.

3)Teaching functions are guidelines for teaching skills. All educators have different abilities and beliefs about how to execute certain skills. Two teaching functions involve planning and presenting tasks. One way to plan and present a task is teaching by invitation. The educator allows students to work with equipment and perform tasks they feel most comfortable with. Another way to plan and present is Intra-Task variation. This is where the educator determines the skill level of the students based on prior assessments

A little rusty but the semester is young yet

     One thing that all physical educators should know is every performance WILL NOT BE PERFECT. This performance is a good example. One of the main things i've learned in 201 is you have to project your voice so that everyone can hear it and i barely could hear myself in this video. My instructions were not 100% clear when it came to boundaries and ques. However if there was one thing i could credit myself for it would be getting everyone involved keeping them running. We all know kids like to run, well idk about college students but anyway it was a good activity to get the semester started. I just need to work on the basic things and it will  all come together. Have faith rockstars!

Prezi - It was the best of times it was the worst of times

     My life has been a struggle from the day of nationals 2010. I thought of myself as a failure because i was on the biggest stage of my running career and i thought i had failed myself. But if there's one thing i learned it's to never give up no matter what the circumstances because all it takes is one moment to bring you back on track

All good things come to an end sooner or later

     With this being the last lab of the semester it's hard to describe the atmosphere change since the first day i've been at St. Mary's.

    The theme of the last lab was Star Wars and to be quite honest it wasn't all about Star Wars. Yes it had parachutes but this lab was a very emotional one for a lot of us. To see how far we've come since the first week is absolutely amazing. You could tell who wanted to be here and who didn't.

     One thing i noticed about myself was my teacher mask coming out to the head of the line. Since the first week teaching to kids and interacting with them hasn't been more fun than with the experience i've had there. I've learned a lot about myself and my profession as well as what to expect when i become a teacher one day.

     Above all else working with others was the main piece of this puzzle. Everyone in this experience had a role and i believe we all did so successfully. But all good things come to an end sooner or later. Walking out of St. Mary's one last time was hard but the hours put into the product was well worth it. As far as going back is concerned i cannot wait for that day. This is what physical education is all about

Spring Time comes to St. Mary's

     Lab this week incorporated the holiday of Easter. For my game of choice i choose to do Egg-Extravaganza which included a basket of eggs and numerous activities for the kids to do.

     During prep lab i had different sets of motor movements which i thought of having the kids do however i switched it up this time aorund. Instead of running, jumping, and skipping i had them dancing, clapping, and stomping their feet. Trying to keep kids motivated and having fun was my main goal for my game although the kids spent most of their time reading the eggs but again you can't expect everything to go perfect.

     The eggs didn't last long either. I had at leats 15 kids ask me if they could have an egg and of course i gave them what they wanted. They were more excited with keeping the eggs then they were doing the activity i also had a child ask me for my mask it was quite interesting.

     What seperated this lab from the others was being OUTSIDE. It was amazing to see how much the kids came alive and how their energy radiated in everything they did. I found myself playing tag, swinging on monkey bars, and sliding down a slide (haven't done that in 7 years).

     What made this lab special was it didn't matter what lab group you were in, EVERYONE GOT INVOLVED. All of us took part in what was a lab full of laughs, excitement, and happiness like i've never saw before at St. Mary's.



Hard work pays off at track meet

     This past friday i was involved in the track meet at Cortland where i ran unattached for two races. A  month ago i decided to begin training again for running because of my chance to be apart of the cross country team in the fall. I entered myself in the 1500 meter and the 5K race to see where i stood.

     Having not ran a competitve race since almost a year ago i was nervous to find myself back into the competition. I seeded myself at a 4:50 with my best time being 4:36 back in community college. I crossed the finish like with a 4:40 flat which was 4 seconds slower than my personal record. To call this a motivational boost is an understatement. I couldn't believe that i was almost as good as i was a year ago and it only took me a month of training! So what's the moral of this blog? You can do anything you want if you put your mind to it. Believe in yourself and just as my old coach used to say "NGU - Never Give Up" on anything. I'm one step closer to my dream and that is to make the cross country team

     I did finish last in the 1500 and next to last in the 5K with a 18:15 but that's not the point. The point is i'm returning to a lifestyle that i gave up almost a year ago. I plan on aking this to new heights, heights i never thought were possible until i make them possible.

St. Mary's receives a visit from the Dinosaur Train!

     The lab for this week incorporated the children's show Dinosaur Train. But for me the most important part of this lab was working with the pre-k students. Having 2 nieces i feel more comfortable around children in this age group because i've handled situations similar to this at home before. Although my oldest niece is 2 and a half i'm about to begin reading to her so i can have more practice come time to the teacher setting.

     One of the things i have been blessed with through motor development is coming out of my shell and bringing life to the students. When i sat in front of the pre-k kids i felt right at home. I couldn't find any books on dinosaur train itself however you can't go wrong with dinosaurs and it showed, the kids loved it!

     To have students ask you if they can read the book, keep the book, or even asking me what my favorite dinosaur is puts a huge smile on my face and confidence in my heart. This is something i want to do for a living and these kids are showing me that i do have what it takes to make it. Along with the reading, my lab partner Will had an ingenious idea of coloring dinosaur eggs

     I gave a student my egg that i worked so hard on. He appreciated it so much that i added on to me egg and the other side i didn't work on and he gave it back to me. During this activity the one thing i was happy to witness was that the children displayed manners really well. They asked for a marker saying please and taking them saying thank you. It's the little things children do that can amaze me. I hope i'm in the pre-k room 1 more time because they are an honor to work with!

A new beginning to an existing dream

     Recently i have found myself in a tough situation. Running cross country and track for the past 8 years i've run into a mental block. For those who don't know i ran in the NCJAA national 10K race. The results of that race weren't great as i crossed the finish line last. Coming into this semester at SUNY Cortland i haven't had motivation to run lately.
     However with weeks gone by and began talking to my future cross country coach about running. We had a nice 45 chat about running and what is expected of me if i were to join. Also i have a room mate next door that i've gone to high school with who has run like i have in hgih school. She offered to get me back on track. Ever since Monday i've been running like my old self. I'm starting to get in 40 miles a week on my journey to make the Cortland XC team and run in a national meet again to avenge my last trip.
     To those who dream big keep striving for your dreams because if you keep up with it eventually it will be yours. That is something i want to prove during my time here at SUNY Cortland.

Howdy St. Mary's Howdyyyy

     For our 3rd lab we had to perform games that related to a western theme. Being in high spirits i dressed up just for the occasion except for my cowboy hat (still disappointed because of that).

    
     One of the hardest things to do was to keep the second graders attention. I tried asking them if you can hear me clap once and i tried to explain my game. Most of them listened but there were a few who didn't bother at all non the less i continued.

    
     As far as the lab itself it was entertaining. I learned a lot about how your enthusiasm influences the children and playing games with them was a blast. It was nice to get to know a few more kids to and having them smile and be energetic throughout the day helped build my confidence making me believe more and more that this is what i want to do the rest of my life.

An adventure at St. Mary's

     At the St. Mary's this week the kids experienced different cartoons charcters including batman and mario. They learned how to blow bubbles, and they learned how to hunt those rabbits during hunting season. As i experienced the 2nd week of St. Mary's i saw things i did like and other things i didn't like as much.
     For starters the one thing that upset me was someone in our group as he was explaining a game to the kids walked away because no one was paying attention to him. If this is your profession you need to take it seriously. I feel as if through St. Mary's we can see who wants it and who doesn't.
     I wasn't able to do my game. Part due to time and the other due to still being nervous. I haven't worked with kids before so this is still new to me. I'm hoping to rebound this week during the western lab so i can go home and successfully i did my best at St. Mary's today. This is what i want to do in my life and as much as i'm doubting myself i want to shine so bring it on lab 3.

Developing motor behavior beginning now

     This was the first presentation that the MonStars were able to create. As far as presentations are concerned I feel there were some positive and negative aspects to it. As far as main points i don't believe we covered them all, or we covered some main points more than others. Our main focus was to split them up evenly in time frame because not one point in Chpater 1 was more important than the other.
     As far as how William and i presented it i feel like we both did really well. He incorporated the class well and i tried to make it professional by walking around the classroom making sure everyone had their focus on us. Some words didn't come up like i practiced however this is just the beginning of what is to come. With more practice we'll be able to develop a solid presentation however satisfied with how the first one came about. As time goes on the MonStars will deliver and that is a promise

The Wild Wild West. . . Look out St. Mary's!!

     So for this weeks lab we had to come up with Western themes for games. Back in my old elementary school my phys ed teacher played this game called yee-haw tag. It incorporated a noodle and the person who was tagging was galloping with the noodle like they were on a horse. I thought well why not bring this concept into St. Mary's school and pass it on to them.
     One of the things i was afraid of was doing the actual game. When my TA told me i was up i had mixed emotions. When i started explaining the game i began to feel more comfortable with the enviornment. I want to bring my best to St. Mary's so practicing the game first really helped me to modify it so that it's not only the safest game but it may be the funnest. The funnest?? That'd be up to me and i'll do whatever i can to make it that way.

Looney Tunes come to St. Mary's

     To all my fellow bloggers first off let me apologize for not blogging last week i know you missed my stories just as much as i have. To prepare for the upcoming Looney Tune adventure we all had to come up with a game on the 16th for a cartoon theme. I thought about it and the first cartoon that came to mind was spongebob squarepants! I can thank my 2 year old niece for that one.



Thanks Gabby :)

     Anyway my game incorporated 2 teams one being team spongebob and one being team patrick. To sum it up my game i say a character and that team goes to tag the other team. If someone is tagged they join the other team until there are no more spongebobs or patricks. This i felt would be good for the run and hop skill assessments for this week. I wasn't able to do my game in lab but it's okay. Looking at Andrea's game helped me to realize that if the game is going to work then you have to make it work with your enthusiasm and energy. On to St. Mary's we go!

St. Mary's the 1st week

     Coming into the first lab session at St. Mary's I was nervous about a few things. Especially with how my game would go since i didn't receive the document until the night before. When it was my turn to play my game i was hesitant because I didn't feel like it would be a success. From what i saw my emotions showed and I was really as motivated as i wanted to be for my game.
     Also I couldn't believe how hard it was to sit the kids down and tell them my instructions. I figured after 3 games they would be tired already and they'd be able to pay attention. I was wrong. I did get through my instruction though with the help of Mr. Yang. When it got to the game itself very few kids understood the rules. I made the game a tad complicated for them.
     This week thouhg i'm coming in with confidence. I have a game pre-planned and ready to go. This week's theme is cartoons and what better cartoon then spongebob? I'm hoping that this confidence will radiate off me and hopefully onto the kids because nothing would make me more proud then getting all of them fired up for the rest of the day!

Assignment 1

Giving children the opprotunity to experience the world around them through movement will teach them how to interact with others and they will be able to experience different aspects of motor movement skills. The problem with most physical education programs are that they focused on one learning domain. A real physical education program realizes that children are human beings and that motor, cognitive, and affective approaches should all be stressed. Movement enhances perceptual-motor, cognitive concept learning, positive self-concept, and promotes positive socialization. In short, children learn how to cope with their own bodies, interact with others which promotes moral behavior, and makes them aware of their surrondings.

http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/default.aspx
Healthy People 2020 created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services outlines the benefits of physical fitness, exercise, and physical activity which reduces mortality and other diseases that occur in adult hood.


http://www.psych.qub.a/

http://cns.evansville.edu/


http://carolread.wordpress.com/

1st blog!!!

Hey guys,

     I'm very excited to write my first blog. i've never had a gmail account of had a blog account so this shall be interesting to say the least. Over the fall i was helping to coach the MVCC (Mohawk Valley community college) cross country team located in Utica, New York. There i've had time to interact with college students and help them stay motivated to keep running. It was difficult at 1st because i only knew a few people from the prvious year and i never really put a lot of thought into coaching. After the season ended i spent most of my winter break continuing to motivate those who needed it. I cannot wait to further tell you all what was accomplished for this team. But for now it was nice blogging with you all :)