Is a teacher’s only job teaching information? Notoriously this profession is known for its teaching, but in many cases teachers also learn. As a Tennis Canada Certified Instructor, I have had the privilege of teaching and learning with my first job. Teaching Tennis has taught me many valuable skills that I will take forward in the future. These skills include the certification process, organization, the understanding of different learning styles, and responsibility.
Playing tennis both recreationally and competitively throughout my youth brought me an accessible and outstanding first job. At the age of 16 I took part in a forty eight hour course to become eligible for my Tennis Canada Instructor certification. This lengthy process taught me many valuable skills regarding the certification process. After being taught the various methods and skills needed to be a tennis instructor the participants in my course and I were tested. I first took a written exam and then had to complete a demonstrative lesson with the course facilitator. Preparing for this examination was very difficult and required a lot of time and effort. The techniques I used for both studying and learning the material can be used often in my near future. High school exams use these skills as well. I use the same techniques to remember the information for my exams now and will continue to in my future. Also, having a practical exam taught me the importance of confidence. Having previously studied all of the necessary information this course showed me that being confident and trusting yourself can pay off. In my future I will likely have certification programs in graduate school for Kinesiology. Therefore, the skills I have learned in the certification process are ve...
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...am solely responsible for. I am a member of the Tennis Professionals Association here in Canada which provides me with $2 million dollars of liability insurance. This insurance shows the type of responsibility an instructor needs to be safe and professional. It is my job to ensure that the students are always learning in a safe and controlled environment to avoid injuries. This type of responsibility has really helped me grow my personal responsibility on and off the court. In my future I will use my responsibility to be someone people can count on and trust.
Coaching tennis has been a very valuable experience for me. As my first job it has taught me several valuable skills including the certification process, organization, learning styles and responsibility. I am positive that I will use all of these skills in my future and am confident in my abilities for each.
Coaching is an integral part of helping achieve one’s maximum abilities. Dr. Gawande (2013) explains that, “Coaches are not teachers, but they teach. They’re not your boss—in professional tennis, golf, and skating, the athlete hires and fires the coach—but they can be bossy” (p. 3). It is difficult to say what is the exact function of a coach, however, they help bring forth another point of view different from our own and they also help bring about the right mindset in order to subdue a weakness.
As I have asserted, coaching is far more than winning or losing. A coach is an essential cog in shaping qualities such as sportsmanship, competitiveness, self discipline, and work ethic. A quality coach can build a player up while a bad coach can tear them down. My goal as a coach was to always leave the player striving to be the best they could be. A good coach
“The most rewarding part of coaching was by far the relationships you build with the student-athletes,” he said. “You become closer to the kids than you do in the regular classroom. I built relationships that lasted many years longer than the students’ athletic careers.”
I naturally adapt to the role of being a leader and desire to provide additional assistance to others. I am involved in Eureka High School Junior Varsity Tennis. Because of my experience on the team, I teach many underclassmen and new players how to play by practicing with them and giving them pointers. I use my leadership skills to motivate and spread positivity to my teammates.
Being experienced to being a member of the tennis team has prepared me and made me realize the importance of never giving up when times are rough and caring for others during difficult times. I know these techniques will indeed come in handy with life and furthermore lead me to my goal.
Teaching allows a person to obtain so many roles, including a counselor, housekeeper, mommy, daddy, role model, parole officer, nurse, nanny, babysitter, athlete, artist, secretary, referee, computer analyst, psychologist, and a leader. Teachers change lives forever with their influence.
Even though the two go hand in hand, being a strong tennis player does not necessarily make someone a strong coach. Characteristics of an excellent coach include caring about their students, having incredibly high personal goals, and being focused at all times to important details. An excellent coach communicates well with others, humbles himself or herself, and views coaching as a personal calling (Cole 2). Mental strength and tenacity are required to be a strong tennis player. “Tennis players learn to control emotions on the court at an early age” (Cohn 1). According to the USTA rules and regulations, a coach is not allowed to speak to the player once a match has begun, so it is crucial to prepare the mind and body to not become frustrated and lose focus. An excellent coach teaches his or her players to play one point at a time. Strong coaching prepares the student to trust his or her strokes and keeps the level of intensity
Coaching, however challenging, is a great way to influence the lives of others while also building their character. For as long as there have been sports, there have been people teaching the sport to the players and making them better at it. Coaches must have certain qualities in order to obtain success. One must also look at a coach’s motivation for his job, his passion for what he does, his methods for coaching, and how he became a coach in order to fully understand him. There are many questions someone may want to ask a coach about his profession if they are interested in coaching.
There is no more critical role in our current society than that of a teacher’s. Teachers help shape the minds of the future. Tomorrow's engineers, scientists, politicians, and educators are all greatly influenced by today's instructors. Without teachers society would not be anywhere near where it is now, and only a select few would have access to learning. Sadly however important teachers are in human civilization, they are still drastically understated, unrecognized and under paid.
I can vividly remember back when I was on the High school tennis team at 17 years old, going from school to school and competing at high temperatures. A leisure sport but also an intense sport especially in a competitive age. I remember talking with my coach, also my math calculus teacher, about how to improve my game. My first year playing tennis with a year
I believe that teaching is one of the most important careers that one can have, granted that there are many more jobs that come to mind that have more importance, but they all started with education. Without education society is left with nothing. Although, teaching isn’t just about giving the students the information, it is about building critical thinking, communication, showing their creative side and having them to embrace the information in order to achieve higher standards. I think that education is truly the foundation.
Being a teacher is not an easy task as many people could think. To be a teacher does not only imply to know the subject to be taught, it also includes being willing to constantly improve oneself integrally, as much as updating the resources and materials one uses in teaching. Reflecting and analyzing over and over again the best way to teach to learn and how to make students to extend what has been learned. The many hours spend in the classroom will never be enough to plan lessons, prepare materials, review pupils tasks and exams, as well, all the administrative requirements one has to cover for whatever institution we work. Besides all this a good teacher, a professional one, will have to find the time to keep preparing to improve oneself.
The role and responsibilities of a teacher is very complex. Teachers are responsible for making sure their learners acquire the knowledge they need, but also achieve their qualification by the end of the course in a safe learning environment, so they have the skills and experience they need to start their careers. To achieve that goal a teacher must be creative, professional, flexible and knowledgeable enough to deal with daily challenges and find different ways to help their learners needs. Establishing a safe and stimulating environment for learners, creating mutual respect and set goals that stretch and challenge learners of all backgrounds and abilities.
“Teaching is often a difficult process, but the end result is very rewarding. Watching a child develop confidence and seeing a student progress in their studies is a very exciting process. Teaching young children is especially great because it is setting a foundation for life-long learning.”(Chronicle guidance publications). What is teaching? A teacher is a person who provides education for pupils (children), or students (adults) using lectures, audiovisual aids, demonstrations, and computers to present academic, social, and motor skills. Teachers can also teach foreign languages, art, kids with special needs, and P.E. Teaching has changed a lot compared to the traditional methods of just lectures and textbooks. Students now are encouraged to actively learn through groups or individual projects. They have learning games, debates, and experiments to help them through the learning process. Being a teacher would be a great career for anyone who wants to further themselves, to help people, and to have great benefits (chronicle guidance publications).
... generally accepted that a teacher’s main role is to facilitate learning rather than to be the source of all knowledge” (p.2).