The artifact that I have chosen for this standard is a picture of the boys rugby team that I helped coach. As a new teacher (or teacher candidate) I feel that it is necessary to become involved in the various areas of the school environment in order to learn as much as you can about the school culture and the makeup for the school community. I’ve coached basketball in the past and I gladly brought my experience to the rugby field and it helped. The rugby field is not a traditional classroom but I felt that I was able to contribute to the profession by helping contribute to the community of coaches in the school through my involvement with the team. I also felt that school spirit is an integral part of the school environment and community and without it the feel of the school would not be the same. I felt that by being involved with the rugby team, I created a positive school environment for both the students and the teachers by being involved in extra-curricular activities. Even though I’ve been around coaching for a while, I have a lot to learn. In the past, I’ve been able to take the skills I learned in classroom management and put them in a team environment. I was able to take the improvization in coaching a game to the classroom when adapting a lesson to meet the needs of my students. I hope to continue to learn from coaching and contribute that knowledge to the classroom because I believe coaching and teaching go hand in hand.
