Video Clips to Watch!

SuperSize Me: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/super_size_me

This video shows the importance of being healthy and eating healthy. In showing the progress of having nothing but a diet of McDonalds, it shows the severe decrease in the testers health. This would be great to use in a Health and Nutrition class. Students would get to see first hand how processed food negatively effects our bodies. This would also open up discussion for what food is healthy for us instead.

Remember the Titans: http://youtu.be/mWJs2Gof538

This is a collection of inspirational moments from the movie Remember the Titans. This is extremely powerful when used in any coaching setting. It shows the importance of team unity and dedication. It creates a strong bond between the team and ignites inspiration. This would allow great discussion in the classroom/locker room on how they would handle certain situations. You could also use it as a comparison on how to implement the different topics discussed into your own team.

Michael Jordan- Failure: http://youtu.be/cQ1nHzWxdaY

This 30 second commercial would be useful in any classroom, but again especially in a coaching setting. It shows one of America's most successful athletes, Michael Jordan, talking about how many times he's failed. In the end, he states that because of each of these failures, it is why he has succeeded. It brings up discussion on perserverance and how our students should never give up on their dreams. It also shows how we can turn negatives into postives and not focus on the bad, but use it as inspiration for the good.

Website Evaluation

1. Google: I believe that Google is extremely useful in the classroom because it is something that the majority of the students will be familiar with. As a teacher, you will not have to use much instruction on how to navigate through the website. It also provides so much information and easy access to images, videos, and related searches.

2. Wikipedia: Wikipedia is another site that most students are already familiar with. It provides generous amounts of information for almost any subject and also divides the content into categories. It provides links at the top of the page for the different categories to make information even more accessable. In the information, there are also links included to additional information.

3. khanacademy.org: This website is educational based and an excellent teaching tool for the classroom. It includes practice for many different subjects as well as lessons for teachers to access. It is easy to navigate and would be easy to implement in almost any classroom.

Online Storybook

My storybook is an inspirational book for young children stressing the importance of believing in and following your dreams.

 http://storybird.com/books/a-dream-is-a-wish-your-heart-makes-3/

Educational Philosophy

My educational philosophy reflects a fun, hands on, and challenging environment. I believe that students need to be excited to learn and that comes from a teacher who is excited about the material they are presenting. He or she must believe and be passionate about what they are doing so that they may create an impact on the students. Each lesson should be evaluated and presented in a way that every type of learner will benefit from it. I also believe that we need to challenge and not coddle our students. We cannot enable an “I can’t” attitude but rather help students find their own way that they can. Albert Einstein said “If you judge a fish by his ability to climb a tree, he will go on his whole life believing that he is stupid.” All of our students may not be good at everything, but they are all good at something. We may be the only positive role model that they have in their lives and the only one who believes that they are worthy of a future. We have a responsibility to be their support in finding what they are passionate about. When it comes to classroom management, I believe it is very important that the students know that you are their teacher and not there to be their friend; but at the same time, be approachable. We have to have respect, not fear. Stay consistent on classroom rules from day one and with each student. I have worked in two different after school programs for four years and I know how easy it is to have “favorites” but it is so important that every child is treated the same (to a certain degree; I know some instances are not comparable to others.)

About Me

 Hey everyone! My name is Ashley Southard and I am from Clovis, New Mexico. I am currently a Senior at West Texas A&M University majoring in Sports and Exercise Science - All Level Education with a minor in English. I have two wonderful parents named Matthew and Liza, a younger brother named Dillon, his fiancé Alexis, and in January, I am going to be an aunt for the first time! My family comes from two very diverse backgrounds. My mother grew up speaking both English and Spanish in her hometown near Albuquerque, New Mexico. My father’s family is from Arkansas and Nacogdoches, Texas and originally comes from France. It was a lot of fun visiting the different sides of my family growing up because things were always so diverse. I feel that it gave me an appreciation and understanding for many different traditions and other things and has shaped me into who I am today. My personal strength is that I am a very passionate and dedicated person. I take pride in the things that I do and I want to be the best at them. My weakness is that I tend to put too much on my plate. Because I can be a perfectionist, I like to do things myself so that I know that they will get done and I can overwhelm myself with trying to do too much at one time.