My future goals include being an educator of youth, a football coach, and establishing a charter school in an underprivileged urban community.  In order to effectively prepare for my future aspirations, I must 1) self-evaluate my strengths and weakness, 2) continue formal education, 3) and embrace the concept of being a lifelong learner.

 

The first step of achieving my future goals is through self-evaluation. It is important to understand who I am and my belief system to determine my strengths and weaknesses. Once I understand my limitations, then I am better equipped to master these weaknesses. This task must be done before I am able to effectively become an educator and a coach.  In other words, self-awareness, or transformative evaluation, allows us to accurately determine what we must do as educators to produce a successful product. Educators and coaches must grow and evolve with the ever-changing culture. For example, some practices that were commonplace in my parent’s school experience would be considered taboo now.  Additionally, educators and coaches must cater their teachings to fit their students or athletes need. Coincidentally, this concept of self-evaluation works both inside and outside the classroom. By exploring myself for weakness and preconceived biases, I can properly prepare myself for teaching students and athletes.

 

The second step in achieving my future goals is through continuing formal education. My goal is to provide an educational environment and culture that is conducive for the success of underrepresented and underprivileged youth. Here is some broader context, for the majority of my adolescent years, I lived in neighborhoods and attended schools that failed to focus on education. Instead, the schools placed emphasis on sports and social relationships. Thankfully, I was blessed with conscientious parents who made education a priority in our household. They taught me that education and hard work were the pillars of living a successful and productive life. As a young man, I only thought of education through traditional schooling. I chose to attend the University of Kentucky and Michigan State University to study education.  Additionally, after taking numerous courses, I understand that education and learning comes in a variety of different ways. There are trade schools, real estate career paths, and other opportunities that are web based. And no path is greater than another path, instead one must learn what works for them individually. While I was blessed with parents who instilled me with the importance of education, there are several people who are in underprivileged communities that don’t have access to quality education.  After taking this Master’s program, I determined I would open a charter school that caters to students in these communities and seeks to change lives through education and programming that places proper emphasis on learning, in both traditional and nontraditional approaches.

 

I am currently researching doctoral programs that will enhance my skillsets and better prepare me for my future aspirations. Furthermore, the capstone course for the Master’s program provided an opportunity to build a website. I have had such a positive experience with learning technology and seeing how it can be an effective tool for learning that I plan to find a doctoral program that allows me to explore new forms of technology. It will be a great resource for promoting school initiatives, promoting events, and displaying student success. Additionally, this website can help me communicate effectively as a coach with parents, athletes, and staff. Finally, it can be instrumental in developing game plans and promoting student athletes so that they have better opportunities to be successful.

 

The final step in achieving my future goals is to embrace the concept of being a lifelong learner.  I believe in learning from those who have had success in your field. I will continue to learn through researching scholarly articles, attending conferences, clinics, watching documentaries, volunteering in related fields, and other mediums. These events are a great opportunity to listen to experts and learn knowledge that will allow me to be successful. If I’m not committed to being a lifelong learner as I grow and evolve, then I’m not committed to progress or being successful in my future goals.

 

In conclusion, a successful leader in education and coaching should constantly be on a journey of self-improvement and learning. As I continue this process of trying to achieve my goals, I plan to be aggressive with every learning opportunity available to me because continual learning and growth is critical for success in education, coaching, and life.