This experience has shown me some of my strengths (e.g. being able to deal with kids) and weaknesses (e.g. not being able to make everyone pay attention). In spite of this after two months of this experience I have learnt how to deal with them, and if that still was a problem my weaknesses where balanced by the strengths of the other two "teachers" (other G12 students) there with me.
I am very pleased with the final result of this activity because it something I have planned myself from beginning to end. Before even starting this activity I had to make sure I would have had the means to carry it out: a plan, helpers, and a gym. Therefore I have started to send email so some friends I knew would have been interested and I waited for their feedbacks. I found two skilled helpers from my grade, both were in the volleyball team so they knew what was going on during the lessons. Furthermore they could have given good examples to the kids.
Secondly I started to send emails to Ms Osborne to ask for the permission of running the activity and of using the school gym during Friday's afternoons. After receiving a positive unswear I emailed the parents of the kids giving an overview of the activity and then I waited for the inscriptions.
This was a good experience for good communication and cooperation. The kids were so many therefore a good organization between us "teachers" was essential to keep calm and order in the gym. Secondly it was essential that I made myself clear to the other two teachers as they were following my lesson plan. I planned some exercises to do with the kids but it was also good that I had some inputs from them as well. It has been a good cooperation experience as everyone came up with different ideas an option on what to do, how, and when.
Another important think I have learnt is that whatever I did in the gym had an implication on the behavior of the kids, this is why it was essential that I did not fool around and that I kept focused on the lesson. Otherwise it would have been impossible to carry out a normal lesson. Us teachers always had to give a good example to the kids.
I know for sure that this experience has been fundamental for me as I have developed my leader and patience skills. As mentioned before firm decisions where essential and we did not have to show indecision when making choices. While being strict it was also important to be flexible and listen to what the kids wanted to do, if not they would have hated to come to our class. We dealt with this really well as the kids very much enjoyed the trainings.
Here I have come to know how hard it is to deal with a class of G5&6. Last year I had a similar experience but I was not in charge of it. I simply was a helper. This year I was the leader and the organizer of activities. It was a great experience for me to enlarge the set of experiences I have for now collected. Furthermore I think that even if after just two months the kids show a great improvement in what they can now do in volleyball. I believe that our enthusiasm in teaching has influenced the kids as well so that they started to improve incredibly fast.
No comments:
Post a Comment