The End is Near...

I don't feel that I have gotten in a rut with the plans I make for BE, and I don't feel like I am personally in a rut. I attribute this to several things, first of all BE has fun with everything and he has such a great attitude about it all that anything that I have tried with him he has enjoyed. Secondly, I have had several ideas that I may not even get to because we only have one week left. So that has been a bonus. I think that if I struggled coming up with things for us to do I may get stuck in more of a rut. Since I have so many ideas I don't feel like I've been stuck in a rut.
I think what the others' have said about letting our participants have some choice in the activities they participate in has a lot of pros and helps us stay out of a rut. I was planning on doing that with BE last Tuesday. I had 3 ideas I was going to let him choose from. He ended up not coming, so 2 of my 3 ideas will still be available to us this Tuesday when he comes and I plan on letting him decide between the two of them.
He likes the rock wall so that is one option
The other option will be to put a puzzle together, I also have some modeling clay we will make things out of, and then we can put shaving cream on the table and "paint" on it. All activities that will help our FMS. I know that he will enjoy all of those options.
Honestly, there are so many options with BE which makes it a bonus for me. If he didn't like so many different activities I think I would have a much more difficult time staying motivated.

I don't want this to end!

So we have this next week left and then our party. And I must say I am going to be pretty sad when this is all over. I think I fall into the trap of getting in a routine and just wanting things to be done/over. But I don't think I feel this way about this. I am actually enjoying myself. I have learned so much from L and about myself while dedicating my Tuesdays to CAPES!. I usually always have a contingency plan if L doesn't want to do what I have planned. This has happened on more than one occasion. I really thought he would be interested in climbing the rock wall but long behold he was not interested in the least bit. But we pursued it once more and this time he was very interested so this next week we are going to get him to climb the big wall because he really wants to. I decided I was going to let him choose what he wanted to do the last night and this is what he wanted to do! We are so excited for this :) I can't wait for the last night! It is going to be fun!

Oh No!! The End is Near...... ):

I have really enjoyed working with B.V. and I can't believe time has gone by this fast. I love coming up with new activities to try with B. Sometimes, though, I see that when I find one he really enjoys I kind of want to just stick with that one activity instead of continuing to introduce new things. We usually end up doing the same activity two weeks in a row, so that he can really get the hang of everything, but even I feel like things would get a little boring if I kept in the plan longer than that. In order to keep things fresh and exciting, I like to write out my lesson plan for one idea, but then over the next week I come up with a secondary lesson plan. This way I have something to fallback to, in case B.V. just doesn't seem interested with the original plan. Two weeks ago we did the rock wall. I was a little apprehensive about how it would turn out, because last semester the rock wall was not a big hit for B.V. This time, though, he seemed to really enjoy it and progressed pretty far. We weren't able to do it this past week, so I have put it on the lesson plan again. However, I have a backup plan of activities in case he decides he doesn't want to do the wall again. I think it is a good thing to have the participants involved in some of the lesson planning so that they can feel more confident about the upcoming activities. This also being the last week coming up, I want B.V. to have a big say in what we do so that we can end the semester with a BANG! instead of just another, "boring," every week activity. The energy B.V. brings every week keeps me excited and motivated, the least I can do is something to keep him engaged and excited as well.

Blog Post 8 The End is Near

Recalling my own learning experiences, even at the college level, I know that I am more motivated in learning and actively involved in class discussions by interesting learning materials and activities. Similarly, our students enjoy learning if the experience brings accomplishment, self-esteem, and self-confidence. On the other hand, as a teacher, seeing students’ improvement and progress is the best motivation for keeping the enthusiasm in teaching continuously. So I think keeping the motivation in teaching, the very first step to make is providing meaningful, intentional and joyful learning experience for students. L was afraid of getting into the water at the beginning of CAPES! My group members and I have been working with him to overcome the fear. In the last lab, L was able to go under the water with Jerilyn’s help. He was so excited for what he has accomplished: “Mi, I did it!” For me, seeing the student’s improvement really motivates my teaching, because I feel rewarded.

I think it’s normal for us feeling like getting trap in a situation of “no new ideas” in the practicums. And I think that is what I need to work on my own for my progress: be more creative in activity planning.  One thing I appreciate for working with different groups in the past few weeks is I had the opportunities to participate in other groups’ activities, and share many of their bright ideas. The maze activity would be a good example. I wouldn’t have thought of using those form mats to set up a maze and have students walk through it. Like walking in the maze, often we are stuck in our ideas, and slowly we run out of them. It is important for teachers to collect new ideas from colleagues, books, any other sources from life. And then refine those ideas for implementation.

Disaster....

Our group wasn't affected by the chaos that everyone else seemed to experience. Our night actually went incredibly well. We got our kids to the rock climbing wall. I was actually so happy and impressed with B.V., because he actually got up and climbed and really seemed to enjoy the experience. So far in CAPES I haven't had a chaotic night. Plenty of stressors, mostly in the beginning with trial and error, but still nothing I would consider chaotic or even close to disastrous. I teach a Sunday school class for 2/3 year olds, and the very first time I taught it was actually really chaotic, super stressful, and very much on the verge of what I considered disastrous. I had my lesson planned out, and it was going to be great. I had never met the kids before though so I wasn't sure what to expect, and I naturally expect all kids to act similar to my nephew (he's almost 5). I just figure all kids will be like him, which makes me confident because I know how to react to him and what to expect from him. This was not the case at all on my first Sunday of teaching. These kids were easily distracted and their attention spans were about ten times shorter than what I expected. I was a mess. The kids wanted to talk about their own topics, do their own activities, or even just start babbling nonsense for no reason when I was trying to tell a story. I was so stressed out, even more so about what the parents reaction would be. I was afraid of failing at this "simple" task. It only took a moment or two for me to switch gears and completely change how I got the kids to interact with the story, but in the back of my mind I was still stressing about "this isn't what I'm supposed to be doing..." I realize now that sometimes lesson plans are only good for rough outlines, and sometimes the approach is going to be completely different from the original plan.

Disaster?

Last night was not chaotic for our group at all. We have three participants and mostly always four teachers. Last night it was 3 on 3! It was nice! Thinking back to a time where I was "thrown to the wolves" would have to have been in the children's school here at Weber State. It was one of my first times being in there. So I wasn't really familiar with the children or the student teachers. There is this child in there N who is very naughty to say the least. He is 3 years old and knows more swear words than I do.. (not really but you know what I mean). He is disruptive, he hits people, calls them names, etc. And then we have A who is overly emotional and will cry at the drop of a hat. This is a very diverse group of children. Being thrown into that with no warning or background information was crazy to me. I know going into this field of work I am going to encounter this more times than none. And honestly I am looking forward to it. I do lots better and learn tons more when I don't know what I am getting myself into. I am not the type of person that gives up without a fight! I am willing to be put out of my comfort zone to learn something I am not familiar with. I am just thankful I was not one of the groups Tuesday night affected by that chaos! But I think it just sounded a lot worse than what was actually there! What I saw was some improv and the other groups in my opinion handled it VERY well!

Disaster is always at the door....

I was not affected by the chaos from Tuesday night. Our group is one of the good ones. We rarely have a participant or a WSU student missing. Tuesday was no different. So, I can't say that I have worked well with disaster at CAPES! but I have had several teaching situations that I would consider to be a disaster.

Typically when I have chaos around me- I just try to survive it. I check my watch every 15 seconds and just pray the bell will ring soon. I suppose this is the weaker thing to do, that I should challenge myself to still think skill development and getting my original plan to work despite the challenges in a disaster, but at this point in my teaching experiences I am having a difficult time thinking back to a time in which I have done that.

I feel way more accomplished as a teacher when I have a structured, well designed lesson plan and then the implementation goes off without a hitch. But then again, I can't say that I have an experience to compare it to in which I not only survived chaos, but I did it by coming up with a great lesson plan on the fly and being able to implement it, survive AND teach my students something. I think that when the time comes in my career where I can do that, I will really look at myself and think- I'm a darn good teacher!
As Dr. Z is well aware of, I tend to panic when my plan does not go accordingly and when I panic I get self conscious and I am unable to really think through to a solution. This is certainly something I am working on, and Dr. Z has taught me the coping mechanism to get through it: STOP, BREATHE, THINK!! Usually, when you can just stop yourself, breathe to clear your head and forget about the panic in your head, thoughts will follow. And good solutions will find their way to your brain.

From here on out instead of survival mode checking my watch constantly, I am going to Stop, Breathe and Think about how I can implement skill development instead of just surviving. I think that situation will be much more rewarding to me than those lessons that are well designed and go off without a hitch.

Blog Post 7: It was not easy at all…

So, it was my second call to work with other team in two weeks. And last night was not easy at all. I felt I was not sure about what I supposed to do with this new “child”. I had no clues of her situation: what she interested in and her needs. Neither other team members knew anything about the children in our team, because we were all pulled from other teams. By just observed J running and hitting when we were playing with baseball, I thought her needs would be developing gross motor skills. So, I decided to use the materials around for her to play. For the land activity, we jumped with the rope, hit the baseballs, and kicked the footballs. And I invited her to make the decision: she got to choose one activity from two options I gave her. I thought since I didn’t know what she liked to do, it would be better if she had some authority in choosing the activity. J seemed enjoying her time, but I felt I wasn’t doing much to help her reach her goal in CAPES!

I felt I was more frustrated than feeling rewarded. Not because I have no ideas of conducing activities but more likely I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing for her. We know whether it is a suitable activity for the child; or maybe some steps need to be adjusted only when we carry on the experiment. Therefore, I think everyone needs some degree of consistency in learning or teaching in order to conduct an effective progress. Frequently meeting and working different children may help me develop teaching skills, such as quickly building up connections with new students, fast adjusting program if unexpected situations aroused, etc. And they are important skills for teachers. However, in a long term, students and teachers need consistency to support a steady learning environment.     

The art of it all!

So when it comes to being artsy I am no where close to being that! Victoria had created an awesome obstacle course that the kids just love! They are able to get physical and at the end they get to dig through a treasure chest! It's so awesome to see how involved they become when we get involved as well. It is important to become creative when you are a teacher because some students learn better when they are able to express themselves through art as well. jerilyn also came up with an awesome creative game that we are going to do on the rock wall. They are fire fighter cadets rescuing animals out of the trees! During this time in a child's life I feel it's important to express creativity! It makes things less serious and more fun! And who doesn't like to have fun?! I do have a Pinterest and I post a lot of creative things but after CAPES! I think I may actually have to start making and doing some of the things I have to step up because of all the awesome student teachers I am surrounded by!

Blog Post 6: The Art of it all

I believe everyone from our group enjoyed the activity of “Treasure Hunt” which Victoria designed in the past two weeks. Not only the children, but also us student-teachers like the idea of creativity from this activity. It was interested for children, because they had a task to finish and it was playful.  We student-teachers like it because we were able to embed our goals in the activity. For instance, following directions and staying focuses are two main goals for L. We had some chances to practice some of these skills for L through the activity. Comparing the last lab to others in the past few weeks, surely, the “Treasure Hunt” was a better experience for both students and teachers. Our goals are still the same, but its creative form brings more entertainment and engagement for students acquiring new skills.

I feel my CAPES! experience reflects the theory of Play often. Play is in children’s nature. Either a child is gifted or needs extra support; children like playing and want to play when they are allowed. I was assigned to work with KE for this lab. He talked very little to his peers or teachers. He was not interested with activities their team set up. Instead, he held three stuff toys and kept himself in the corner. But guess what he was doing? He was playing with those stuff toys! I sat closely to him so I could hear what he was mumbling. I found out he was role-acting three animals’ running and tracing in the wild. His words were full of imaginations. How creative he was! I asked to have one of the stuff animals, and joined his play. At the beginning, he just ignored me, and even got up and ran to the other side of the room. All I could do was being patient and wait for him to come back. Whenever he came back and tried to grab the stuff animal from my hand, I pretended as the rabbit (the stuff toy) and asked him different questions: where did you go? Did you see the big bear? Can we play hide-and-seek? And towards the end, he was feeling comfortable enough to sit down and play with me for a little while. And I think at that point, we practiced few social interaction skills. For this lab experience, I wasn’t the one being creativity but the child was.   

Creativity is an important element in teaching for it establishes meaningful and engaged learning experiences. Creativity can be a thoughtful planning from teachers as well as inspiration from the children.

Maybe my past learning experience impacts my teaching style leaning towards more structuralized. Creativity is something I need to work on more to become a better elementary teacher. For young children and students in grade schools, I think they would like to have a teacher that is more artsy. My reason will go back to the Play theory. Children construct knowledge and develop skills when they are engaged in play. A teacher who is full of fun learning activities will be able to draw more attentions from students, and eventually develops more learning opportunities for them.

The ART of it all!

When we first started CAPES I was a little unsure of how to approach things because I wasn't familiar with the kids we'd be working with. So the first couple weeks I was just trying to get an idea of who BV was, what he liked, what he needed to work on most, and how to approach those areas. Once I felt like I had a good grasp on all this, I began to feel really comfortable with letting my creativity flow. I love trying to create fun and "artsy" activities for kids. I like going online and looking up activities, and I even bought a book to get some more ideas. After I find some a good base for these activities I had so much fun altering the activities to fit our kid's better. The resources and equipment we have available to us for CAPES has made it so much easier to let my creativity out.
The week before last I came up with an obstacle course/treasure hunt based off the equipment available to us. Before I started putting the course together I was a little worried about how it would turn out. But when I began I started thinking about our kids, B and L, and the things they like, and I just got so excited about everything. I found that once I started making the directions it was a lot easier than I expected. B and L seemed to really enjoy the course, so we decided to do it again this past week. This time I found some more things to add to the course to make it a little more difficult. I like being able to be creative when teaching things to kids. I have a great time, the kids have a great time, and they learn things without it feeling like a lesson. I'm really excited about the next time we meet together so that we can use Jerilyn's creative idea with the kids and the rock wall. The kids will be firefighters trying to save the animals from the "tree." We even got them little firefighter hats to help them imagine the situation. The last time BV tried the wall, he wasn't too fond of it. But he said he wants to try it again, so I'm hoping this will help.

I think I would definitely prefer a teacher who is "artsy." I have always learned better when it feels like the teacher is also having fun. Artsy lessons also seem to be more flexible when needed. I know that with our obstacle course, we ended up having to add another person and it was a lot easier to include them without having to completely change the plan. I think "sciency" type teachers are good as well, but sometimes I can lose focus pretty easily and find it easier to focus on more artsy lessons.

The ART of it all.

Being creative with my teaching isn't something that comes very easily to me. I typically have to spend a good hour researching ideas online and then adapting them to my teaching situations. CAPES! wasn't much different. Especially in the land based portion of things. I have taught swimming lessons for several years and have picked up a ton of "artsy" techniques from other teachers that I work with. I have used those all the time in CAPES!. One of the most successful was when I was trying to encourage BE to float on his back. Now, he doesn't have a fear of water at all but he didn't enjoy floating. I think it was somewhat uncomfortable for him, but mostly I think it was because he would get cold by being up like that and having a large part of his body out of the water. However, one technique I started using was while he was floating I would either tell him a story (Goldilocks and 3 bears, little red riding hood etc) to keep his mind off things. Usually that was just the trick he needed. He was able to float much longer when he did that. We have also used different techniques like, I have a pet goldfish that lives in the pool. I let BE name him, and he named him Goldie. So, he gets to talk to Goldie (by blowing bubbles) and then he has to listen to Goldies' response (putting his ear in the water) I have found over my years as a swim teacher that those kind of techniques do wonders, as they have with BE. I think those would all fall under the "Artsy" creative category.
On land, I am not as creative, but Victoria created this amazing scavenger/treasure hunt for her students to work together, follow directions and stuff and it was BRILLIANT. It was a blast and grew into more than one week's activity. That is probably my favorite "artsy" experience thus far. Next week we also have a "fire fighter cadet training" activity for the rock wall. We are hoping BR is more interested in the rock wall because of the creativity.
Which leads me to answering the question, which is better, artsy or science? I would have to say artsy is better. And it doesn't matter if you are teaching kindergarten or college. My most memorable learning experiences and favorite teachers have been more of the creative teachers that are able to present something enjoyable for me to do whilst I am learning.
I think artsy teachers are more able to teach on the fly if their plan fails (which happens all the time in PE.) They are also able to adapt and make changes to their plans with ease. I think being artsy is more valuable to me as a PE teacher. I wish I was more "artsy" by nature but I also think with practice and experience I will get more artsy.

Halfway done ALREADY?!

I can't believe we are almost done with CAPES! it has gone by so fast. I definitely will miss the optimism and positive attitude of my student L. I will be sad when we are all done for the semester. The only time I have had to make an adjustment for lesson planning was when Victoria was out sick so we had to care for B. It wasn't bad actually. It was a little chaotic at first but we adjusted well. As for the time, we have never gotten done earlier than planned. It does take L a little longer to understand directions and get on task (he has a hard time staying focused).  But we do use the entire time and I do believe that they actually enjoy themselves. They are learning new skills every time and learning how to socialize with the other children. If a situation did arise where we had to include another student I would always have a contingency plan where we could include more than just one student. I would bring extras of whatever we were doing that day. It's better to have more than to not have enough.

Blog Post 5 Prepared the night before or always be prepared for uncertainty?

I could not stop thinking about the smiles on K’s face every time when I wrote a lesson plan for her in the past several weeks. She was such a charming girl when we had our first activity night together. Unfortunately, she did not show up any more after the first CAPES! So when I prepared a lesson plan for her, also guessed I wouldn’t use it in the next lab. Most likely, I would work with another child or help my team mates with their students. Although it was not an ideal situation as expected, I still want to be helpful and prepared when other students’ needs arise. First thing I did was observing other children besides K, and keeping in mind of their needs and interests when other team members talked about their experiences. I believe that I need to know them well enough to be able to adjust or quickly come up with a new plan for them when unexpected situation happens. One night, when one of the team members could not come to the lab, I was told to work with her focused child. I introduced myself to him and chatted with him for a little while. I knew that not only I but also the child B was unprepared for a new teacher to work with him for that night. I wanted to make sure he was comfortable with the changes. When we were in the pool, B was quite nervous. Try to calm him down, I talked to him gently but firm, and let him know he is safe around. When he was settled a little bit, we played a few games in the water. I did not prepare those games ahead of time, instead, those ideas quickly pop into my mind, and I adjusted a few steps for B. Later, his mom told me he was so excited about the experience in the pool last time and talked about it often at home.

I think for a teacher, observation, collecting ideas, and organizing lesson plans are some work to do all the time from day to day. We observe children who around us, students who currently in our own class, and students in other grades. Children take years to develop in their life spans. To guide and teach them successfully, teachers should observe students often so they know students’ current development levels accurately. One thing I learned from the past educational lab experience was learn from teaching. We all experience successful and not so great teaching moments. It is important to collect the successful ideas and lesson plans, organize them and keep them in mind. Knowing students well and having a rich education resource in mind, we are prepared for uncertainty all the time even thouth we did not plan for it to happen the night before.

Halfway Already?

I personally have not had the situation where a lesson plan that I created for a kid at CAPES! was not used for that kid. BE has been to CAPES! every week. I also have not had a child show up that I have not planned for. So, I don't have any personal experience for having a child show up that we have not written a plan for either.
However, I do believe the most important thing to know and be prepared for in potential situations like this is very simple. If you know your students you should be able to make up a lesson plan on the fly. You need to know what kinds of things your students are working on. What their strengths and weaknesses are. As long as you know your students, know who you are teaching, know your goals with each student, know their goals. If you know your students, really know them then you should be able to come up with a pretty good lesson plan on the fly. You should be able to make accommodations and modifications pretty easily.