15 Agosto 2011 take two

Mondays are with 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd graders.

positives of first day of VALE

1. 24 children showed up. That is four more students that I estimated optimistically

2. all but 2 were on time

3. they were all excited and happy the whole hour

4. they all learned something new

negatives

1. they were all so excited it was extremely challenging to keep their attention and have fun at the same time

2. we only covered half of the materials and activities that I had planned

When writting curriculum, I always over plan. I would rather have too much to do and give them more information than they need, than run out of activities to fill the time. Staring at a room full of kids with nothing for them is probably the worst feeling in the universe. But, only doing half the day’s activities wasn’t in today’s stratagem.

I used methods to control the kids that I learned counseloring in summer camps, and they worked well as before, but I lose these kids faster than children I have worked with in the past. I get their ears and eyes all on me, then they are literally gone again in less than 60 seconds.

I might have to look at a new way of teaching them if things don’t improve once their excitement for the program wanes a little. I might just sit at the table working on a project, and as thy come in allow them to copy what I am doing and ask questions on their own time instead of trying to manage an entire class and keep them all operating at the same wave-length together. IT might even encourage some independence and investigation if they have to find the supplies they need in the room to do what I am doing.

We will see.