maestramommy
10-06-2009, 03:31 PM
UPDATE: Well, this morning Dh and I taught the 3-5 class again. J was the only student there, so it was kinda funny, a private lesson with two teachers. We had a lot more activities lined up and you won't be surprised to hear we used up every one. Probably because it was only one kid. Anyway, I had a much easier time re-directing J, and it helped that Dh was there to help corral him. I've got to say, J is SMART. 4yo, and he was able to trace a route along a map of the L.A area using just red highways. Very creative too. He came up with a way to help Abraham move all of his stuff. It really gave me a new appreciation for kids like him. Thanks for all of the suggestions!
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This past Sunday Dh and I were slated to teach the 3-5 yo class during the 10:30 service. We dropped off Dora at Sunday school and Arwyn in the nursery and went to the Adult class at 9:30. After class Dh went to prep for the class and I went to get Dora from class. The classroom and the nursery are right across from each other so I could see Arwyn's back when I walked through the "hallway." While I was talking to Dora's teacher I suddenly hear Arwyn crying really loudly. The teacher told me Arwyn had been cry most of the last hour. I was shocked because she's always loved going to nursery. Of course it's new that Dora is no longer there, but she wasn't there last week and everything was fine. Anyway, Arwyn was pretty much ballistic, and when I went to see what was wrong she clung to me and just screamed. Dh then showed up and saw what was up, so he took Arwyn, and I went to continue the classroom prep because I didn't even know where the room was. While I was setting stuff up, Dh came back. Arwyn was in the car, and he was taking her home. She insisted on going to the car, climbed in her seat and refused to get out. Just said she wanted to go home. So we decided Dh would take her home, and I would teach, then collect everyone else (MIL included) and go home later.
7 kids showed up for class. 4 girls and 3 boys. One of the boys, J, has severe nut allergies, and his mom left a kit for him. J was a very sweet boy and ran up to give me a hug as soon as I said hi (I don't know him at all). From that point on he never stopped moving. One way to describe him was that he was a like a windup car put into a very small box with too many other cars. Seriously. We were doing Noah's ark, and Dh and I had planned for the kids to make and "ark" out of a huge box. I cut out the door and windows and the kids were coloring it with markers, crayons, and color pencils. They also took turns going into the box. At one point J was inside the box with two other kids, and they were supposed to be coloring, but he went a little crazy and started coloring a girl's dress. I mean his arm was so out of control it was just flailing, y'know? The girl gave him a dirty look, and I just said, "J, stop. That isn't nice." And he immediately stopped. Luckily all he had was a yellow color pencil, so it left no mark on her. At that moment I remembered something from my teaching days about all the kids having to feel safe in the class so they can learn. So for the rest of the period (about 45 minutes) I had to stay on top of J so he didn't take over the class. Another thing that was hard was that he kept wanting to play with the toys on the shelves. We are using the preschool's space, so I had to keep telling him we're not allowed to play with those toys, since I had no idea what was allowed (I have to clarify with someone). By the end of the class I was totally drained and stressed out. Thank God my oldest mothers helper from the summer was the classroom helper. That girl is a gem. She knew all the things to say to help keep J in line that were very friendly and never rebuking. I really need to take notes for dealing with Dora :p
Anyway, I know that part of the problem was I didn't have enough activities planned so every time there was a slight lull the kids started looking for things to do. The lesson material they give us has many activities to choose from, and I guess we chose too few. I think I underestimated the amount of time I needed to prepare for, something I won't do again.
I have never felt so inadequate as a teacher as I did during that 45 minute period :lol: Clearly I am rusty, but I don't have any experience with toddlers besides my own. My youngest students were in 5th grade, so they had a little more impulse control :p J appears to have very little. He really is a nice kid, just very energetic, and not the longest attention span. To his credit, every time I told him not do do x, he did stop, as soon as he actually heard me LOL! I can't remember if he is 4 or 5, but I think he's 5.
So what I need are ideas for 1) keeping him constantly engaged, 2) smoother transitions from one activity to the next 3) what to say if I need to reign him in without sounding like I'm mad at him. I'm assuming that the next time I teach Dh will be there. I didn't tell him about J, only that it was a little stressful. I'm thankful that he wasn't the one who ended up teaching, because it might have stressed him out so much he'd never want to do it again:hysterical: I feel a little bad because things were so hectic, I never even had a chance to take a look at J's allergy kit. It was big, a whole backpack. I was only expecting an epipen or something
************************************************** *********
This past Sunday Dh and I were slated to teach the 3-5 yo class during the 10:30 service. We dropped off Dora at Sunday school and Arwyn in the nursery and went to the Adult class at 9:30. After class Dh went to prep for the class and I went to get Dora from class. The classroom and the nursery are right across from each other so I could see Arwyn's back when I walked through the "hallway." While I was talking to Dora's teacher I suddenly hear Arwyn crying really loudly. The teacher told me Arwyn had been cry most of the last hour. I was shocked because she's always loved going to nursery. Of course it's new that Dora is no longer there, but she wasn't there last week and everything was fine. Anyway, Arwyn was pretty much ballistic, and when I went to see what was wrong she clung to me and just screamed. Dh then showed up and saw what was up, so he took Arwyn, and I went to continue the classroom prep because I didn't even know where the room was. While I was setting stuff up, Dh came back. Arwyn was in the car, and he was taking her home. She insisted on going to the car, climbed in her seat and refused to get out. Just said she wanted to go home. So we decided Dh would take her home, and I would teach, then collect everyone else (MIL included) and go home later.
7 kids showed up for class. 4 girls and 3 boys. One of the boys, J, has severe nut allergies, and his mom left a kit for him. J was a very sweet boy and ran up to give me a hug as soon as I said hi (I don't know him at all). From that point on he never stopped moving. One way to describe him was that he was a like a windup car put into a very small box with too many other cars. Seriously. We were doing Noah's ark, and Dh and I had planned for the kids to make and "ark" out of a huge box. I cut out the door and windows and the kids were coloring it with markers, crayons, and color pencils. They also took turns going into the box. At one point J was inside the box with two other kids, and they were supposed to be coloring, but he went a little crazy and started coloring a girl's dress. I mean his arm was so out of control it was just flailing, y'know? The girl gave him a dirty look, and I just said, "J, stop. That isn't nice." And he immediately stopped. Luckily all he had was a yellow color pencil, so it left no mark on her. At that moment I remembered something from my teaching days about all the kids having to feel safe in the class so they can learn. So for the rest of the period (about 45 minutes) I had to stay on top of J so he didn't take over the class. Another thing that was hard was that he kept wanting to play with the toys on the shelves. We are using the preschool's space, so I had to keep telling him we're not allowed to play with those toys, since I had no idea what was allowed (I have to clarify with someone). By the end of the class I was totally drained and stressed out. Thank God my oldest mothers helper from the summer was the classroom helper. That girl is a gem. She knew all the things to say to help keep J in line that were very friendly and never rebuking. I really need to take notes for dealing with Dora :p
Anyway, I know that part of the problem was I didn't have enough activities planned so every time there was a slight lull the kids started looking for things to do. The lesson material they give us has many activities to choose from, and I guess we chose too few. I think I underestimated the amount of time I needed to prepare for, something I won't do again.
I have never felt so inadequate as a teacher as I did during that 45 minute period :lol: Clearly I am rusty, but I don't have any experience with toddlers besides my own. My youngest students were in 5th grade, so they had a little more impulse control :p J appears to have very little. He really is a nice kid, just very energetic, and not the longest attention span. To his credit, every time I told him not do do x, he did stop, as soon as he actually heard me LOL! I can't remember if he is 4 or 5, but I think he's 5.
So what I need are ideas for 1) keeping him constantly engaged, 2) smoother transitions from one activity to the next 3) what to say if I need to reign him in without sounding like I'm mad at him. I'm assuming that the next time I teach Dh will be there. I didn't tell him about J, only that it was a little stressful. I'm thankful that he wasn't the one who ended up teaching, because it might have stressed him out so much he'd never want to do it again:hysterical: I feel a little bad because things were so hectic, I never even had a chance to take a look at J's allergy kit. It was big, a whole backpack. I was only expecting an epipen or something