Blog 17: 4/27/15

Blog 17

4/27/15

 

This afternoon I volunteered for Dr. Crafts 12:40-1:30 lab.  I worked with a young girl and another volunteer.  The young girl was new to the program today so it was a new experience for all of us.  Before the lesson we were unsure who we would be working with so we took a variety of equipment out of the equipment room upstairs.  Some of the equipment we took out included balls, bowling pins, cones, throwing and catching scoops, and scooters.  Having a variety equipment is part of being prepared especially when working with someone new.  At the very beginning of the lesson we gathered as a group and put on costumes.  I wore an eye patch and a pirate suit.  The young girl I was working with wore a princess dress and had a wand.  When everyone had a costume on we danced to a few songs.  The girl I was working with was shy at first but then warmed up to dancing.  She would imitate dances I was doing.  I showed her the shopping cart and lawn mower.  She showed me the fishing pole dance move.  This was a great time and I actually got a good little work out in myself!  I think as a teacher you have to go outside of your comfort zone sometimes.  Dancing is not my favorite thing to do but a lot of kids love to dance.  Me stepping out of my comfort zone and doing something I don't like as much is part of being a good teacher.  After we were done dancing and took out costumes off we went back to our station.  We asked the student what looked fun out of the equipment we had.  She wanted to play with the throwing and catching scoops.  We stood in a triangle and did this back and forth to one another.  At first she was having trouble throwing the ball forward.  This was because she was following through behind her.  We taught her the correct motion and she started to get the hang of it.  We played a game with the scoops.  This game involved teamwork as we had to try to see how many catches we could get in a row.  We modified the rules after two rounds because out student was having trouble catching the ball on the first try.  We allowed one bounce.  This slight modification made all the difference.  The record we achieved was 15!  After a little while we made an obstacle course out of bowling pins and cones.  We first used the scooter to get around the course then we dribbled a soccer ball around the course.  I thought it was good to get two different uses out of the course we made.  Next, we bowled.  We used the new foam balls with holes in it.  This was a good piece of equipment for the gym because real bowling balls would damage the floors.  When time was almost up we gave out student a choice of which game she wanted to play last.  She wanted to return to the scoop catch and throw game.  This time we used and overhand and underhand catch a throw.  Overall today was great.  Although there was not a lot of planning involved I believe our student took away a lot from today.