At first, I was thinking about posting after the first day of camp, but then I figured that I should get through the entire week and have a more complete idea of what I will be experiencing for the next couple of weeks. I can definitely say it was quite the first week.
Day 1: I was dreading every second that was going to fall upon me. I had this fear since training began that I was going to do everything wrong. I looked over the sheet for Day 1 multiple times and made sure I had ice breaker games down. I kept going over the routine in my head up until I called the campers in my class to line up. I realized that the people in my class were very tiny and maybe wouldn't enjoy any of the ice breakers I had planned. I started to doubt myself, but I tried one once we got into the room and it lasted about four minutes perhaps less. After that I knew that designating time to each of the parts of the Day 1 structure was not going to work as well as I thought it would. I let them meet each other and then allowed them to do anything that they felt comfortable with doing. It ranged from coloring to reading to playing with Batman to making paper airplanes. By the time lunch rolled around my brain was fried. I didn't think I'd be able to get anything done for the rest of the week considering how much they didn't want to do what was planned and how much energy they had to be defiant. I really thought I was going to do something wrong for tomorrow and the next day and the next. I was dead on my feet by the time I got home.
Day 2-4: By the end of Day 2, I knew then that I could do what was needed to be done and let them have time to play with each other. I went in with a plan of action and stuck to it. Knowing what the campers enjoyed about Day 1 and knowing what they looked forward to (playing outside or playing with paper airplanes or drawing on the board, etc.) really helped with the way I could control how the lesson for Day 2 would go. Luckily on Day 3 and 4 I had a volunteer in the classroom and that made things go by much better. The campers loved having someone else to show their work to and it made the atmosphere a bit more exciting. The last two days went by as smooth as they could but I still went home exhausted, but with less fear than before.
Week 2 will be a different experience because of the five different students I will have amongst the three that have been with me this week. I'm not quite sure what to expect but I am ready to make their time in the classroom as enjoyable as possible. Now to look back at the lesson for Monday so that I don't mess up!
Day 1: I was dreading every second that was going to fall upon me. I had this fear since training began that I was going to do everything wrong. I looked over the sheet for Day 1 multiple times and made sure I had ice breaker games down. I kept going over the routine in my head up until I called the campers in my class to line up. I realized that the people in my class were very tiny and maybe wouldn't enjoy any of the ice breakers I had planned. I started to doubt myself, but I tried one once we got into the room and it lasted about four minutes perhaps less. After that I knew that designating time to each of the parts of the Day 1 structure was not going to work as well as I thought it would. I let them meet each other and then allowed them to do anything that they felt comfortable with doing. It ranged from coloring to reading to playing with Batman to making paper airplanes. By the time lunch rolled around my brain was fried. I didn't think I'd be able to get anything done for the rest of the week considering how much they didn't want to do what was planned and how much energy they had to be defiant. I really thought I was going to do something wrong for tomorrow and the next day and the next. I was dead on my feet by the time I got home.
Day 2-4: By the end of Day 2, I knew then that I could do what was needed to be done and let them have time to play with each other. I went in with a plan of action and stuck to it. Knowing what the campers enjoyed about Day 1 and knowing what they looked forward to (playing outside or playing with paper airplanes or drawing on the board, etc.) really helped with the way I could control how the lesson for Day 2 would go. Luckily on Day 3 and 4 I had a volunteer in the classroom and that made things go by much better. The campers loved having someone else to show their work to and it made the atmosphere a bit more exciting. The last two days went by as smooth as they could but I still went home exhausted, but with less fear than before.
Week 2 will be a different experience because of the five different students I will have amongst the three that have been with me this week. I'm not quite sure what to expect but I am ready to make their time in the classroom as enjoyable as possible. Now to look back at the lesson for Monday so that I don't mess up!
Tyasia- it sounds like you did a great job of improvising and thinking on your feet. Taking the time to get to know your campers and find out what they enjoy is imperative, and it sounds like you did that. I hope after a weekend of rest of you are feeling confident and ready for week two!
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