Are You Flexible

The experience I gained from working with the St. Mary’s students helped me realize that when working with young children it is important to be flexible and prepared with multiple ideas. Being flexible is important because there is no guarantee as to what grade level you may be running an activity with or how many children you will have participating. Also, depending on the activity that is chosen for a specific motor skill, the activity may not be affective in properly evaluating the skill; being prepared with multiple activities for all ages is important so all of the time available is used constructively. For example, when playing card sharks with the older kids I noticed that the game was shorter than planned and the kids had ‘dead time’ where they sitting on the floor instead of moving. To make the game more affective I had the children flip the cards of their opponent so the game became continuous, instead of flipping their own cards and completing the activity when all their cards were flipped over. After this adjustment the game kept everyone moving and became appropriate for the older kids.

Communication Barrier

My biggest challenge in interacting with the Pre K students was communication. My experience with the Pre K was like trying to interact with someone that speaks a foreign language. Leading an activity with the Pre K students was difficult because I had to speak slowly and with clear directions as to what I wanted them to do exactly. When explaining the directions for Magic Orb tag I took back directions that I said incorrectly and that alone was enough to lose interest. After I explained everything, everyone just sat there, not even my class mates knew the objective of the game. This really made me focus on preparing directions before arriving at St. Mary’s and in a clear manner so everyone understands the concept of the activity. I also learned not to give them equipment or split them into groups before giving directions because they are distracted more easily.
I enjoyed working with the Pre K students versus the older age students because the older kids are harder to entertain and gain interest in the prepared activities. The Pre K students on the other hand want to participate in our activities even if they are silly or focus on the skill more. With the younger kids you can take any piece of equipment and use the imagination to make a fun game with the materials you have making it easier to motivate them and get them to participate.

DR. FEELGOOD!!

Dr. Feelgood examines baby Suzie's reflexes to determine her developmental progress for an 8 month old. The purpose of this assignment was to take the information from chapter 7 on infant reflexes and present the information to the class in an informative and entertaining way. This is the result....