We all are back and rested...well, at least we are all back. I have heard several New Year's resolutions that are very intriguing to me as they involve new volunteers for our program. It is so imperative to a program like ours to have a consistant group of adults there as support for the children, so thank you to all who give of their time, energy and patience.
We have fine tuned some things and hope this will help us on our quest for having the most efficient and inspiring program possible. First, we decided to have a specific activity assigned to each day of the week. We will start having music on Mondays, science/cooking on Tuesdays, reading/kickball on Wednesdays, arts and crafts on Thursdays and open mike on Fridays. As Ms. Rotterman and I were discussing, we have to be adaptable. Sometimes in dealing with children we have to learn to "go with the flow."
It is very important to me that the children learn and practice basic etiquette and manners. We are going to stay at our family table until everyone in our Center families is finished with snack. I explained to the children that at the dinner table we do not excuse ourselves until everyone is finished, so it is important to show the same manners at the Center. One child told me, "I get up whenever I am finished." I said with a smile, "Well, that isn't going to happen here; it is not polite to the others eating." We will then clean up our tables and start homework. While basketball season is in full swing, we will go to the gym at 4:30 and then will have our daily activities at 5 P.M. We hope that by assigning particular activities to days, children who wanted to be there for an activity could make sure to be there on the specific day.
You know, every day I try to say a little prayer that God shows me enlightened ways to understand and communicate with the children. As teachers and as parents, we are continually looking for those teachable moments. I had one of those blessed moments today. One of my particularly antsy but very intelligent children had decided he should walk around holding his seat. You see, I had told the children to stay in their seats. This child is always pushing the envelope and was literally doing what I had instructed yet still disobeying. Most teachers would have a field day with this, but I saw it as the child using his brain to get around following instructions. Now, he still needs to follow instructions if for no other reason than safety. Of course, the biggest reason is "BECAUSE I SAID SO." This was not an important struggle for me at the time until I heard that expected ''CRASH! I calmly turned to him and said, "Outside." He in turn said, "Do I get to run?" I responded, "Yes, you do."
We walked to the gym. I told him to run 10 laps. He said, "How about nine?" I said, "How about 11?" He began to run but then started doing the worm and all kinds of other forms of propelling himself forward, very slowly. I am now thinking, "Wait, I am giving up my time with the other children for this?" Then it hit me. I started to walk. I told him every time I overtook him, I would add another lap. If he overtook me he could take a lap away. This peaked his interest, and he actually lost one lap and did his ten laps in remarkable time. Not only did he get his wiggles out and follow my instructions but we had a "bonding" moment of sorts and the best part is we both got needed exercise!
Flexibility is the beauty of our program. I can adapt consequences to the incident and to the child. For my ADHD and plain energetic child, running often works. With others, a look will work. Sometimes I use the conference in the hall. Some children benefit from writing about their actions and various consequences. Sometime,s I even speak with the parents. On the last one though, I only use that as a last resort. I had a professor that told us that you should never send a child to the principal's office because that means you have lost control of that student and he/she knows it. There is a lot of truth to that. I look at it as my job to find the best way to instruct/discipline each student individually.
I am thankful that I had the opportunity to discover a way to reach this child on several levels. I am also grateful that I now have a new motivation for getting them to release some energy when they are over energetic. We need to remember each child is different, and patience and persistence will always be our best friend when working with them.
Until next week: Keep it R.E.A.L.!
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