St. Mary's School Lab 4

Reflecting on my experience so far at St Mary’s, there have been some difficulties or challenges I have faced. One challenge that I faced today was trying to get the kids attention with only my voice. One of the problems is that the gym is so big and with everyone running around and yelling it is difficult to yell above everybody to get the kids attention. Another problem that I feel like I have faced is that the kids are so rowdy after school and they just want to run around and do what they want instead of playing the games you have to offer. The last difficulty that I feel that we have faced is that the kids relize that we are not actual teachers and I feel like some of the older ones know that they do not have to listen to us and do not have to do the activities that we present to them. 

There are a few ways that some of these problems could be resolved. I think one way to be able to get the kids attention is to use something loud that they can all hear to get their attention to stop their activity and listen. You could use something such as a whistle for their attention. Once you have their attention with the whistle, then you can use your voice for further instruction, but you must make sure to project your voice so every student in the room is able to hear you. Next difficulty that we face is the energy in the kids and getting them to settle down and listen. I think a good way to get their attention is to have an activity right away. Keep them sitting as little as possible and give short quick directions to get them moving and get them to release their energy. The last issue that I have faced is getting kids to do something that they don’t want to do because they feel they don’t have to. The only thing you can do is encourage them as much as possible. Really sell the activity that you are presenting and try and negotiate with them. Tell them to try one round and then if they don’t have fun they don’t have to play. But it’s your job to do whatever you can to get the kids moving and engaged in the activity that is going on. They may think that they do not want to do it, but once they start playing, they realize how much fun they are having and forget that they didn’t want to play.