Lab 2 at St. Mary's

Today is the second day that we are teaching at St. Mary's, and it is more structured than the last lab. The first lab was more for getting to know the kids before we get into really teaching them activities. Today was the first day that we really go in as teachers and get the kids going in games. My group was the second group to go, and we had a game planned called "Zanny Zoo". I really enjoyed this game a lot and thought it was a lot of fun. We first learned how to play the game in class before lab so that we were ready with how to execute it, and so that we could make and adjustments and variation before St. Mary's. It was good that we had this time because we definitely needed to make sure we knew how we were going to structure this game and lay it out. In lab, we set up the game, and I volunteered to be the one to lead the game. I know that I need to volunteer to be the leader as much as I can so that I get the most experience I can out of these labs. Anyway, I taught the kids how to play the game and it went very well. Right off the bat I knew some techniques with getting the kids attention. I knew that I had to be loud, stern, confident, and really make it look like I am really into the game that I am teaching. If the kids know that I dont want to play the game, then they wont want to either because they will think that it is a boring game. While the game is going on it is very important to make sure things stay under control. I really need to make sure I develop the skill of running a whole class because in the future, chances are I will be the only teacher in the class, meaning I am responsible for everything that happens. For now, lab is much easier because we have groups of 4 working together and we can have each person take care of certain groups of kids. It is much easier to keep an eye on everybody. One example of what may go on behind your back is when I caught one kid hitting another kid. There was no major fighting but the kid gettting hit was really getting annoyed and luckily I was there to stop it and help the kid out.