Practicum Report #1 (Joel)
A. Time Spent This Week: 8.5 (meeting w/supervisor=1.5; band rehearsal=2; SS=2; service shadow=3)
B. My Class This Week:
1. Basketball. Arriving at 8:30am, 30 minutes before class starts, for my junior high Sunday school class at College Wesleyan Church, I began playing basketball with some of the junior high boys as they trickled into the gymnasium. It wasn't long before we had a solid 5-on-5 game up and running. I, of course, was the worst player on the court but I think this time spent shooting hoops before class even started might very well have been the most important investing time of the morning. I wasn't just another adult helper to keep them in line and tell them to love Jesus but I was a real person just hanging out with them, doing what they love to do with them... losing to them.
2. Class Time. My supervisor was a bit late getting there and once he was all set and ready to go he gathered the rowdy group of hyperactive junior high boys as well as very poised junior high girls and began class. This was the first time I had met my supervisor and I basically just sat in on a class to sort of get a feel for how things run there. All of the girls were in one circle and I sat with the guys (who were largely outnumbered) in a separate circles. A few of the kids in my group were quiet but one boy, Grant, the poster child for a junior high boy - hair spiked straight up in the fashion of a mohawk, baggy pants, Chucks, a Mountain Dew Amp energy drink (at 9 in the morning...) - enjoyed making comments about certain things the teacher had to say here and there. One of his antics included drawing a marijuana leaf on his paper for "symbols to share Christ with others"... I couldn't help but laugh at these things but tried to steer him in the correct path while still having fun. It can be a tight rope to walk.
C. My Questions This Week
1. What is the best way to deal with kids who are very passionate, like Grant, but need to have the reigns held in a little bit to keep things under control? The last thing I want is for him to feel like he can't contribute to the class but how do I direct his contributions to a positive manner?
2. How can I get better at basketball? Okay, seriously though, what are some other possible ways I can relate to them (aside from a sport that requires me to grow 9 inches...) inside or outside of class?
B. My Class This Week:
1. Basketball. Arriving at 8:30am, 30 minutes before class starts, for my junior high Sunday school class at College Wesleyan Church, I began playing basketball with some of the junior high boys as they trickled into the gymnasium. It wasn't long before we had a solid 5-on-5 game up and running. I, of course, was the worst player on the court but I think this time spent shooting hoops before class even started might very well have been the most important investing time of the morning. I wasn't just another adult helper to keep them in line and tell them to love Jesus but I was a real person just hanging out with them, doing what they love to do with them... losing to them.
2. Class Time. My supervisor was a bit late getting there and once he was all set and ready to go he gathered the rowdy group of hyperactive junior high boys as well as very poised junior high girls and began class. This was the first time I had met my supervisor and I basically just sat in on a class to sort of get a feel for how things run there. All of the girls were in one circle and I sat with the guys (who were largely outnumbered) in a separate circles. A few of the kids in my group were quiet but one boy, Grant, the poster child for a junior high boy - hair spiked straight up in the fashion of a mohawk, baggy pants, Chucks, a Mountain Dew Amp energy drink (at 9 in the morning...) - enjoyed making comments about certain things the teacher had to say here and there. One of his antics included drawing a marijuana leaf on his paper for "symbols to share Christ with others"... I couldn't help but laugh at these things but tried to steer him in the correct path while still having fun. It can be a tight rope to walk.
C. My Questions This Week
1. What is the best way to deal with kids who are very passionate, like Grant, but need to have the reigns held in a little bit to keep things under control? The last thing I want is for him to feel like he can't contribute to the class but how do I direct his contributions to a positive manner?
2. How can I get better at basketball? Okay, seriously though, what are some other possible ways I can relate to them (aside from a sport that requires me to grow 9 inches...) inside or outside of class?
posted by Anonymous at 6:21 AM
1 Comments:
You guys are both right on target here with the reports... don't forget to post responses too... ;-)
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