Yesterday, many of you had an unexpected event (planned lessons that as soon as your child showed up had to be instantly changed and your lesson plan thrown out the window, being paired up with a new child or moved to assist a WSU student last moment...). And probably, you all have experienced something unexpected so far at CAPES!. As a teacher, you try to plan for everything, and no matter what there is always something unexpected during every lesson. How you handle these events can either make or break you. What is an unexpected event/circumstance that you have encountered so far and how did you handle it? Did you use it as an opportunity or as a roadblock? Did you find good or bad from this experience? How can you use your experience with the unexpected in CAPES! to prepare you for next time it happens (because it will....)?
I was one of the people who experienced a last minute change at CAPES this week. This week was going to be my last regular day with my kid but he didn't end up being able to come so I had to quickly adjust to a new kid and Weber State student I had never met. When plans change quickly it is important to just roll with it and make the best of the situation. Their are lots of obstacles that can occur when teaching so it is important to be flexible.
ReplyDeleteAustin W. Barron
We did experience an unexpected event at CAPES this week. When out participant showed up her mother informed us they forgot her swimming suit. We usually swim first so this threw us for a loop. We handled it by immediately taking her to the rock wall so she did not have time to be mad about not being able to swim. It was tough because the only thing we had planned for this week on the land was the rock climbing and she was finished with that after a half hour. We used this as a time to let her guide us and show us what she wanted to do. She chose painting and we went upstairs and drew, and painted a picture. It ended up being a really good experience because it helped us learn more about her interests. I think I cause this experience to help prepare for next time by always over preparing. Prepare more things than we will have time with so that if it does not go as planned we always have a back up.
ReplyDeleteThis week we did not run into any unexpected occurrences, but we have in the past!
ReplyDeleteOne day, my partner and I were paired up with two other participants as well as our original participants.
This brought about issues with attention to each individual and feelings from our original participants. We had to think on our toes in order to keep them all engaged. While I believe we weren't entirely successful, it was still a learning experience.
When working with individuals that you are mentoring, it is best to be adaptive to any situation and have sharp problem solving skills. This I have learned during my time working in afterschool programs!
-Rohan Vajupeyayajula
Every capes day, the lesson is the at the mercy A’s mood. Yesterday A was having a hard day, we had good conversation but he didn’t want to do any of the activities that I, or the other students had planned. Finally, with the help of Dr. Williams, we convinced him that we had to something, besides wandering around. He decided to go to the pool, A didn’t want to get in the water, so we spent some time “on the beach”. It was as good middle ground. Although it can be hard, I can appreciate the opportunity to lean to be more flexible.
ReplyDeleteAmber
There was a time that I found out last minute that my participant would not be coming. I was put with a group that already had two Weber students and then kind of wandered into another group that had only one Weber student who could have used more help than the first group. A few minutes later, I was told that one of the Weber students had not shown up so I would be paired with their participant. I could have easily felt discouraged in this situation with so many changes and not knowing the participant that I would work with or having anything planned. But I decided to jump right in and introduce myself to the participant I would be paired with and tried to get to know him briefly enough to get an idea of what we could do with our time together. I quickly learned that he like to run the track and also really enjoyed the scooters. So we made it a game/ race around the track with the scooters and it all turned out in the end! Overall, it's easier to take it as it comes and go with the flow rather than dwelling on the fact that you have a dilemma.
ReplyDeleteAn unexpected event that happen to me with CAPES is when I had to work with a different student last minute. I didn't know how to plan for this individual or what to do with him.I handled it by first talking it out with the student and the teachers for capes just so i could see what I could do for the student and have items that he would be interested in. Not going to lie at first i used it as a roadblock but then i realized this was not the way to go so I changed up and made the best out of the opportunity. I found it good because this shows that i know i could work around and get things done even when things aren't going the way you thought they were. Got to expect the unexpected. I will use this experience and make sure to plan something out that everybody can do so if my kid doesn't come then i still can work on things with my my kid or a different one.
ReplyDelete-Jeremy Maxwell
I feel like this blog post was made for me this week! I was asked right before the participants showed up to help with another student. I thought at first that I would just be assisting his partner, but C's partner didn't show and I was left alone with a child I didn't know anything about, what he was working on, how old he was, how much assistance he would need, and I was freaking out a bit. After I met C, I found that he wasn't planning on swimming that night, and that I would have to do an hour and fifteen minutes of land based activities. I didn't let my emotions show, and put on a smile for C and his parents and tried to change my mindset to see the situation not as stressful, but as a challenge and it ended up going well. I learned that C tends to have seizures and has little dexterity in his hands, so we worked on fine motor skills for the first half hour, and then on throwing and catching for the last half. I think this experience gives me the opportunity to learn how to think on my feet. I accessed what I had learned from C's mom in the first few minutes and made a quick lesson plan from that; I also think that approaching what I had seen as a daunting and scary task as something exciting and new helped me and C feel more comfortable as we worked together. Sometimes, things don't work the way you planned, but you have to be flexible and you have to be positive or no one learns anything.
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to do new things with T to try and get him more used to change. He has a hard time with change so I kind of expect some resistance. When he does not like a particular activity, Instead of getting frustrated, I try to focus on continuing to find things that T likes but is still new. He loves throwing balls around so I find different activites that he can do with throwing balls. As teachers, we have to be very flexible. It is easier said than done but it is important that we at least understand that. I think that Capes! has really helped me to learn to be more flexible and that there are so many different ways of teaching. You just need to be creative and patient.
ReplyDeleteAlways have some sort of backup plans. I had planned on teaching something that I was so sure that he wasn't doing that I didn't even bother asking his mom. But I quickly found that he could do it and was quite good. So my plans were blown out of the water just like that. Luckily, I had several ideas in the back of my head which is what we ended up doing. It was a good lesson to talk with my participants mother more to let her know what we're working on, what ideas I may have for the future, and any input she may have. Doing more research in advance and having backup plans will save future headaches.
ReplyDeleteYou always need a plan B or back up plan. But sometimes that doesn't work either. One of the weeks during CAPES, I was told that B was not coming. They put me with a different participant and two other teachers. We spend 20 minutes planning and setting up a game/activity. At 6:30 when the participants come, I was put with another participant. I was given no time to prepare anything, I knew nothing about the child or what he was like or what he could do. It was pretty stressful because I did not have enough time or notice to set anything up or get anything out. I told myself I could do it and not get discouraged. I am a teacher, I can think on the spot and prepare something. I quickly learned with my new participant that we could have fun and I learned what he liked and could do very fast. We ended up having a very fun night at CAPES. Sometimes you don't know what will happen and sometimes back up plans don't always work either. In usual cases as a teacher I think that having plan B's and always preparing for more than what you need is so important. It also helps to be willing to work with the unexpected.
ReplyDeleteMakell Hull
One unexpected event that I have dealt with is when G doesn’t want to get in the water right away. The first time that is happened, I worried that we wouldn’t get time in the pool, but we did what we could with the time we had. I learned from that experience and brought cups into the pool to help lure her into the water by letting her have one of the cups to pour water out of as she came down the steps. The experience helped me find good because I now have experience with giving G time to get into the pool and plan ways to help her. My experience in CAPES! will help me in the future because I have learned that even though things don’t go exactly as planned, they always work out and it’s best not to get frazzled or frustrated.
ReplyDeleteJust this last week we had all of our activities planned out we jumped right into them. First having an idea of using a scooter and rope to pull T around and work his core. But it was hard because he wanted to lay down and his legs were dragging along the floor. We had to make modifications with grabbing two more scooters and making a train for him to sit comfortable. In our first couple of weeks working with T he had a hard time getting in the pool right away because the water is cold. It took some time but found out that the best way for him to get in the water was slowly taking a step down. Waiting for him to adjust to the water. Also giving him toys or something to hold while getting in the water. I think also some of the best activities are when you spontaneously add on something to your game. I feel like we are constantly making adjustments in the moment even when it is off from our lesson plan to find ways to make it more fun. Those are the most memorable times.
ReplyDeleteThere has been many events or circumstance that I have come across with working with C there was a couple of weeks when he was not able to come, having to work with another child was a major curve ball, not knowing what the plan was or how to go about doing it. When working with C there are many time we have had some activity planned, at the time it seemed like a good idea but the last minute he will show us something or figure out something that he needs to work on and so the lesson plan would change in an instant. What I found out to be a good way to handle it, is to be confident in no matter what you are doing, do your best. If it goes badly, learn from it and do better next time. Having a couple of things as backup activities helps during those times where the lesson does not work out.
ReplyDeleteB is such a free spirit and I try not to hold him back. If there is something regarding our lesson plan that I know isn't to important, then I let it fly. There have been times when there has been something I have super wanted him to do and then we go do the activity and it doesn't at all go as planned and we could have skipped that one. Two weeks ago I wanted B to try matching and he hated every second of it so we went down to the gym where he started to build things. B loves to build so I try to incorporate that into our activities, but you have to reach outside that comfort zone and sometimes it is really hard. We then got him to kick the soccer ball into the net. He loved doing that and was so excited when he got to ride the rolly things and it turned out to be a better lesson than the one I had planned. There are times when it does frustrate me, but I just have to take a deep breath and know that it happens to everyone and just go with the flow. I used this as an opportunity to teach him instead of trying to make him do something else. And in future situations I'll just go with the flow and find something that is more interesting and fun for him.
ReplyDeleteWe have been pretty lucky for a lot of the semester, but there have been a few times where I have had to change everything last minute. Most recently, this week I had planned for A and I to play basketball and learn how to shoot. After doing this for awhile A started not paying attention and seemed to lose interest. Luckily there were all those other activities in the gym this last week so we went over and played a matching game with another student.
ReplyDeleteAnother instance where we have had to change things up last second was a few weeks ago we had planned to play a couple games with another CAPES! student. That student ended up being sick so instead we went down to the rock wall, which ended up being a great activity for A, she loved it!
There have been other experience where things don't go as planned and I have had to learn to always have a back up plan, and sometimes a back up to my back up plan.
McKay Barker
we had planned to work on getting K on a kick board, but she came in and refused to use it. She wanted to playing basketball ball in the pool. It wasn't a big deal, we let her play basketball for a little while then compromised with her to get on the kick board after. We used the basketball throwing to work on her coordination and so she still learned and she was much more willing to use the kick board after.
ReplyDeleteI tend to be really good at adapting to situations so it wasn't a big deal to me when plans would change with my participant. Being a teacher you have to be able to go with the flow and actively expect change. The only situations I dealt with was when my partner couldn't come or if A forgot her swim gear and we had to do land play the whole time. These weren't major changes and so they were easier to deal with. I definitely take these situations and learn from them and know that they will always happen no matter how much you try to plan things out.
ReplyDeleteThis day i think we started off the pool doing some deep end ring swiming. our participant went and dove and was able to retrieve several rings from the bottom. then we went rock climbing i got to climb one of the really hard walls, our friend also was able to climb up the wall a little ways and do really well.
ReplyDelete