Lab One: My Reaction to St. Mary's

What a great time I had at St. Mary's. This experience was everything I thought it would be and more. The opportunity that has been given to me to actually go into a school environment and interact with children is amazing. This will be such and asset to me when I become a professional, because I will have that much more experience working with children.

When we first entered the school it was not the mess of crazy screaming kids that I was expecting to work with. For being the first couple weeks of the school the kids were actually on good behavior and eager to listen and play games. First we went through a series of games that our TA's had picked out and thought the children would enjoy playing after their experience at St. Mary's from the previous year. The children really enjoyed the different tag games being played. I really liked how the TA's were using the music as a type of control. This is such a great tool that I will most definitely use when I become a professional. I wish that this kind of teaching was used when I was a student. I feel that it makes the class that much more fun. I wonder how this generation of children will react when the element of music is taken away from the P.E. environment when they get into Middle and High school? Will this change their view of P.E.? Only time will tell I suppose.

Next we went to the Pre-K playground. Here I found myself having the most fun interacting with the kids. I think it was because to young children anything can be a game. The imagination of this age group is great, and can be a great tool for a teacher when playing games. As a teacher you can make the kids imagine they are crossing a lava pit and can only step on the safe rocks, when in actuality they are in a gymnasium trying to get to the other side by only stepping on plastic squares. To the children though because of their imagination the story the teacher invents becomes real to them and they enjoys being part of the class that much more. I cannot wait for more experiences at St. Mary's, and to develop my professionalism and teaching abilities further.