In preparation for the Christmas show in a few weeks the sessions are gradually becoming more and more organised. Instead of giving the kids freedom to choose their activities we're trying to get them to work on a 2 minute act for the showcase, either collaboratively or individually.
The session structure has now changed to:
- short concentration games
- practice time
- presenting each act to the group
It's working out quite well, some of them still have serious issues focusing but we're really pushing the idea of the show to them to try and get them more motivated - it generally seems to be working!
This week was the first time I led an activity by myself - flying solo! To be fair all I had to do was to separate them into two groups and get them into two lines in order to play a scarf juggling game, but it was a lot more nerve racking than I expected it to be! If you interact with children the way you interact with adults it just doesn't work; they simply aren't interested. You have to be exciting. You have to be engaging. You have to be commanding. Trying to get the right balance between engaging with them as a friend figure and maintaining authority and control is definitely a skill to be mastered.
Also at the minute I'm still reluctant to come down harshly on them because I'm 'the new girl', but I need to shake that off. I need to establish a dynamic quickly for them to take me seriously, I just need to get it into my head that children relate to the world through authority- they're not going to hold a grudge if I am firm with them.
I'm not entirely convinced that this post makes sense but it definitely does in my head.
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