This was the week I had been waiting for, to put my individual leadership skills to the test! I'd had six weeks to practice and refine them, and now our lead counselor was on vacation, leaving the summer camp in the hands of me and our other college-age counselors. I was pretty ready; I knew these kids, I knew what to expect, I knew how to monitor and redirect their behavior. I thought I had everything ready to go. And then, we had another returning camper that threw me for a loop. This camper had not signed up for this week, but rather showed up on Monday with signed forms. I was incredibly apprehensive, as I knew what we were getting into. This child was a very bright and eager to please kid, with a love for swimming and Angry Birds. He had a lisp and other kids couldn't understand him very well, which led them to leave him out of activities. It didn't help that this child had problems with losing (and would throw fits when he did), and would sometimes strike out at other kids when he didn't get his way. I knew I was going to have to be careful with how the other kids interacted with him, and what we games we played to avoid a meltdown. Things were going pretty well until Friday, when this camper got into a fight with another camper while I was taking someone else to the bathroom. The other counselors quickly broke it up and resolved the issue, but of course I had to talk to the parents to make them aware of the situation. Talking to the parents was the most stressful part, but it went way better than I expected; each parent was understanding and agreed with how the situation was handled. In the end, though there was an issue, my counselors and I resolved it, and I was relieved to see the good, albeit stressful, week come to an end.
What activities worked well this week?: This week, we didn't really introduce any new activities. We continued to stick with popular ones that we knew the campers would respond well to: yarn crafts, coloring sheets, hidden picture games, relay races, glow stick parties, etc. We also drew a chalk illustration on the sidewalk for the kids to pose with, took pictures of the kids posing with the drawing so we could print them out and give them to their parents at the end of camp.
Any room for improvement?: One way I can improve is to find new and different games to introduce during swimming. Most of the students are able to entertain themselves while at the pool, but for a lot of the campers who have been here all summer, they are getting bored with the monotony of the swimming games. To combat this, my counselors and I discussed introducing new pool games and using the remainder of our budget to buy pool games, noodles, and floats for the campers to use.
What did I do right, in terms of leadership? How can I further develop this?: This week, in terms of leadership, I did very well with resolving the problems in front of me by developing a step-by-step course of action. I did this by communicating with my other counselors, but we immediately came up with a game plan for our problem and implemented the solution as quickly as possible to save the rest of the day. Our solution, talking to each child one-on-one to determine the source of the fight, have each child write an apology note to the other, and explaining to the parents what happened, worked as well as it could. I can continue to develop this by continuing to develop plans for problems when they face us. This is another tool I can use while teaching.
Any applications for student teaching?: When the returning camper showed up on Monday, I knew that I was going to have to be watching him and making sure that he was following the rules throughout the week. To do this, I laid out specific rules for him. I would remind him of the rules, and right before the activity, have him repeat the rules back to me. This can also be a classroom strategy for specific students. In this case, I knew that he had difficulty following directions and lacked some social skills, but he was a bright kid and very well behaved one on one. Reminding him of the rules allowed him to check his own behavior.
Biggest takeaway from the week: Coloring can be utilized as a calming tool for children. I had recently read an article about how art is soothing and relaxes students, and that was a technique that I used to help calm down a camper before things got really bad.
What activities worked well this week?: This week, we didn't really introduce any new activities. We continued to stick with popular ones that we knew the campers would respond well to: yarn crafts, coloring sheets, hidden picture games, relay races, glow stick parties, etc. We also drew a chalk illustration on the sidewalk for the kids to pose with, took pictures of the kids posing with the drawing so we could print them out and give them to their parents at the end of camp.
Any room for improvement?: One way I can improve is to find new and different games to introduce during swimming. Most of the students are able to entertain themselves while at the pool, but for a lot of the campers who have been here all summer, they are getting bored with the monotony of the swimming games. To combat this, my counselors and I discussed introducing new pool games and using the remainder of our budget to buy pool games, noodles, and floats for the campers to use.
What did I do right, in terms of leadership? How can I further develop this?: This week, in terms of leadership, I did very well with resolving the problems in front of me by developing a step-by-step course of action. I did this by communicating with my other counselors, but we immediately came up with a game plan for our problem and implemented the solution as quickly as possible to save the rest of the day. Our solution, talking to each child one-on-one to determine the source of the fight, have each child write an apology note to the other, and explaining to the parents what happened, worked as well as it could. I can continue to develop this by continuing to develop plans for problems when they face us. This is another tool I can use while teaching.
Any applications for student teaching?: When the returning camper showed up on Monday, I knew that I was going to have to be watching him and making sure that he was following the rules throughout the week. To do this, I laid out specific rules for him. I would remind him of the rules, and right before the activity, have him repeat the rules back to me. This can also be a classroom strategy for specific students. In this case, I knew that he had difficulty following directions and lacked some social skills, but he was a bright kid and very well behaved one on one. Reminding him of the rules allowed him to check his own behavior.
Biggest takeaway from the week: Coloring can be utilized as a calming tool for children. I had recently read an article about how art is soothing and relaxes students, and that was a technique that I used to help calm down a camper before things got really bad.