Activity Teaching Experience

Last week, we were presented with the opportunity to teach age-appropriate games to students enrolled in the University of Calgary Preschool. While this did not pan out due to unforeseen circumstances, we did have the chance to try out our lesson plans on our classmates. The group I was a part of decided to follow an animal theme, and chose to present Hungry, Hungy Animals as our activity. While some things went smoothly, and others did not, it was certainly a valuable learning experience.

Through reflecting on this experience, I was able to identify some strengths in my teaching. One of the strengths that I exhibited during the teaching was providing a clear explanation for the game that we played. It is crucial to to provide a clear explanation for any activity, as without it the time on task and understanding of the activity decreases drastically. On top of this, another strength I exhibited was being involved and immersed in the activity. Regardless of the participant's age, leader/instructor involvement is important for encouraging their engagement. I believe that the combination of a clear explanation with instructor involvement can truly enhance students' experience with an activity, and I feel that I was successful in enabling these things to occur.

While the strengths I exhibited allowed our activity to run fairly smoothly, there were certainly areas that could use some work in the future. The primary area that would require some more thought in the future is my versatility. Although myself and my group were very prepared for teaching our activity, I was unprepared for some of the questions and small issues that presented themselves. A few of the students in our class expressed questions during the game on how it was meant to be played, and I was not prepared to answer these questions. While there are many circumstances that cannot be planned for, I believe that this situation may be prevented with more thorough planning and scenario visualization. Additionally, a higher level of communication between group members could be implemented in order to handle unpredicted situations.

The planning that I did, along with my group members, was very organized and well thought out. We planned the entirety of our lesson with an animal theme in mind, and we were able to create three games that fit into this criteria. We felt that our games would keep the students engaged for the entire 30 minute class period, and that the animal theme would make the games more exciting and creative. There was not one person in our group who did any more or less than the others, which allowed the planning environment to be productive and collaborative. I took on the role of recording all the ideas we came up with, as well as writing out our final plan. However, the discussion was completed among all group members. The planning that we did allowed us to feel confident going into our lesson, and gave us a strong sense of preparedness.

I am very glad that our activity ran smoothly and made sense to all of the participants. That being said, one of the modifications that needed to be made during the activity was how many cones could be flipped over when people took on the challenge of finding their "animal food". At the start of the activity we briefly explained that one at a time, a teammate could run into the playing area and flip over a cone to try and find their animal food. However, this was not completely clear to all of the students, and it made for a slow start to the game. After noticing this, we made the modification that a participant could flip over cones until they were able to find their specific colour of food. This allowed the game to have higher levels of participation and engagement, as well as increased the speed of play.

I am fortunate to have had a fair amount of experience working with a young population in the past. I know that I have a great deal to learn, yet I feel that my experiences have helped improve the quality and clarity of instruction that I am currently able to give. One takeaway that I gained from this specific teaching experience is that I must be further prepared for circumstances to change at the drop of a hat. I felt versatile and flexible going into the lesson, but this experience was a good reminder that even the best plans can be changed in a moment's notice. On top of this, I learned jus how crucial group communication is while teaching is happening. It was apparent to me that the few ideas myself and my group members were unclear on, ended up being the weak points of our activity. While it is very easy to let one person take charge in many situations, I believe that by having strong group communication and collaboration creates an ideal experience. Overall, this experience was engaging and fun, and I am glad I had the opportunity to teach students along with my wonderful group members.