Classroom Management
I just had my first day of teaching last sunday at Kinderarts. It is basically an art class intended for preschoolers. The course that I was taking over is a crayons and paints class whereby the kids are introduced different artists each week and asked to do similar sttuff as the artists. My class was a sequel to the week before and the artist introduced was Pied Mondrian who's famous lines and grid painting has been displayed and conceptualized in many modern art pieces. The kids were thus asked to draw line and do pastels and paint. The intention was very simple. Not to mold another picasso or pied mondrian but just simply to weld confidence in the kids to learn to hold a pencil and draw or to paint. Afterall, everyone of us is a born artist at heart.
That first lesson was much more complicated than what I had imagined, more stressful that what I had perceived earlier on when I sat in for the class last week. I was practically moving about non stop throughout the what one-hour class! There was a trial kid - a girl (trial kid meaning they just paid for that lesson to try it out). She was so shy in the beginning that she was tagging on to my pants the whole time. I had to be with her in order for her to colour. I could see that she like it though but wants company. That was when I realised that I have to have my eyes on not just one kid but the other 10 kids in the class. Every kid is so different. The teacher was describing to me every single kid..."that kid is abit more clumsy...tends to drop his stuff often...that kid is very independent ..but lacks the confidence to pick a colour..u have to encourage him and ask what colour he likes and squeeze the tube for him". Simple acts like squeezing of the paint tube was something I had taken for granted as an adult.
The teacher was telling me that "Handling Preschoolers is a tough job but not as tough as it seems." That kind of reminds me of everything in life....I guess..
I did enjoy the class though. I'm glad I tried...if not, I wont know how it's like.
posted by shuugi @ 7:24 AM
0 comments
