Wednesday, May 03, 2006
From Zero to a Hero part III
Once upon a time, I went to Sunday School with happy face. I enter the class as usual, greet the kids and my partner. Then we are singing happily. After that, its my turn to tell story to the kids. I've just started to talk some words when the kids buzzing each other. I continue my story, but I saw some kids are day dreaming.
What happened to me on that day can happened to all of us too. We can't get any attention, the kids buzzing, playing or day dreaming in class. Even they have know you ( as their teacher or maybe as a friendly teacher ) its not enough to draw their attention.
There is some factor to explain this :
1 You're not ready for the "show"
When you are not ready , i mean ready in your spirit to teach, then you dont have the power to teach. You're just like robot or computer doing program, you dont have the spirit. I dont know if it is a myth or what, as I heard from old teacher , kids can "smell" our readiness to teach. But when you've got your power they will put attention on you and what you taught.
2. The athmosphere is too cold or too hot.
I mean the class athmosphere. Too cold mean that the class is still dont get ready to study, the kids still sleepy. Or the relationship between students and teacher isn't friendly. Too hot mean that the class is overexcited. It is good if the students got very happy or excited but it also can make the loose their concentration. Example , you hit them by a jokes, then they are laughing happily, but they still talks about that jokes when you're go to more serious topic.
3. External problem
Light out, broken air conditioner, sounds from outside of classroom, etc. Even seems like an untouchtable problem, but we can handle this.
What to do is called " Juggling the Ball ". Some soccer player have this ability, they are trying to control the ball with all their body parts ( exept hands ), the ball must not hit the ground. They create a beautifull show by this skill. This is what we will do, we must try to control the class as hard as possible. These is what I suggest :
1. Prepare Yourself
Prepare yourself for the class. Physically and also your spirit. You must know what to do in class, do not depend on your instinct or reflexes. Make a program guideline, example the first 15 minutes is greeting, then games ( 15 minutes ), singing ( 10 minutes ), story/study ( 20 minutes ), etc. Pray and build your self confidence. My friend told me a good tips : " When you're entering the building , forget about all the personal problem that you have and concentrate on what will you do in the building " ( the building here means sunday school building ).
2. Playing the Gear
Driving too fast is dangerous, driving to slow will make you bored. Same with the class, start to make it hot with some greetings momment , singing, games. But remember, when the study or story time will begun, you must slowly bring the class into a bit serious athmosphere. Example : when I teach the sunday school ,we begin with greeting each other , then singing . Before the story time ( or the main course ), I invite the students to pray for the story or singing a worship song ( song with slow tempo ).
3 Wild ball
In juggling ball, sometimes the ball seem out of control. But creativity will handle this. Some says it depends on your experience. Out of control condition can be handle by our creativity and of course by the power too ( even a crash sound happened, the children still concentrating on what you said ). Example about creativity : There is a time when my friend told story about missionary, then the electricity is down. At that time the students begun loose concentration, but my friend can get them again by saying " yes this is what happened at that time, he must live in situation like this to accomplished his mission. Live in poverty, without electricity ".
I think this seem not enough to explain about getting attention. And will continue this , especially on the term power. I dont mean mystical power.
What happened to me on that day can happened to all of us too. We can't get any attention, the kids buzzing, playing or day dreaming in class. Even they have know you ( as their teacher or maybe as a friendly teacher ) its not enough to draw their attention.
There is some factor to explain this :
1 You're not ready for the "show"
When you are not ready , i mean ready in your spirit to teach, then you dont have the power to teach. You're just like robot or computer doing program, you dont have the spirit. I dont know if it is a myth or what, as I heard from old teacher , kids can "smell" our readiness to teach. But when you've got your power they will put attention on you and what you taught.
2. The athmosphere is too cold or too hot.
I mean the class athmosphere. Too cold mean that the class is still dont get ready to study, the kids still sleepy. Or the relationship between students and teacher isn't friendly. Too hot mean that the class is overexcited. It is good if the students got very happy or excited but it also can make the loose their concentration. Example , you hit them by a jokes, then they are laughing happily, but they still talks about that jokes when you're go to more serious topic.
3. External problem
Light out, broken air conditioner, sounds from outside of classroom, etc. Even seems like an untouchtable problem, but we can handle this.
What to do is called " Juggling the Ball ". Some soccer player have this ability, they are trying to control the ball with all their body parts ( exept hands ), the ball must not hit the ground. They create a beautifull show by this skill. This is what we will do, we must try to control the class as hard as possible. These is what I suggest :
1. Prepare Yourself
Prepare yourself for the class. Physically and also your spirit. You must know what to do in class, do not depend on your instinct or reflexes. Make a program guideline, example the first 15 minutes is greeting, then games ( 15 minutes ), singing ( 10 minutes ), story/study ( 20 minutes ), etc. Pray and build your self confidence. My friend told me a good tips : " When you're entering the building , forget about all the personal problem that you have and concentrate on what will you do in the building " ( the building here means sunday school building ).
2. Playing the Gear
Driving too fast is dangerous, driving to slow will make you bored. Same with the class, start to make it hot with some greetings momment , singing, games. But remember, when the study or story time will begun, you must slowly bring the class into a bit serious athmosphere. Example : when I teach the sunday school ,we begin with greeting each other , then singing . Before the story time ( or the main course ), I invite the students to pray for the story or singing a worship song ( song with slow tempo ).
3 Wild ball
In juggling ball, sometimes the ball seem out of control. But creativity will handle this. Some says it depends on your experience. Out of control condition can be handle by our creativity and of course by the power too ( even a crash sound happened, the children still concentrating on what you said ). Example about creativity : There is a time when my friend told story about missionary, then the electricity is down. At that time the students begun loose concentration, but my friend can get them again by saying " yes this is what happened at that time, he must live in situation like this to accomplished his mission. Live in poverty, without electricity ".
I think this seem not enough to explain about getting attention. And will continue this , especially on the term power. I dont mean mystical power.
