I've always been a lover of Relief Society and adult Sunday school, so I wasn't overly happy to receive this calling in the first place. But there was no way I was going to turn it down, especially since I know they have a hard time keeping primary teachers. It wasn't so bad when I had help, but now I generally feel quite frazzled by the end of the day.
Recently one of the other classes was having problems with two of their boys fighting, so they gave me one of them. I wasn't too happy since I already felt over extended by myself. And he had been a problem child in the other class. Great.
I was totally surprised to find that he actually listened to the lesson! He gives GOOD answers to my questions! It was amazing. He is now my star pupil and I rarely have to redirect him. (He does get off the topic sometimes with Scooby Do, but other than that he's great.)
He's really helped me take another look at my kids. I've been wrongly labeling them and dreading their idiosyncrasies. In my mind I had little categories for them:
- The liar (seriously, she rarely says anything that's remotely true. at least it's so blatantly false that I don't have to decipher the truths from the lies "Yesterday my dad beat up these guys by my school. It was so cool." She also likes to bust out in the song "I like to move it move it" while shaking and slapping her toosh);
- the ADHD child(best quote from him: I HATE church! It's sooooo long! And I'm always hungry!) he frequently runs around, hits people, turns the lights on and off, etc. He's super cute and I love him to death, but he has a very, very difficult time sitting quietly for 3 hours and staying on task;
- the loud one (a total crack up when it comes to songs she knows. She sings so loudly that the kids around her have to cover their ears.) this one also is very disruptive when it comes to prayers (she's stolen another kid's shoes and hidden them during the prayer, she claps, she talks, and she pokes people during prayers);
- the tattletale (more than once a week "teacher, she had her eyes open during the prayer!!" or "teacher she poked me". I'm pretty sure he has some ADHD tendencies as well. A couple of weeks he kept standing up and slapping his rear in the middle of class. I'm not sure why.);
- the story teller (He's a pretty good kid, but he always has some off the wall tale to tell. "When I was a baby my brother threw up all over my mom and then I peed all over her." That was today's. Another classic from him when we were supposed to be drawing about sharing he drew the Incredible Hulk, his dad, and himself. They each had a head in their hand giving it to the next person. Wasn't quite sure what to make of that one...)
- the quiet and head strong (She can't keep her shoes on to save her life. This drives her mom crazy. She'll listen and participate for the most part. I don't have too many problems with her.)
6 comments:
i think that pretty much all kids are ADHD when it comes to church. ok, so there are a few super shy ones that are the exceptions. but i heard somewhere that a child's attention span is equal to his age plus one minute. that means that those poor kids have a 5-6 minute attention span and are expected to SIT STILL for three hours.
my solution: leave the sitting still for sacrament meeting. sharing time should be fun, singing time should be at least half moving around, and class should be a series of engaging activities. every single activity should be 4 minutes long with audience participation, guessing games, riveting stories, easter egg hunts, grabbing items out of a mystery bag that pertain to the lesson, nature walks etc.
of course you have to give very specific behavioral expectations if you are going to have a lot of movement activities, but i swear it would go over better than another hour of sitting still.
cannon used to get teenagers to listen well by telling them they could play games in the leftover time if they participated and behaved well. it worked really well.
oh, and i would see if you could bring goldfish crackers to class. i always feel bad because our church is right during lunchtime and naptime.
ummmm, sorry so long.
by the way (as if i haven't said enough already), i asked a mother of 12 chidlren what she had learned from having all of those kids, and she said, "Lots of little things like that 4 year olds lie. i know not to freak out about it now since it is normal and they outgrow it."
Thanks amanda. Both of your comments are really helpful. I've tried to think up interesting activities for kids during class, but it's HARD!
And as much as I wish I could give them food, the Primary Presidency is SUPER strict about not bring food or candy for the kids.
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I just keep trying to remember how that Jesus guy feels about kids.
hey celia, I didn't mean to make it sound like you weren't already a super great teacher. i'm sure you are. I was just shocked when i substituted playing the piano for our primary, and the sharing time was so boring and they kept getting after the kids to settle down, and then the chorister was grouchy and impatient and pulled out a game that they played every week, and the kids were like, "This again?" Ever since then I have been on a mission to party up primary a little more. I am sure that you are doing a great job. GOOD LUCK!!
AH Primary...sometimes you love it and sometimes you dont. I have had too many good/bad experiences. Good luck!
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