So a while back I posted a freak out post about agreeing to teach at an elementary school for all of their PE classes for the week. Today was day #1 and I'm so sore and dead. I taught around 100 students in each class, back to back no break except for a 30 minute lunch. A lot of the kids really liked it and thanked me and said it was fun. But ohmygod! my body felt like it was going to die by the last class. And we're just doing really simple things! Now I have to go teach for a couple more hours...God help me!!! I REALLY hope that I get at least 1 student out of this week long torture! I have no idea what I'm going to do on Thursday when I teach all day at school and get a 45 minute break to go teach for 4 more hours at night. AHHH!!!

Grin and bear my friend! Hard work pays off. I'm sure you will get lots of students out of this. It's a great idea!!

Anxious to hear how you feel at the end of the week.

Congrats! You survived!

So tell us.. what did you end up doing? Did you have a mic? How did you organize the class.. would love to hear what worked and what didn't!

Day 2....not nearly as sore and initially not as tired, but it's setting in quickly!

The school has PE everyday so there are anywhere from 50 - 100 kids in a class at one time. It's true crowd control and ridiculousness. I have no idea how the teacher and her assistant get anything accomplished ever! The majority of kids are good, but no matter how good they are, when you get 100 second graders together, they go crazy.

I don't have a whistle, but the teachers do so I signal to them when I need the kids to stop what they are doing by blowing the whistle. I definitely needed one of those.

I did not go with a mic system, no $$ for that. I used to teach school and have a pretty "projectile" voice so it's been working so far. I haven't really done any activities with me talking while the music is on, just to hard to hear anything.

In order to keep everything organized, number 1 is discipline and setting out behavioral expectations. The teachers said it, I said it again, and reminded them again and again and again. 6th grade was hell on wheels yesterday so the teacher and I agreed to stop and they did exercises (think boot camp) for the rest of the time. They were much better today. Number 2 is to keep it ridiculously simple. We worked on single and double skips and 7's, all incredibly simple, yet not so much when you have 100 kids. Today we did the same and put it together in a mini dance that's not finished yet. The dance consists of walking (dancing) forward 4 counts, back 4 counts, right side people do it, left side people do it, then swing your partner (all Irish dance). Stuff that basically a normal Kindergartner could do in a tiny class. It was amazing to see just how "hard" it was with the crowd.

My first class yesterday I attempted to do something that is normally simple, but not so much with the mass. I feel like I pretty much taught an overly simplified creative movement class to all grades and it worked well. We could not do anything harder because there's not enough of ME to get to THEM.

Overall I can keep them in line by myself, but the whistles definitely can be heard over anything and anywhere in the gym. I'd say to anyone who may do this, 2 days might be more than plenty for you (I'm doing this for 4) and just be prepared to be a hard ass on behavior. 30 kids, generally not too tough to handle, 60, 80, 100? ahhh!! I've had to do a ton of behavioral corrections in every class (except the wonderful 4th graders) and adjust my lesson on the spot to see what's working and not working based on their behavior and ability. Some classes are further along than others.

Bring in a supersoaker tomorrow.

lidwina wrote:

Bring in a supersoaker tomorrow.

Hilarious! But Congratulations on stepping out and trying something new, great things will come from this. Just try to take it easy this weekend!

Excellent but I feel your pain!! LOL

Twice per year I did that with the local high school. Of course, many high school kids were TOO COOL for it and so I had to deal with that, but it is a good thing for those who really get something out of it, even if none of them ever sign up.

Hang in there. It will be over soon, just soak in a tub with bath salts and take pain killer BEFORE teaching! LOL

I'm done I'm done I'm DONE!!!! woohooo!!!! Just got home and now I feel like my toes are going to fall off. My voice is just barely starting to get scratchy, but I am also probably getting sick from picking up some crap from 700 kids. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, almost everyone got their stickers with my contact info on them (naughty classes did not) and I hope fun was had by all. The PE teachers were really happy and appreciative I came and said they'd highly recommend me. They are even doing a bulletin board outside the gym with all of the pictures taken. I REALLY hope I get some students out of this!

Now to go work on my next dance project...groan!!!

Don't give the supersoaker to your own kids or you still won't have rest.

Enjoy your weekend! You deserve it!