teaching report #2..practicum report #10

Name: Rachael Mulder
Teaching Report #2
Time Spent: 5 ½ hours (1 ½ hours preparation, 2 hours church service, 2 hours Sunday school)

My Lesson
This week I decided to teach on the miracle of Jesus healing the leper. My goal was to give the kids an understandable rendition of the Bible story, allowing them to see that our God is a powerful God that we should go to when we are sick, hurting, sad, etc.

Class Schedule:
11:00-11:30 -- Arrival and Playtime: As usual, we allowed the kids to play for the first half an hour. Today we started out with six kids: Zion (2 years), Durane (4 years), Tucker (5 years), Sarah (4 ½ years), Claire (4 ½ years), and Audrey (1 year). Zion, Durane and Sarah played with play dough. Claire and Tucker were a little more active and made up their own stories and games and kept themselves occupied fairly well. While we were playing, Claire kept talking about how she had been sick the week before. It provided me with the opportunity to prep the kids for the lesson by saying, “I’m sorry you were sick Claire, but we are going to talk about a man who was sick today in our story. He was made better by Jesus.” To which she replied, “Cool, I think that Jesus helped to make me better too!” It was really cute and provided a great segue into the lesson.

11:45-12:00 – Lesson: This week I decided to have the kids sit in chairs for the lesson. I was hoping that this would provide more structure and less opportunity for distraction. I also decided to ask for prayer requests this week. Once again, Sarah asked that we pray for her Uncle Bill who died, her family, everyone in the room, and all the toys. The other kids asked that we pray for their families as well. This led to a conversation about grandmas and grandpa’s dying etc. I brought the conversation back to prayer, and then opened up the lesson by praying for the class. This week, I found a story of Jesus healing the leper online. Last week, the story of David and Goliath was a little too in depth and long. This week, the story was quite short, but I was able to become animated about the story. I explained to the kids what it meant to have leprosy and that lepers were sick and could not be around their family and friends. Then, I told them the story of Jesus healing the leper. I used the craft as part of the story. The craft is a cut out of two men with leprosy and sad faces. You fold the men into fours, and open it up and the leprosy is gone! The kids really enjoyed this addition to the story and it provided them with a visual. Afterwards I asked them these questions:
· Was a person with leprosy health or sick?
· Could they be around other people, their family, or friends?
· Who did the leper go to in order to be healed?
· Did Jesus heal him? How?
· What did the man do?
· Have you ever been sick?
o Can God heal you?
o We should have faith in God and bring our requests to him!

12:00-12:20 – Snack: For snack the kids had cookies and graham crackers. They were very well behaved. During snack, Andrea and I asked the kids questions about the story.

12:20-12:45 – Craft: For craft, I had the kids make the “miracle healing of the leprosy men.” In order to complete the craft the kids had to glue white and red dots on the cutout of two men with leprosy. Then, I showed them how to fold the men so that once they opened it up the men were happy and healed! Most of the kids had no problem with this craft. Both Tucker and Durane were very excited about it. Sarah and Zion needed some help, but were able to complete it. Claire though, all of a sudden started bawling! She was frustrated that the glue was leading out the sides of the dots. She cried for about ten minutes before we were finally able to get her to settle down. This was quite abnormal for her, and I wondered if there was something going on at home (her parents are divorced).

12:45-1:00 – Play Time: For the last fifteen minutes, we let the kids do whatever they wanted. Most of them played together during this time.

The Response
-- Today there were six kids: Zion, Durane, Tucker, Audrey, Claire, and Sarah. Half way through the class, Audrey was taken to be with the other two kids in nursery. It was exciting to have more kids in class this week. These are the “regulars” for this class and I was excited to have the opportunity to teach them.
-- The kids really seemed to understand the lesson. Reading a shorter version of the Bible story really helped to keep their attention. It also helped to put the story into words they could understand. Throughout the lesson, I asked them questions to see if they understood the story. They were able to answer every one! For the most part, they also really enjoyed the craft. I was encouraged when the parents came, and each kid was able to explain the craft of Jesus healing the leper to their families.

Supervising Teacher’s Evaluation
Andrea was just as encouraging as last week. She thought that the craft was a really great idea. She also complemented me on the use of the chairs for the lesson. It really helped to keep the kid’s attention, and prohibited them from moving around and touching each other. She told me that I did a really good job reading the story to kids, keeping it exciting and interesting. Overall, Andrea told me that I did a really great job organizing a lesson plan, especially when there is no structure in the children’

Did Well
-I was very organized and had a specific plan and purpose for the lesson.
-The craft and lesson worked together really well.
-The craft worked well for all the ages (2-5 years).
-I was energetic and excited about the Bible story, and was able to keep the kids on better track than last week.
-I set some ground rules for Bible story time: no talking, touching, and raising hands to answer questions.
-I was able to realize changes that needed to be made from last week, especially in the area of telling the Bible story. I was able to adjust and adapt, making the necessary changes.

To Improve
-I really struggle when kids cry when they don’t get what they want. Claire, Durane and Zion all cried at some point during Sunday School because they did not get something that they wanted. I just do not have a lot of patience for that. I need to learn how to have more compassion for these kids, as well as learn how to address these situations.
-I need to learn how to have more structure during the kid’s free time.

Questions
-- How do you handle situations in which kids are crying? For the most part, they cry simply because they don’t get what they want. How do you let them know that this is not how to address this issue?
-- In what ways could I provide the kids with more structure during their play time? The room is pretty small, but at times they get out of control.
-- How do you set rules and guidelines with kids who are so young?