My Experience

Overall I really love my job. I have had some rough days, even weeks, but overall I'm super happy I got to work here. I love kids, they're exhausting and crazy, but hilarious and very sweet. I don't think most people get to hear how much they're loved every time they go to work. As gross as kids are I still love their hugs and sweet cards. I learned a lot in my job, and I gained a lot of experience that I know will be very beneficial to my future. I also learned a lot about video editing and that was a surprise that ended up being super fun! I love my coworkers and the whole camp musart family. I've had a great 1.5 years and I'm excited to continue working there.

Frustrations and Roadblocks

This job can be very frustrating. 5-12 year olds aren't always the best listeners, and especially not when they're at camps. Instead of teaching in a school, a camp is made to entertain them. If the kids don't like my craft, it's my job to make it more fun or come up with another one. Punishing them can be very uncomfortable. When the kids are super hyper and running around, I can't always get them to calm down. Sometimes I will adjust my activity to something that will work with all of their extra energy. At camp we don't have time-out, if something serious happens I can ask the person in the office to take them out of my class. Most of the time I'm dealing with crying, complaining, lots of energy, and disrespect. I have learned how to deal with most of this, but sometimes it gets really difficult.
Today we did Gonoodle, which is a website/ activity online where the kids dance and move around. They got really energetic and started to run around the room and get really loud. I told them time after time to calm down and be quiet. This wasn't really working and things got bad so I turned the TV off, and had them all go sit down. We spent a few minutes talking about their behavior, and how we can't do fun stuff if they can't handle it. We ended up going back to gonoodle and they behaved much better.

Learning about myself

This was my first job, so clearly it had a great impact on who I am. I always thought I was extremely impatient, but turns out I can manage pretty well, and I've gotten even better. I already knew I was good with kids, but I learned to work with them and understand why they're acting out. When kids are crying and yelling, there is a reason and I'm pretty good at talking them down. This in addition to taking a psychology class at wake tech has made me very interested in child psychology.

I had a very interesting day at work. I was team teaching with Kerry- the other AOIT intern- and normally his classes are very unstructured. We were doing a drawing competition and things got a little crazy. Without any structure in the class, it is very hard to get things done. We also had a lot of complaining about who was winning and some tears. I know art is supposed to be fun and flexible, but it is important to have rules in place.

My future plans

Honestly this job has had a huge impact on what I'm planning for my future. I've been thinking about being a teacher since before I started elementary school. My mom is a first grade teacher and I thought it was the dream. However, after working with kids so much I'm not sure I want to do that for the rest of my life. Yes, it is fun, and I feel like I'm a natural, but I'm not sure I want to pursue teaching. I've been thinking about child therapy, maybe even working with art therapy. I'm not sure yet, but I do know that classroom teaching is not for me.
Today we made elephants from paper plates. Once again, it got really messy. Paint is always difficult. During clean up one of the kids picked up a plate of paint and spilled the whole thing on the bench and floor. It was a lot of paint, but luckily one of my friends was there to help!

Changes?

Honestly not much has changed at all. I was really thrown into the deep end when I started and its been the same since. I teach the same kind of classes, I guess I work some more hours now, but that's about it. I think that things have become easier, since I have more experience. I also find it really fun getting to see my favorite students each track out. We have kids that come back every track out and I get to form really strong bonds with them.

At work today we did finger painting pineapples. Those were super cute but extremely messy. I got some paint on my face, on the wall, and the chairs- good thing it's washable! After I taught my classes we had carpool and then I did aftercare. We played outside and then the kids played piano.

Main Contribution

I had a very big project about a year ago during Christmas time. Every week I make videos that my bosses take during classes showing what the students do throughout the week. Sometimes teachers are in little bits of the video, so for our Christmas party I took all of the videos from the past years and made a video of the teachers. It was very difficult and time consuming but it was a really great video and lots of fun.
At work I had a few crying kids, which I am trying to learn to deal with. I don't really know how to comfort, especially when I can tell they're crying to get me to give them something. I sent one student to the office and I tried to work out a fight between two kids. I really don't get why kids fight so much, there really isn't anything to fight about. I really want to be a child therapist so I should learn how to deal with this a little better.

Expectations

This internship is definitely meeting my expectations. I have worked here for a year now and I know what to expect. I have a very good job, however, it does take a lot out of me. I come home from work exhausted and ready for shower. Kids are quite gross, but I think it beats having a desk job. I'm the type of person who really can't stand being bored, and I get bored very easily. My work is definitely not boring. I have learned a lot about video editing while working here which is really cool and I wasn't expecting to do this when I got the job.
At work we had recital which is always really fun. I normally have small groups of 6 kids for 30 minutes and we rotate 4 times. In the later afternoon we have 2 groups of 12 kids, but on fridays during the last hour I have all 24 kids for an hour. This is quite a challenge, I normally do story time but even that can be hard. I read them stories as they get called out to practice, but managing that many kids takes a lot of patience. They want to play with their toys, talk, walk around, and I am really trying to get them to listen. Depending on the group of kids it can go really well or really terribly, today was pretty good.