Soaring with my Heroes: Staff



Job Description - After School Program Leader Program Staff Training Tips and Tricks for High-Energy, Thought-Provoking Games Behavior Management Developmental Needs


Job Description - After School Program Leader

Job Title: Program Leader Responsible to: After School Director General Duties and Program Description: Program Leaders develop and facilitate an after-school curriculum for children in grades 2-5, which uses sport as a vehicle to teach students about other cultures. The after-school curriculum consists of 2-4 hours of meetings per week for 6-12 weeks. The program is based on six basic steps, which are listed below: Using icebreakers and international games, help the children and leaders get to know each other better. Explain the program, develop ground rules for the group and set goals. Use brainstorming to determine a country or sport for the group to explore and play. If the group chose a country, research the culture and sports played there, and choose a sport. If the group chose a sport, determine the country of origin and research its culture. Research the sport and country to learn: Rules, attire, equipment, and heroes associated with the sport. Language and cultural facts associated with the country. Make appropriate contact with people in the community that may be able to demonstrate the sport, help the group to learn skills associated with the sport, and provide equipment. Play the sport, using the learned rules, skills, and cultural knowledge. In addition to the six basic steps listed above, there are several program elements that should be included in the program. They include the following: Develop teamwork within the group. Help children understand how they are alike, how they are different, and how this diversity relates to culture. Help children to acquire new languages, new cultural knowledge, and new sports skills. Specific Duties: Use the Soaring With My Heroes materials (manual, training) to guide the development and facilitation of the program. Prepare lesson plans for each program meeting with students. Implement lesson plans for each program meeting with students. Promote teamwork and positive interactions within the group of children. Provide children with opportunities to make choices about the program. Provide children with resources that will help them to learn rules and skills related to sports, new languages, and multi-cultural facts. Guide the children to focus on the goals of the program. Supervise activities for the after-school program to ensure safety. Be responsible for accepting duties necessary to make the program successful. Other duties related to assisting in an after school program as assigned. Job Requirements: Program leaders must be flexible in order to accommodate the choices of the children and allow the program to be guided by the children. Program leaders must be able to locate and help the children locate resources that will help them learn about particular sports and cultures (i.e. computers, libraries, etc.).



Program Staff Training

After School Program Leaders Give all Program Leaders in Training a “Soaring With My Heroes” Manual. Review the Job Description and discuss the differences between the job of a Program Leader and their current jobs as after-school program staff. In other words, hold discussions to help the Program Leaders address the shift in roles that take place when they begin the program. Review the Process Map and discuss the steps and their relation to meeting the program objectives. Conduct training segments, which help the program leaders to successfully implement the program. How to create session plans: Choose activities that correspond with Process Map Objectives. Each Program Leader will be given a blank lesson plan sheet, which already includes the objectives for that lesson. They will brainstorm activities that promote the objectives listed. Determine and plan for equipment needs. On the same blank lesson plan sheet, there is room for equipment and materials needs to be included. Once a set of activities is determined for the objectives listed, the equipment needed for those activities will be listed. Include student’s personal goals in the plans. The lesson plans should be based on decisions made by the group of children in the program. The Personal Goals Worksheet can be used to guide the lesson plans in the direction students have chosen How to locate resources: Some resources (websites and books) are listed in the Manual. Library books. Often, elementary school librarians are willing and able to help you to locate books about certain cultures, languages, and sports. Just ask for their help. Computers and the Internet. Computers can be used to search the Internet for information about certain cultures, languages, and sports. This resource can be used to help Program Leaders shape lesson plans. This resource can also be used directly by children in the program. One of the easiest ways to conduct an Internet search is to visit www.google.com. Once there, simply type words that you might be searching for in the box. For instance, you might type “sport and Japan and child” to find information about sports that children play in Japan. Be careful to monitor the computer use of children during such research activities. Be flexible and address uncertainty in the program. This can be done by discussing some of the events that arose during earlier implementations of the program. The event should be discussed to brainstorm possible actions that could be taken in response to the event. Some events are: It is the first day of the program, and while you are beginning to introduce yourself and establishing rules, a Kindergartener walks into the group and sits down. After several weeks of implementation, two of the children in your group have an altercation. One child pushes the other who responds by hitting back. After the children have chosen a sport and culture to explore, you learn that they will not be able to play that sport because some of the equipment is not available. How to manage behavior (see page 25) Provide the program leaders with a chance to ask questions and clarify any uncertainties.


Tips and Tricks for High-Energy, Thought-Provoking Games

Tap your play spirit…if you think it will be fun, there is a much better chance it will be…if you think it is dumb…guess what? So, will they! Aim for Big Fun…think about how to make what you are doing more fun…use silly voices, go backwards…allow them to be fun…set the stage that the “too cool” hat is off, and put our “big fun” hat on! Walk the playful path…the state curriculum guidelines are important, but after-school think about how you can get on a new ride, like at an amusement park….you still have similar goals (youth development), use some different tools! The Difference between games and sports…Goal is to involve everyone….not for one team to win. (Ask teens to help modify rules to include more people) Power distributed…teamwork and share responsibility for safety. (Ask teens what will make this more fun) Look for ways that all can win…volleyball (change the goal to be a challenge of how long can you keep the ball in the air), create relay stations (at each stop, you need to stop and do a math problem or spelling word). Short cut plans for preparation: Use an attention getter (try to avoid a normal whistle…save it for emergency stops) Explain the game with enthusiasm (have a signal for stoppage) Demonstrate the game (could be one small circle with others watching) Ask for questions (if none, ask a question to see if they can answer) Play the game (Quit before they are ready to quit…you can always play it again on another day) Talk about the game (process the added learning: social skills, content areas, etc.) Play another game and think of ways to adapt this game to make it more fun next time Concepts to keep in mind: Safety has to override fun, but learning and fun can go hand in hand! Keep it controlled at first until you know them and they know you better. Think back to your childhood games (and ask them their favorite games)…then challenge them and yourself to adapt it for learning. Simple things can be made more fun with a time-keeper challenge…we were able to do that in 90 seconds. I wonder if we can do it faster? What would it take to get the group to accomplish it faster?


Dividing into Groups Line them all up…peanut butter, jelly what is this? Count off numbers in a different language Give everyone a playing card (all the diamonds together, etc) Birthday months Stand on one foot (find someone else standing on the same foot) Cross your arms (find someone who crosses the same, right over left, etc.) Fold your hands (find someone who crosses the same, right thumb over left, etc.) Animal sounds (pass out slips of paper and have people find their same kind) Getting everyone quiet Clap once if you can hear me (have people clap when they hear you) A silly whistle Ripple stop (have everyone say “stop” when they hear stop) Hands up, mouths shut (close your mouth if someone raises their hand) Hush fell over the crowd (have everyone say “hush” when they hear it) Talk quietly and adapt Simon Says Time to Play Adapt a game they already know, but add content to the relationship and rules of the game Play freeze tag or “TV” tag…but to get unfrozen or be on base, you need to name a type of evergreen tree (other examples are name a bone in the body, a number in a foreign language, etc) Play Giants, Wizard and Elves (think Rock, Paper, Scissors)…but adapt it to illustrate any three things that have a hierarchical relationship…Giants squash Elves, Wizard cast spells on Giants, Elves can jump on the back of the Wizards or Sunshine feeds plants (so plants win), Plants are eaten by humans (so humans win), Sunshine burns humans (so sun wins)…ask teens to help you think of others. Adapted by Gwynn Powell, UGA Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies gpowell@coe.uga.edu from the Game and Play Leader’s Handbook: Facilitating Fun and Positive Interaction by: Bill Michaelis and John O’Connell ISBN 1-892132-02-8

Behavior Management

Introduction Let’s face it! You are going to see some challenges when it comes to behavior management in the program that you wish to implement. Children will often test limits and push as far as possible to see how you will react. In a program such as this one, it can be extra challenging because you are trying to procure an environment of both fun and learning that differs from the rigorous structure of the school environment. The examples below are meant as a resource to help you in dealing with difficult situations in a manner that is beneficial for everyone involved. Tools to Use There are several ways that behavior can be managed so that the participating students can enjoy the maximum benefits of the program. You cannot control the behaviors of children. You can, however, manage them by controlling your own behaviors. A great deal of interaction between people is based on what has been called a stimulus-response relationship (S=R). In this relationship, an initial behavior is the stimulus (e.g. you standing quietly before the students until they become quiet). The reaction to the stimulus is called the response (e.g. the students becoming quiet to find out what’s going on). You cannot control another person’s response, but you can control the stimulus you give that person. Have you ever noticed that when you whisper to someone (even in a noisy room), they are likely to whisper back? This is a function of S=R. You give the person a soft, quiet stimulus (whisper) and you get a soft, quiet response. This is referred to as “tone-matching,” and our bodies do it automatically. What does S=R have to do with this program? We are here to be facilitators of the program. We are not here to be authoritative leaders; the children should be leading this program, not us. As a facilitator, you should manage the group’s behavior so that they are getting all they can from the program. Some examples of S=R in action: Jules, a 5’9” adult is frustrated with the behavior of a 4’2” child. Jules gives the child a threatening stimulus by standing over the child and yelling, “BE QUIET AND SIT DOWN!” The child’s response is to yell back, “GET OUT OF MY FACE!” and run out of the room. Two S=R interactions have happened here. First, by using a loud, angry stimulus (yelling), Jules got a loud, angry response (yelling). Again, this is a case of tone-matching. Second, the child responds to a threatening, aggressive stimulus (using physical stature to intimidate) by running out of the room (a response motivated by fear). But Jules is lucky. You have probably heard that people react to fear with either “fight or flight.” This child ran away, but others will respond to aggressive stimuli with further aggression. These situations can become physically and emotionally unsafe very quickly. Jean, an adult, is speaking with Terry, another adult. Although Jean is frustrated, she exercises great control and quietly says, “I am a little frustrated because of this. What can we do to work it out?” In this situation, Terry is likely to respond in a positive way. Jean did two things to encourage a positive response. First, she used a mild tone, which will likely be matched by a mild tone. Second, she addressed the issue in terms of “we” instead of “you” and enlisted Terry as partner in helping to solve the problem causing frustration. The message: make sure you are aware of your tone when addressing negative behaviors; your stimulus can greatly affect the response you get. Also make sure that you spend more time reinforcing positive behaviors (“Good job!”) than you do giving attention to those that are misbehaving. Adapted from: Thomas, R. M. (1996). Chapter seven: Skinner's operant conditioning. In Comparing theories of child development (4th ed., pp. 171-195). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.


Developmental Needs

The following is a list of general physical, social, emotional needs and abilities for children within the age groups with whom you might be working. It must be noted that all children are different and it is difficult to generalize because each child functions on an individual level based on various physiological, psychological, and environmental factors (historical). However, after reading over these characteristics, you should have a very general understanding of the abilities and needs of children at a given stage of development. Ages 8-10 Physical Experience steady increases in large muscle development Increase in strength, balance, and coordination Active with boundless energy, often restless and fidgety Boys and girls maturing at different rates (boys are slower to mature than girls) Increase in manual dexterity, eye-hand, and small muscle coordination Social See adults as authority Follow rules out of respect for authority Can be noisy and argumentative Feel loyalty to friendship group, often with “secret” words Identifies with same sex group Expanded use of reasoning skills to solve problems, negotiate and compromise Emotional View right behavior as “obeying” rules set by those in power Accepts parent/family beliefs Admires and imitates older boys and girls Developing decision making skills Beginning to take responsibility for their own actions Need acceptance from peer groups Emphasize similarities between self and friends Look to adults for guidance and approval Need involvement with caring adult Comparisons with the success of others difficult and eroding to self-confidence Self-conscious, afraid to fail, sensitive to criticism Feel they can do no wrong and are quick to correct others Name-calling and teasing are methods for responding to being upset Feel too “cool” for emotions Intellectual Quick, eager, enthusiastic Vary greatly in academic abilities, interests, and reasoning skills Increased attention span, but interests change rapidly Begin to think logically and symbolically Learn to use good judgment Begin to learn about moral judgments, applying principles of right and wrong Want to know how to, what, and why of things See things as “black and white” and “yes and no” and have difficulty with opinions different than theirs Activities and special considerations Use large and small muscles in activities Organized team games and sports where everyone can be successful Group work and cooperative activities Use skills to explore and investigate the world Assume responsibility Discuss other people’s perspectives Explore interests in collections and hobbies Express feelings and imagination through creative writing or acting Discus reasonable explanations for rules and decisions Interested in making and doing “real” things and using “real” tools, equipment, and materials Varying Conditions that Could Alter Certain Characteristics Cultural Diversity Economic situation Environmental Conditions (home, school, peers, etc.) Physical Conditions (diet, disabilities, genetics) Current societal trends or issues that put children at risk (violence, drug use, sexual activity, technological changes, etc.) Adapted from: Ball, A.B., & Ball, B.H. (2000). Basic Camp Management 5th ed. American Camping Association, Indiana.

Introduction

Tools to Use