Observation 2

This week I chose to observe children competing in a local gymnastics competition.  Even though there were numerous children present, I focused on a group of ten girls from one gymnastics school.  These girls varied in age from 10 - 12. Eight of the girls were Caucasian while the other 2 were African American.

 The girls were all in matching outfits and stayed grouped together near their coach. It was as if the other children present were their enemies.  It was evident that they did not want to have to interact with the other students if they could help it.  I did, however, witness amazing team unity.  The girls were always cheering each other on, boosting each others spirits, and telling each other how well they were going to do and that they could do it.  These children were very focused.  I was surprised to see how intently they listened to their coach, whenever he spoke to them.  It seemed that no matter how long his advice to the girls was that they were focused on him 100%.  In addition, when it came time to compete in their event, one could see the focus evident on the faces of the girls. After the girls performed, it was clear that they felt their self worth based on how well they did.  It was clear that those that received criticism felt less sure about themselves and tended to "hang their head low", whereas, those who excelled became cocky.  They walked about with a sense of arrogance.

I made several connections to the Brighton book after observing these girls.  For instance, according to the Brighton book, children at this age usually have an attention span of fifteen minutes unless they are truly intrigued by what is occurring, being taught, etc.  This was evident in the gymnastic girls, when their coach was talking to them, their eyes never wandered. They listened to his every word because they were focused on winning and saw him as a ways to better their cause.  In addition, I also saw that the children determined their self concept or self  worth through their achievements in gymnastics. In  Brighton's book, he references the Self-Perception Profile by Harter, which names the various domains in which a student establishes their self concept.  Among these domains, is athletic achievement.  The girls who excelled and ranked high held their heads higher and walked with an air of arrogance.  Children are easily offended and criticism often offends them, even, if it is meant to be constructive criticism.  When the children messed up in a competition, the coach would tell them what they did wrong and then tell them how to fix it.  However, even though it was meant to help in the future the children took it personally.  They walked about with their heads down and their confidence decreased. As Brighton says, "Any negative comment from an adult, regardless of how tactfully couched, may constitute being "yelled at "(Brighton, 2007, 70)."

This week's observations gave me several insights into what I need to do as a teacher in my future.  For one, I have to be able to find as way to hold the attention of my students.  I will have to learn to make lessons fun and attention grabbing.  This will be a difficult task because some subjects can appear very boring to students, but it is possible.  In addition, if I can make it interesting students will benefit because their grades will increase and learning will occur.  I also have to be very careful when it comes to constructive criticism.  Children  are very sensitive, this is something I have to remember. I remember being very sensitive to every word that came out of an adult's mouth, thus I must keep this in mind when I correct students.  Lastly, I need to remember to complement students when they do well and to encourage them when they fail.  Children absorb comments and feed on them.  As a teacher it is always important to bring your students up, not down.