Where I could have done better, and how I changed because of it?
The first few weeks I assisted with teaching the children’s classes, I struggled to lead any group without constant help. Anything more complex than running forms would rapidly deteriorate. In hindsight, the reason for this was a lack of patience- instead of waiting to for people to quiet down and get their attention, I would try to immediately start in with the exercise. Rushing into instructions was counterproductive, leaving me having to repeat them to most of the group and generally raising the stress of everyone involved. Not only did I become frustrated with having to go back, those trying to follow along were as well when called to start following instructions before understanding them. In order to deal with large groups in noisy environments, I had to slow down and be willing to wait. Spending thirty seconds to collect everyone's attention and then speaking at a deliberate pace led to the entire group hearing the first time, and having a natural time to start. While finding the perfect pace between confusingly rapid and boringly slow is a continual process, I have at least been able to calm down and watch for cues instead of minimizing time to deliver words.
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