Day Eight: Lawton Park

I stink.

I stink because myself and the rest of my class went out out to a local park today and helped out our community by spreading mulch at the playground. Out of the 6 who went with me today, 4 trainees expressed an interest in possibly working for a lawn-care business or another physical job. This outing today was a great opportunity to experiment with outside job environments, physical jobs, and jobs which require team work.

From today i personally learned that I need to put a strong emphasis on teamwork in this class. The trainees, while each are all individually wonderful, do not enjoy taking orders from each other. In some ways I can understand why any person in the work environment does not like taking orders from someone who is supposed to be an "equal." I personally can instantly think of one coworker who I sometimes struggled cooperating with, however in the end I was forced to swallow my pride and reply to that said person with a cordial response. The trainees in this class will need some practice identifying when they should accept a "coworker's" comments, and when to politely give a negative reply. On the flip-side though some trainees need help practicing how to phrase what they want to communicate so that the person receiving the message is not offended.

Regarding the positive behaviors seen on the outing I saw hard work, a willingness to attempt new tasks, and endurance. One trainee had prior knowledge from doing lawn work for his family and was very willing to take the lead role and help direct people. I was especially proud of one student who had originally been dealing with his own personal emotions, but was able to put his feelings aside and work on the task at hand. Compartmentalizing is and necessary but difficult skill to learn in life, but I think my one student did a particularly good job at it today.

After class we came back, ate lunch, and worked on silent reading. 

One trainee was reading a magic book and it gave me an idea for a future lesson plan. The magic book included step by step directions with pictures. I personally think being able to follow directions is a valuable job skill and I could not help but wonder if this magic trick would be a fun way to practice out each trainees' ability to follow directions through either words or pictures. I'm going to have to try it.