Wednesday, July 19, 2006Preschool presentation
Well...I discovered today that I am not going to quit my day job. Haha...meaning, I am not going to give up dog training to be a preschool teacher. I roped my sister (she has been a kindergarten teacher in South Central for 5 years) into coming and she literally saved me. I guess dogs and their families are still my specialty.
First, I went to the toy store yesterday to buy a dog puppet. This was actually Jamie's idea, and I liked it. Unfortunately they did not have any, so I bought a big stuffed dog and 3 little ones that looked exactly like it. I then went to Costco to get a big bag of treats. This was all premature being that I didn't really know what I was going to say or do anyway. However, as I have learned from my niece and nephew...presents are always good.
Last night I stayed up preparing for what I was going to talk about and Jamie actually guided me through it. I wrote an agenda and then I had little notecards with an outline of what I was going to "teach". I decided to talk about caring, training and safety around dogs. That's pretty good for 3-6 year olds, right? HA!
Today finally rolls around, even though Jamie was coming, I was still all nervous. I got up around 530am (I have to be there at 930am) to go over the things I want to say, but also because I just couldn't sleep anymore. Jamie is up around 7am and gets ready and we leave around 8am with Emmitt and our Thank Dog shirts...we looked like twins.
When we arrived (and by the way, this was probably the nicest preschool I have ever seen in my life!), Jamie and I were led into a classroom, I am a little nervous, but she is calm because this was a familiar setting for her. We originally imagined a gym or auditorium doing one presentation for 140 kids. It ended up being 4 presentations in the room, which was better for me to be honest, but it took us longer to get through.
The first group came in and the fun began.
I led the first presentation and it was TERRIBLE. I just didn't have it together whatsoever and our presentation was way too complicated for them.
The second group was AWESOME. The kids cooperated and Jamie took more of a role in this one. She made them laugh and participate, I was impressed. The only thing was that, when it looked like I was struggling, Jamie would pop in, but she felt like she was interrupting me. I didn't care that she was to be totally honest, if it were up to me, she could have done the entire thing while I only did the dog stuff, plus handling Emmitt.
The third group comes in...this was my worst performance yet. I started to talk a lot and led most of this one because Jamie didn't want to interrupt me (which I would have welcomed, she is great at what she does!). I really messed up on this one...it was right after I had already told them to tell me about their dogs-I totally forgot what was next (you would think we would own this 15 minute presentation by now), my mind was blank. So, the next logical thing to me was to ask, "Who wants to tell me about your dog?". Both Jamie and I wanted to bust out laughing after I said that. I was drowning...I mean, we just went through 5 minutes of the kids telling us about them already. It was terrible, TERRIBLE. I wasn't feeling very confident with my communication skills to 3-6 year olds. I just kept speaking words that were beyond their vocabulary and when I would catch myself, I would get all flustered. I was so glad Emmitt was a rockstar. He saved me in this one.
The last group comes in and we rocked it. Jamie took the teacher role and I took the dog trainer role. We were a team. I wish all of them went like that, we should have decided that from the beginning. She made the kids laugh constantly, the teachers were laughing and there were parents in this one and they were laughing too. Everyone was having a good time and everyone was learning. Jamie did her thing and I was doing what I do best and that was just handling and teaching them how to handle the dogs. We even got compliments at the end of it from parents who never heard dog safety the way we explained it. They actually thanked us! It was a good ending to a stressful day.
Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for the experience and I wouldn't change it for anything. I am also very flattered and honored that I was chosen to do this. It was a learning experience!
First, I went to the toy store yesterday to buy a dog puppet. This was actually Jamie's idea, and I liked it. Unfortunately they did not have any, so I bought a big stuffed dog and 3 little ones that looked exactly like it. I then went to Costco to get a big bag of treats. This was all premature being that I didn't really know what I was going to say or do anyway. However, as I have learned from my niece and nephew...presents are always good.
Last night I stayed up preparing for what I was going to talk about and Jamie actually guided me through it. I wrote an agenda and then I had little notecards with an outline of what I was going to "teach". I decided to talk about caring, training and safety around dogs. That's pretty good for 3-6 year olds, right? HA!
Today finally rolls around, even though Jamie was coming, I was still all nervous. I got up around 530am (I have to be there at 930am) to go over the things I want to say, but also because I just couldn't sleep anymore. Jamie is up around 7am and gets ready and we leave around 8am with Emmitt and our Thank Dog shirts...we looked like twins.
When we arrived (and by the way, this was probably the nicest preschool I have ever seen in my life!), Jamie and I were led into a classroom, I am a little nervous, but she is calm because this was a familiar setting for her. We originally imagined a gym or auditorium doing one presentation for 140 kids. It ended up being 4 presentations in the room, which was better for me to be honest, but it took us longer to get through.
The first group came in and the fun began.
I led the first presentation and it was TERRIBLE. I just didn't have it together whatsoever and our presentation was way too complicated for them.
The second group was AWESOME. The kids cooperated and Jamie took more of a role in this one. She made them laugh and participate, I was impressed. The only thing was that, when it looked like I was struggling, Jamie would pop in, but she felt like she was interrupting me. I didn't care that she was to be totally honest, if it were up to me, she could have done the entire thing while I only did the dog stuff, plus handling Emmitt.
The third group comes in...this was my worst performance yet. I started to talk a lot and led most of this one because Jamie didn't want to interrupt me (which I would have welcomed, she is great at what she does!). I really messed up on this one...it was right after I had already told them to tell me about their dogs-I totally forgot what was next (you would think we would own this 15 minute presentation by now), my mind was blank. So, the next logical thing to me was to ask, "Who wants to tell me about your dog?". Both Jamie and I wanted to bust out laughing after I said that. I was drowning...I mean, we just went through 5 minutes of the kids telling us about them already. It was terrible, TERRIBLE. I wasn't feeling very confident with my communication skills to 3-6 year olds. I just kept speaking words that were beyond their vocabulary and when I would catch myself, I would get all flustered. I was so glad Emmitt was a rockstar. He saved me in this one.
The last group comes in and we rocked it. Jamie took the teacher role and I took the dog trainer role. We were a team. I wish all of them went like that, we should have decided that from the beginning. She made the kids laugh constantly, the teachers were laughing and there were parents in this one and they were laughing too. Everyone was having a good time and everyone was learning. Jamie did her thing and I was doing what I do best and that was just handling and teaching them how to handle the dogs. We even got compliments at the end of it from parents who never heard dog safety the way we explained it. They actually thanked us! It was a good ending to a stressful day.
Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for the experience and I wouldn't change it for anything. I am also very flattered and honored that I was chosen to do this. It was a learning experience!
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