1st Project day completed! Thank god for pilots! The timing went a little off thanks to the YMCA clocks that need new batteries but we still finished on time. Other than that i think everything went well. The kids seemed to enjoy it, particularly the self defense. The teachers seemed happy with the day and the feedback has been very positive so far.
I need to review the layout for the next day and make some minor adjustments which will hopefully improve it. We could have done with 3 pilot days to get it spot on.
Self defence;
All the pupils said they really liked the self defense class and looked like they enjoyed themselves. Its difficult to get the balance right between teaching manouvers and teaching conflict resoloution and avoidance but i believe Matt got the mix right.
'Self defence was excellent as was the discussion part of conflict resolution' (West Somerset Community College.
First Aid;
Although some pupils felt this to be the least favourite lesson for various reasons i feel it is an essential aspect and will equip them with some basic knowledge for the future.
'Learnt the effects of violence and what i can do if it occures for example first aid' Pupil
Violence workshop;
Pupils seemed to get a lot out of the lesson and enjoyed the mix of activities and discussion. They all had the opportunity to ask Adam (me) questions about Lloyds story and all of them seemed gripped and interested.
'Taught me more about what my actions can cause' Pupil
'Think about my decisions more' Pupil
Table cloth evaluation;
The evaluation method didnt work quite as well as expected so we will have to adapt this for the next one.
From my perspective I thought the day went well for our first event and it can only get better. All those teaching were wonderful and our volunteers were life savers (i overlooked the need for manpower until the day before so im very grateful to those volunteers who helped out at short notice).
At one point i have to admit i felt a little emotional to see the day coming together and i really hope to see this continue.