I was in at the pool today doing some subbing hours and my first few classes were good, but then I had this one class with two little boys at a beginning level.
The smallest one said that he could go into the big pool and his mom agreed to that, so I took them to the big pool.
One of the lifeguards must know these guys because he signalled me to watch the smaller one.
After doing 25 meters in the big pool, he told me that he was starting to get tired.
Knowing that this couldn't end well, we all started another lank to head back towards the small pool and we'd swim there.
This kid started to get really upset, started to tell he that he wasn't tired, almost started to cry and I told him that we could go back in later.
He couldn't touch at the bottom of the little pool and he was constantly putting his head under for as long as he could, so I'd say that it was a good five minute battle before I got him to sit on the wall and wait while I did a drill with the other little boy.
Well, I didn't get him to sit on the side of the pool.
The same lifeguard who warned me about this little guy came by and said to him "She's a really fun teacher, but you have to listen to her, she knows what she's doing," and he finally sat on the wall two minutes after that.
I was really thankful that he came over and said those words to him because it really did help to get him to listen to me and he helped me get things under control faster than I would've on my own.
By the time that the class ended, I struggled so much with this kid that we didn't have time to go to the big pool, and I told him that, and he just stop and dropped.
He started to cry and he just sunk to the bottom of the pool.
Being frustrated with him and knowing that I had to get to my next class, I just picked him up by the armpits and got him out of the pool.
His mom saw me struggle the whole time with him and saw me have to physically drag him out of the water, and she started with "Are you not listening to your teacher? You're in big trouble," but I just handed his mom his report card and walked away.
My next class was a lot more cheerful because it was a class where the parents are in the water with toddlers and babies.
It's quite a cute class, but I never taught it before. I ran out of activities to do and songs to sing about halfway through the class, so I asked one of my supervisors to help me out and he agreed.
I was so happy when he came in with a new song, a few games and some toys.
You can't really teach them anything because they're too young, it's mainly about them being in the water and playing games and that wasn't something I was used to, so I was really thankful when my supervisor for in the water with me.
Being already worked up from my previous class, being able to go up and ask my supervisor for help was great.
Like I mentioned, I was running out of ideas and I started to get myself worked up again over that, so having my supervisor willing to get in the water with me almost gave me a flood of relief.
In a workplace such as the pool, it's really fun but it can get tense and stressful at times, and I felt as though today was a tense and stressful day.
Getting the chance to work with a team that will look it for you and help you in anyway they can, wether it's get in the water and teach a class with you, be a second authority figure when a kid is acting up or to help you even get them in the water.
I'm really lucky to be working with that staff that I'm currently apart of, and if you're working and feel to stressed or tense, don't be afraid to ask someone else for help.
Even your supervisors will be will into help you whatever the job it.
People say that when you start working, it's almost a little team. I didn't understand that until now and I don't think that I could describe the aquatic staff at the facility I work at as anything but a team.
I find that they really support you when you need it and that's something you can use to help you when you're struggling.
One More Girl, no longer online
Showing posts with label job. Show all posts
Showing posts with label job. Show all posts
Sunday, 23 August 2015
Wednesday, 19 August 2015
Extra Work Pays Off
As many of you already know, I'm a swim teacher.
To become a swim instructor, you have to go through two courses: AWSI (Assistant Water Safety Instructor) and WSI (Water Safety Instructor).
With the courses, you have to do practice teaching just like any other job.
They make you practice teach to become more comfortable in the environment, teach something to a class that isn't made out of other teenagers in the same course as you, learn how to deal with different types of kids/teens/adults and become familiar with how facilities run.
During the AWSI course, you have to practice teach for a total of 8 hours, but for WSI you have to practice teach for a total of 12 hours.
I got my AWSI hours done pretty quickly, but I never actually finished my WSI practice teaching hours.
Out of the 12 hours, I had 5 done, so I still had 7 hours left to do.
While doing my AWSI hours, I already knew a lot of staff members and they all told me that they never really finished their hours either. After already doing 8 hours, it seems a little funny to have to do another 12 hours of the same thing.
I understand if people doing all of the hours if they're uncomfortable being on their own or if they're having trouble understanding how to manage a class, but I felt comfortable with it.
I was intending on doing all of my hours, but when I heard that my course instructor (also one of the figures in charge of hiring for the facility I work at now) was leaving, I quickly dropped off a resume so that he would be the one interviewing me.
In the end, it payed off because I was hired right out of the interview!
Shortly after, I got a text from my friend asking if I could sub for him, so my practice hours were quickly forgotten about.
Since then, I think that I've had about 15 hours of teaching on my own.
However, yesterday I received something in the mail that was telling me that the AWSI program was changing, and I wasnt sure how I'd be affected by it.
I don't have my WSI certificate or badge even though I completed the course because I never handed my practice hours in.
I had to go in today to look for lesson plans from someone whom I'm subbing for on Sunday, but I figured that I could've also get my hours signed off.
When I arrived, all the lifeguards working were out on the pool deck and I didn't want to bother any of them, so I went to the Aquatics office.
I'm pretty sure that my boss would've signed off my remaining hours because I've taught alongside with her, but the only person in the office at the time was the whole pool supervisor, so basically the boss of my boss (or as I call him: The ultimate boss).
He's a nice guy, so I don't feel all that intimidated by him, but I always have in mind that he's the ultimate boss.
I told him that I had a few hours left of practice teaching, but shortly after I got hired, I had a sub offer so I took it and I forgot about them, and seeing as the program's changing, I wanted to see if I could get my hours signed off.
Out of 4 sheets, 3 of them were already signed, so I only needed him to sign one sheet.
He told me that he shouldn't be signing them because I didn't actually do it, and that my course instructor and one the two supervisors who hired me shouldn't have hired me if I didn't have my hours completed but I think that that's when he remembered what I did.
When my friend was out sick and no one knew if he wrote his report cards for his classes or not, I stayed behind at the pool for two or so hours, writing them for him.
It wasn't my responsibility at all, I didn't have to do it, but I did and it was an action that didn't go unforgotten.
Although he never mentioned that, he still signed the papers.
I wouldn't have been fired, but I possibly could've been told not to take any more shifts until I finished the hours.
I offered to finish them, but he told me that there's no point because I've been in the water so much already and I'm already teaching classes.
In the end, the papers were signed, but I'm going to be careful for the next week or two. If he does call me and says that he wants me to finish the hours, then so be it, it's not the end of the world.
I am thankful that he did signed the paper for me, but he did it fairly. He knows how I teach and he knows that I don't feel uncomfortable in the water and that I'll do whatever I can to help the kids learn and move up, so it wasn't as though he didn't give it a second thought.
Either way, extra work payed off for me big time today.
I'm not implying with this post that you should skip out on work, this post was to show that doing something extra can not only help you gain experience (for me it was writing report cards), but it can also add a good word or two to your name.
One More Girl, no longer online
To become a swim instructor, you have to go through two courses: AWSI (Assistant Water Safety Instructor) and WSI (Water Safety Instructor).
With the courses, you have to do practice teaching just like any other job.
They make you practice teach to become more comfortable in the environment, teach something to a class that isn't made out of other teenagers in the same course as you, learn how to deal with different types of kids/teens/adults and become familiar with how facilities run.
During the AWSI course, you have to practice teach for a total of 8 hours, but for WSI you have to practice teach for a total of 12 hours.
I got my AWSI hours done pretty quickly, but I never actually finished my WSI practice teaching hours.
Out of the 12 hours, I had 5 done, so I still had 7 hours left to do.
While doing my AWSI hours, I already knew a lot of staff members and they all told me that they never really finished their hours either. After already doing 8 hours, it seems a little funny to have to do another 12 hours of the same thing.
I understand if people doing all of the hours if they're uncomfortable being on their own or if they're having trouble understanding how to manage a class, but I felt comfortable with it.
I was intending on doing all of my hours, but when I heard that my course instructor (also one of the figures in charge of hiring for the facility I work at now) was leaving, I quickly dropped off a resume so that he would be the one interviewing me.
In the end, it payed off because I was hired right out of the interview!
Shortly after, I got a text from my friend asking if I could sub for him, so my practice hours were quickly forgotten about.
Since then, I think that I've had about 15 hours of teaching on my own.
However, yesterday I received something in the mail that was telling me that the AWSI program was changing, and I wasnt sure how I'd be affected by it.
I don't have my WSI certificate or badge even though I completed the course because I never handed my practice hours in.
I had to go in today to look for lesson plans from someone whom I'm subbing for on Sunday, but I figured that I could've also get my hours signed off.
When I arrived, all the lifeguards working were out on the pool deck and I didn't want to bother any of them, so I went to the Aquatics office.
I'm pretty sure that my boss would've signed off my remaining hours because I've taught alongside with her, but the only person in the office at the time was the whole pool supervisor, so basically the boss of my boss (or as I call him: The ultimate boss).
He's a nice guy, so I don't feel all that intimidated by him, but I always have in mind that he's the ultimate boss.
I told him that I had a few hours left of practice teaching, but shortly after I got hired, I had a sub offer so I took it and I forgot about them, and seeing as the program's changing, I wanted to see if I could get my hours signed off.
Out of 4 sheets, 3 of them were already signed, so I only needed him to sign one sheet.
He told me that he shouldn't be signing them because I didn't actually do it, and that my course instructor and one the two supervisors who hired me shouldn't have hired me if I didn't have my hours completed but I think that that's when he remembered what I did.
When my friend was out sick and no one knew if he wrote his report cards for his classes or not, I stayed behind at the pool for two or so hours, writing them for him.
It wasn't my responsibility at all, I didn't have to do it, but I did and it was an action that didn't go unforgotten.
Although he never mentioned that, he still signed the papers.
I wouldn't have been fired, but I possibly could've been told not to take any more shifts until I finished the hours.
I offered to finish them, but he told me that there's no point because I've been in the water so much already and I'm already teaching classes.
In the end, the papers were signed, but I'm going to be careful for the next week or two. If he does call me and says that he wants me to finish the hours, then so be it, it's not the end of the world.
I am thankful that he did signed the paper for me, but he did it fairly. He knows how I teach and he knows that I don't feel uncomfortable in the water and that I'll do whatever I can to help the kids learn and move up, so it wasn't as though he didn't give it a second thought.
Either way, extra work payed off for me big time today.
I'm not implying with this post that you should skip out on work, this post was to show that doing something extra can not only help you gain experience (for me it was writing report cards), but it can also add a good word or two to your name.
One More Girl, no longer online
Sunday, 26 July 2015
My First Ever Work Shift
Oh my goodness.
Today, I had my first ever proper job shift.
As some of you know, I'm a certified swim teacher and as I was lounging around my house this afternoon, I had a family friend text me to say that he was sick and he needed a sub tonight to cover his classes and he asked me if I could.
I figured that this would be a good way to ease myself into teaching on my own rather than to have my own classes for a first time experience.
I was pretty nervous before I started. Me being me, my mind automatically raced to all the possibilities of things going wrong. Easy enough to say, I psyched myself out.
However, a pool supervisor told me that he would be in the pool with all of the classes today, so if I needed a hand I could call him over to help. That helped me relaxed a bit.
My first class was with an older level, but there was only one girl out of two who showed up.
Honestly, only having one girl to teach boosted my confidence.
I didn't have to jump into a class with six, three years old, kids where half of them didn't listen. I had to teach one girl who was ready to learn, liked to swim and I slowly gained confidence during that first class.
I had a total of five classes in the three hours of my shift, and that's not bad at all.
I was worried that I wouldn't have enough things to do with all the students, but I ended up having plenty to do with almost all of the classes.
When it came to my last lesson, it was a private lesson for a little boy in one, I started to run out of things to do, but he was pretty interested in the bottom of the pool, so for the last two minutes a let him see the bottom of the pool in between two last floats.
I was impressed by most of the kids attention. Of course, it's harder with the younger kids, but all of the older kids were great!
I had a younger group with a little boy and a little girl in the group, but the little boy's aunt and grandmother were also at the pool. Usually that's no problem, but his aunt came over to talk to him during the lesson and that completely derailed and distracted him and he wouldn't listen to me anymore.
I couldn't tell the aunt that I need her to leave in fear of seeming rude, so I said "Hey, hop back in, bud! The lesson isn't over yet!" and the aunt understood that she had to step back for a little while longer and she understood that.
My only other troubled time was when I had six students from the ages of three to five. One of them was not listening to me at all, he didn't want to participate in the class and do what everyone else was doing and the supervisor saw me struggling a little bit, so he came over to help me out with him.
I taught the other five kids while he dealt with that one student.
Overall, I think I had a pretty good first shift.
I was nervous about so many things, but I got over those as more lessons went by and there was other staff around if I needed any help.
Your first shift is always the one you get the most worked up about whether it's with nerves or anxiety, but as soon as you get it over and done with, you realize that it isn't nearly as bad as you thought it could be.
I'm really happy that I took this shift, I feel more comfortable teaching in the water (granted I haven't made any of my own lesson plans) and I feel as though this is a job that I can do well.
One More Girl, no longer online
Today, I had my first ever proper job shift.
As some of you know, I'm a certified swim teacher and as I was lounging around my house this afternoon, I had a family friend text me to say that he was sick and he needed a sub tonight to cover his classes and he asked me if I could.
I figured that this would be a good way to ease myself into teaching on my own rather than to have my own classes for a first time experience.
I was pretty nervous before I started. Me being me, my mind automatically raced to all the possibilities of things going wrong. Easy enough to say, I psyched myself out.
However, a pool supervisor told me that he would be in the pool with all of the classes today, so if I needed a hand I could call him over to help. That helped me relaxed a bit.
My first class was with an older level, but there was only one girl out of two who showed up.
Honestly, only having one girl to teach boosted my confidence.
I didn't have to jump into a class with six, three years old, kids where half of them didn't listen. I had to teach one girl who was ready to learn, liked to swim and I slowly gained confidence during that first class.
I had a total of five classes in the three hours of my shift, and that's not bad at all.
I was worried that I wouldn't have enough things to do with all the students, but I ended up having plenty to do with almost all of the classes.
When it came to my last lesson, it was a private lesson for a little boy in one, I started to run out of things to do, but he was pretty interested in the bottom of the pool, so for the last two minutes a let him see the bottom of the pool in between two last floats.
I was impressed by most of the kids attention. Of course, it's harder with the younger kids, but all of the older kids were great!
I had a younger group with a little boy and a little girl in the group, but the little boy's aunt and grandmother were also at the pool. Usually that's no problem, but his aunt came over to talk to him during the lesson and that completely derailed and distracted him and he wouldn't listen to me anymore.
I couldn't tell the aunt that I need her to leave in fear of seeming rude, so I said "Hey, hop back in, bud! The lesson isn't over yet!" and the aunt understood that she had to step back for a little while longer and she understood that.
My only other troubled time was when I had six students from the ages of three to five. One of them was not listening to me at all, he didn't want to participate in the class and do what everyone else was doing and the supervisor saw me struggling a little bit, so he came over to help me out with him.
I taught the other five kids while he dealt with that one student.
Overall, I think I had a pretty good first shift.
I was nervous about so many things, but I got over those as more lessons went by and there was other staff around if I needed any help.
Your first shift is always the one you get the most worked up about whether it's with nerves or anxiety, but as soon as you get it over and done with, you realize that it isn't nearly as bad as you thought it could be.
I'm really happy that I took this shift, I feel more comfortable teaching in the water (granted I haven't made any of my own lesson plans) and I feel as though this is a job that I can do well.
One More Girl, no longer online
Wednesday, 27 May 2015
My First Job Interview
There's always a first time for everything. First word, first steps, first birthday, first day of school, etc.
Everything has its beginning.
Tomorrow, I have my first job interview and I couldn't be anymore nervous for it.
In all honesty, it's not an interview for a job, it's an interview for a volunteering position, but because I'm bilingual there's a chance that I could be hired part-time after a little while of volunteering, so I'm considering this as if it's an interview for a job.
I'm applying to work at an immigration museum in my town, and I'm really excited about it.
I'm excited because I love history, I find it fascinating how if one little detail in the past happened differently, it could've completely changed the course of the present and the future. When working in an immigration museum, you're helping people learn about their ancestor, and there's nothing better than the look people get when they're able to learn about there family.
However, just because I'm excited for it and it's something that I'm passionate about, that doesn't mean that I'm not nervous for it.
Because it's something I'm excited and passionate about, I want this opportunity so bad and I don't want to mess it up.
I went to go see my school's guidance counsellor today to ask her about what type of questions they could ask, how to prepare myself, what I should know in advance, things like that.
It really did help me understand more about what could possibly happen during the interview and the process of it.
After that, I went to go talk to my social studies teacher because she's been to the museum many times and she told me more about the museum itself. Mainly about where the immigrants came from and what time period.
I feel as though I'm set for now. I know what I should read and study about before the interview, I feel as though I already have answers for a few questions, I'm proud for feeling confident about myself over this.
It hasn't happen yet, so the interview could go either way. I just really hope it goes well.
If anyone else is having their first interview for their first job or even an interview for a new job, don't be afraid to ask questions about the interview to friends and family before you go in. You don't have to prepare yourself for it on your own, you can always get help.
One More Girl, no longer online
Everything has its beginning.
Tomorrow, I have my first job interview and I couldn't be anymore nervous for it.
In all honesty, it's not an interview for a job, it's an interview for a volunteering position, but because I'm bilingual there's a chance that I could be hired part-time after a little while of volunteering, so I'm considering this as if it's an interview for a job.
I'm applying to work at an immigration museum in my town, and I'm really excited about it.
I'm excited because I love history, I find it fascinating how if one little detail in the past happened differently, it could've completely changed the course of the present and the future. When working in an immigration museum, you're helping people learn about their ancestor, and there's nothing better than the look people get when they're able to learn about there family.
However, just because I'm excited for it and it's something that I'm passionate about, that doesn't mean that I'm not nervous for it.
Because it's something I'm excited and passionate about, I want this opportunity so bad and I don't want to mess it up.
I went to go see my school's guidance counsellor today to ask her about what type of questions they could ask, how to prepare myself, what I should know in advance, things like that.
It really did help me understand more about what could possibly happen during the interview and the process of it.
After that, I went to go talk to my social studies teacher because she's been to the museum many times and she told me more about the museum itself. Mainly about where the immigrants came from and what time period.
I feel as though I'm set for now. I know what I should read and study about before the interview, I feel as though I already have answers for a few questions, I'm proud for feeling confident about myself over this.
It hasn't happen yet, so the interview could go either way. I just really hope it goes well.
If anyone else is having their first interview for their first job or even an interview for a new job, don't be afraid to ask questions about the interview to friends and family before you go in. You don't have to prepare yourself for it on your own, you can always get help.
One More Girl, no longer online
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