FUN for FRIDAY! #1: Exam Treats
Written by Catina Anderson   
Friday, 29 January 2010
Well - a NEW category!  Movement Monday is going so well that I thought it just might be nice to have a new weekly post to look forward to.  So, inspired by Cheryl, I started to think of another important thing coaches need to think about on a weekly basis... and of course the title had to have alliteration...

So it's FUN for FRIDAY!

SO much of our job as coaches is about making this performance experience FUN.  But, too often, the stresses that come along with competition, the fear of letting people down, the time crunches, the fight for rehearsal space, the teenage drama... all of it... can leave us FORGETTING about the FUN... and soon it can become all work.  

Thankfully, we have competition days which usually bring back those wonderful feelings of why all that work is worth it.

But I thought it would be nice to seek out fun ideas to share with our community.  As coaches, we should PLAN fun into our lessons to make even the work seem easier ("A Spoonful of Sugar"...as Mary Poppins would say!) rather than just taking for granted that the fun will come.  We can seek out ways to make sure our students know that we care about THEM more than the score.  We can PLAN FUN to ease the tension that can grow during those tedious weeks of cleaning or rewrites.

So for this week my fun idea is...

EXAM TREATS!

Many of our students are facing midterm exams this week and next.  Why not let them know that you're thinking about them...that you understand they're stressed...and add a little brightness to their day?

Select a healthy treat or two (maybe an apple and a mini bottle of water, or a banana and a tootsie roll) and put it in a sandwich baggie.  Tie on a ribbon, attach a paper card that says, "Good Luck on your Exams!" (or maybe something more creative and cute than good luck on your exams...lol).  And deliver them to each performer's homeroom teacher or exam teacher for delivery (check with administration first to make sure this is okay...).

It's not too pricey (unless you're one of those amazingly blessed instructors who has 50+ students...and if so...PLEASE tell us how you got so many students!  SHARE YOUR SECRETS!!!) and it's sure to bring a smile to their faces on a stressful day which is always worth the effort!

If your students have already passed through the midterm phase this year just tuck this one away for final exam week!

And now - to reach out to all of you!  I KNOW that there are hundreds of amazing coaches out there and that YOU have great ideas to share about how to make things fun for our students.  By sharing them here you can help brighten the day of hundreds of students in addition to your own AND help make another coach a hero in a student's life too!  This column isn't just for me and my ideas.  YOU can help!  If you have a great idea to share on a future FUN for FRIDAY write it up (doesn't have to be perfect!) and send it to us (or email me about your idea and I'll be happy to write it up... I know you're crazy busy with all those rehearsals!).  Your FUN IDEA just might show up on our frontpage and brighten the lives of students everywhere!  :-) 

PS: Can you tell I'm super excited about this new blog category?  Because, seriously... isn't this what it's all about?  We're creating memories here!  Let's make them full of FUN!

Catina is the founder/editor of the CGE blog and has been participating in the color guard activity for more than 20 years, first as a performer and since the fall of 1994 as a coach and choreographer for high school color guards in Maryland and Northern Virginia.  She taught high school biology and chemistry prior to leaving full-time teaching to start a family and is now working on starting a photography career.  She holds a Masters Degree in Education and serves as the education specialist for the Atlantic Indoor Association.  She writes a color guard technique column for Halftime Magazine and has written several feature articles for Halftime as well.  She is passionate about the mission of promoting positive coaching techniques and providing educational support for instructors as well as contribute to the growth of the overall colorguard activity.  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it


Last Updated ( Friday, 29 January 2010 )