New Class, new material!
Posted by Douglas Hoover on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 Under: Magic Class Experiences
So one of my schools is new school for magic classes. Many schools let out the older and younger students at different times which is good for After School Enrichment classes since you can run two classes. One for the younger students and 45 minutes or so later run a class for the older kids which might go a little longer since another class won't be coming in.
But this school the time between is only 30 minutes. Not really enough time to run two classes back to back. So you either only have one group of kids, older or younger, or do what this school did and run a half hour of HomeWork Club for the younger students and then when the older kids come in start Magic Class with everyone. Maybe not the best solution but a solution and one that pays the instructor, me, for the extra time. Now I get questions like: Do you have a pencil I can use? (Let me look.) What rhymes with orange? (Nothing) Is this a verb? ( I know this one!)
We have already talked about the difficulty running one class with all ages. The material can't be tailored to the ages and large classes will get unruly when you have to take too much time helping younger students. But this class is small and so far is working out okay.
Anyway, on to the new class materials. We did a trick I dubbed "Make A Snake." A trick based on Mystic Patterns where you match cards printed like dominoes with patterns instead of dots. You match the numbers and make a long "snake" and I tried it out with a version from a magic kit. The graphics were weak and the kids didn't really care the pieces matched at the end.
So I re-worked the graphics with animals and when we matched the animals ended up with a snake with an elephant's head and a crocodile's tail. A little bit of funny. Then when I brought out the piece from an envelope and it matched the head and tail they got it! Much bigger to the trick ending and more fun to do! Yea!
Since this is an hour class I also brought out pairs of gardening gloves that were paired mis-matched. Each child picked a pair and put it on. Everyone then found someone with a similar glove to hold hands with, making a chain. Again we saw what the gloves looked like at each end of the chain. I reached in the bag and brought out the last pair which matched the ends!
The other item we did was a puzzle. A four piece puzzle that is actually very tough to figure out but cool when you do get it. To motivate them I offered a prize of Magnetic Scotty Dogs. They worked at it but nobody got the right answer. I would have been surprised if they did. I showed them how to do it then passed out the prizes. I really just wanted them to take the puzzle home and have their parents fail at it, then the kids show them how to do it. =) Aren't I a stinker?
Enough for today!
Doug
But this school the time between is only 30 minutes. Not really enough time to run two classes back to back. So you either only have one group of kids, older or younger, or do what this school did and run a half hour of HomeWork Club for the younger students and then when the older kids come in start Magic Class with everyone. Maybe not the best solution but a solution and one that pays the instructor, me, for the extra time. Now I get questions like: Do you have a pencil I can use? (Let me look.) What rhymes with orange? (Nothing) Is this a verb? ( I know this one!)
We have already talked about the difficulty running one class with all ages. The material can't be tailored to the ages and large classes will get unruly when you have to take too much time helping younger students. But this class is small and so far is working out okay.
Anyway, on to the new class materials. We did a trick I dubbed "Make A Snake." A trick based on Mystic Patterns where you match cards printed like dominoes with patterns instead of dots. You match the numbers and make a long "snake" and I tried it out with a version from a magic kit. The graphics were weak and the kids didn't really care the pieces matched at the end.
So I re-worked the graphics with animals and when we matched the animals ended up with a snake with an elephant's head and a crocodile's tail. A little bit of funny. Then when I brought out the piece from an envelope and it matched the head and tail they got it! Much bigger to the trick ending and more fun to do! Yea!
Since this is an hour class I also brought out pairs of gardening gloves that were paired mis-matched. Each child picked a pair and put it on. Everyone then found someone with a similar glove to hold hands with, making a chain. Again we saw what the gloves looked like at each end of the chain. I reached in the bag and brought out the last pair which matched the ends!
The other item we did was a puzzle. A four piece puzzle that is actually very tough to figure out but cool when you do get it. To motivate them I offered a prize of Magnetic Scotty Dogs. They worked at it but nobody got the right answer. I would have been surprised if they did. I showed them how to do it then passed out the prizes. I really just wanted them to take the puzzle home and have their parents fail at it, then the kids show them how to do it. =) Aren't I a stinker?
Enough for today!
Doug
Welcome Teachers to the Teaching Magic Blog!
I will use it to document the classes I teach adding any tips or tribulations I encounter. If you have any questions, comments or class experiences you would like to share then e-mail them to me and I will add them here!
