Assignment Sing a Song

This week in class each student completed the assignment to learn a song and sing/teach it to the rest of us.  For professional development, I think the thing that I will take away from this assignment the most is remembering just how nervous everyone was!  It felt comforting though, knowing that we were all in it together!  I think this is an important environment to create in Therapeutic Recreation settings.  About myself, I learned that even though I have gained experience singing in front of people for four years now at my church, changing things like the setting or the people can still bring back nerves.  In striving for excellence, however, I will continue to remind myself what else I have learned over the years:  practice makes perfect.  No matter what happens, you can always take the situation and learn from it.                

Music Therapy

Last week in class we had a music therapy session in the form of a drum circle!  We had a guest speaker who brought in djembe drums for the class to use, and we learned how to keep in beat with the entire class by listening to the person next to us.  This is a very powerful metaphor for use as a TR professional.  Knowing to value the support of and the communication with others is an important skill for professional and client alike.  What was very interesting to me was the fact that our guest speaker said that most of the best drummers are people who are not musicians.  I was surprised at how quickly I got disappointed because I play the piano!  I was reminded that no matter what the odds are, I can still strive for excellence to be the best me possible!  That's what I did, and I really enjoyed the challenge of keeping the rhythm.                   

First week of school! =)

Last week was the first day of class for Innovative Activities in Therapeutic Recreation!  One of the activities we did to loosen everyone up was that everyone had to draw a piece of paper out of a hat and silently act out what the word said on the piece of paper.  There would be others acting out the same words (which ended up being either a "witch," "werewolf," "vampire," or "sea creature"), and you needed to find those acting out the same word as you.  I learned that despite several semesters of TR classes with the same students, I still am afraid of looking silly!  After looking around for a little bit, I reluctantly started "flying on a broomstick."  As I get closer to becoming a professional, I will need to keep this strong human tendency in mind and be very patient and encouraging to those in the programs that I lead!  I will keep striving for excellence by continuing to push myself, as I did that evening, to go beyond my comfort zone and experience new and fun things no matter how silly it feels!