This past wk was a whirlwind. Our Schools Director, & I went back up to a HS in Fredonia, NY, to work w students, after we’d worked w their teachers previously.
Pic of younger kiddos here but I’ll explain.
We had from 8am – 2:30…the entire day, to do programming w ALL of the HS students. We went straight thru – no break. Some 5 min stretches – but 6ish hrs straight. Fredonia wanted to really get the most out of the day (to their credit). We came back the next day again, 8:00 – 10:50.
Lots of laying culture foundation – & to get them to open up, we used a tool that enabled them to vote on their phones & see the results to questions, on a bar chart on the screen.
After some personal story telling & vulnerability in the 1st session, we used that tool & asked the students- from a list of 20 challenges, 1) what do you believe are the 5 biggest ones your fellow students face…2) what’s the biggest one you face in your life (all anonymous at first).
In BOTH lists: “feeling left out & not part of a group” came up as a top 3 choice. Regarding their own challenges, it was the TOP choice.
Later in the day, we had individuals presenting (abt 10) – those comfortable sharing their challenges. All the kids got applause, but one in particular got the loudest applause from what seemed like 80% of the kids. When they were done, we had the presenters go back to their seats & I asked the one boy w the loudest applause to remain up.
I told the students it’s awesome they cheered loud for him – seemed like most everyone in the school. I didn’t want to discourage that. But in a school this large, YOU all just wrote fitting in is your top challenge. How might the other kids up there feel who weren’t applauded as loud? Or those who were in the crowd who didn’t have the same relationship w this boy/didn’t feel part of that large grp cheering? Do we consider who we leave out, even when we try to be encouraging?
Feeling left out was the same answer I got w these K-2 kids. Might it be behind some of recent tragic trends we’ve seen- w a generation w their heads in phones? Sadly, I believe so. We need to encourage inclusivity even if one student at a time.
