Jump roping is something most of us have not done since elementary school. Theres a spinoff activity that is a great experiential learning exercise called group jump rope. As I tell the students this is not a game but a learning activity. The goal is to get every person through jumping once including the spinners with one person constantly jumping in the middle and the rope can never stop spinning. Sounds easy right?
It the exact opposite. I started using this game with youth in a psychiatric care and have loved it since. It gets every student involved and usually ticks peoples off really quick. Once achieved a group can go from poor to great!
A couple of weeks ago, I started making students do the group jump rope.
During the first week - it was absolute chaos. People were fighting, yelling, frustated, unmotivated, etc. Most students gave up all together. Then I would step in a process through the experience with them and tell them to do it again.
After doing this activity for past several weeks, we did it this past tuesday again. I tell the students that we are going to do this until we achieve it. I thought after the first week they would not want to do but I was completely wrong. The students repeatedly come back and try it again and again.
I would love to say that they have achieved it but not yet. It has taken weeks to get to this point. Last tuesday I witnessed a group of students cooperating well, no perverse or cruel comments, everyone was engaged with moments of unfocus, no arguments, etc. This group of students had a strategy and kept building on that. They had much improved communication which is primarily listening skills.
They didn't achieve it but they go within 4 people of doing it. The persevered and despite frustation after doing this for weeks on end, they have all seemingly bought in to it. They talk about in school and are starting to relate concepts in the activity to those things in life that hard to deal with.
The sad thing is that I will not be here next tuesday to witness them achieve success. This was the first moment the other day that WOWed me. I wish that I could just get one glimpse of what will happen for these students upon success of finishing the activity. They will be able to transfer so much esteem and confidence to other areas of life.
On a side note:
I return back to the states this monday with the goal of figuring out where I fit in to possibly teaching at a school next year. For those that are confused - I was originally supposed to come to the ME for 5 months to help this organization finish its school programs for the year. It would allow me to determine to stay long term with them or to teach for a couple of years at a school they worked with. It seemed perfect as God has shown favor to this point and directed me to coming here.
After getting here - I experienced some rather difficult environments all of which could have been prevented from happening. My relationship with the organization deterioated quickly due to personal values, professional ethics, and spiritual views coming into conflict with others and organizational structure. Long story short I decided to distance myself and observe at the school for a while before coming back to the states. I would have never imagined this to happen especially when I absolutely love being involved in lives of students through experiential learning. So I lasted three weeks and on my way home. All I can do is ask for prayer as I seek God's direction and will from here.
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