So my more clever readers may have already realized that there was a small group. I'm having a little trouble keeping attendance up which is mildly irritating given that I spoke to all of the parents before hand about the importance of continuity in the program and the limited resources we have to put it on. On the upside, having a small group makes the sharing much more intimate and valuable. Being at the Club, my goal with our 120-140 members daily is to reach as many as I can. Ten is the maximum size I want my group to be, and even that is a little unwieldy at times, so when I have a group of five like I did on Thursday it's kind of like a holiday.
We hit three chapters today, 10-12. In addition to having a small group it was primarily made of of people who don't share a lot, so they got the chance to shine in the absence of their more talkative and outgoing peers. As a result, I got to see a side of them that I don't often see. RJ, who has had many problems at the Club and has not been there for a few weeks was back. She was having problems at the Club again today, so I was a bit unsure of how she would do in Manadoob, but she did really well. For some reason, she had chosen not to talk today and wrote everything down instead, but I just rolled with it and accepted her input that way. The one time she did talk was to make a joke about how if everyone looked the same we wouldn't be able to tell each other apart. Given her lack of voiced input to that point it was actually quite funny and it was a welcome moment to see her lighthearted, a word rarely (if ever) used to describe her.
HJ, who has missed the last few sessions due to difficulties at school and at home, had quite a surprising day. He is one of the quieter and younger members of the group, but his enthusiasm was palpable in his first day back and he often carried the conversation. As he is usually somewhat distracted and difficult to get to focus it was fun to see and be a part of. We also got our Sadiki bands today. For any of you unfamiliar with the aspects of the program, Sadiki bands are given out about halfway through the program and are used to promote belief in self and belief in others. Each band says Sadiki on it, which essentially means "Believe," and there are charms that come with them that say "Believe in Yourself" on one side and "I Believe in You" on the other. Members are supposed to keep one for themselves and give the other two to friends or family or put them on their pet's collar to show their love and belief in those close to them. HJ gave one of his charms to me which was pretty adorable. I put it on (my dog) Sadie's collar.
We also did the section involved with turning negative statements into positive ones, and I quite liked their choices so I'll share them with you:
"I don't have my own bedroom" became, via HJ, "At least I have a bedroom to live in."
"My glass is half empty" became, via MZ, "At least there is something in my glass."
"I am afraid of the dark" became, via RJ, "But I can see the stars and the moon at night" and, via CM, "I can see the pretty lights from buildings at night."
"I don't want a pet because he/she will die some day" became, via CS, "At least I will get to play with her and have fun."
Once again, pretty adorable.
Also, the continuing emergence of CM as a vocal presence in the class has been very gratifying to watch. Throughout the Club, CM has difficulty expressing herself and opening up to other children. She is often standing alone, watching everything happen instead of engaging. Daily, myself and other staff encourage her to play, to have fun, to make friends, and daily we are rebuffed, politely, but rebuffed nonetheless. I would be taking credit from the overall effort of our staff if I said this change is purely a result of myself and Manadoob, as everyone takes a hand in what we do here, but Manadoob has definitely had an effect and I feel the change most strongly when we are in Manadoob. She is slowly coming out of her shell (also she loved Horace Po so a great pun opportunity) and while that is visible in the rest of her Club life, it is most striking in Manadoob where she went from never sharing to sharing more than half of the time she is asked. It really is heartwarming to witness, and she and I seem to be bonding so that will have ramifications far outside of Manadoob.
This is already getting long so I'll share a few more things and then send this off into the ether. One, we talked about anticipation, and, without my prompting, they realized that anticipation can also mean things they are worried about, which was a big leap and speaks to how Manadoob has already influenced them to think their way around things and see both sides.
Two, I am in a very emotional place right now, and it showed in this class. I'm sure you have already noticed by the length and tone of this entry that my head is in a different place. The last few classes I have been sick and a little bit run down, so it was more difficult to teach them and write about them afterwards. This time, I was excited for the class more than usual because my own mind is racing with the ramifications of an old friend entering my life and deepening our friendship somewhat out of the blue. Most of my friends bailed when it turned out surviving Cancer was actually difficult and often ugly rather than heroic and romantic; who knew? So I have largely avoided getting close to people for awhile because my life has been so unstable that I've needed to focus most of my energy on not going crazy. Now, more stable and less leery of emotional depth, I find myself beginning to heal in another way, and I was very excited to see how that energy translated to Manadoob (and to the Club in general). It isn't a positive or negative feeling so much as just an intense one, and it ended up fueling things in Manadoob that coincided perfectly with my smaller class. Obviously, it has inspired me to write a longer than normal journal entry.
So I hope it wasn't weird for me to share personal things. This blog is about Manadoob and I don't want to use it as a platform to talk about my own experiences, but they are, in some ways, relevant to what is going on and provide a deeper understanding of who I am and what I am trying to accomplish. Thank you all for reading! Be Well.
Ryan
Friday, March 23, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
No Manadoob This Week
Hey all. No Manadoob this week as we had a full day at the Boys & Girls Club due to parent/teacher conferences at the elementary schools. More next week.
Cheers
Cheers
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Session 7: I don't have a clever name today.
I was back up to a full class today and my helper, DK, who I have not had for a couple of weeks. As a result, it was significantly more impactful. I must say that having only four youth was kind of nice, in its own way, as the four of us got to connect on a more personal level, but having the full class there is important because it allows us to benefit from a variety of perspectives and opinions.
However, there is one lasting positive of my small class, in that CM, who had not shared once before that class (even though I saw her working her courage up several times) is apparently now going to share often. She shared just the once last week and went from her first and only moment of sharing to sharing four different times today including taking a turn reading the story. She apparently broke through that barrier and now it is a thing of the past, very exciting.
Other than that it was a pretty nondescript class. I'm still struggling to ditch the last of this flu so I'm a bit distracted and low energy which seems to rub off on them. Still, in some ways that is good, it gives them a break from the intensity that sometimes comes along with Manadoob. We did have a good talk about bullies, and several of the members came up with good reasons people might be bullies. Chief among these ideas was the idea that maybe they are themselves being bullied, so I asked them, who would be bullying the bullies if it isn't the other people at school. The answers they came up with were older bullies, an older sibling, or maybe a parent. I was really hoping they would mention parents because we have a youth at our Club who is bullied by a parent and, as a result, is quite a bully himself. Hopefully I can play that realization into something more as we delve deeper into the bullying issue.
CJ continues to be amazing and really blows my mind on a weekly basis. She was the one today who came up with the idea that parents might be bullies, which, to someone who does not have a physically abusive parent, is kind of a stretch. It's funny how I've gone into the class each year with preconceived ideas that come from the fact that I have a preexisting relationship with the children in my class, and, both years, I have been surprised at who has really separated themselves from the class with their combination of intelligence and perception. CJ is the person this year, like DK last year, who has consistently floored me and made me redefine what I thought of them. It is quite an enjoyable feeling.
Sorry if this is a bit choppy and doesn't flow well. I'm in the main office at work and have talked to three different parents in the middle of writing it. Thanks again for reading!
Be Well.
However, there is one lasting positive of my small class, in that CM, who had not shared once before that class (even though I saw her working her courage up several times) is apparently now going to share often. She shared just the once last week and went from her first and only moment of sharing to sharing four different times today including taking a turn reading the story. She apparently broke through that barrier and now it is a thing of the past, very exciting.
Other than that it was a pretty nondescript class. I'm still struggling to ditch the last of this flu so I'm a bit distracted and low energy which seems to rub off on them. Still, in some ways that is good, it gives them a break from the intensity that sometimes comes along with Manadoob. We did have a good talk about bullies, and several of the members came up with good reasons people might be bullies. Chief among these ideas was the idea that maybe they are themselves being bullied, so I asked them, who would be bullying the bullies if it isn't the other people at school. The answers they came up with were older bullies, an older sibling, or maybe a parent. I was really hoping they would mention parents because we have a youth at our Club who is bullied by a parent and, as a result, is quite a bully himself. Hopefully I can play that realization into something more as we delve deeper into the bullying issue.
CJ continues to be amazing and really blows my mind on a weekly basis. She was the one today who came up with the idea that parents might be bullies, which, to someone who does not have a physically abusive parent, is kind of a stretch. It's funny how I've gone into the class each year with preconceived ideas that come from the fact that I have a preexisting relationship with the children in my class, and, both years, I have been surprised at who has really separated themselves from the class with their combination of intelligence and perception. CJ is the person this year, like DK last year, who has consistently floored me and made me redefine what I thought of them. It is quite an enjoyable feeling.
Sorry if this is a bit choppy and doesn't flow well. I'm in the main office at work and have talked to three different parents in the middle of writing it. Thanks again for reading!
Be Well.
Manadoob Art
Something I have tried this year is to incorporate art projects into my Manadoob program for every class that we have. I am lucky because I have an art room and a fantastic art teacher (I'm a strong writer, but drawing, not so much). Each project was designed between myself and Lindsay, one of our resident artists, with the express purpose of highlighting and reinforcing lessons covered that week. Manadoob does such a phenomenal job of stimulating multiple senses while teaching that I thought a more active art component would be great. Not all of my Manadoob students do the art projects, but some do and a number of kids that aren't in Manadoob do them as well. Lindsay fosters discussions and conversation about the topics as they do the art projects. Overall, it has been very successful and a valued addition to the curriculum. So, with special thanks to Lindsay, here is our list of collaborative projects thus far. This list ends at Chapter 18 because that is how far we got in planning. That isn't until late April so I'll pass along the rest of the projects when I have them.
Chapter 1 - Lindsay had youth do collages of the different ways people dress, eat, and live.
Chapter 2 & 3 - Each youth did their personal family tree, made up of all family members not just blood relatives.
Chapter 4 - Harry Potter fans will recognize this immediately. We had the children draw pictures of their individual fears but then add something to the pictures that made them look ridiculous and not scary (a real example: giant spider with a crazy afro!).
Chapter 5 - We missed this one because of some unforeseen events but the idea was making animal sculptures with random different parts, much like the make your own Manadoob project.
Chapter 6 & 7 - Members made an image celebrating the life of someone they loved but who is out of their life now (passed away, moved away, etc.). All members also contributed to a group portrait to illustrate and celebrate diversity.
Chapter 8 & 9 - Everything from this point forward is a future project. Members will make a comic strip dealing with coping with loss and how to overcome loss and move forward and be in the present.
Chapter 10 & 11 - All Lindsay wrote is Mobile! I can tell she is excited but I'm not quite sure how the theme will play in...
Chapter 12 - We are going to make a giant hand, with each finger containing aspects of what make our members special. The final piece will be displayed in our Club.
Chapter 13 & 14 - Members will draw an object, erasing repeatedly to show that mistakes are okay, and producing a final project that has clearly gone through many iterations.
Chapter 15 & 16 - Members will illustrate a situation when they felt bullied. Color will be heavily emphasized to show how different colors correlate to feelings. They will then, again emphasizing color, draw a picture of themselves when they were a bully.
Chapter 17 & 18 - This is the Manadoob windsock project, except they will be making their own since not all of the members are in Manadoob. I may be able to scrounge up some leftover windsocks from last year.
Chapter 1 - Lindsay had youth do collages of the different ways people dress, eat, and live.
Chapter 2 & 3 - Each youth did their personal family tree, made up of all family members not just blood relatives.
Chapter 4 - Harry Potter fans will recognize this immediately. We had the children draw pictures of their individual fears but then add something to the pictures that made them look ridiculous and not scary (a real example: giant spider with a crazy afro!).
Chapter 5 - We missed this one because of some unforeseen events but the idea was making animal sculptures with random different parts, much like the make your own Manadoob project.
Chapter 6 & 7 - Members made an image celebrating the life of someone they loved but who is out of their life now (passed away, moved away, etc.). All members also contributed to a group portrait to illustrate and celebrate diversity.
Chapter 8 & 9 - Everything from this point forward is a future project. Members will make a comic strip dealing with coping with loss and how to overcome loss and move forward and be in the present.
Chapter 10 & 11 - All Lindsay wrote is Mobile! I can tell she is excited but I'm not quite sure how the theme will play in...
Chapter 12 - We are going to make a giant hand, with each finger containing aspects of what make our members special. The final piece will be displayed in our Club.
Chapter 13 & 14 - Members will draw an object, erasing repeatedly to show that mistakes are okay, and producing a final project that has clearly gone through many iterations.
Chapter 15 & 16 - Members will illustrate a situation when they felt bullied. Color will be heavily emphasized to show how different colors correlate to feelings. They will then, again emphasizing color, draw a picture of themselves when they were a bully.
Chapter 17 & 18 - This is the Manadoob windsock project, except they will be making their own since not all of the members are in Manadoob. I may be able to scrounge up some leftover windsocks from last year.
New Readers
So wow, a bunch of people are reading this. The internet is so strange! Normally I'm quite averse to social networking via the internet. I avoid Facebook almost religiously and I dread the day that my job requires me to post something on twitter. Still, to avoid being cantankerous and old, I must say that this type of social networking, based on mutual interest and philosophy, is quite impressive.
To further lines of communication/interest I have actually created a profile for myself. I'll try to get a picture up soon but I have to find my external hard drive, still packed away after a recent move. But my profile should give you a little more insight into who I am and what I do with myself, so, if you're interested, take a look.
Thank you all for reading and commenting. I promise I will do my best to respond to all of the comments but, if one slips through the cracks here and there, don't take it personally, unless you were being mean or something.
Cheers all, thanks again. It's nice to hear your thoughts. And Manadoob students, teachers, facilitators, and anyone with an opinion, please pass along any advice or insights that you think could help me. I'd love the input.
Ryan
To further lines of communication/interest I have actually created a profile for myself. I'll try to get a picture up soon but I have to find my external hard drive, still packed away after a recent move. But my profile should give you a little more insight into who I am and what I do with myself, so, if you're interested, take a look.
Thank you all for reading and commenting. I promise I will do my best to respond to all of the comments but, if one slips through the cracks here and there, don't take it personally, unless you were being mean or something.
Cheers all, thanks again. It's nice to hear your thoughts. And Manadoob students, teachers, facilitators, and anyone with an opinion, please pass along any advice or insights that you think could help me. I'd love the input.
Ryan
Monday, March 5, 2012
Session 6: Anomalies
I'm late on this one. Sorry loyal readers! I wonder how many of you there are out there in the vast space of the internet. At least a couple I hope. Anyway, I've been ill and overworked for the past few weeks, so my apologies for the lateness of this post.
It was an interesting class. Most of my class missed this week, for a variety of reasons. The smallest class I've had through the first five was eight children; last Thursday's class was four. CS, CJ, CM, and MZ. I wouldn't like to have a class this small most days, as it really limits the perspectives that come into our conversations, but it was fun to have such an intimate setting and it provided some interesting moments.
This class will likely stand out as unlike any other, and, by far, the best moment of the day came when CM spoke for the first time. Those of you who have been following will remember me mentioning her reluctance to speak, and when she raised her hand to share for the first time I got so excited! I actually got so excited that I definitely forgot what she shared because I was so caught up in the moment. In some ways I'm okay with that. Normally I share those moments on the blog, fire them out into the ether and have no idea where they end up. For this one, I get to keep it all in my head and all for myself. Sorry...but not really.
I also had some pretty amazing moments that I do remember and will share. We did the activity in Chapter 6 that asks the children to make a list, out of six options, of three things they can control and three things they cannot control (the options are: Rain, Death, Fear, Happiness, a Rainbow, a Smile). CJ, who has proven to be one of the most consistently insightful and outgoing of the group, answered that the things she could control were Fear, Happiness, and a Rainbow. As I was about to ask how she could control a rainbow, CJ answered that she likes to imagine that she can control rainbows with her mind, making them come out after ever rainstorm so that she can see their beauty. I couldn't find any fault with that argument so I thanked her for being so creative and optimistic and went on with my class.
Chapter 7 raises the idea of beauty and what it means to be beautiful while also revealing the first Manadoob, Loki Bella, to the children. They struggled a little to embrace Loki Bella and her "strange" look, but all of them said that she was interesting and a few said she was beautiful; no one said she was ugly so I suppose they are ahead of the curve. However, the amazing moment came when I asked them to define beauty. I pointed out that everyone sees beauty differently and has a different idea of what it might be, and they responded with insight that wasn't unexpected but was still refreshing to hear. The group came up with their individual answers and then I challenged them to come up with a group answer. Led again by CJ, the group decided that whatever beauty is, it is definitely something that has more to do with who you are and the actions you take than what you look like. They needed zero prompting from me to come to this conclusion and it was a lot of fun to hear them discuss what beauty meant to them and then bring it all into a general group definition.
Well off to other things. I'm on a bit of a deadline so I haven't edited this yet. Forgive any small oversights!
It was an interesting class. Most of my class missed this week, for a variety of reasons. The smallest class I've had through the first five was eight children; last Thursday's class was four. CS, CJ, CM, and MZ. I wouldn't like to have a class this small most days, as it really limits the perspectives that come into our conversations, but it was fun to have such an intimate setting and it provided some interesting moments.
This class will likely stand out as unlike any other, and, by far, the best moment of the day came when CM spoke for the first time. Those of you who have been following will remember me mentioning her reluctance to speak, and when she raised her hand to share for the first time I got so excited! I actually got so excited that I definitely forgot what she shared because I was so caught up in the moment. In some ways I'm okay with that. Normally I share those moments on the blog, fire them out into the ether and have no idea where they end up. For this one, I get to keep it all in my head and all for myself. Sorry...but not really.
I also had some pretty amazing moments that I do remember and will share. We did the activity in Chapter 6 that asks the children to make a list, out of six options, of three things they can control and three things they cannot control (the options are: Rain, Death, Fear, Happiness, a Rainbow, a Smile). CJ, who has proven to be one of the most consistently insightful and outgoing of the group, answered that the things she could control were Fear, Happiness, and a Rainbow. As I was about to ask how she could control a rainbow, CJ answered that she likes to imagine that she can control rainbows with her mind, making them come out after ever rainstorm so that she can see their beauty. I couldn't find any fault with that argument so I thanked her for being so creative and optimistic and went on with my class.
Chapter 7 raises the idea of beauty and what it means to be beautiful while also revealing the first Manadoob, Loki Bella, to the children. They struggled a little to embrace Loki Bella and her "strange" look, but all of them said that she was interesting and a few said she was beautiful; no one said she was ugly so I suppose they are ahead of the curve. However, the amazing moment came when I asked them to define beauty. I pointed out that everyone sees beauty differently and has a different idea of what it might be, and they responded with insight that wasn't unexpected but was still refreshing to hear. The group came up with their individual answers and then I challenged them to come up with a group answer. Led again by CJ, the group decided that whatever beauty is, it is definitely something that has more to do with who you are and the actions you take than what you look like. They needed zero prompting from me to come to this conclusion and it was a lot of fun to hear them discuss what beauty meant to them and then bring it all into a general group definition.
Well off to other things. I'm on a bit of a deadline so I haven't edited this yet. Forgive any small oversights!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)