Paideia

At first, I was somewhat hesitant about being able to maintain order and keep our agenda going forward. I should have been because it was fairly chaotic. As it turns out however, I didn’t care then and I still don’t. The kids and us both enjoyed hanging out and having fun and also benefited more substantially. Also, more personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the nostalgia that came with playing games like four-square with these kids again. I was fairly disturbed to find all new rules waiting for me though…
The destruction of our plan started almost immediately, when we arrived and they were completely unaware of our meeting for the day. Daniel just rounded up some kids and we went outside and got them into a circle. The first thing we did was a name game, where they would catch a ball, say their name, and throw it to someone else. They were supposed to remember who they threw it to so that we could repeat it and time it. Needless to say, they forgot to whom they had thrown the ball and it disintegrated quickly. We then played mafia which was a disaster. We barely made it through one round since they were all cheating. The funny part was that I could still convince them that they were wrong and all with very little effort. We then played chain tag which was more effective, but eventually died like everything else. We ended up splitting into groups and playing basketball, foursquare, and jackpot.
I realized that improvisation on our part is key. Furthermore, these kids have virtually no attention spans. Is it that hard to imagine that a structured program is the last thing these kids want to listen to. It’s much easier and more effective to connect with them doing something they like to do. Kids don’t give a crap about “conflict resolution” when they are there to have fun. I think the kids both enjoyed and benefited from our presence, if only to make a friend.
I think the sports will be effective during our next meeting. There are a lot of choices, but we may not be able to maintain it even so. I think we will have to be more flexible than last time and understanding that kids will be drifting in and out and going home and moving around. That doesn’t mean that they’re not learning. They are and it’s how kids best learn. It doesn’t take some bullshit program to reach kids. Playing games and correcting them when they’re not sharing and making sure everyone throws to everyone else…. This is how kids best learn.