Getting to Know Each Other
Posted February 11th, 2009 by Grace Shapiro, Teacher.
After months of planning and preparing for the What Do You See? pilot project, it was such a relief to kickstart the program this week. Since none of the seven teachers leading this team have ever worked together, this first week was as much an orientation for us as it was for the students in the class. Each day brought at least one or more new faces to the class and an overwhelming sense that there may never be enough time to cover everything that all of us want to share. The time flew.
There is something so special about working with high school students. Maybe it’s their total willingness to dive into an exercise which requires them to feign seasickness over the back of one of their fellow students. Perhaps it’s their cheekiness which inspires them to introduce themselves as Jackhammering Jessica and Narcoleptic Nathan. Some might consider it a futile challenge to get a word in edgewise over nearly 30 social teens in the first week of a program that has never been done before. However, one thing is clear; their individual personalities will not be mistaken. Just listen to their post-interview introductions of one another, or take a quick glance at the “I Am” posters hanging on the wall that they each created to represent themselves. Individual identities were increasingly evident today (Friday), as each student navigated their way through a card game in which the rules never stayed the same from one table to another. Who would dictate the rules for each table? Who would question themselves and give into peer dominance? How would they communicate without speaking to resolve the inevitable conflicts that arose? Certainly, life would be a less complicated place if we all spoke the same language and adhered to the same set of rules, but this class is about more than just finding a common ground between people of diverse backgrounds. We’re interested in exploring how and why what you see may not necessarily be what I see. Hmm. . .Stay tuned. . .