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Session Summaries: LUHS After School Group, Fall '06 |
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After School Leadership Program #15
December 20, 2006
LUHS
ILI Staff: Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane, Bob Kovar.
We had a Christmas party today. Alice really did a wonderful job with all of this. She baked cookies, put out an incredible spread of food, made a xmas tree out of paper which she hung up and decorated. She also decorated the whole office, stockings were hung up on the wall for every student…it really felt like xmas.
We began with “Attitude of Gratitude,” which the students were eager to start. While we were enjoying a variety of festive snacks, the students watched a class video from middle school. It was fun to see them when they were younger, and it brought back memories for the students. Then we moved into the White Elephant gift exchange. We had brought random items from home that we no longer needed and wrapped them up to be placed beneath our paper Christmas tree. Each student picked out a number from the basket. The student with #1 could pick any of the gifts under the tree, and then open it up. The student with #2 could pick a gift under the tree, or could choose to steal the present from #1. So the ideal number to have for our group was #15, because that was the last person, which means that you could steal any of the opened gifts or pick the last remaining present. The group did not get into stealing, but allowed people to keep their random presents. We only had one ‘stealer.’ We laughed a lot as each gift was opened because there were some very random presents. It was great to see the students enjoying one another, and sharing in lots of laughter.
Bob Kovar, Project Director
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
ILI Group for Change: Special Meeting LUHS School 3:45-6:00 December 19, 2006
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
After School Leadership Program #14
December 13, 2006
LUHS
ILI Staff: Matt White, Alice McFarlane, Bob Kovar.
This was a very important meeting this afternoon, following a day-long lockdown in the school. The students needed an opportunity to vent, air their concerns, fears, sadness…all of it came out in our session today. We started out as we usually do, casually, eating food (most of us had not been able to eat all day), recounting our experiences of the day. Students had different experiences today for sure. We asked them to describe what happened in the rooms they were in today. They all agreed that at first, the lockdown was not too scary. When further announcements were made like “this is not a drill”, “if the fire drill is sounded do NOT leave the building” , it became apparent that something serious was going on-and the students were scared. In some rooms, teachers were alarmed and that scared the students. In some rooms, the police apparently came racing in, demanding that students put their hands in the air, rifles in hand. In other rooms, the searches went more orderly and seemed less scary to the students. Some of our students were in rooms close enough o the accidental discharge to hear the gunshot-obviously a very scary moment. Some students asked if it was an accident why didn’t they make an announcement saying it was so? Students seemed to know about the graffiti that started all this-they had “heard”, so this does not mean it is true, that the graffiti referred to “killing white people” in LUHS. They had also heard other rumors so we talked for awhile about those rumors, what might or might not be true. All of the students were very upset that there could be racial motives, or at the very least that just this rumor was enough to cause great anxiety amongst the general student body. We talked for awhile about why these things happen and what we can do to help stop this. This was a difficult conversation, very emotional for some students who obviously were upset about today but needed an outlet for their emotions. The support from the group was outstanding. We reminded the students that “ending this stuff” starts right here in our group. Some of the students felt that the events of today could set back any progress we have made. We reminded the students that this is true-that an event can cause great setbacks, but that it can’t take away what we are building right here in our group. Peace and understanding are alive in our group and that once we have this in us, no one can take that away from us. We told the students how proud we were of them for wanting to help our community find peace. We told them they are seeds for change. We asked them to think about steps they could take, if they wanted, to actively make a difference. They talked about talking to school administration, being able to make suggestions for how todays events made students feel and what could be done differently so it might not be so upsetting and scary. They talked about wanting to do a drama skit for presentation to the whole school, depicting today, how it made kids feel, how our group reacted-something the whole school could relate to. Most of the students said they did not feel safe after today and many will stay home tomorrow. We told them that being in the room with them made us feel safer because herre we were in a room with Indian and non-Indian students together, caring for each other, being each others friends, crying, feeling the pain of our community, together. If that makes us feel safer, we’re sure it will make other students and folks in the community feel safer as well. It was very powerful. This is an amazing group of young adults we are working with, they had excellent ideas for change and improvement and their perceptiveness is astounding. They want more students to experience what happens in this group, we could not agree more.
Bob Kovar, Project Director
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
After School Leadership Program
#13
December 6, 2006
LUHS
ILI Staff: Matt White, Craig Kerr,
Alice McFarlane.
We had a larger group today, with some students joining after school
for the first time. We started with an activity that brought much
laughter. The first instruction was to create a hand
signal. To start, the first person made his/her sign, and then
did the sign of someone else in the circle. Signs were made to
continue passing it around the circle. The goal was to keep up the
rhythm without hesitating. Once everyone got the rhythm,
Matt told everyone to come up with a sound effect to go with the
sign. Adding sound effects only increased the
laughter. We had to take several breaks to wait for the laughter
to subside.
We moved into a game of
jeopardy. Each week the students have written down a
question. These questions have ranged from silly to
serious. We created a jeopardy-like game where the ILI staff came
up with answers for the questions, and placed them into
categories. The students split into two teams, and were given a
list of all the questions. They then chose a category, and the
amount (100, 200, 300, 400, 500 or 600). Behind each amount was
an answer. Once the answer was revealed, the first team to figure
out the matching question got the points. For the final
question, each team totaled up their points and chose how much they
wanted to wager. The answer was revealed and each team wrote down
their response. Both teams wrote the correct answer, but one team
had put more points on the line, and they became the winners. We
concluded the game with an awards ceremony.
After the game, we gathered
back into a circle to focus on the serious questions. We opened
it up to the students to bring up any of the questions that they wanted
to talk about more. The rest of the group was able to give
feedback. It was good to be able to talk more about questions
they are thinking about, and to validate them.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
ILI After School Leadership Program #12
LUHS
ILI Staff: Alice McFarlane, Bob Kovar, Craig Kerr
Today we started out with a smaller group. A number of our students could not make it as they usually do due to different issues. We started our attitude of gratitude with seven people, three of which were ILI staff. We then entered into a joyful time of sharing what has been going on in our lives over the last couple of weeks because we were not able to meet last week due to the Thanksgiving Break. This time of sharing is always full of laughter and smiles, but also brings to the open some of the issues that the students, and staff for that matter, are facing in their lives. One of the issues that came up was fighting. One of the students was here because they had recently been in a fight at school. Another student that very day had a verbal confrontation in the hallway with another student. Bob investigated the issue of fighting with the students. Why does it happen? How quickly does a verbal confrontation escalate to physical confrontation? How can that situation be avoided? How can we help people in that situation? A couple of solutions the students talked about was just smiling and walking away from the situation and talking to the person that has an issue with you away from everyone else. The question of whether they would go to an adult for help was brought up. One of the answers was that they thought it would make it too complicated if an adult was brought into the issue. Another thought was that if it was the “right” adult with the “right” situation it would help. As the discussion was winding down we were getting ready for the next activity.
Alice passed around a bag of balloons and we all took three. Then, she handed all of us a piece of paper and a pen. We then tore the paper into 3 sections and wrote an affirming statement on each piece of paper. After writing our affirmations we then put them into the balloon and blew them up. There was a lot of creative ways to do this being tried! After all the balloons were filled up with air the challenge was to have everyone keep all 21 balloon in the air at the same time. As you can imagine, there was quite a bit of laughing and excitement in the room. After the challenge we were asked to get a balloon and sit on it to get the affirmation out of it. Again, laughter was heard with a few screams with each balloon burst. We all then went around the circle and read our affirmations aloud. We did this several times until the balloons were all burst. Then Alice led a discussion on affirmation. How do you like to give affirmations? How do you like to receive affirmations? The students talked about how they like to receive affirmation: randomly, a note, verbally face-to-face. We also talked about how they like to give affirmations. Most of them agreed that they like to give affirmations verbally face-to-face. Some added that they like to also give affirmations randomly. The conversation then turned to how do we feel about accepting affirmations. This led into a whole discussion on how we view ourselves and how that affects our ability to accept affirmations. The conversation was real and genuine.
The students were then to think of someone who they would affirm this week. They can affirm whomever they choose and in whatever form they choose and report back next week on how it went.
Next meeting is Wednesday December 6, 2006
Bob Kovar, Project Director
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
ILI After School Leadership Program #11
November 15, 2006
LUHS
ILI Staff: Alice McFarlane, Bob Kovar, Craig Kerr, Ernie St. Germaine
Guest Facilitator: Lynn Bartling from Northwoods Restorative Justice
We were very pleased to have Lynn Bartling from Northwoods Restorative Justice come to our class this afternoon. The purpose was to have her explain what restorative justice is, how it works in our community. Lynn’s Restorative Justice Program is a framework for juvenile justice reform that seeks to engage victims, offenders, their families and other citizens in an effective response to youth crime. Lynn’s program is currently run through Vilas County but is becoming a non-profit. When a youth crime is committed, Lynn often has the chance to facilitate victim/offender conferencing, where offenders are held responsible for their actions while providing support and assistance to the victims. With the assistance of mediators like Lynn, victims are able to let the offenders know how the crime affected them, they can receive answers to their questions and be directly involved in the development of a restitution plan. Our goal for today was to allow our students to experience this process.
We began our meeting in the usual way with our attitude of gratitude. A few of the students explained to our guest what attitude of gratitude is and why we do it. As we went around the circle on of the students said they were thankful for the people around the table because this afternoon was the first time she had laughed all day.
ILI staff decided that we would have the students come up with a scenario based on a real life situation in which there was a victim and an offender. To come up with the scenario Ernie asked the students if they would like to have a scenario based on some of the questions the students have been asking each week during this class (the students write important “life” questions they want to know the answers to every time they come to class) or should they make up a scenario out of the blue. The students answered unanimously to make up a scenario based on the questions that they had asked-so it directly pertained to them. This made this process real and relevant to the group.
The scenario the students came up with was very real and very intense and because of this it was very emotional as we began, real feelings, real tears. It was very powerful to watch the students support those that needed the support-hands on shoulders, encouraging words, friendship, trust. Ernie facilitated the development of the scenario-which illustrated something bad that could happen if people did not receive the help they needed. The mock scenario the students made up left one of the students in the group severely wounded from a car accident caused by another student in the group who was high on drugs.
Ernie then introduced Lynn. She explained what the restorative justice program was and gave a case study to illustrate the process that the program uses. After Lynn gave her case study, Ernie asked her to lead a victim/offender conference between our mock victim and offender-just like it was a real case. The students were divided into two groups—one group was the victim with their support network and one group was the offender with their support network. We went around the room and asked student to identify who they were: mom’s, best friends, girl friends, sisters-they immediately, and expertly, played these roles on behalf of both the victim and the offender. The students then role-played as Lynn mediated the meeting. This was incredibly powerful-the students opened up and let the adults in the room into a place that many students do not allow adults into. Where else can this take place? The conversations were real. They were now talking about important issues in their lives with the added benefit of caring adults guiding them through the maze of questions. Ernie did a wonderful job of helping them first discover and then understand where they can start first: by declaring that they themselves are not going to participate in those kinds of behaviors. With this idea planted, he helped the students to understand that once so empowered, the students can use their positive influence on the people around them.
Lynn helped guide the group through the development of a retribution plan for the mock scenario, and the students left really understanding how this process can work. Ernie asked them to think about going a step further, to really help both victim and offender (who is almost always also a victim in their own lives) to heal. He asked students to consider how to do this and how they might be able to help the real people behind their mock scenario of today. In the end, you could see on their faces a sense of relief that they were not alone in all this, that there are adults who can help guide, and that they have the ability to help resolve very real, difficult issues and problems that exist in our community. In ILI we are very interested in trying to resolve these issues before they are manifested in violence, fighting, or tragic accidents. Today was a great example of how that can happen if we give students the tools, skills, guidance and support they need to navigate life’s big questions and choices. These students did a remarkable job today-we’re very proud of them!
The next meeting is Wednesday November 29th at 4pm
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
ILI After School Leadership Program #10
November 8, 2006
LUHS
Today as we shared what we were thankful for, many students completed the sentence with Tiffany’s name. She was involved with swimming for the fall, so she was not able to be with us on Wednesday afternoons. During the opening, the students were handed some shape puzzles, where they needed to make five arrowheads. All the students easily made 4 with the pieces they had, but the challenge was to create the fourth. One student asked if all the pieces were there to make the fifth, a crucial question. They figured out real soon, that the last arrowhead is created by outlining the shape with the other four arrowheads.
This afternoon was spent explaining how grading will work for this class. Each of the students, who are taking this class for credit, had the opportunity to tabulate their own grade. We explained how the evaluation process will look for this class, and clarified some expectations for second quarter.
The students requested another round of “Ha, Ha, Herman”, after playing it last week. We had a few more students this week, which required more giggle control to get through the whole group. This group loves to laugh, so once again, it took us awhile to get complete all the ‘ha, ha’s’. But we had a lot of fun doing it.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
After School Leadership Program #9
3:30-5:30pm November 1, 2006
LUHS
Today we were joined by Linus Hedh from Sweden. He had heard about ILI and came to check it out. After we started with Attitude of Gratitude, each of the girls shared what it meant to them. Several of them said that it is a chance to remember something good about the day, whether it has been a good day or not. Another student shared that it is a chance to share with the rest of the group what you are thinking about, and to recognize things you have in common with people that you don’t spend time with everyday. They also explained to Linus what ILI is all about. Craig asked Linus to share about racial tensions in Sweden. He shared about Sweden’s open borders, which allows people from many countries to come over, and how some people get upset about it. The student’s response was that ILI should be all over the world.
We continued with “I will..presentations.” We were not able to have everyone present last week, so we started where we left off. The students had to finish two “I will…” statements. One was about something they would do to make another person happy and one about something they would do to make themselves happy. We had a good amount of time for each student to share, and for the rest of us to listen and ask questions. This group enjoys talking, so it is never a challenge to keep the conversations going.
Next we talked about receiving credit for the After School Leadership Program. We talked about reasons to take it for credit, and what it would look like to not take it for credit. We gave them the opportunity to choose as an individual if they want to continue taking it for credit. Several students will continue taking it for credit, because they want to take advantage of the extra credits as they look ahead to graduating and going on to college. Other students decided that they still really wanted to come and be involved, but not to take it for credit. It was a good to see the students evaluating themselves, and realizing what they need.
We played a round of “Ha, Ha, Herman”. All the students laid on the ground, with their head on the belly of the person ahead of them. The first person said “Ha, Herman.” The second person said, “Ha, ha, Herman.” The goal was to get through all the students, with each one adding another ‘ha’. The catch was that if anyone laughed they had to start all over. There was much laughter, so it took awhile. Eventually they were able to keep a straight face long enough to make it through, and then we all busted out with laughter.
Bob Kovar, Project Director
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
After School Leadership Program #8
October 25, 2006
LUHS
ILI Staff: Matt White, Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane
We started our session a little differently this week. We normally take the students photographs while we are waiting for everyone to show up, however, Ernie had shown Craig a very interesting background for pictures. Craig took the students to this background and took their pictures. After he was done he talked about how we perceive things. He asked, “How many times have you driven by here and thought this was just a white wall?” What was really there was a white wall that had been severely weathered and had some amazing designs and intricacies of patterns. Craig then asked, “How many people in school do you pass and you assume you know them when you haven’t really taken the time to get to know them?”
We returned to the room and began our Attitude of Gratitude. This always gets our time together off on the right foot. The students shared a lot of different reasons they were thankful. One of the students patted the student next to them and said that they were thankful for that student. The relationships in this group are really getting close. After our opening time we invented a new activity. I will call it “Double Vision”. We used two 1-foot PVC pipes per student. They had to put them up to their eyes, with their hands on the end nearest their eyes, and point one up and one down and navigate a course one of the students described. There was a lot of laughing, giggling, and speed walking going on.
We returned to the room for a time to share what the students had done with their, “I will…” statements. The first student to share talked about getting a job. This prompted Craig to have the students debate from the parent’s perspective the positive side of 1) making school your “work” and 2) having a job and going to school. There was quite a discussion that went on about this topic and we had to cut the students short because of the need to cover the assignment for this upcoming week.
Their assignment this week will be to evaluate themselves and the facilitators as well as measure their progress up to this point.
We ended with the students receiving their pictures.
Bob Kovar, Project Director
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
After School Leadership Program #7
October 18, 2006
LUHS
ILI Staff: Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane
As always, the students were eager to start in on the snack, but held themselves back until we finished sharing what we were thankful for. Our group was smaller, due to some students being away on a class climbing trip. Every Wednesday a picture is taken of each student. One of the students just passed her driving test today, so she held up her brand new drivers license in celebration.
We moved into the climbing room. With a smaller group, it allowed everyone to climb as much as they wanted, and to refresh everyone’s belaying skills. During the winter ILI grade school sessions, we usually bring the students in to climb. Having high school students who are certified to belay is a real help. It is also a neat opportunity for them to connect with the younger students. One of the students had helped to set-up one of the routes when she had a class in the climbing room. To show us which one it was, we had to turn off the lights because all the holds glowed in the dark. We didn’t do any climbs in the dark, but it was neat to see the wall glowing.
We returned to the ILI room to talk about an upcoming Teen Institute. The girls would get to go down to Stevens Point for a weekend to join other teens who are “trying to make healthy choices in their life; open to meeting new people and accepting difference; willing to try new things and have fun, and excited to find new ways to grow as an individual.” Most of the girls are interested in going, so we will continue to work on the details.
The assignment for the upcoming week is to write a sentence, “I will…” The blank is to be filled in with something that each student will do to make themself smile. We took the time to write the sentences here and then each of the students shared what they had written. Last week the assignment was to complete the sentence with something they were going to do to make someone else smile. So next week we are going to have everyone share about both of their sentences and how they carried them out.
Our final activity was to have each of the students write on their printed picture page. They could choose from two topics; reflect on what happened this past week or write about what you hope for this coming week.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
After School Leadership Meeting #6
October 11, 2006
ILI Staff: Alice McFarlane, Craig Kerr, Matt White
After a couple of very intense weeks of sharing and searching into what keeps the students from being who they want to be and what they hope for, we shifted gears to get some balance. We started, as we always do, with our attitude of gratitude. We moved out of the office because the power went out and had a rousing game of samurai tag and then kicked it up a notch. The students partnered up and one person was blindfolded while their sighted partner led them to challenge another pair to try to get back to their spot. This caused a great deal of laughter and excitement. We were doing this activity out by the district office because the power had gone out, and hopefully Mr. Dailey was able to continue his work because we were quite loud!
Next, we moved onto an activity which we really don’t have a name for. Everyone was given a plastic golf ball and they had to mark it so that they knew which ball was theirs. After everyone had a good time being creative and colored his or her golf ball, we were ready for the activity. We were in the hallway between the multi-purpose room and the auditorium, and the goal was to use whatever resources you had above your neck to move your ball down the hallway to the finish line. The students had a great time with this activity and there was a lot of laughter and cheering going on. Again, we kicked it up a notch and had the students get into pairs and, yes, one of them was blindfolded. We began the activity again, and you can just imagine the amount of laughter and smiles that were involved with this activity. The students were really into the activity and the joyful emotions that it brought.
Matt then brought them down to the end of the hallway and challenged them to one final activity. As he brought out a bag of marbles, looks of bewilderment that turned into excitement were on all of the student’s faces. They stayed with their partners and with great enthusiasm jumped into this final activity. They had the same parameters as in the previous activities and, yes, one of them was blindfolded. Once again, there was a lot of laughter and excitement, as well as creativity in this activity.
We ended the day back in the ILI office as the power had been restored. The staff talked with the students about the importance of balance and making sure that they make time for play in their lives. Then, a student gave her presentation on hope. This lead into another good discussion on what hope is, the definition of hope and how it may differ for each person. We ended the session with details of upcoming events and reminders of assignments due.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
After School Leadership Meeting #5
October 4, 2006
ILI Staff: Alice McFarlane, Craig Kerr, Matt White
Today we started our day outside because the students decided that they would like to be outside to begin their time after school. The students made their presentations on HOPE. We were only able to get through three of the students because of the discussions that followed each presentation. The words and questions they shared were meaningful and full of encouragement and curiosity. This group continues to grow together and we are excited to see how they are progressing throughout the year. We ended with the staff briefly discussing the process we use to get our grade school sessions organized. The students were very interested and are looking forward to being a crucial part of what ILI does during our grade school sessions.
Bob Kovar, Project Director
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
After School Leadership Meeting #4
September 27, 2006
ILI Staff: Craig Kerr, Matt White, Alice McFarlane.
Today was our first full day inside, due to rainy weather. Samurai Tag (by popular demand), was our first activity. Everyone stands in a circle, with one person in the middle who holds a foam noodle. The middle person tags one person in the circle, and tries to take their spot after dropping the noodle in the middle. They are successful if the other person does not pick up the noodle and tag them back. This group really gets into the game and could play for a long time. We returned to the ILI room to listen to presentations from the students on their goals for the year. Matt set up the time by talking about how to be a good listener, and to respect those who are sharing of themselves. This is a creative group. One of the girls had a song for every goal. The goals are things that they each want to accomplish by the end of the ILI year. Another girl had created a booklet with each of her goals on a page. It is interesting to see how their personalities come out in their presentations. Some of the goals related to mentoring for the grade schools, some to school and others to life. After another student shared her goal, we started talking about how we can help each other to accomplish our goals. We all agreed that life is hard and that there are things that can keep us from reaching our goals. It can be hard to keep hope. It was a really good, open and honest discussion. This group continues to grow together, evidenced by their level of sharing with one another. We will be continuing our discussion on hope and on how to be a support to each other as we strive towards our goals.
Bob Kovar, Project Director
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
ILI Staff: Craig Kerr, Matt White, Alice McFarlane.
We began with a celebration of Regina’s birthday. The challenge was to light all the candles before she joined us outside, and to keep the candles lit as the wind picked up. As we started with Attitude of Gratitude, one of the girls said she was thankful that we got to celebrate Regina’s birthday. It is great to see how this group supports one another, and celebrating a birthday is part of that.
We moved to the ILI room for a time of facilitation practice led by Matt. The girls broke into small groups and had to prepare 2 name games for a specific grade that they will be a facilitator for in the upcoming weeks. It was good review for the students. They had a chance to teach some of the students who have not had the opportunity to be a facilitator yet. We had a chance to play a few of the name games, and even though we all know one another’s names, everyone still gets into the game. After each small group set-up their name games, the rest of us were asked to give them feedback on what they did well, and what they could improve on for next time. Each group was also asked to share the same critique of themselves. They do well at noticing small things that they can improve on, but that make a big difference. Some examples were to smile more, be more excited, and draw students in for examples. They are all looking forward to helping facilitate the grade schools.
Part of our discussion moved to what they like about ILI, and the good changes they have seen over the years that they have been involved. Some of the juniors remembered when they ‘met’ the other school by T.V. for one session. They are glad that all the students now get to meet face to face and starting in 4th grade. They also talked about how they as a group have grown and gotten to know one another better through the years, which now allows them to talk about more issues.
We wrapped-up by handing out permission slips for the students to mentor in the upcoming sessions.
Bob Kovar, Project Director
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2006-2007
After School Leadership Meeting #2
September 13, 2006
ILI Staff: Craig Kerr, Matt White, Alice McFarlane.
We got to meet outside again today and enjoy the beautiful day. We started with Attitude of Gratitude: “Today I am thankful for…friends being honest, Jazmyn, a friend having a baby, apple juice.” Then we enjoyed playing a favorite of the students, Samurai Tag. We could have played longer, but moved to a time where the students each stood up and shared their “Life” assignment, self-portraits created with words. Craig set-up the time by talking about how to do a presentation clearly and how to draw others into what you are presenting. One reason for having them present to each other is to help prepare them for facilitating grade school sessions. Each of them had a different way to represent themselves with words. Some had cut words out of magazines, others wrote out the words, one wrote a poem and another drew an outline of a body with words over different areas that represent who she is. One part was her hair, with knots in it, which she said represented the challenges in life that she has to untangle and get through. They were all creative and unique. The students will be given a “Life” assignment each week in which they will be challenged to study what impact certain assigned activities have on their personal values and how their values are either empowered or are changed.
We moved inside to the ILI office where Craig told the students they are welcome to come to if they need anything during their regular school days. Craig and Matt went through the After School course description, laying out the format of the class and answering questions that the students had. Since this is the first time to receive credit for the After School Leadership Program, we told the students that we need their help in the planning, and that many unknowns lie ahead, but that we all get to be a part of making this come together. Before moving on to the next thing, we stopped to have a few students who were present last week, fill in the students who were not able to attend. It was great to hear them all speaking up to add what they remembered from last week and the ideas they had shared.
Each week the students will hand in one question. The purpose of the question is to help them see that asking questions is part of learning. We will use some of the questions to guide sessions. Some of the questions from this week were:
“Do I seem like an easy person to talk to?”
“How would the ILI group describe my personality?”
“How can one person win all of his or her dreams?”
We wrapped up by talking about the upcoming grade school sessions where the students can facilitate and be mentors. They are all eager to meet with the grade schoolers again, and had certain grade levels they wanted to be with.
Bob Kovar, Project Director
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
After School Leadership Meeting #1
September 6, 2006
Today was our first gathering of the school year with the After School Leadership students. It was great to be back together. We started out the afternoon with sharing what we were thankful for. “Today I am thankful for…” Our first activity was Disappearing Islands. Craig had various size rope circles set out, and every time he shouted out “Earthquake”, everyone had to move to a new island. The only rule was that everyone’s feet had to be completely in the circle. Each earthquake caused one island to disappear, so the remaining islands slowly became more crowded. Eventually there was only one remaining island, and 11 people who had to fit into the small area. Several attempts were made to have each person stand on one foot, and to balance by reaching across the circle to hold hands. The whole group had to be inside the circle for 4 seconds, but we could never quite make it without falling over. Craig asked the students what ILI is about. They responded with safety, communication, teamwork, safety, and cooperation. Craig also reminded them that we are about seeing things from a different perspective and coming up with solutions. The students returned to solving the problem. Josh sat down without saying a word, keeping his feet in the circle. That was all it took for the students to figure out how to make it work. Everyone sat down around the circle, and placed both feet on the island.
We then moved into talking about the upcoming year, and provided the students a chance to share what they would like to do and what they want this time to look like. They all have great ideas. We shared with them the opportunity they have to receive credit for their involvement and what that would require. Most of the students are interested in being involved for credit. We wrapped up by reviewing the afternoon, and having 2 students volunteer to teach the new students who come next week what we covered.
Bob Kovar, Project Director
Intercultural Leadership Initiative