This last Wednesday, our group probably had its least effective time period since I began using a stricter agenda. I started out mentioning what I had on the agenda and asking what they wanted to add - no one had any further additions. I also asked them if they knew whose project this was, they all knew it was theirs and that I was only there to assist them. I am glad that they are conscious of this, but I feel it wise to remind them that this project is all theirs.
We were missing a different group member this time than last, which didn't hinder our work. However, the students were pretty sure she was still at school, except that she left thirty minutes prior for something. They asked me to wait, but no one could say when she was coming back - which she never did. So, we continued with check-in, which went pretty well.
Then I back tracked to what we had discussed the first meetings about our essential agreements. I had never had them sign it, and thought this would be useful in addition to having our newest member introduced to it. There were no major amendments made, though a 20 minute time out was proposed, which would essentially kick out a group member at the 2nd warning. I felt this might be too excessive and mentioned how we only had 40 minutes to meet, so we left it at 2 minutes.
I then mentioned that Madalynn of the no-gangs group had a speaker coming in a couple weeks from the Minneapolis Police Department's 3rd Precinct: Karen Notsch. I spoke with her about having my group also participate in what she had to speak about since our topics were similar. She was okay with this so, and I informed my group that we would hae to be respectful while participating with another group focused on a different but similar topic.
Our newest group member seemed disconcerted about bringing a cop to school, but we all talked about how this was pertinent to our subject matter. For some reason, he just wanted to make a big deal out of nothing. Literally, he said that the cops had "trespassed him from the city." Obviously, this could not happen, so I asked him what he meant. What it sounded like was that he and some friends were somewhere that cops told them they shouldn't be. He was never given any formal trespass notification from anywhere, which was all I could gather from some simple questions.
After this discussion, I continued on about the police officer visiting and how we should have prepared questions. Mistakenly, I made this a group discussion. In hindsight, I should have had them each write down some questions on their own and then brought them together as a group. We did come up with questions and picked a few we thought were most important. Then we chose two members who could ask them.
Then I introduced the mind-mapping concept to them - of connecting different people, places, and things that are related to our topic of drug abuse. My group seemed very distracted with too many side conversations. I could get most of the group interested at most times but they all seemed overly hyper on this day. We got a decent start on things, but by no means was our brainstorming as comprehensive as I had hoped for.
We had completed what we wanted on the agenda with a few minutes left to go over how things went. The students said that our group was not as focused as usual. They said they were not paying as much attention and that this really was something they needed to work more on. That they offered this tells me that they know what is expected of them, and that they needed to find better ways of interacting as a group to be more effective.
The students wanted to play a game toward the end. I said we would do this after we finished discussing our thoughts on today. They played a couple rounds of "ten" before the session ended at 10:40.
One stumbling block for our group cohesion was our quieter student. She offered few ideas throughout our meeting, and at the beginning she didn't offer how her week was going. She did offer after we asked her again that things were "okay." At the end, she did not want to play the game - even though she could have played to get "out" in the first round. At the end, I asked her if she could bring an idea for a game or something next time and we would try that. Perhaps this will help if she has an idea. At least I know she wants to be in this group
What I think we need more than anything else is to gain some sort of experience on the subject matter beyond what is already known. Having someone who is knowledgeable speak to them about this subject more and offer their thoughts on what they could do might just get them thinking more. We still haven't decided on anything specific to work on yet - which is irking me. I really didn't like losing two more sessions due to field trips - it makes this much more urgent. I feel like when the group does have an epiphany it will be when we only have a week or two to realize it. It does make it more difficult to happen without a specific group time, but if they are motivated I'd be willing to meet with them more often during those stages.
We were missing a different group member this time than last, which didn't hinder our work. However, the students were pretty sure she was still at school, except that she left thirty minutes prior for something. They asked me to wait, but no one could say when she was coming back - which she never did. So, we continued with check-in, which went pretty well.
Then I back tracked to what we had discussed the first meetings about our essential agreements. I had never had them sign it, and thought this would be useful in addition to having our newest member introduced to it. There were no major amendments made, though a 20 minute time out was proposed, which would essentially kick out a group member at the 2nd warning. I felt this might be too excessive and mentioned how we only had 40 minutes to meet, so we left it at 2 minutes.
I then mentioned that Madalynn of the no-gangs group had a speaker coming in a couple weeks from the Minneapolis Police Department's 3rd Precinct: Karen Notsch. I spoke with her about having my group also participate in what she had to speak about since our topics were similar. She was okay with this so, and I informed my group that we would hae to be respectful while participating with another group focused on a different but similar topic.
Our newest group member seemed disconcerted about bringing a cop to school, but we all talked about how this was pertinent to our subject matter. For some reason, he just wanted to make a big deal out of nothing. Literally, he said that the cops had "trespassed him from the city." Obviously, this could not happen, so I asked him what he meant. What it sounded like was that he and some friends were somewhere that cops told them they shouldn't be. He was never given any formal trespass notification from anywhere, which was all I could gather from some simple questions.
After this discussion, I continued on about the police officer visiting and how we should have prepared questions. Mistakenly, I made this a group discussion. In hindsight, I should have had them each write down some questions on their own and then brought them together as a group. We did come up with questions and picked a few we thought were most important. Then we chose two members who could ask them.
Then I introduced the mind-mapping concept to them - of connecting different people, places, and things that are related to our topic of drug abuse. My group seemed very distracted with too many side conversations. I could get most of the group interested at most times but they all seemed overly hyper on this day. We got a decent start on things, but by no means was our brainstorming as comprehensive as I had hoped for.
We had completed what we wanted on the agenda with a few minutes left to go over how things went. The students said that our group was not as focused as usual. They said they were not paying as much attention and that this really was something they needed to work more on. That they offered this tells me that they know what is expected of them, and that they needed to find better ways of interacting as a group to be more effective.
The students wanted to play a game toward the end. I said we would do this after we finished discussing our thoughts on today. They played a couple rounds of "ten" before the session ended at 10:40.
One stumbling block for our group cohesion was our quieter student. She offered few ideas throughout our meeting, and at the beginning she didn't offer how her week was going. She did offer after we asked her again that things were "okay." At the end, she did not want to play the game - even though she could have played to get "out" in the first round. At the end, I asked her if she could bring an idea for a game or something next time and we would try that. Perhaps this will help if she has an idea. At least I know she wants to be in this group
What I think we need more than anything else is to gain some sort of experience on the subject matter beyond what is already known. Having someone who is knowledgeable speak to them about this subject more and offer their thoughts on what they could do might just get them thinking more. We still haven't decided on anything specific to work on yet - which is irking me. I really didn't like losing two more sessions due to field trips - it makes this much more urgent. I feel like when the group does have an epiphany it will be when we only have a week or two to realize it. It does make it more difficult to happen without a specific group time, but if they are motivated I'd be willing to meet with them more often during those stages.
Great move to give her a bit more power. How did she come to the team this week?
ReplyDeleteI think the tension with police is a valid concern. I wonder how he will feel when you can reconnect with him. Did this help to shift his perspective? How can you validate that experience as you continue to talk about the complexities of drugs?