and Thank Heavens for that.
It went well. We had 8 students there, out of 17 – and I know that 4 had legitimate reasons to not attend – including 1 funeral, 1 Court appearance, 1 work function, & 1 student at work. So that only leaves 5 with ‘dubious excuses’…..
Which is a whole lot better than LAST year!
It was an enjoyable day. We played mini-golf, which was a first time for most people including myself. And it was just entertaining enough – and not too taxing. It was a beautiful day, weather-wise.
After that, we had a barbecue by the water. I played no part at all in organising the food, which was a great relief. To be just a recipient of something (at my job) was a rare, wierd and very good experience. Fortunately, I didn’t go hungry!
It was odd to just sit there, and allow others to do everything. I was so tired that it was easy, mind you. I hope that the students who did do things felt good (and adult) about doing them, i.e. the cooking, mostly.
I think it had a good effect for all of us, to be just having fun, at the mini-golf. I have always hated the idea of those workplace team-building-type functions. Fortunately, I have never had to go to one. You know: the kind where work colleagues are put into an unfamiliar context with each other, and have to do unfamiliar and challenging things like rock-climbing or abseiling or whatever.
But this one day, of doing something unfamiliar within our group, was pleasurable – not just to me – and it relaxed people a bit more than usual. As it should have. It made me think that doing something ‘out of the box’ would be good, on a more regular basis – but the nightmare of organising these things is not something I can find the energy to do more often.
It also occurred to me that the students need practice at organising things – and hypothetically (at least), I could create those oppoprtunities. But, in advance, I would have to make a choice: to be willing to (plan to) ‘take over’ at some point, so as to ensure that the event actually happened – and I am NOT willing to do that. I simply CANNOT spare the energy. It’s all I can do to manage the job. - OR: to allow them to fail (radical thought!)
To allow them to fail, without judgement, and preferably without embarrassment… somehow. To put a positive spin on it that, “we’ll give this another try in x amount of time…” The organisation period and allocation of responsibilities would have to be clearly defined, with a definite and advertised cut-off date, so that – hopefully – if individual people failed to do their part, by the deadline, the event could be quietly ‘closed off’ as an active project, perhaps with a little private supported reflection on
- what didn’t work
- and why,
- and what needs to be done differently, next time.
You see, this is a real-life skill which would be very valuable. But the truth is that it is way down the list of priorities, because I have to ensure we reach reportable outcomes in reading, writing & numeracy. We DO have to reach reportable outcomes in LEARNING SKILLS, too – and such an activity would fit in, here… but it’s a long-winded way of achievng it, precisely because it’s a real-world activity.
This is a tension I am very much aware of, always: between what the students, ideally, individually need to learn – and what I must ensure they achieve, in order to meet the required reportable outcomes to be entitled to remain in the course.
I would understand the intense scrutiny and monitoring and control of our curriculum and outcomes IF we ran the program under volunteers, rather than with dedicated qualified professional teachers.
And, of course, all systems must have quality-control built in. But, IMO, the balance between leaving scope for professional judgement and real care of people – vs. following a prescribed track, curriculum-wise (with admittedly considerable leeway) is not an appropriate balance.
