This is part of an ongoing series of "What's Working" posts that highlight something good in education at any level (policy, school, classroom).

As many schools do, my school has an advisory class, in which teachers work with a group of about 12 students to build relationships, study habits, and social-emotional skills. I always want my advisory to be this cohesive "family-like" group, but I often find the regular social divisions that exist among early adolescents to be a barrier to this cohesion.  This year, I've committed to starting the advisory period with good ice breaker activities that would help build a positive group dynamic among the members of the advisory--whether or not they identify with one another or are part of the same friend groups.  

One of the best ice-breakers has been "speed socializing," something I imagined pretty randomly around the start of school.  I tried it out and found that it worked.  I shared it with the other advisors on my grade team.  Several tried it out with their groups and found that it worked as well.  Thus, I'm sharing it with you...

1.  I instruct students to sit 2 at a table. (The desks in my room are arranged in clusters/tables.)

2. Tell the students we are going to do Speed-socializing!  Inevitably someone makes a joke about speed-dating.  "We're not going to do speed-dating!" I assure them. "But who knows what that is?"  A student laughs while explaining his or her understanding of speed-dating, and everyone else has a laugh about it too.  "Speed socializing has nothing to do with dating! It's about getting to know the people in this group, and working on your conversation skills." 

3. "One person at your table is A, and one person is B.  Decide who will be A and B right now."  Give them 10 seconds or so to do this.

4. "Now, for 1 minute, A will ask B a question, and B will answer.  The first question is, 'What's good about thos school year so far?'  If B answers with a short answer, ask a follow-up question."  Model what a follow-up question is.  "After 1 minute, I will say switch.  Then B asks A the same question."  

5. After 1-2 minute, I say switch.  I walk around a bit and check out some of the conversations, just to see that they're happening.  In some cases, I remind students to ask follow-up questions.  After another minute, I call time. "Time's up!"   The 2 minute time is pretty quick, and you could decide to allow it to go on longer, but I think it's key to keep it moving quickly so energy stays high--leaving them wanting more, not stalling out.

6. "Now all the A's stand up.  A's move to the table to your right, rotating clockwise." A's move to the next table, so there are new partnerships.

7. "The question is still, 'What's good about this school year so far?' but if you have an idea for a more interesting question, you can ask that instead," I say.  This gives students the opportunity to be creative, but no one is lost for a conversation topic.

8.  Keep switching in the same direction.  I generally let this go on for 10-15 minutes.  (At some point, all A's have spoken with all B's, but A's haven't spoken with A's and B's haven't spoken with B's... if time permits, the best remedy for this I've found is, "Now talk to someone you have't talked to yet!")

9.  One of the teachers on my team who tried it said she ended by having students write down good ideas for "speed-socializing" questions on notecards, which she put in a bag for next time.  The students were excited to try it again with the new questions.

I enjoyed watching students respond to the novelty of the short, forced conversations, as well as the freedom to ask whatever they wanted.  Some seemed to be honing the art of conversation, while others went for a more interview-like style, asking a series of questions, serious and silly alike.

What favorite activities do you have that bring a diverse group of students together?

[image credit: stevemasover.blogspot.com]

I had an enjoyable first day of school last week, and I'm excited to dig into my first full week tomorrow. For homework, I gave students an online survey about who they are as individuals and learners. We will use some of their results, viewed as pie chart "data" about the class, as springboards for discussions tomorrow.  

As I read their responses, I am struck by how positive my students report feeling about the year ahead of them--how ready they are to enjoy school, work hard, and learn.  I am reminded of what a hopeful time September is for both teachers and students.  Even students who are scared of failure and reluctant to take risks are feeling partly hopeful. Changing by the moment, my adolescent students are just a thread away from their new selves, and will continue to be throughout the year.

We have so much power as teachers.  Students make themselves vulnerable to us, until we give them reason to believe they should not.  Even students with hard shells test us regulary to see if we will encourage or threaten their growth.  I want to keep this delicate reality front and center as I interact with my students and get to know them. I will remember it when I am faced with an opportunity to make a comment that will encourage their hopeful natures or threaten them.

Here's to a great year, full of learning, humor, hard lessons when necessary, and compassion. 

[image credit: new-to-learning.deviantart.com]

Kita Grinberg is a teacher at Alternative in Action’s Bay Area School of Enterprise, in Alameda, California. She studies yoga with Alice Joanou at Loka Yoga in Oakland.

1. How did you come to teach yoga to kids?  What led you to this place?

I had been teaching English and History in Oakland public schools for three years when I met my yoga teacher Alice Joanou and became inspired to practice and study yoga regularly. I referenced yoga in my classroom from time to time, and some of my students were curious about it. They asked if I would teach them. I was eager to share what I loved, so we met in the morning before school, just one or two students and myself, and did a little yoga in the classroom. It was a great way to start the day. Those few students enjoyed it, and remarked that it helped them feel calm throughout the day.

After four years in the district, I moved to a charter school, and after one year of teaching a heavy load of academics, I was questioning staying at the new school. The amount of preps, of papers to grade, and of the same mode of teaching all day was burning me out. I tried to think about what would make the day better. I thought of teaching yoga, so I asked my Humanities students if they would be interested. Many were. I approached the administration, and proposed teaching one class of yoga during our elective block. As a school, we weren’t offering many physical education classes, so it seemed beneficial on many levels. The administration said yes.

After a few runs to find inexpensive yoga mats, a weekend course on “Teaching Yoga to At-Risk Youth”, figuring out how to make enough space in the classroom to fit our mats, I began to lead fifteen students through a yoga practice, five days a week. In response to challenges, I changed the class so we had two days a week of philosophy, writing and discussion, and three days of asana (the physical poses).

2. What have you discovered about teaching yoga to your population of students?  How is this different from how you might teach yoga to a group of adults at a yoga studio?

I originally thought that I should teach a rigorous, fast-paced class to my students. Various people advised to start with standing poses, so students could get some of their energy out before practicing more seated postures. After all, they are teenagers: strong, hormonal and in need of activity. What I found is more than the need to be physically challenged and active, my students need permission to relax. I don’t mean relax in a lazy way, but rather let down their guards, so their nervous systems are not in overdrive.

Many of my students live very stressful lives, dealing with adult realities such as recent immigration, poverty, violence, parenthood, abuse, incarceration, and addiction. Many of them experience anxiety and insomnia. Life challenges them on a daily basis. While physical challenge has its value, it has seemed more important to introduce practices which allow students to calm down, and move out of a fight or flight response.

I guide students to focus on and slow down their breathe, to engage muscles without over-exerting, and to try new poses without tensing up. The pace of our class is usually slow, deliberate, and meditative. I use guided visualizations at the end before savasana, the final resting pose. We pay attention to our own experience (taking the attention away from the people around us, where adolescent minds spend much of their time), turning our focus inward. We learn to notice how we feel in our bodies, to listen to ourselves. We notice our emotions and thoughts, and discover that place inside ourselves that watches, but does not judge, analyze or fight what is going on.

3. What effects have you seen the yoga practice have on your students?

I have been taken aback to witness some loud, rebellious boys become quiet and still on their mats, their eyes steady on a point in front of them. For me personally, it has been a testament to the power of yoga, to see these young people accept the practice so readily, and to see it’s immediate effect. In an end of the year survey I gave, the most common thing students report is that yoga helps them deal with their stress, and calm down. Some have said that it is the only time in the day when they can truly relax.  Others have said they receive:

• “stamina”
• “freshness”
• “a load of relief”
• “learning more about my mind and body”
• “being one with myself”

One young woman said, “Yoga is helping my anger issues and I can be more calm with myself.”  Others have also talked specifically about it helps them deal with anger.

There are certainly days when the giggles are present at the beginning of class, or I have to confiscate cell phones, but overall, I have been impressed with how the students have welcomed the practice as a healing tool.

4.What challenges have you encountered in teaching yoga to your students?

There have been many challenges! I realized that practicing asana five days a week was too much for beginning students. They kept coming up with reasons why they should sit out. At first, I wanted to stick to my plan, and not allow what I perceived as “laziness”, but then I realized that I did not want to “force” students into the practice. I did not want to create a dynamic where I was pushing them into something and they were developing resistance. So I proposed to them that we change the structure of the class, to practice asana three days a week and study yoga philosophy the other two days. They liked the plan, and from that point on I felt more buy-in from the students.

There were still days where some students had excuses, and I usually convinced them to practice with us, even if they took child’s pose frequently. There were even days I let students rest on their back for almost the entire class. It was challenging for me to figure out when and how to encourage students to push themselves, and when to allow them to rest, or even not participate. I felt a tension between wanting to hold them accountable to the class, and the fact that I want them to feel they are coming to the practice of their own will.

There were of course smaller daily challenges, like students not wanting to take their socks off (I didn’t force the issue), wanting to have their cell phone in arms’ reach (I did force the issue), and conversations arising during class (I dealt with these differently based on the situation.)

5. What questions are on your mind about this after your first year?  What might be your next steps with teaching yoga to your students?  

My biggest curiosity right now is if or how the yoga practice might impact student’s academic focus and work. Because of the school schedule, my yoga class has been at the very end of the day. While students enjoy finishing the day with yoga, and going home feeling good, I would really love to teach yoga the first period of the day, and give students the opportunity to carry their sense of well-being into their academic classes. I imagine they would be calmer and better able to concentrate on their academic work.

I am also curious how students will or won’t incorporate some of the tools they have learned into their lives outside of yoga class. There were times this year when some of my yoga students were sent out of other classes for being disruptive or defiant-- and when I talked to them in the office, we used breathing techniques to calm down before discussing the issue. Some students have used breathing and visualization to fall asleep at night, or deal with test-taking anxiety. I strongly believe that even if they don’t carry the practices beyond class, that hour of less stress each day is beneficial for their body and mind; but I also suspect that they will, even in small ways, bring their experience with yoga into their lives.

Teaching yoga has challenged me to bring aspects of my own yoga practice (specifically the practices of learning to be non-reactive and of cultivating an equanimity towards all kinds of situations) into the rest of my teaching. I am interested in the way I show up as a teacher differently depending on the discipline I am teaching, and how I might bring lessons from my experience of teaching yoga into my academic classes.

I have learned so much from my first attempt to share the practice of yoga with my students, and am excited to continue the work. I feel lucky that in an education system with so many mandates and not enough resources, in a city with resilience but far too much violence, I have the opportunity to co-create a healing space and practice with young people.

I just got back from a weekend at EduCon. The conference created a great space to think and collaborate about how to push progressive ideas and practices further.  One of the sessions I went to gave me something entirely new to think about: my introverted students.  Tony Baldasaro (@baldy7) gave a lot of food for thought on the subject.  Here's what I learned.

• There is such thing as an introvert.  We are all somewhere on the spectru, between extrovert and introvert, but introverts tend to me people who are shy, and don't like to talk much, especially in large groups. 

• Extroverts are almost always up for talking about something. They talk to think. They come up with many of their best ideas in conversation.  When stressed, tired, upset, they tend to want to hang out with friends, talk about the problem, etc.

• Introverts' thought processing is actually neurologically distinct, according to new research (I don't have a source to cite, but Baldasaro recommended Quiet by Susan Cain).  Their problem solving process takes a longer pathway, involving recal of long term memory.  They need time to formulate their thoughts carefully this way and tend not to want to speak until they have worked through the process. 

• When stressed, tired, upset, etc, introverts tend to want to be alone.  However, being alone doesn't mean something is wrong. They might just be thinking.

• Introverts are energized by solitude. Extroverts are energized by interactions with others.

How does this play out in school? At the conference we discussed whether school favors the introvert or the extrovert. 

I think traditional school doesn't particularly work for either type.  Extroverts are forced to be quiet and work independently most of the time.  Introverts are forced to formulate thoughts and answer questions on the spot without the time they need to process their responses.

Progressive education can often favor the extrovert because of the emphasis on cooperative learning and class participation. Do we have a responsibility to help introverts be a part of this kind of work?  Probably.  Do we also have a responsibility to make adaptations so that it is more comfortable for all students? Id' say so.

I came away with a few good suggestions from Tony and members of my discussion group.

1. Let introverts know in advance if you want to talk to them about something, or if you will expect them to speak about something in class. This is to give them time to work through their ideas.

2. Many introverts will speak up when asked to, but not always take the initiative.  Invite introverted students to share their thoughts--especially if there's advanced notice of the discussion and topic, find ways to equalize the airtime time, so that the extroverts don't dominate the conversation.

3. When given an in class writing task, many introverts might take a while to get started. Don't rush them, or assume they are being lazy or defiant.  They are probably thinking.  Fine to check in about it, though. And when possible, be generous about allowing extra time.

4. Many introverts in the session suggested allowing students to opt out of working in a group and complete a group project on their own.  I don't think this would always be possible, but certainly something to consider when assigning group work.  It is absolutely necessary that my studets work in groups on this?  Do I have any reason not to allow some students to work alone?

5. Finally, research has shown that introverts tend to be much more comfortable participating in discussions online.  This is probably because online is not time-based and takes away some of the built up perceptions of social pressure they've experienced in face to face groups.  They can be alone and part of a conversation or community at the same time. Find ways to allow students to initiate or extend discussions online, and watch the balance of who's communicating shift. 

Thank you, Tony Baldasaro, for bringing this topic to light!   

[image credit: theparentszone.com]

In my free time, I've been playing in a band. (violin, mostly)  It's been exhilarating, lots of fun, and also full of challenges. The most amazing thing about it, of course, is the feeling you get when you've put in the work and then one day in practice you suddenly hear how good it sounds.  It's a group effort--each individual player knowing what they are doing and being prepared, listening to one another and the total sound, and responding and communicating effectively.  There is an intuitive nature to playing music well in a group, a creative component, and a technical one.  There is also a need for individuals to take on various leadership roles to keep the group moving forward, creatively and practically.

Many bands fail because they can't come together or stay together around these key elements.  They struggle to manage themselves, make decisions and comprimises, or understand another's point of view.  When musical groups do succeed at these things, the effect is one of the most amazing things life has to offer--great music.  

As I teacher, I just keep asking myself, am I preparing my students to work in a group like this?  Would there be more good live music out there if school were designed to help students organize themselves around creative endeavors, that involved technical know-how, creativity, practice, and leadership?  How much great stuff *period* would come about if school were really a practice ground for students to work on authentic, collaborative projects with real-world application?

[image credits: 1. Renee Scotland   2. zedge.net]