Another year has flown by. Now that school is out, program manager Kate Nash shares her best memories of the programs she delivered this past school year.
Friendship Project (K-2)
I had the pleasure of working with the kindies and primary grades at Fulford Elementary and Salt Spring Elementary (SSE) this year. Delivering the Friendship Project with little kids is so fun, adorable, and inspiring. They have such real and immediate responses to the questions. Doing sessions with little kids about emotional literacy - the ability to identify, understand, label, and manage emotions while empathetically responding to the feelings of others - is very fulfilling because they are so good at it. Having them demonstrate all the ways they feel different things is pretty cute.
One boy stood out to me during these sessions. He laughed a lot, so we were guessing he was happy. But he explained that when he is upset or scared, he starts to laugh. That was a great reflection for a boy his age. Talking about emotional literacy and emotional awareness is as relevant for kids in kindergarten as it is for kids in Pass it On, some of whom are in grade 12. It never gets old. We always keep learning about the unique ways we express our emotions and respond to each other's emotions.
The Empathy Project (Grades 3-5)
The Empathy Project has one of the biggest reaches of our programs because it is delivered from Grade 3 up to Grade 5. The content shifts based on the emotional maturity of the group. I always think of classes as personalities. Some classes are very shy and some are more extroverted, or really silly, or they need to be more physical to get the content, or more reflective. At SSE, I was delivering this program in a class that was somewhat reluctant and defensive. The students were having a hard time connecting with the teacher and with one another. There was a lot of eyerolling, and kids didn’t want to work together. Until we played this game, where they had to hold hands and help each other up from a sitting position. One student stepped up, committing to helping everybody. The class went from not wanting to touch each other to really working together. I love it when there's a game that takes kids out of their assumptions and their preconceived notions of one another, so that they can fully focus on the task at hand and find a way to be united through that.
The Respect Project (Grades 6-8)
In the Respect Program, I did a session on friendship, and how we talk to each other and how we find a sense of respect for one another, as well as a sense of self-worth. In a Grade 7 class, we incorporated an activity with some scene work. We talked about the conflicts that come up in friendships, and then they had to share back with us. We always give them options to relay their reflections. You can make a poem, a rap, a skit or a tableau. And usually I say: ‘or you can do an interpretive dance.’ Knowing that no Grade 7 class in the world would ever do that. But this time, every single group, except for one, did an interpretive dance about friendship conflict. They were joking, but also wholeheartedly and passionately dancing. And it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
The Trust Project (Grades 9-10)
I had great experiences delivering The Trust Project on Pender and Saturna Island this year, and I just said goodbye to the Grade 9 class at Pender Island School during their grad ceremony. That class was very diverse: kids from every island, kids with different personalities, characteristics, abilities and disabilities. Their acceptance of one another, their encouragement, and their willingness to listen and to be kind was profound. At the ceremony, I told them how radical that is. If they take that skill with them, they will have such great success. Often in this world, we attach a lot of status to people who make a lot of money or get high grades in school, but it is actually the act of kindness and connection that creates the relationships that will take us the farthest.
Pass it on (Grades 9-12 after-school program)
It was a profound year for Pass it On because we had new facilitators in both our programs. In PIO Girls, we even had a volunteer and a facilitator who both had been in Pass it On. We had volunteers from the program before, but to have a past participant facilitate our program has been a long-time dream. The session I have the best memories of this year was the one that is called ‘words of affirmation’. It was a combined session of our girls and boys program, and we used the fishbowl technique where the boys went in the middle, and the girls sat in a circle outside of them and listened, and later switched positions. The checkout question was ‘I love you because’. They all told each other why they loved each other. I think it is radical when we can speak about the love we have without expectation or assumptions of what that means, without the idea that it is only related to romantic love. It was incredibly connective because they were demonstrating this deep vulnerability and care for one another, and saw that they were all capable of that.
Working with youth training (facilitator training)
We had two really engaged community trainings this year. These sessions are important because this way we create partners and friends within our community. And for them to apply our methods causes a big ripple. To be open and to be engaged in connection is fairly commonplace for the kids in our programs, but so unique in this world. I see that most when I work with adults. They are blown away by how much they desire connection and to be heard by each other, and how little they find that in their lives.
The Circle Educations provides usually two Working with Youth Training a year, one in the spring and one in the fall. Send us an email at [email protected] for more information.
