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Elizabeth, NJ
Total 35 District Schools
Spring 2016
Community Engagement Project: Lunch Bunch
This is a letter that was sent to the school administration team communicating the transformation occurring in specific schools with specific students.
Hi Everyone!
I wanted to share with you a story about how implementing the Gen Text Program in a lunch bunch prevented bullying and conflict in one of our k-8 schools this week…. 🙂
Back story:
The school counselor chose some students who have repeated problems and conflict with other students in class to be a part of the 6 week lunch bunch at this particular school.
This little boy named Peter(changed his name for privacy) is in 3rd grade. During week one of lunch bunch we talked about the importance of eye contact, active listening and respect. We talked about exactly what this looked like and we practiced these skills.(Gen Text, Chapter 1) Next we practiced empathy, compassion and trust. We did this by doing an exercise called high/low.(Gen Text, Chapter 2) We asked the students what kind of things were going on in their lives that were making them sad, frustrated, angry and anything that made it hard for them to pay attention and learn in class. (Gen Text, Chapter 4)
Peter and Jayana told us of a girl they had problems with. They told a story of how she took something of theirs and gave it to someone else and then lied about it and accused them when an adult was called to help. The adults in this lunch bunch listened to the students and then introduced the 8 essential questions to them (Gen Text Chapter 5). We talked about the fact that they could not control what this other student did but that they could control their own behavior. We talked about this girl who they felt always instigated problems with them and we talked about what “they” could do differently in order to not put themselves in a position where they might act or react in a mean or hurtful way or get in trouble themselves.
Once we had a plan of how Peter and Jayana could change their actions, we role played it. The first time we role played it, these students changed their actions BUT they did it in a way that was not nice to the other person involved. As facilitators of lunch bunch, we went back to Chapter 4 and asked these students, when you changed what you did, was it negative towards this girl or was it positive? They realized their actions were negative and not nice.
We role played a second time, having the idea in our minds that:
- We have to change the way we do things.
- We have to make sure our actions do not make others feel bad or sad.
This time the role play (practice) allowed the students to internalize HOW to change their behavior so they did not enter into a conflict. The strategies they decided to use where going to be positive towards all.
Yesterday was week 2. Following an exercise that involved practice of eye contact, active listening, respect, empathy, compassion and building trust, the lunch bunch adult asked the student how it went this past week with the other student. We asked the student to use a tablet to tell us what transpired and to attach some creativity by adding emojis to communicate how the strategies he is learning played out in real life. Below you can see his response.
Peter😎💀😈🚀💣
I stood away from her and didn’t talk to her for I won’t get my name on the board and I can get a sticker on the board.
And I didn’t sit next to her at lunch for I won’t get in trouble from the teacher at lunch.😎
So then I stared to not sit or bothered her while we are in lunch or in gym because she gets me in trouble time to time.😄
First, I felt free so she left me alone so I left her alone to.
Next, she left me alone and I did to.
Last, my name was not on the board and I felt proud of my self.😃😀😄😊😜😝😛😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😇😇😇😇😇😇
Nevaeh- was she happy or sad?
None of the above.
😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😄😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😀💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩CANDY!!!!!!!!!,!!!