Green Group

Yes, there are more Advent sonnets, and yes, I will post them soon and very soon.  But first...


The subject of kids and teaching has been a big one for me lately.  Not too surprising, when you consider that I work four afternoons a week with a delightful group of kindergartners at an after-school program.  And...we're trying to do things differently.


You see, the temptation when there are two or three adults and a lot of precocious, if sometimes hyper, little ones is to throw any attempts at substantive after-school programming out the window.  Not enough people to enforce discipline; can't be done.  Let's just go out and play for endless stretches of time...well, as endless as the weather in Chicago will allow any given day.  When that's over, go inside, have a snack, and monitor the organized chaos as the kids move on to free play with Legos, etc.


I don't mean to sound like I'm knocking outdoor play, snack time, and Legos...they all show up in our afternoon, too.  But...what if early child after-school programming focused on forming community in the classroom?  And on talking about peace, and did so concretely through work around sharing and respect?  What if we boldly talked about issues of identity and difference, and did so in a way intended to affirm the humanity of all people?  What if our stories for group time illustrated these things?  What if time outside involved emphasizing ecological consciousness and respect for plants, animals, and the earth?  When we play, what if we tell them "you can't say you can't play" and encourage them to play together and use their shared imaginations to create new games?  What about making snack time into a chance for community meal - eating as a rainbow-tinged family of different people celebrating being human together?  How about using art and opportunities for creativity as ways to help express some of these things?  And, quiet reading - how will the children be formed by being shown that reading for oneself or with a friend should be a part of daily routine?  How will they grow up to be if we teach them how to tell stories with wordless books, and ask them to imagine what might happen next in our story before we turn the page?  What would it look like if, when children break rules, the response is to engage in dialogue around the issues involved rather than simply rush to judgments and punish?  And, when they quarrel with one another, why don't we teach them how to talk through their problems together, express their feelings with considerate honesty, and arrive at mutually beneficial solutions?


These are the things we try to do with the kids in Green Group.  It's hard some days...really hard.  It's not how we're programmed to do things.  But, I genuinely believe that if we're ever, EVER, going to change life in this world for the better, then the process is going to start with a million groups like this teaching people, from day one, how to be the world we all say we want to live in.