Foosball, 500, and Family

Foosball

As an admin team, we make a conscious effort to have positive connections with kids throughout the school day. We are deliberate in where and when these interactions happen. We don’t see all of the student every day, so it takes a little longer, months or even years, in some cases to develop that relationship.

Our goal is to have a foundation of positivity, so that, if we have to issue consequences, we have a foundation to fall back on. Creating these relationships allows us to separate the choice of the student, and the result from our relationship with the student. With a foundation of love, the process is much more natural for everyone involved, including parents.

Late last year my parents asked if we could use a foosball table at school. The admin team talked about possible options, and ultimately our librarian, who is fantastic, volunteered to house the table. It has been a huge success.

Anyway, this morning as we closed our PLC and students starting “rushing” the library I was able to spend a few minutes with some kids playing Foosball.
It was great because a couple of the kids were talking trash and I went a little old school with some trick shots. See below.

Just kidding. I left after a couple of goals and let some other kids play. But, it was a few minutes that the students and I got to interact positively.

500

I don’t know when this started exactly, but last year a group of 8th graders brought their football to lunch. Instead of playing out on the football field they started playing 500 right outside the back door. I jumped in after a little while and became the all-time flyer.

Each student restarted every day, and each catch was worth 100 points. When you get five catches, you are out of the game. But you get a candy bar from the main office. We have anywhere from 9-20 kids that played on a daily basis.

That game started up again this week. A few more students are playing, and we have added a new reward like a money ball. A money ball is a “golden ticket” of the game. I yell out, “Money Ball,” and the student that catches the next ball gets a candy bar. It’s great because everyone tries a little harder.

Most of the kids that play aren’t on the sophomore football team or even play football, but it’s an excellent way for them to hang out and get their blood pumping.

While we are playing, I try and keep an eye on the other kids that are outside during lunch, but most kids want to go outside to get some sun or hang out under the pine trees we have on the backfield.
It’s a fun way for me to interact with students during unstructured time. I don’t go out every day, and sometimes the students do other things and the game stops until the next day. It’s kind of like the Sandlot; the game keeps going.

Family

I may have described this before, but working in a school is a lot like having an extended family. We share moments, both positive and negative. We have heartaches and celebrations together; we also have moments of sadness, fear, triumph, and relief.

It’s not just the teachers either. It’s the staff, the aides, the students, the parents, and also our connections with the community. Imagine having a 1300 person family. I know it’s hard to imagine unless you have been there.

There is also the ripple effect. When something happens to our school family’s family, we feel it as well. Both positive and negative.

Over the past two months, just among the faculty and staff, we have celebrated marriages, newborns, birthdays, graduations, college sendoffs, promotions outside of work, and a bunch of other smaller events.
On the flipside, we have mourned death, divorces, miscarriages, and other personal moments.
Personally, I have share moments with teachers and staff that I will not forget. They have helped me grow as a man, father, and husband.

Over the past week, we had one of these moments. I won’t share specifics here, but for the most part, it went under the radar and was handled fairly quickly.

As I take a step back and look at how we handled the situation, I can’t think of anything that we would do differently. In fact, I think because of our tight school-wide family relationship, some of us were mentally prepared for the situation and how to handle it.

Again, I love the school I work at and the people I work with.