Ich liebe meine Schülern...

Today in German 1 we had yet another amazing discussion... and a real connecting point with the kids. It was amazing.

We began with the geese (which the vast majority of THIS class actually had done...) and then, while we were still in a circle, moved on to "Wie Geht's" and how, in Germany, you only ask that question if you really want to know. It's not a shallow/polite thing to say just as passing conversation.

I then tell them the Cora story (about having an awful morning and someone in passing time asks how she is, but doesn't stick around to hear how she actually is... so she just ends up there in the hallway... talking to absolutely no one... before she realizes that person is gone).

This time we discussed the downfall of this in our society... and how they should try a social experiment and when someone asks... they need to answer "awful" (or really, just something other than "good")... and see what happens.

Then I challenged them. I challenged them to be more like the Germans. To not have meaningless or heartless conversations with others... to not ask if they don't care... and, if they ask, to stop, listen, and care. Because, as I said, we are all humans, and we all just want to be loved. Then the kids brainstormed what it meant to "actually care" and really found some meaningful answers. Simply put (according to the kids): Stop not caring, start caring, don't ask if you don't care, and be ready to listen with care if you do.

Then we practiced our "Wie geht's" question around the circle(and this is where, in the past, there has been a disconnect)... and we agreed that if people said so-so or not good or bad, we should ask why (so they learned the word "Warum")... and really listen. So we did. We also asked "warum" even when kids said that they were doing awesome! Because we wanted to know! But we allowed people, if they weren't feeling brave, to just say "good" and we wouldn't ask any more.

It was such an amazing connecting point. I heard students who had bad mornings, others who are having major problems with friends, others who bombed tests, yet others whose bones hurt because it is going to rain and even those who just "have a case of the Mondays". The fantastic thing is it gave the students an opportunity to care. Sometimes it's not "cool" to just start caring... and giving them this opportunity gave them the chance to care openly and not feel like they shouldn't ask or know. It felt amazing.

I just need to be sure to build on this and keep it up again tomorrow.

If I can't teach my old dogs new tricks... I can sure as hell teach the new dogs some pretty amazing ones.

What a great day.