team building

We took our students to the mountains for three days for a Team Building field trip. It's actually fantastic. The gains shown in the students' thinking, processing and just plain interacting with each other is amazing. Each year we see amazing friendships growing from the seends of this trip. One year there was this amazing bombshell of a girl who befriended this boy. He was this tiny little boy who was a bit of a social reject and a nerd. They became best friends for the next two years. Their common link? They both felt isolated by their peers - even though she was Ms Popularity and he was a typical geek. They both felt as though people judged them by looking at them and never saw beyond the surface they presented. It's heartening.

This year was difficult for me. I found it so difficult to put aside my fears and just interact with the kids the way this trip requires. But when I did, the magic was still there. It's amazing how much I still love having students.