Subscribe to the NetworkWeekend Wrap Up
Teaching Topic: A “One Hit Wonder” (not part of a series) called What Matters Most. Next weekend is our annual 8th grade weekend in which students run the entire program so this was my last time to speak to our outgoing 8th graders.
Lesson Length: I broke the lesson into two halves, separated by some programming elements and music. Combined the lesson was 20:18.
“Fun Factor”: It was a fairly mellow program, but really fun. We introduced our 3 Summer interns by using them to answer various “Would Your Rather” questions.
Music: Above average in quality, but below average in band enthusiasm and stage presence. Lately, it seems as though our bands are lacking a little bit of excitement and energy as they lead. BUT…..still so fun to have students leading the way!
Attendance: A little bit above average for this time of year.
Volunteer Involvement: Low. In a couple weeks we are changing up some aspects of our program in an attempt to give our adult leaders a little more ownership and involvement.
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i really interested to hear what sorts of changes you guys are making with volunteers’ roles. if it’s something you think you could explain here (even just a little) i would love to hear it. we’re trying to figure out some of the same “volunteer ownership/involvement” stuff right now, too.
Josh,
Here’s a quick history of our seating arrangements:
1. Chairs set up in rows….but that felt a bit too formal.
2. Chairs set up in rows but seperated into four “Sections”
3. Chairs set up in little “Pods” of 8….basically two little rows of four chairs per pod.
4. Chairs set up around tables.
When I look back at our “history” it seems like we have had the most success with our four sections (the pods of 8 worked pretty well, too.) so we are going to return to that strategy. Each section will be designated by an assigned “color” and we will assign leaders to the same section each week so they can begin to build relationships with students who decide to stick to a certain section from week to week. We won’t mandate where students sit but we are hoping they will connect with the leaders in a certain section and decide to make that their permanent home. When we play games etc. we will ask for representatives from each section.
Hopefully our volunteers will feel a little more ownership of the program since they will be responsible for welcoming guests etc. in their section.
Also, we are beginning a “check in” procedure where each grade/gender will have their own table to go to before service begins. Volunteer leaders will man the tables, greet students, help them check in, introduce guests to our core students etc.