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by Dawn Iles, Sawyer School How do we get 100 eighth graders from Sawyer School in Chicago and 100 eighth graders from Elm Place Middle School in Highland Park to get together and have fun? Stop! Are you remembering that eighth graders are teenagers? This is the dilemma that Cheryl Levi, a teacher from Elm Place Middle School, and I a teacher from Sawyer School, had. Three years ago we started a pen pal program. Our goal was to promote tolerance. We wanted our kids to breakdown stereotypes by putting aside images and meeting the real thing. Cheryl and I were so excited about our project. We matched the kids up and started writing. We had very high expectations, and we thought everything would go without a hitch. At the end of the year my kids went out to Highland Park for the big meeting. We had planned a day that involved activities where the kids would learn about communication through drama. Than all the kids would get together with their pen pals for lunch. Besides the fact that it took us about an hour and a half to get there, the day didn't go that well. Teenagers don't want to meet new people unless they are at the mall, and the strangers are the opposite sex. Teenagers don't want to fell pressured or forced into a conversation, and when I think about it, neither do I. Even though the day was not what we had hoped, Cheryl and I were not deterred. The following year Elm Place Middle School came to Sawyer. Cheryl and I thought we needed more structure. We wanted the kids to have something to talk about. So we invited a Holocaust survivor to speak about his experiences and how important tolerance is in society. Then again, the kids would eat pizza together. This event was not a success either. Again the experience seem forced. "Let's listen to a survivor and then have small talk over pizza." As I looked around the lunchroom, I didn't see stereotypes being broken down. I saw a segregated cafeteria. I saw dirty looks being given, nasty remarks being passed, and kids who would probably never want to write their pen pals again. Anyone else in their right mind would have thrown in the towel, but Cheryl and I were determined to make this work. We are educators therefore, we are idealists. Cheryl got the name of Dan Creely and gave him a call. We thought the program sounded pretty good, but I must confess we were prepared for the worst. We liked the fact that the kids would be meeting in neutral territory. So, we decided to go for it. Yet, we both verbalized that this would probably be the last we go together. We were prepared to end our program after this meeting. Now that I look back on Nov. 30, 1999, I think that finding this program was our destiny. It was the perfect experience for the kids. It was well organized, well run and most importantly, it was fun. After the kids arrived in the gym, Dan greeted them and gave an introduction to the day. It was obvious that he knows how to talk to kids. The students were immediately interested. As I walked around to observe the different groups, I could not believe that these were the same kids that participated last year. The students were playing games, laughing and joking around with each other, and we were not even in a mall. There were no mean things said, no dirty looks given, and most importantly, the kids didn't feel pressure or anxiety. Cheryl and I thought this program was sent from heaven. Just as I thought it couldn't get any better, on the bus my students told me that the filed trip was, "pretty cool". This may not seem like a compliment, but translated from teenager language it means, "great, the best time I ever had". The next day I asked my students how they liked their pen pals, and they all said positive things. I asked how their group went, and they said, "the games taught us how to communicate and work as a team". This is testimony that the day was a success because they were sincere. Even though the field trip is over, my kids still point and make a buzzer noise when someone puts someone else down (a technique taught to them by their facilitators). Some of the kids were showing our gym teacher the activities they learned. One of my students said that she wants to go to college and learn how to teach kids to work together. Does it get any better than that? Besides Dan setting the tone and creating a non-threatening environment, the facilitators were a huge part of the day's success. I asked my students how they liked their facilitators who are in the Physical Education Teacher Training Program at Northeastern. They said they were, "straight", which means in adult language, "they will be excellent educators". |