Leading and leaning

I spent the weekend at a camp in the piney woods outside of Huntsville, Texas, with about 200 students and teachers from schools like mine all over the country. The annual student leadership summit (there's that word again, and, no, we weren't signing peace treaties) brings together 6th graders and 10th, 11th or 12th graders, two from each school, hand-picked for their ability to lead other kids. They spend time completing a series of team-building activities, games and reflections meant to further stimulate this potential.

The students certainly were stimulated. Like most things related to this particular charter system, the day started early and ended late. My kids spent the first 15 hours or so moving from an in-depth discussion about leadership traits to a kickball game followed by an intricate school-improvement process, low-ropes challenges, canoeing, archery and the infamously fun gaga ball (an intense dodgeball played in a circular pit the size of a taco stand). On the second day, they climbed telephone poles and walked across wires suspended 25-feet in the air as part of a high ropes course. There was also a zip line (too fun!) and a climbing wall.

Needless to say, the kids had a blast. I, too, enjoyed the mellow of an absurdly low teacher-to-student ratio. Each duo was accompanied by one teacher. (Usually, even on field trips, we are easily at 25-to-1 if not higher). This changed my typical vibe quite a bit. I dropped what I like to think of as fond-efficient, a sort of smiling Mr. Von-Trapp-pre-Maria-sans whistle. Instead, I went into what I can only imagine is Mom mode, keeping track of comings and goings, taking a ton of pictures, urging them to go off and have fun with their new friends, stopping just short of tucking them in at night. The other teachers and I sat around, talking about our schools and stopping every so often to cheer on the kids or check in. Though we run our classrooms with a clockwork efficiency worthy of any Rodgers and Hammerstein Austrian, we in this charter system are in the habit of doting on our students a fairly ridiculous amount. Like most teachers, we love them to pieces. Unlike many teachers, we are encouraged by our schools to get to know our students in and out of the classroom in a big way (see "Home Visit Bridge" from last month). Trips like this are just icing on the cake.

It is also the only time (to my knowledge) that students are invited to a nationwide gathering of other students. You would think, in this charter system, that people would bend over backwards to fund and plan events like this that gather students from all over the country. It was incredibly powerful to see the ties that bind kids--the common chants, hand motions, slogans, extended metaphors and brightly colored t-shirts. The highlight of the weekend (other than the zip line) was the t-shirt exchange (mad trading of school shirts) followed by a campfire led by the high school students. Seventeen years olds who had been in the system since 5th grade stood up and told the 6th graders (hanging rapt on every word) how important it was to keep going, keep leading and keep striving. Kids who will be the first in their families to go to college next year stood face to face with 11 year olds who are trying to do the same thing. The adults hung out in the back and said exactly nothing. In fact, nothing I say for the rest of the year will have such an impact.

We finished with a stirring rendition of the song "Lean on Me" led by a teacher with a gorgeous voice and a huddle of high school students with a lot of heart. The middle schoolers stood up and threw their arms around each others' shoulders (unless they were, eek, standing next to someone of the opposite sex....) Swaying to the beat and singing with all their might, they walked away from the campfire and back into their lives that much stronger, knowing they had a whole country full of fellow travelers to lean on. More kids should be able to feel the same.