Young Men's Club - 3/27/08

I'm starting to think that I might actually be good at this job. Don't get me wrong, mistakes were made today. But overall, the guys in the club are progressing very nicely in many areas. For starters, I was working my other job today so when I got to the school I was pretty darn pooped. However, the general mood of the kids seemed to be pretty mellow. Of course the usual suspects needed to be spoken to but not that often. I have a system where the kids who are listening and ready to go are allowed to line up first. Which also means that they have first pick of the drumming buckets as well as being the first ones to go for bathroom breaks. I've been giving a silent signal to indicate that I'm about to make my choices. Today, I decided to make an announcement. I wish I had thought of this before because everyone gets it together so much easier. The boys also started with a 10 minute time out because they didn't know how to act at the end of the last club. The better behaved kids were released early and played Red Light, Green Light. Unfortunately, there was an accident. Kids don't realize that when you run really fast into a wall, it's going to hurt. Although I think the sliding into the wall was caused by two kids' feet get tangled up. Anyway, no one was seriously hurt and I allowed the game to continue after a brief lecture on physics, the human body, and how a wall will always win. Later we moved on to the drumming portion. Nasir really seems to have taken to his role of Drum Major. I told him that this would be his job in the show and that he had to take it seriously. He seemed excited about the prospect. So now, when he starts to act out of line, I can threaten to take it away from him. Yes, I am an evil man. But it's very effective. If you find out what the kids like and what they don't like, then control whether they get one or the other, it makes life a little bit easier. I also found a new catch phrase. I ask them, "Do you want to play the game or do you want to sit down?" They say, "Play the game." Then I say, "Don't tell me. Show Me." Meaning show me by demonstrating good behavior. It's very clever.