Change A Thing; Change A Child

When you’re teaching Creative Drama at Highland elementary, never is there a dull moment.  The lesson plans are filled to the brim with fun and the children are ALWAYS filled to the brim with energy. We have had many memorable lessons thus far, but there is one in particular that has been most impactful on me as a person and as an educator.

The first few lessons we worked on involved creatively exploring the concept of ‘similarities and differences’. On this particular day, we introduced a game called ‘change a thing’. The game works like this—you have a partner, and you choose who goes first. You will then turn back to back and the partner going first is to change one or two items about his/her appearance and when the partners turn around again, the goal is to figure out what exactly changed in the person’s appearance.

Gretta had me model the game for the kids. I presented myself and turned in a 360. The kids and I turned away from each other as I took off my hat and untied a boot. Voila! The kids had such a strong response to the game—they absolutely loved it!

Everyone in the class usually comes to the work at their own pace, but during this game, everyone was equally as engaged as the next. There is a boy named Chad who is absolutely wonderful, but very, very shy and quiet. When he is uncomfortable or out of sorts, he pulls out his eyelashes and tugs on his brow. These ticks usually occur whenever we introduce a new situation and activities in creative drama. However, not on this day! Chad was completely immersed and happily so! He even volunteered to go up and change a thing in his appearance in front of the class! I was completely floored. Chad was ready to shine and certainly took his spotlight!

It was a fantastic teaching experience that I will always remember. It is a continual blessing to be able to work with these youth. I cannot wait to see what happens next.