How To Involve & Engage Difficult Kids?
This was a question sent to me from a participant who attended one of my recent workshops…
Q: What activities do you think would be well suited to students who are hard to work with and disengaged from participation? – Duncan (WA)
Here’s a part of my response…
… I can totally understand the “resistance” issue with the kids you’re working with especially. However, the principle is the same as with any other group – it’s all about preparation. If at any time they resist, it’s just a signal that they are not comfortable, and need more preparation. Most of the time, your groups are going to need LOTS more preparation, esp in terms of “sharing” and trusting one another.
However, that said, these groups are often the quickest to embrace the power of these interactions once they ‘get over’ themselves. And that’s part of our job. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I’m not saying that this is a lottery, but a play and adventure-based learning approach is just one tool in your arsenal, there is NO magic trick.
So, to your questions about what activities are good to introduce with these kids – well, pretty much anything that involves their WHOLE body – keep them moving, and subtly, invite them into “safe” places to share. An hour of running around, having a laugh, and raising heart beats goes a long way to helping kids feel more effective at sharing. It’s often baby steps at first (there’s a LOT of ice to break with these kids), but over time, you should start to see some kids get the idea, and feel safer to share and thereby open the door to learning and trusting.
Final word of advice… I often also spend some considerable time and effort “framing” my experiences before I invite challenging groups to “risk” playing. Sometimes this is a conversation, but often it can be just the way I behave or the type of activities I introduce that communicates “what is expected around here.” If it seems like rules, they’ll buck up. But, if the fun is really obvious, it’s often hard for kids to step away from it. And as I often say, it’s hard to look “cool” when every one else is having a fun time.
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Who am I?
Hi, I'm Mark Collard.
This blog shares some of the most successful group games, team-building activities & programming tips I know.
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