Ball Pits, Bus Rides and Buddies

Ball Pits-Until recently, the last time I had thought about a ball pit was Silver Dollar City, circa 1980. My sister and I had to wait while my brother jumped in the pit with total strangers. Don't feel sorry for us though. I'm sure we were eating a funnel cake while he played. Fast forward to 2017. I went to a conference in February and the presenter showed us a video of strangers who got to know each other after answering questions in a ball pit. I knew at that very moment, I was going to figure out a way to bring that idea to Carver. After much thought, I came up with Mrs. Burr's Ball Pit. I decided when new students enrolled, I would call them into the pit with a classmate and they would answer questions I had written on a beach ball. Some favorites are, If you had a superpower, what would it be and why, If you could meet anyone, who would it be and why, and Create a Secret Handshake. That one is a little hard for us, but we have a great time trying to create one. I knew I needed to reach more kids though, so I decided to call a different student to the pit at the end of the school day. Yes! It has been AMAZING. I can't go into a classroom or even walk down the hallway, without being asked how they can get into the pit. As I was thinking about how fun it has been getting in the pit with kids another idea came to me. You guessed it...Call the staff into the pit. So now, when the PRICE IS RIGHT music comes on over the intercom, you never know whose name is going to be announced followed by COME ON DOWN. It's been a game changer. I've learned so much about the kids and staff who have gotten into the pit that I would have never known before. I won't reveal what Mrs. Shuler mentioned about her own detention in school. While I realize the kids love playing with the 2000 balls, I choose to believe they want to get in for a more meaningful reason. I believe it's because they feel important and trust has been built. I'm not only taking time to talk to them, but to listen to them as well, and I believe it makes a difference. I know relationships are being built every time we step into Mrs. Burr's Ball Pit.


Bus Rides-I rode the school bus from the time I was 5 until I was 13, so I can definitely say I had the bus experience. I have sweet memories of riding Mr. Neal's bus with my friends and siblings in the 70s and early 80s. . Well, they seem sweet now. I'm not sure I thought they were so sweet back then. As I searched Twitter recently for some new ideas to use at school, I saw an idea that intrigued me...SHADOW A STUDENT. A principal followed a student around for the day. I loved it! I wasted no time thinking about this idea any further. I went to school the next day and picked a third grade boy named Tanner to shadow. After I announced he was the winner (if having your principal follow you around school makes you a winner) I handed the microphone to Mrs. Sanny and went to sit by Tanner. I shadowed him during his classes and I must say that math stresses me out more in 2017 than it did in 1979. My fourth grade teacher will read this so no comments Mrs. Turner. I promise I got better at multiplication. We played outside on the playground equipment and ate lunch together and just enjoyed talking and getting to know each other better. The highlight, though, turned out to be riding the bus home with him. I heard the kids whispering, "Mrs. Burr is riding the bus home with Tanner". I know it was pride I saw in his eyes as he heard the whispers. Tanner had been so sweet the entire day. He made sure I had a spot right beside him no matter where we were and the bus was no different. As we sat together, he told me who lived in each house and how much further it was to his home. I even got to know bus driver Donna a little better that day too. Tanner is no different than the kids in the ball pit. I believe Tanner trusts me because I made him feel important that day. I listened to him and conveyed to him that I was interested in what he had to say. My actions conveyed to him he mattered. When I see him in the hall now, I'm immediately taken back to our bus ride together and I bet if I ask him, he would say the same.


Buddies--I take on a new role each time I get in the ball pit with the kids...buddy. That's also how I felt that day with Tanner. Kids need buddies. They need to feel important and they need to have someone they can trust. Perhaps if there had been questions in the ball pit all those years ago at Silver Dollar City in the 70s, my brother would have made lifelong friends with some of those strangers. It's not just kids who need that though. It's adults as well. During a recent collaboration on Friday, I was visiting with our first grade team and a veteran teacher, who is new to Carver, mentioned that you don't realize how important buddies are until you don't have them anymore. I knew her life experiences in the workplace had contributed to this comment. The team has worked hard on building trust this year and it's been exciting to watch as an administrator. I've worked in four different schools over the past 24 years and if I hadn't been made to feel important or had people I could trust I wouldn't have wanted to stay. I've experienced situations where trust was lost, or perhaps I realized it was never there from the beginning, and that's a sad realization. I recently read, Lead Like A Pirate by Beth Houf and Shelley Burgess. If you know me, you know I believe everything Beth Houf says. There is a chapter in the book on trust. A quote that stuck out to me was, "Trust is the oxygen of our school systems. You can't see it, hear it, touch it, or feel it, but yet without it, you will find yourself struggling to survive". I have found that to be true. If you can't trust your colleagues, you have nothing. You must put the work in to build it or in some cases rebuild it. It takes time, work and being committed to building it, but it can be done if the desire is there. Ask yourself if you are a trustworthy colleague? Are your actions showing you are trying to build trust or destroy it? Do you make your kids and your co-workers feel important? If the answer is no, perhaps you need to spend some time with ball pits, bus rides and buddies.