The Joy of Play

Nuvia C. Ruland
Sep 5, 2016
2 min read

Joy. Risk-taking. Creativity. These are the words I would pick to describe the first week of school. Hit 8:15am and students had packed junior hall to reacquaint themselves with friends they had not seen all summer, share their assigned teams and make plans for lunch. Our school’s indoor/outdoor design couldn’t contain the sound of over 100 members of Class of 2018.

Meanwhile, Max and I tried to go over our community building plan for the week one last time. We made sure props, slides and handouts were ready to go. This is our 3rd year teaching together, so we feel confident in the evolution of the team building activities planned, but still we incorporated a few new things we learned since our last first week of school. We strongly believe in working together as a whole team from the first week. Us taking risks and being vulnerable in front of the students is important to set the tone for our fall semester project, The Power Within. So, when we ask them to write about a time they were disrespected, we shared those moments when our friendships and space were trespassed.

The week started off very familiar with a ice-breaker activity two-truths-and-a-lie, and finished with 57 person drum circle lead by Monette from MoRhythm at Otay Lakes county park. During each activity I saw how students shook off a cringe and stretched themselves to embrace an uncomfortable moment. I felt so grateful that they trusted us and each other in such a short period of time. Throughout the week we heard students giggling as they coordinated their bodies in “silence” to physically show what trust looks like. We watched them as they tentatively guided each other around school to their safe space while blindfolded. And we were audience to their presentations of their memes - which set the norms for our class. By Friday their new composition journals had been broken in with stories of what is important for them to feel safe at our school and appreciations for one another. A feeling of unity on our team was tangible.

Often times it’s hard to describe what it’s like to be a teacher at HTHCV and this week is one of them. There were just so many moments that energized me to get to know my students better. Throughout the year I know I will learn about their favorite family member, the new music they’re obsessed with and those things that challenge them the most - this makes me feel blessed. If I didn’t sound pumped for this new school year in the previous post let me be clear that I’m ALL IN for this team of students!