“It doesn’t matter how fast you are… it matters how fast you are”
I pause and wait for the children to call out: “that doesn’t make sense!”
“Exactly”, I say.
Now that I have confused the kids, I play different games that help me explain the idea that being fast depends on many factors.
The first game includes asking a group of kids: “Who is the fastest? I pick the kid who puts his hand up first and mention: “I picked this person because they were the fastest”. My first hint?
Interestingly, if I ask this question to a group of Kindergarten children they will all raise their hand, while those in year six will not and often advise me who is the fastest.
So next, I place a football about three metres away and and say to the kid next to me: “It’s a race to the ball, are you ready?” “Yes”, they reply. I pause, then sprint over to the ball while the kid watches me or attempts to catch up.
“You cheated”, the kids scream out. When I ask why?, they reply by saying “you didn’t say go” I then remind them that I didn’t tell them to wait until I said go, only that I asked “are you ready?”
I use this game to emphasise the fact that a head start will make you faster; also that being proactive and challenging assumptions will give you an advantage.
As if the kids are not already confused enough, I then contrast this game by telling them it’s time to “warm-up” and proceed to give them two choices: “You can either run 20 laps of the field or play my quick mini game”. There is always one or two kids who will opt for the laps. I sometimes send these kids on their way, for two purposes: 1) it gets rid of the “troublemaker”; 2) it serves as an example to the remaining children about the value of making the right decision, as I point out that the session will be over before they even finish. Do not worry, the child that chose to do the laps is often saved by a merciful teacher or I ask them back after a couple of laps.
Then I have the kids to sit down and tell them it is a race to stand up. “When I say go, the first person standing wins. Ready…set..and before I say go the majority of kids are standing, I stop and they realise they have gone to soon.
The next step is to say: “Okay, now I want a football word…a word that you would find in the game of football. After telling them that “knock-on” and “try” are from another sport, I might settle on the word “kick”, for example. “So when I say kick, the first person to stand wins”. “Wait till I say kick.” At this stage, maybe one or two kids will respond realising that I have said “kick”.
“Wow! you are the fastest!”
This game will highlight the need to extract the right information from the environment to make the right decision and act accordingly. A great “teaching” moment happened to me last week when playing this game. A little girl responded by standing up before sitting back down. I asked: “Why did you stand up”, she replied: because you said the word. “Why did you sit back down?”, I asked, and she said: “because nobody else stood up”.
I went on to tell her she was right and highlighted the importance and benefit of having courage in a group setting.
The little girl was proud of herself for being the fastest and I hope in the future she will have the confidence to be the fastest.
Now if you thought you were off the hook you were mistaken.
How fast are you?…too fast ,too slow or fast enough?
These three questions can test your speed!
(I will give you the answers once you submit).
OMG, that was a very intense half hour of family discussion to answer those questions
Thanks Matt