Thursday, October 9, 2014

Crate Stacking

Students were told to wear their PE kits and bring a water bottle in wednesday mentor time. Mentor time is a UWC term used for homeroom or tutor time to evidently their mentor is their teacher or tutor. It is always strange to hear the word mentor instead of teacher for new students but once they are settled in, it’s second nature.

The class of ACU weren’t told why and what they were doing but they were told when and where. They were to meet in the main hall after break with their water bottle and PE kit. The fact that these teenagers were told hardly any information riled some and left others wondering. “I was worried because I am not an athletic person so I thought I wouldn’t contribute that much.” commented a apprehensive Sofia on after having received hardly any info. Was everybody going to enjoy it?

The mentor class did as they were told and were in the main hall upon scheduled arrival. They were pleasantly surprised when they witnessed two instructors from dover sitting on the edge of the stage; one whom the whole class knew and the other being a stranger to some. The instructors were Jen and Tom or as the people who knew him liked to call him Big-Teezy.

The trained outdoor education instructors explained to everybody that the disclosed activity was in fact an game to work on collaboration and communication skills through stacking crates, beer crates. The main hall was decorated with mats on the floor and the ropes had been released from ceiling. 7-3 were given helmets and harnesses for safety reasons. The aim was to transport the 80 crates on the stage to the set of mats ten meters away without touching the bare floor and only stepping on the crash mats. They had to problem solve a way to use the empty crates to make a path to the mats in a limited amount of time. The group was given a scenario to help visualize their activity. The grade sevens assigned their peers’ roles as part of the communication aspect of the activity.

More information on how the crate-stacking went can be found on our website.

Overall the 13 and 14-year-olds used a lot of teamwork and worked up a lot of sweat. That being said, they very much enjoyed the exercise and would gladly do it again. Unconfirmed source commented, “I would definitely do it again, it was really fun and it really helped our class bond.”

By Lauren

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