Trying to figure out how to get introverted 15-year-old boys to get comfortable sharing anecdotes in a story circle every class is, at least in the school I'm working in, a lot like threading a needle with a landscape timber.
Students at the school I'm working at are generally quite troubled. It's a mix of very bright kids with trauma and other emotional issues with kids who have learning challenges AND trauma or social issues. Many are on the autism spectrum or have Aspurgers. Many of them are survivors of school shootings or come from homeless families or multiple foster homes. Almost all of them in my present class are young men with few social skills and a myriad of emotional challenges. Especially at 8AM (4AM when you're at the mercy of the circadian rhythm) they tend to be borderline hostile, terse and sullen.
Yet another challenge faces the teachers: there are protocols protecting these kids with the threat of possible lawsuit if the kid doesn't feel served enough by the staff. If a kid reports that his needs were not heard or not being met, all hell can ensue for the school.
Here he comes, ear buds in, slumped deeply into his hoodie. He may or may not take the ear buds out, since it's protocol that he gets to keep them in at all times for emotional purposes. He returns a friendly "good morning" with a snarl or a grunt. He gives one-word answers to all questions, except when he shruggs. When asked to take part in the exercise "I am, I can, I want," by way of sharing in story circle, he shuffles to his feet, head hung so low his voice barely makes it out of his hood, and answers,
"I am hating this class. I can not wait to get out of this school. I want to go home."
Now teach him to tell a story.
And yet...I actually LIKE this...
