Sneaky learning

One of the things that I get to do here at Exodus is supporting the high school coordinator, Amy, with the high school program from an educational standpoint. This means that I get to spend a lot of time hanging out with the high school students, observing and getting to know them, as well as doing mini “workshops” with them on various topics. These students are all there of their own will, and part of the challenge of the program is to support them academically while making it so that they want to be there. I think the best way to describe the atmosphere is “organized chaos”. There is a lot of intentional teaching going on, but it is all about sneaking the learning in there in such a way that they don’t fully realize you’re doing it. These students are amazing young people with incredible stories, and it is really cool to see how they are growing and maturing through the support they receive at Exodus.

To give you a little glimpse into what the atmosphere may look like, here is something that happened the other day. There is a young woman in the high school group, who I’ll call J. We are all sitting around a table, playing a game where you have to talk for 30 seconds on a given topic without saying "like" or "um" (heehee... sneaky learning). So J is sitting next to “Billy”, who is being a total pain in the butt. He keeps interrupting everyone with "Like, I, like, ummmm, don't even know... ummmm... ummm...like, ummm... say like!"

J has the patience of a New York City taxi driver, the competitiveness of a New York pigeon who sees bread on the street, and a very honed sense of justice. You can just see her get more and more exasperated with Billy as we go around the circle. So, it gets to her turn to talk, and she needs to answer the question, "What do you hope will happen tomorrow?"

J (in a sort of monotone, slowly paced voice, as she thinks about each word to make sure she doesn't say like or um): "Tomorrow..I... hope that I will...pass... every... pop quiz... that my teachers... decide to give... in... class... and I hope... that I... will...have... a good...time... at ... school and ... I hope.... that I ...will...hit... Billy... in the face..." (She leans over non-chalantly and backhands him across the face) "...oh, wait... that... happened... today, so... it... doesn't...need to... happen... tomorrow."

I had to bite the inside of my lip so hard to keep from laughing!