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Eighth-graders spend night on Pudong Campus in lock-in
January 20, 2009, Tuesday
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STUDENT perspective
Dianna Li, G8
The idea of a lock-in started as just that: an idea. It was the second meeting of the EA Forum, a brainstorming session. Slowly, the idea caught on: eighth-graders only, spending the night at school, doing sports, activities, and music.
It was bound to be a popular notion. The appeal of a sleepover-social became apparent and was agreed upon unanimously.
As if planning the social event wasn't enough of a challenge, we, as Eagle Ambassadors, developed our communication and cooperation skills more than anything else. We learned to voice our ideas, critique but not criticize, and work efficiently with others we'd barely ever shared a word with before.
During our short 40-minute gatherings twice or thrice a week, so many aspects of the approaching occasion screamed for our attention: permission forms, advertising, budget, activities, music, equipment, designated premises, chaperones, food, transportation, and entertainment.
We encountered numerous obstacles, including a temporary rejection of the use of the school buildings, food and transportation costs, to say nothing of students who had paid but changed their mind at the last minute. The schedule and teams were revised countless times.
Soon, the night arrived, and all our hard work and planning was put to the test. We scurried around making sure that chaperones knew where they were supposed to be stationed, taking unfilled shifts, and keeping things in order, trying not to be disheartened by the thoughtless complaints lobbed our way.
Murphy's Law proved to be true in this scenario: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." An extra half an hour of free time was provided to fill in the gap of a missing TV episode. Many people simply refused to quiet down to hear a vital announcement. Some even abandoned whole buckets of spilt popcorn on the stairs, which Amreen Ahmad so kindly volunteered to clean up.
We fell in several potholes, but were always able to climb out. Through this, a valuable lesson was learned. Not everything will go exactly as planned. Sometimes, we just have to go with the flow.
Despite all these problems, we pulled through in a superb show of teamwork, and the end result was quite pleasing.
Faculty perspective
Shannon Brown, MS Humanities Teacher
Having served as a US public school teacher and administrator over the last 11 years, when presented with the challenge of serving as faculty advisor of 15 eighth-grade Eagle Ambassadors, I had to change my thought process and norms.
When I started with the SAS Pudong campus eighth-grade group of Eagle Ambassadors at the end of October, we had a simple directive: Plan and implement what we call a MYG night in February, plan one social and one fundraiser in the remaining quarters.
In addition, I was told that by eighth grade the students should really be able to run the meetings, plan and employ with minimal involvement from me. I listened, and I believed, but I was not sure what that would look like. January 9-10, I got my answer.?
The students decided to have a lock-in. While my public school mentality labeled that idea as preposterous, the students soldiered on. They wrote a proposal, met with Principal Roukema to discuss their proposal and plan, budgeted for food and transportation, coordinated with the PTSA, planned activities, recruited faculty and staff chaperones and publicized and sold tickets for the event.
Each meeting was full of successes and challenges, but the students rose to the occasion and exceeded my expectations. While plans seemed well-considered and logical, the date for the event was a bit of a challenge - the week we returned from break. Despite jet lag, the plans the students put into place were executed beautifully, and 102 students attended the first eighth-grade lock-in.
While I learned to let go of control through this process, what I watched transpire with the students was awe-inspiring. They moved from looking to an adult for all of the answers to really communicating with one another. They learned the value of flexibility. When all were tired and had little sleep, they realized the sacrifices that had to be made as leaders to help implement a plan.
Dianna Li, G8
The idea of a lock-in started as just that: an idea. It was the second meeting of the EA Forum, a brainstorming session. Slowly, the idea caught on: eighth-graders only, spending the night at school, doing sports, activities, and music.
It was bound to be a popular notion. The appeal of a sleepover-social became apparent and was agreed upon unanimously.
As if planning the social event wasn't enough of a challenge, we, as Eagle Ambassadors, developed our communication and cooperation skills more than anything else. We learned to voice our ideas, critique but not criticize, and work efficiently with others we'd barely ever shared a word with before.
During our short 40-minute gatherings twice or thrice a week, so many aspects of the approaching occasion screamed for our attention: permission forms, advertising, budget, activities, music, equipment, designated premises, chaperones, food, transportation, and entertainment.
We encountered numerous obstacles, including a temporary rejection of the use of the school buildings, food and transportation costs, to say nothing of students who had paid but changed their mind at the last minute. The schedule and teams were revised countless times.
Soon, the night arrived, and all our hard work and planning was put to the test. We scurried around making sure that chaperones knew where they were supposed to be stationed, taking unfilled shifts, and keeping things in order, trying not to be disheartened by the thoughtless complaints lobbed our way.
Murphy's Law proved to be true in this scenario: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." An extra half an hour of free time was provided to fill in the gap of a missing TV episode. Many people simply refused to quiet down to hear a vital announcement. Some even abandoned whole buckets of spilt popcorn on the stairs, which Amreen Ahmad so kindly volunteered to clean up.
We fell in several potholes, but were always able to climb out. Through this, a valuable lesson was learned. Not everything will go exactly as planned. Sometimes, we just have to go with the flow.
Despite all these problems, we pulled through in a superb show of teamwork, and the end result was quite pleasing.
Faculty perspective
Shannon Brown, MS Humanities Teacher
Having served as a US public school teacher and administrator over the last 11 years, when presented with the challenge of serving as faculty advisor of 15 eighth-grade Eagle Ambassadors, I had to change my thought process and norms.
When I started with the SAS Pudong campus eighth-grade group of Eagle Ambassadors at the end of October, we had a simple directive: Plan and implement what we call a MYG night in February, plan one social and one fundraiser in the remaining quarters.
In addition, I was told that by eighth grade the students should really be able to run the meetings, plan and employ with minimal involvement from me. I listened, and I believed, but I was not sure what that would look like. January 9-10, I got my answer.?
The students decided to have a lock-in. While my public school mentality labeled that idea as preposterous, the students soldiered on. They wrote a proposal, met with Principal Roukema to discuss their proposal and plan, budgeted for food and transportation, coordinated with the PTSA, planned activities, recruited faculty and staff chaperones and publicized and sold tickets for the event.
Each meeting was full of successes and challenges, but the students rose to the occasion and exceeded my expectations. While plans seemed well-considered and logical, the date for the event was a bit of a challenge - the week we returned from break. Despite jet lag, the plans the students put into place were executed beautifully, and 102 students attended the first eighth-grade lock-in.
While I learned to let go of control through this process, what I watched transpire with the students was awe-inspiring. They moved from looking to an adult for all of the answers to really communicating with one another. They learned the value of flexibility. When all were tired and had little sleep, they realized the sacrifices that had to be made as leaders to help implement a plan.
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