Shaping the Young Leaders of Tomorrow

Since I don't have enough on my plate already ... I decided to coach K's Destination Imagination team. Fortunately, since he's in 1st grade, his team is the entry-level "Rising Stars" which means we have a challenge and will compete, but they don't advance to State. 

It means I get to try my hand on coaching 6 and 7 year-olds and try to have them understand team work, critical thinking, team work, creative thinking, team work ... oh and did I mention team work? Yes, that will be the biggest challenge. My one 2nd grade boy is an absolute handful. He's clearly smart, but he is also clearly starving for attention or something, because he wants to disrupt, disrupt, disrupt. It takes all my patience to remain calm and conduct the team. 

Oh, and did I mention, I can't tell them what to do? It's all about them determining what they should do. I get to coach them along by asking probing questions and getting them to think about the solutions they create, but I can't give them hints. Yesterday, they had to use paper to build a tall tower. I watched them try to figure it out for a few minutes ... and clearly they were struggling. I am hoping that this only means we have that much more room to grow. 

I will say, K definitely has some lovely leadership skills that he let shine yesterday. I was tickled to watch him. Definitely I was a proud mama. Now, I just have to hope this all comes together in time for competition at the end of March.