{"id":1236,"date":"2015-01-30T07:28:11","date_gmt":"2015-01-30T15:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insideout.insidewp.test\/?p=1236"},"modified":"2015-01-30T07:28:11","modified_gmt":"2015-01-30T15:28:11","slug":"walking-around-track-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/2015\/01\/30\/walking-around-track-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Walking Around the Track Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

“How are you today?\u00a0<\/em>What did you do this weekend?”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Who are you playing with today?\u00a0<\/em>What are you playing?”<\/em><\/p>\n

“So, what’s new in school today?\u00a0<\/em>What are you learning about?”<\/em><\/p>\n

Those are the questions I usually have to ask to get one of them talking. Small repertoire on my part. After all, my job wasn\u2019t that big\u2014it wasn\u2019t taking care of the entire school system or even a campus. It wasn\u2019t overseeing a musical production or a praise team or a school-wide event. It spanned the area of the track and soccer field. It\u2019s called supervision, and that was my \u201cplacement\u201d in previous years.<\/span> <\/strong>I could usually get around it full circle about four times over a lunch break. Maybe even five on a good day. I could even call that exercise and feel good about myself\u2014maybe eat an extra chocolate bar\u2026or two.<\/p>\n

On a not-so-good day, it\u2019s rainy and cold. It might even blow an umbrella inside out or change my \u201ctamed\u201d (read: heavily doused in product) hair into a rat\u2019s nest. I might come in after the bell rings with pants wet up to my thighs because of the blowing rain or a tummy grumbling for a lunch I never had time to eat.<\/p>\n

Solving a Problem<\/span><\/h2>\n

There are days where it seems like for every two steps I take, intervention is needed. “The game isn\u2019t fair. This kid is saying a bad word. This friend doesn\u2019t want to play with me. He\u2019s not obeying the rules. She ran away from me.”<\/em> Phew! So I walk through the problem solving steps with these students.<\/p>\n

Did you tell them why you were feeling upset? Did you try to have a conversation with them before coming to me? Hmm\u2026most of the time that\u2019s what I am coaching students through to solve their problems. Or I might go the route of: \u00a0how would you feel if someone said that to you? Let\u2019s talk this one out\u2026.<\/p>\n

Some days it seems like I am going to have to buys stocks in the Band-Aid company! Some might actually NEED the bandage, while some just need to know that I care about their \u201cowie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Offering a Listening Ear<\/span><\/h2>\n

Other days, I don\u2019t do much talking at all. They do. They have things to share, things they want to talk about.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want to know what I am learning about? Do you want to know what we did an experiment about? Do you know what I am writing a story about? Guess what I am doing for my research today?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want to know what I\u2019m playing? Have you seen my friends? I need to play an important game with them!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy aunt is having a baby! I\u2019m going to be a flower girl in a wedding! I get to go camping this weekend!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want to know what is unfair? Can I tell you what I don\u2019t like about today?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cMy dad was in the hospital\u2026my mom is feeling lousy again.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

And that is when I know walking around the track matters. To the students who need a listening ear, who needed a trusted someone to talk to, who want to be reassured that everything is still okay. An open ear, a steady pace, some comforting words. I couldn\u2019t offer solutions, but I could offer my presence and attention. Until the bell rings and they race inside\u2026until my next supervision time comes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“How are you today?\u00a0What did you do this weekend?” “Who are you playing with today?\u00a0What are you playing?” “So, what’s new in school today?\u00a0What are you learning about?” Those are the questions I usually have to ask to get one of them talking. Small repertoire on my part. After all, my job wasn\u2019t that big\u2014it […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":1259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,15],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-1236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elementary","category-relationships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1236"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=1236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}