Sometimes Thing Just Don't Gel
On Monday, I had one of the worst sessions that I've had recently. The kids were completely uninterested in anything I had to say, none of them responded to reminders about points, and they just ran rough-shod over everything I had to share with them. Their staff members weren't helping, and the little bit of help that they tried just plain old did not work. i had planned something that I thought they would really enjoy. They didn't. It was just a mess from beginning to end!
I left the session feeling a bit defeated. These feelings were enhanced by the fact that I was coming down with my annual bout of bronchitis, but most of the issues were based on my perception of failure with this group. Now, when I look over this session, there were some good things going. The kids were socializing with one another (not something that happens often), and they were united in their decision not to engage with me (very unusual - I can generally get at least some of them going along with my ideas).
Now, we knew that this would probably be a challenge this week. We have recently had a bunch of new kids admitted to the program and not many kids have left. So, the new kids are unknown to us and the "old" kids are not used to changes in their status quo. We (the support service staff) are trying something new this year - groups that are arranged based on client strengths and needs. Since that is our new way of doing things, we have to meet the kids before we assign them a group. So, this week, when we had five new kids, we placed them in the aforementioned group and another group. I didn't think it would be this much of a problem, but it has been. One of the other support service staff members stated that they were horrible for her as well.
We know who needs to move. This client is very sophisticated when it comes to getting others to do what the client wants. Removing that client from this group will make this group more manageable and more cohesive. The problem is that this client will disrupt any of the groups. The charisma is just that strong.
So, we will meet at some time on Friday to re-sort kids into support services group.
I hope next Monday will be more like the other Mondays. I'm looking for my clients to gel into a cohesive group. We will see. If it works, then great! If it doesn't, then on to Plans B, C, and so forth.
I left the session feeling a bit defeated. These feelings were enhanced by the fact that I was coming down with my annual bout of bronchitis, but most of the issues were based on my perception of failure with this group. Now, when I look over this session, there were some good things going. The kids were socializing with one another (not something that happens often), and they were united in their decision not to engage with me (very unusual - I can generally get at least some of them going along with my ideas).
Now, we knew that this would probably be a challenge this week. We have recently had a bunch of new kids admitted to the program and not many kids have left. So, the new kids are unknown to us and the "old" kids are not used to changes in their status quo. We (the support service staff) are trying something new this year - groups that are arranged based on client strengths and needs. Since that is our new way of doing things, we have to meet the kids before we assign them a group. So, this week, when we had five new kids, we placed them in the aforementioned group and another group. I didn't think it would be this much of a problem, but it has been. One of the other support service staff members stated that they were horrible for her as well.
We know who needs to move. This client is very sophisticated when it comes to getting others to do what the client wants. Removing that client from this group will make this group more manageable and more cohesive. The problem is that this client will disrupt any of the groups. The charisma is just that strong.
So, we will meet at some time on Friday to re-sort kids into support services group.
I hope next Monday will be more like the other Mondays. I'm looking for my clients to gel into a cohesive group. We will see. If it works, then great! If it doesn't, then on to Plans B, C, and so forth.
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