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Weekly Tribes 2013 November – No Put Downs; Yes Appreciations!

This comes from Connie in northern Ontario.

Find a 5 – 10 lb rock.  Clean it up so you can write on it with a permanent marker.

Have students share the put downs that they constantly have to deal with in life or at school.  Write them on the rock (or figure out a way to attach them to the rock).

Meanwhile, have a beautifully decorated and wrapped empty box.  Use post-it notes to write down the appreciations that make students feel good and attach those to the beautifully wrapped box.

Students sit in community circle and pass around the heavy rock full of put downs.  Then pass around the light (empty) and nicely appointed (with wrapping and appreciation) box.

Reflect:

Which would you rather carry all day long?

Why do we carry the heavy weight of put downs?  Why do we care when others treat us badly?

How can we ‘lighten the load”, especially now that we all know the metaphor here?

What can you do to help someone when you see them ‘weighed dwon’?

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