How Full is Your Bucket? a followup

At our first staff meeting this year, I talked about concept of the bucket, how the kids took to it and the positive effect it had on my students. The question in my mind at that time was, will this have a lasting effect?

Six months later, I can tell you that the bucket concept is one that, as they say in show business, has legs.

Teaching kids about their buckets and how to keep it and those of others full is not a panacea. I'm not going to tell you that everybody gets along, for they don't, or that we never have disagreements on the playground or in P.E., for we do.

But, I can tell you that the number of conflicts that we have is reduced, those that we have are resolved quickly and don't have the long term repercussions they might have had in the past. The bucket concept has something, maybe a lot, to do with this.

I believe that this is because the bucket concept does two things for the kids.

1. it gives them a common vocabulary. The bucket is a way to objectify feelings.  Now, when one child tells another that s/he is "emptying my bucket", the other kid can consider her/his actions without taking the comment personally and hopefully, without getting defensive.


2. it teaches children to see things from the other person's perspective. Children are, by nature self-absorbed and egocentric, seeing the world only in terms of how it affects them. Most people don't develop a true sense of empathy or compassion until they are in their late teens/early 20's. The bucket concept accelerates this.

The caveat: Just as with any other lesson we try to teach, the bucket concept needs to be revisited and repeated and practiced many times before it becomes ingrained. If we just talk about it once or twice, the kids will take to the idea and practice it for a week or two then go back to their old ways. If, on the other hand, we repeat the lesson throughout the year, then expand it by tying it into other social skills we teach ("respect is a good way to keep buckets full"), positive social behavior starts to become second nature.

The bucket filling concept serves as a starting point to more specific character ed lessons.

Whenever I start to see behavior degrade on the playground or in P.E., I revisit the bucket concept. I do this by asking a couple of questions or telling a story or sometimes, by reading a book. I don't talk about buckets specifically, but use the moment to talk about more specific social skills like honesty or responsibility. I always conclude these sessions with a question and answer period. When I talk about specific social skills, like encouragement, someone will blurt out something like, "that's a good way to fill buckets!"

We recently concluded our annual hockey tournament.  For this unit, each class had its own tournament during P.E.. After the class's team standings were determined, 5th grade classes played an inter-class tournament at lunch with opponents determined by class standing (1st place in class A played 4th place in class B, etc.). This was a highly competitive situation that went on for almost 2 months.

Historically, when kids play one sport on the same team against the same opponents for such a long time, tolerance and tempers grow short and the competition deteriorates into a series of arguments. This year's 5th grade hockey session was the longest I ever ran.  As the number postponements due to weather and replays due to tie games mounted, I braced myself for increased levels of unruly behavior.  It never happened.   In fact, throughout the course of the entire tournament, we didn't have a single argument.

Instead, what I saw were hockey teams whose prowess grew steadily throughout the tournament.  With only a couple of minor exceptions, teammates were very supportive of one another.  This allowed kids to play freely and without fear of insult or ridicule.  This resulted in extremely cohesive teams and a very high level of unselfish play. 

In the classroom, 5th graders are currently in the midst of presenting "how to" speeches to their classmates. Students choose their own subject, then present it to their class. This can be pretty traumatic for shy students. The behavior of listening classmates can make this experience more or less difficult for the speaker.

This year, I'm told, the behavior of the listeners has been very supportive, particularly towards those speakers who seem hesitant or less confident.

It appears that the bucket idea is being taken to heart.

"Survivor" Team Challenges

Twice each school year, my classes do a week of team challenges. I call them “Survivor” weeks after the TV show. We do this on the first full week of school and on the first week after winter recess.

I’ve been doing this for about 8 years now. I’ve found it to be a really valuable way for me to establish, without a lot of lecturing, my standards for class behavior and serves as an introduction to character education.

Teaching the kids the value of teamwork is the obvious intent of this unit, but the actual benefits of it go much further than this. In a normal team game setting, the best athletes usually control the action. In Survivor, every child gets a chance to make a valuable contribution. This can give kids a great boost to their self-esteem and to their social standing.

For example, I once had one 3rd grade student who visibly flinched every time I called her name. She hated attention, always thought she was in trouble when I called on her and was the victim of bullying classmates.

By 5th grade her self-confidence had soared and she’d become an undisputed class leader. Her survivor experience wasn’t the sole reason for this, but it undoubtedly helped, for it seemed that she was always on the most successful team. Her ability to find creative, innovative solutions to challenges, and her willingness to share credit and accept fault was so pronounced that her teammates developed complete faith in her judgment.

Survivor works best with teams of 5 – 7 students. That usually translates into 3 teams for 3rd grade classes and 4 teams for 4th and 5th grade classes.

3rd grade students first experience Survivor with fairly simple to understand challenges like Pipeline or the Maze. I present the class with several challenges at once and let the teams complete them in any order.

See this slideshow for more details (click on pictures to enlarge):



4th and 5th grade classes are given one challenge per day. These are usually multiple part challenges. The first part is usually a physical challenge while the second part is a mental challenge. All four teams race to complete the challenge first. All challenges require teams to plan, communicate and cooperate for successful completion.

Here are some samples (see photo captions for challenge instructions):

A Knot Tying / Puzzle Challenge



Multiple Team Island Hopping



A Scooter Relay / Puzzle Challenge



A Maze / Tangram Challenge



Launcher Challenges



Travel Log Obstacle Course



Hope you can use some of these or that they inspire you to create your own.  They can take time to set up, but are well worth the time and effort.

How Full is Your Bucket?

Whenever I give a presentation, I walk out of the meeting thinking about all the things I forgot to mention.

The bucket presentation was no exception.  Some stuff I left out:

• Since presenting the bucket idea, I check back with the kids every so often.  I don't want to oversell it, but I do want to try to make it a habit.  When I see a kid so something noteworthy, I mention it to the whole class and "bucket filling" and "bucket dipping" are part of my PE vocabulary
  
• After starting with the "hello" bit, I told the kids that it wasn't just what they said, but what they did and that actions were sometimes more powerful than words
  
• Before our first competitive unit of the year (Speedball), I talked about how players at at their best when their buckets are full.  I asked the kids how they would fill others' buckets during competition.  Here are some of the answers they gave me:
  
• When someone makes a mistake- say "it's okay" or "nice try"- then give them another chance 
• Say "nice play" whenever somebody, no matter which team, does something good.
• To the opposing team, win or lose:  shake hands and say "good game"  
• Give everyone a chance to play every position

It's easy to say such things when asked, but the kids actually went out and did everything they said they would.  I just completed the best flag football unit I've ever taught.  Its success was due mostly to the support the kids gave each other.

The kids have become really good at is sharing and complementing each others' work.  It hasn't been perfect, for we have some sneaky bullying going on, but all in all the kids are doing a phenomenal job.