Hi, Parents:
Tonight went quite smoothly. First of all, we had a new group member, (IL) and I am pleased to say that he fit into group quite easily. No matter when I looked, other members were engaging with him, and vice versa. In fact, the majority of the group members were engaged with one another tonight, and that was simply just very nice to see.
The evening began by me talking to them and laying out what we were going to do tonight, which involved an outdoor activity, involving games of either Bananagrams or Guess Who. In addition to that, many of the teens who had previously done the video had an opportunity to improve their performance, and about five of them took me up on that offer. I am pleased to say that all five of them were able to look at little bits of what they did before and improve their performance.
I previously told you that I don’t show the group members elements of their negative behaviors, and I want to make a distinction. I wasn’t showing them negative behaviors, but rather a specific behavior that I wanted them to improve, and I tried to only show them enough of it so they could just see what the specific behavior was. For example, one student, CE, did a wonderful job but didn’t end his sentences by lowering his voice. This made it appear as though he was stopping in mid-sentence, even though he wasn’t. He had an opportunity to work on that, and it was hard for him to follow the structured format that we set up. However, he persevered and did so, and then seemed quite proud of his performance. Similarly, the other participants who did re-takes or did it for the first time also really took it seriously, and it was nice to see their outcomes. This included CP, GS and IL.
After we concluded this and the games tournament, we all went to Baja Fresh for dinner, where they naturally congregated in groups of threes and fours. Ordering went smoothly, and no problems occurred during group. At the end, we had a surprise LUNCH Points raffle, and there were a total of six participants. We allowed IL to earn one LUNCH Points certificate because it was his first group, as a way of not excluding him, since he had not had a prior opportunity. The group ended with dessert, where we had promised them last time, at the end of Japanese food, that they would have mochi, and they had green tea, strawberry and chocolate.
So, all in all, it was a pretty action-packed group. See you in two weeks.
