Youth Works- Tips, activities, stories n more

This blog is to offer advice, ideas, activities and much more to those who work with youth! It provides simple easy to read articles that help they everyday Youth worker. I hope this can help the lesson planner, activity planner, the summer program worker etc. To provide a youth-led, engaging, exciting place where kids do not only learn but have fun while doing it! Please comment, leave questions or WHatever! Look forward to hearing from you!

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Developing a STRUCTURE

When working with youth and people in general, having structure will definitely set and keep the tone through out the day and program. Structure is defined as:

n.

1. Something made up of a number of parts that are held or put together in a particular way: hierarchical social structure.

2. The way in which parts are arranged or put together to form a whole; makeup: triangular in structure.

3. The interrelation or arrangement of parts in a complex entity: political structure; plot structure.

4. Something constructed, such as a building.

5. Biology

a. The arrangement or formation of the tissues, organs, or other parts of an organism.

b. An organ or other part of an organism.

tr.v. struc·tured, struc·tur·ing, struc·tures

To give form or arrangement to: structure a curriculum; structure one's day.

People fear the unknown, and when something is unknown people act defensively and that is not what you want when teaching and working with youth.

Children do not know but they do desire structure.

Some key things I always put in my agenda or how I run my workshops or lessons:

Have an opening activity- hopefully this can jump start or weave through the theme or topic of the day. This does not have to be long, no more than 5-10 minutes long. This opening activity sets the tone for the day. It brings everyone on one accord which will cut out most horseplay. If your lesson for the day is talking about friendship, your opening activity could be for everyone to write as many characteristics of their bestfriend as they can on two minutes. The next two minutes you can tell them to write as many characteristics they bring to the table as a friend. Then you all can discuss those and it would lead into your main activity

Give a welcome or agenda- Give an outline of the days activities so the kids know what is planned for them. They can develop ideas and be prepared to be engaged. Knowing what is next can keep them on track. Letting them know what is going on helps creates checkpoints through out the session which is beneficial to completing the goal at hand.

Check-ins- One of my favorite parts. This helps kids express what is going on in their world. They may not have the chance to tell people what they did, how they feel, their worries, their joys etc and this creates a safe place for them to release what is inside. There are so many different types of check-ins: Five years from now, you would like to have done… What do you want to be when you grow up? Who is in your family and where do they live? If you could name yourself what name would you pick and why? Who in your life do you respect most? Why? If you were to play a TV or movie star, who would it be and why? If you were a beverage, what name would you give yourself? It can be a beverage that already exists or one that you make up. What are the ingredients? Would you rather be forced to sit in a thunderstorm outside or sit through a 90 degree day in an un-air conditioned room? Why?  http://www.healthiersf.org/excelafterschool/Resources/Technical-Assistance/guide/Meeting%20Facilitation%20Tips%20for%20Youth%20PDF.pdf

Main Activity- This is your bread and butter. This is the meat of the day so this should be well planned out. 

Closing activity- Which would be review or reflection piece. It could be where you all end in a circle and do a fist of five where on the count of three you hold up fingers that match how they feel. 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. Then you can ask a few volunteers to share what they had and why. You could also go around the circle and have them state the best part or what they learned about the day.

Say Peace- Tell them see ya later. Make sure you greet people as the leave, leave a lasting impression. Not one where you make it clear your time is up and you are ready to disappear.

I tend to use this model to structure my day. They create a road map and checkpoints for the progression and the succession of the day. It feels good when you accomplish things, big or small meeting those definitely will keep you motivated to completing the overall lesson. OF COURSE this may not always go according as planned however you have the map and an outline of what you want to accomplish.

Look back for more posts on working with youth. Please comment and ask questions. Thanks

Cicely

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Help! I work with youth but don’t know what to do with them!

If you are running a summer long program, day off program or any other types of programs this article is just for you! If you are a nanny, housing manager, youth worker, etc, and have no idea what to do this article is just for you!

I am going to list the steps to creating a youth led, engaging program where the kids will be wanting MORE! 

Anything you do whether it is going to the grocery store, taking classes, planning a vacation, or your day to day life, you should ALWAYS have GOALS in mind, end-results. What do you want to accomplish, what needs to be completed that will tell you that you have successfully completed your mission? You have to be goal-oriented. It is hard trying to do ANYTHING without having a goal in mind. Basil S. Walsh said, “If you don’t know where you are going, how can you expect to get there!”

How can you follow a parked car? The youth you work with should be following their leaders. They do not know where they are going and so you as the leader must not be parked. They need direction and guidance but if you as the leader do not know where you want to go with this day the kids are going to go insane! And when the kids are insane guess who else will go insane, YOU!!! So I suggest you have end-results, goals in mind that you want to accomplish out of the program you are leading.

Sample goals would include:

·         The youth will complete 5 weeks of exercise.

·         The youth will have read 10 books by the end of summer.

·         The youth will complete a service learning project by the end of the month.

Remember when having goals they have to be SPECIFIC and have a time frame to complete it. If it is too broad with no time frame, it becomes just an idea or a wish and it gives no direction.

Ok you have the goals in mind that are specific and have a time frame, what is next? The road map, the step by step plan on arriving to your destination. A pilot flying from Minneapolis to Miami knows exactly what route to get there, how many miles per minute he should go, which airport to land, the different buttons and levers they need to push and pull, they know every detail. Why would you want a pilot that has an end goal with no route flying to somewhere? It would be a waste of time, energy, and gas. You need the step by step plan with mile-markers, checkpoints. What is it that will tell you that you are making progress to the end of this goal? How do you know you are going in the right direction?

You may just have a plan for an hour at the park, you want to utilize that hour effectively and efficiently. How would you go about this simple task? I would first make sure the kids have something in their stomachs prior to or plan to get food at the park (Many more steps). I would make sure they have used the bathroom. Do you know which park you would like to go to? Or will you drive around aimlessly around wasting gas and time? Do the kids need medicine? What are your step by step plans to making sure the kids will have a great time at the park? I know a simple activity but it could be so much better with a little bit of a planning.

Ok now to the fun part. I think the easiest way to have a fun and engaging youth led program, event or activity is to THEME IT! Whether it is one day, one week, one month etc. THEMES are an awesome way to carry out goals. For example, “The youth will complete 5 weeks of exercise.” How much fun does that sound! Not really! I would hate to see that offered in a pamphlet.  Your goal is for them to exercise for 5 weeks, but they do not have to know that or they can. With a theme, for every week or on specific days it will make it more enticing. One way I would go about this trying to sell it to the youth would be:

Summer Games (you know, like the Olympics)

This summer youth will learn different ways to be active by learning different forms of exercising from different cultures.

Week 1                 African Exercises

Week 2                 European Exercises

Week 3                 Asian Exercises

Week 4                 South American Exercises

Week 5                 The Summer Olympic Games- The youth will put to use the many exercises they have learned over the course of the summer.

OR

Mondays             Swimming Fitness

Tuesday               Cardio Fitness

Wednesday        Strengthening Fitness

Thursday             Rest Day

Friday                    You Pick

Yes this requires a lot of research and planning but it is for a good cause. You want the kids to be excited     and not dreading coming to your program which will cause you headaches and to yell and fuss all the time.

If you do not get anything else out of this article I want you to get: THEMES! It will make it so much easier to plan lessons and activities.

You want to also make sure to keep the youth in the loop! Let them know what is going on; give them something to look forward to! Give them the weekly schedule or daily one. This will also set up a STRUCTURE. The youth need a structure they secretly desire it. When you consistently enforce a daily schedule that does not change, it helps them go with the flow. They know what is next. This will cut down on behavior issues and will have smooth transition to the next activity.

To make your program more youth led which encourages more learning and engagement from the youth, have them come up with their daily/weekly goals. Get them involved with their learning and fun. Create leaders and roles that they can carry out. They need to be involved, this will allow them to create a vested interest in the programs you have.

The steps to begin the youth program you have are these and are definitely not limited to:

1.       Have a goal, end-result in mind

2.       Road Map and check points leading to the goal

3.       Theme it

4.       Keep the youth in the loop

5.       Develop structure

6.       Have the youth come up with their daily/weekly goals and road map

7.       Create leaders and Roles

Hopefully you have a plan to offer an exciting experience for the youth you work with. This article is to allow your mind to start thinking of a master plan. Please keep looking for more articles to help you with the youth! Please comment or ask questions.