Students play a game that involves taking risks and watching out for others. They discuss their feelings in both roles and discuss the role of trust and responsibility in community.
The Learners will
- develop trust in one another.
- work as a team.
- take responsibility for another's safety.
Blindfolds: clean cloths or strips from a dark plastic garbage bag will do. Each strip should be 5" by about 30"
- Write a short story about a group of students who end up in a situation where they must trust one another. These can be shared in class.
- Write several pargraphs on how team sports rely on trust.
Have a student stand at one end of a basketball court with his/her back to the wall. The person should assume the hands-up/palms-out, protect yourself position. Student is either blindfolded or has promised to keep his/her eyes closed and will be asked to jog toward the opposite wall at a steady unchanging pace.
- Most of the remaining students are spread out in a flanking line with their backs to the wall that the blindfolded jogger is approaching. The job of these spotters is to use their hands to stop the jogger before he/she encounters the wall.
Place a few spotters 3/4ths of the way down the court on the sidelines to prevent wildly disoriented joggers from going into the wall or bleachers. Don't ignore this suggestion: disorientation happens.
Don't allow any fooling around by the spotters. Trust is a fragile commodity and is easily broken. Ask the spotters to be as quiet as possible.
Note: Let each student take a turn to be blindfolded and "run blind."
Discussion Questions:
- How did it feel to be blindfolded? Did you trust your classmates to dotheir part?
- How did it feel to be a spotter?
- How do we feel when people trust us to do important jobs?
We can be responsible for one another. We can learn to trust fellow students by working with them.