My kids schooled me yesterday on a Susan Gross point. Susan has always coached us to make sure that we “believe the story” as it unfolds. I never worked at that. I was too busy with all that other stuff, right?
But, one day last week, the kids made it plain that, even if I wasn’t believing it, they were – a lot more than I thought. It was toward the end of the class and I was just looking for some way to end the story and I saw a kid in the back with major attendance problems but a good ear for French.
So I sent the actor back and, as she was going back up to this guy, it popped into my head that I wanted to make sure that I had taught the word “bisous” (kisses) this year, so, running out of time, I just said that the kid in the back gave the actress 14 bisous.
Mistake. Right away all the kids jumped on that. They said no to the idea and how disgusting and embarrassing it was for the both kids. That the two didn’t know each other well enough or something.
Two kids even stayed late to admonish me after class. I tried to say how I meant nothing by it, that I was just trying to end class, but they wouldn’t have it. It was a big deal to them.
Next time, I’ll try to believe it more. Good grief, this stuff can be complicated!