Our high school life group has been great and not so great. On one side, the guys are all getting along and becoming really good friends. On the other side, they've been having a really hard time with focusing on the group during any serious discussion. Many times I have spoken to the group about the importance of paying attention and not becoming distracted, but they're hyper freshmen with short attention spans :)Last night I decided to try something new called, "The Principal's Office". I called each guy into an office room, one-by-one to talk one-on-one. I hit three points:
1. How I see you in the group: Are you the funny guy? The quiet guy? Do the other guys like you? Do I feel like you fit in with the group (easy because every one of them fits in perfectly)?
2. What I appreciate about you: Do you participate? Do you make the group laugh? Do you have leader potential? Are you good at paying attention? Each guy has something.
3. Where I think you need to improve: Do you need to focus more? Do you need to not sit next to certain people to alleviate distraction? Do you need to be more involved with the discussions? Some guys were actually doing great while others needed a little more push.
The talk lasted for about 2-5 minutes depending on the guy. I asked each one if there was anything they wanted more/less of in the group. Their feedback is extremely important because it's their group! When we're done, I ask them to start crying as they walk out to scare the other guys :)
All in all, the principal's office was pretty good. I had great one-on-one time with the guys where I could encourage them to be the best they could be in the group. The guys waiting outside the room had a lot of fun fellowshipping. My favorite part was calling them in randomly. They all acted like it was a horrible thing and tried to volunteer each other for the next spot :)
