Middle School "Lock In"

One of the the things I'm loving about my new job is how much attention is given to "fun" things.  I can see some problematic things with this approach, but I have to say that I'm enjoying the amount of "levity." (as my previous principal would say).  There are no attendance problems due to lack of motivation here-kids want to come to school.

One of these fun things includes a "Lock In."  All the students and teachers sleep at the school and the 24 hour period is filled with team building, competition, entertainment, and sports.  Students are broken into teams of advisories, each team have a group of 6th, 7th and 8th graders.  I'm an 8th grade adviser. I was the blue team, or "Azul Fuera." We hired a company to do the evening team building activities, then the teachers took over. Here's some of the team building activities:

 Next, each advisory class had to create a skit and a song/dance routine to perform for the school.  We had been practicing these for over two weeks.  Our skit was called "Helping Hands," which essentially was a way to embarrass Ms. Fowler.  The skit goes like this:  4 of us (3 students and myself) sat in chairs and put on a long sleeve, button up shirt backwards.  Two students then put one arm each through the arms of the shirt.  They become the "helping hands."  Our plot was that we were getting ready for a "Quince," a 15th birthday party.  Our stylist then told each of us what we needed to do to look great for the Quince.  Our "Hands" then helped us do this thing.  My beauty rituals included getting my hair brushed, brushing my teeth, and putting on lipstick.   The other three participants were boys and their beauty routine included shaving.  My "hands" at the last minute decided maybe I should get a shave as well.  Here's the results:

Of course, it was hilarious and we won the competition.
We also danced, to a Guarani (Paraguayan indigenous language) version of Gangham style.  And yes, I looked like a fool.

We watched "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," then went to bed around 2 am.  Well, some people went to bed. Most of the kids were up all night.  This resulted in some pretty unmotivated kids the next day.

The next day was spent working on service learning projects, eating asado (barbeque) and having a sports competition.  Blue team captured the trophy in the end and we all went home and slept!