Chasing Sleep

So today itself is going to be a killer; however I am going to be spending it smiling. Last night was the finale of the post-wedding celebration and I got together with some dear friends, two of whom depart today for Maine and then Montana. This get together lasted until 12:00 AM when I got in and I wasn't asleep until about 12:30 AM. Having gotten up at 6:00 AM to come into school, I can already feel myself dragging and it's only 7:14!

It's what we were doing that relates (in my view) to education. For those who don't know me, I will happily reveal myself for the nerd that I am: I have played Dungeons and Dragons for longer than my students have been alive. After finding the first box secreted away in my basement like a buried treasure, I have been a fan of roleplaying games. Now I certainly don't mean anything weird by that - I mean the types of nerdy games one sees parodied on television where kids sit in a basement and pretend they are wizards or Conan the Barbarian and/or dragons.

I think that everyone has a desire to tell their stories. Who we are, how we got there and what has shaped us along the way are integral and important to each of us. As a kid, roleplaying games helped me find an outlet and voice for the emotions and difficulties I couldn't otherwise express. Sometimes yes, it is just silly fun, but at other times it can serve as a vehicle to explore concepts and ideas that I simply cannot voice or cannot deal with in the real world.

I personally think that a lot of students come to Dungeons and Dragons (and other sundry roleplaying games for those in the know) to explore who they are in some way. The finer details don't matter so much, but deep down the whole point of the game is collaborative storytelling. You and some friends are shaping a story in a way no other medium can allow short of children's games of pretend. You are telling your story at the same time your friends are telling theirs and you are both shaping and being shaped by them.

So yes, the medium itself has long held derision, controversy and self-effacing parody, but I don't think people would know it as a fad having started during the 70's if not for the stories. There remains something persistent about the idea of shared storytelling that no other experience can replicate. I don't think I can truly accurately explain it beyond my shots here in the dark, but I know that a surprising number of my peers, even some of the cooler kids, would play these games back in high school. It's important to honour a students' story (and as my graduate advisor would say, their second moral language) and in doing so you can find a connection with a student that you maybe otherwise never could.

Mrs. N ends each day with an activity. Each student must share or communicate something with her on the way out. Whether it's something they love or they hate about the school, something about their home lives or something surprising that occurred to them during an assignment, they need to share it with her on the way out. This short moment gives students a chance to, however briefly, share their personal stories with Mrs. N. She was telling me she had no idea the school had a serious drug problem until one of her students said "I like it her, except for all the drugs," and then a few more students echoed this comment on their way out.

Whatever way it is, whether a single moment before students leave the classroom to something as elaborate as pretending to be wizards and warriors after school, let people share their stories with you. That alone can be all the difference in the world.