The Rubber Band Experiment

On the weekend I listened to my brother Steve's message "Beauty in the Air", part of his series "Do Something Beautiful". You can download the sermon from iTunes, or go here to listen online. The analogy of our spoken words bringing a polluting presence to the air felt easy to grasp, living in the thick smog of Hong Kong. Easy to picture!

So today I challenged myself, and my students, to take up what we ended up tagging "The Rubber Band Challenge". I think Steve, his church, and from what I hear, 5 million other people in the world, have those hip plastic bracelets to use, but we decided to go with the classic rubber band. The basic idea is that every time you complain, argue, whine, moan, gossip...you get the hang of it...you switch your bracelet to the other wrist. The challenge is to see how many days it takes you to keep the bracelet on the same wrist for 21 days. Hooofta.

We did a one day challenge in Grade 5. I told the kids that after that, they could decide if they wanted to continue or not. Hopefully they stick with it, because there was a lot less whining in the classroom today! (And they're likely hoping I stick with it, too!) "Take out your math books...." was met with silence, though I could hear them biting their tongues! I had to smile at one of my boys, who came into the classroom exclaiming (with exasperation), "Ohhhhhhhh! I just had to switch it TWO times! After I complained the first time, then I complained that I had complained and had to switch it again!"

I found that I did well with my kids throughout the day, but as I found myself in the staff room, and later at physio, the rubber band was on the move! Interesting.

Check out Steve's sermon- it's a good one!!!