Last week I posted about my experiences launching our first remote troop session. I don’t know how long I can keep up this documentation, but today we led our second – and the first of our new format: 90 minutes every Monday, over Zoom, for the next three months. And it might just be working.
Opening / Zoom
Ensure technology (Zoom, audio, video) working for all.
Welcome girls to first weekly session – we’ll meet through mid-June. Thursday we will have our first optional open session, which they will lead 100%. But Monday will be like our regular troop sessions.
Invite parents to watch, but re-affirm this is their space, and if they have any questions or their girl needs help they should contact a troop leader in the Slack, who will be watching.
Ask if they are ready to start.
And that, above, from the session plan, is pretty much what happened. 5 minutes or so to gather, and then we began. We’ve been meeting in person once every two weeks, for 2.5 hours. Last week, surprising us all, they asked to meet over Zoom 90 minutes a session, two sessions a week. And this would be our first, what they asked for.
Kaper Chart
Review Google Doc and sign up for the next few sessions. Anything new to add?
I prepared in advance all the tabs we would need for the session in advance, opening them up, in order. I went to the first, our Google Doc, and asked the girls to note which ones they signed up for during the last session, fill in the gaps, and see if we needed to add any.
First point: In person they all are eager to do the opening or closing, but online noone wants to sign up for Promise & Law nor the Friendship Song. Something isn’t working remotely for some reason.
Second: I suggested we add a DJ role, to pick a song for us to dance to. Not all were interested, but enough were so we gave it a shot.
Promise and Law
Facilitator finds a Promise and Law on the Google Images and share on the screen. Girl on Kaper chart for Promise and Law leads the group.
I’d had an idea – when everyone speaks at once the audio can’t keep up, and we get distorted and slow down. I suggested I mute everyone but the girl leading the Promise and Law. And when she would speak we would all speak as well, and see it on the video, but we would be muted.
I muted everyone and the girl asked for someone else to join her. I offered to but, even with me, I’m not sure it worked.
Kahoot Ice-breaker
Log into Kahoot.it and go here to search for Kahoot games. Share screen and ask Girl responsible for game to choose the Kahoot (up to 10 questions, on any topic). Put the url – Kahoot.it – in the chat and make sure Girls are comfortable moving back and forth between their browser and the Zoom. Enter the Kahoot code in the chat. Explain we will try playing in challenge mode, so they won’t have to switch screens so much, then decide afterward which approach they prefer. Instruct girls to enter the Kahoot code at Kahoot.it, give themselves a name, and then wait for everyone else to get ready.
Once they say all are ready, share the Kahoot admin screen with all and start the Kahoot. Afterwards process and have fun (ask if in the future someone wants to make a Kahoots we can all play, using photos from the year).
It felt a little bit awkward up to this point, to be honest. We were still trying to make it work, to adjust from being at home all day – where the girls were in the beginning of their second week in virtual school – to being connected back with their troop. But Kahoot put all that behind.
The week previous, the girl who signed up on the Kaper chart for games was invited to find a fun one in advance, or even maker her own. It turns out she decided to make her own, and she did. A 16 question Harry Potter themed quiz, with hilarious answer options and added graphics. It was really well done, and the girls had a blast.
Last week I left with the idea that moving between my host Zoom screen and their private screens was too challenging, and that we should try the challenge mode (where each player played at their own pace). But when we tried it this time, not having tried it in advance, it turned out I wasn’t ready. So we did it the regular way and it worked just fine. Many of the girls grabbed second screens to play along. It was really smooth this time.
And the girls had so much fun that as soon as the session ended many regathered (coordinating over a group SMS chat) to go back into Kahoot and play a few more rounds.
This set the perfect mood. Now the girls were more relaxed, connected, as we could try to get into some deeper content.
Dealing with Disappointments
Review where we are with Cookie Season. It’s over. They were amazing. They set a goal, and planned to reach it by the end of three booth sales. We had to stop before the third, but they also set goals for each booth sale, and they met them every time. So they should feel really proud of what they did. (and we’ll go through the finances in a future session). But we imagine they might be disappointed.
We also imagine this is not the only thing they are disappointed by. Bring them to the whiteboard in Zoom, and use the tools to draw or enter text of something they are disappointed they will now be missing. Process: How can one deal with disappointment?
This was a hard pivot. I wasn’t sure if the girls were ready to deal with some serious and emotional topics. Frankly, at that moment, I wasn’t sure if I was either. The governor reported today that 1,218 people had died in New York, up from 965 the day before. The hospitals are so overwhelmed a Navy hospital ship had to be sent today to ease the strain on them. But I carried on. I felt we both needed this.
I started with Cookie Season – because it marked the point of interruption – and we barely addressed it last week. So now it was the elephant in the room, and it was time to address it. And we did (leaving the financial details for the future) and I used it to segue to the main points – first, that like with Cookie Season they are all dealing with disappointments and, second, while their lives are now full of disappointments, their troop need no longer be one of them.
We used the shared drawing tool in Zoom – for the first time, and it worked for most – and they wrote a list of their disappointments.
It might be hard to read below, so I will highlight a few. “Skating” – and I asked all to raise hands and share more about sporting activities they are now missing. “No cookies” – Cookie season. The end of the year school party (and their graduation from elementary school). Visiting their friends. Their chorus. Their school play. As we reviewed, after each one, I asked all to raise their hands if they were feeling that one as well, and they would add their own connections with what others had written.
“So sad” you’ll see below, and one girl said, as a joking way to deal with her feelings, “I’m going to cry,” but she didn’t, none did, and I think – I hope – it was cathartic in part to put these into words, and to see they weren’t alone.
And we then talked about how they are dealing with disappointment, and what they can recommend to each other. I was proud of their responses. Play Roblox, watch Tik Tok – and other ways to distract oneself. Cry into your pillow. Hug your pillow. Hug your stuffed animals. And I led them to the idea of connecting with others.
Staying Connected
Explain that we are here for them. We can’t meet in person but we fight and will do whatever it takes to keep us all connected.
Use Zoom to send girls into groups of 3 to take turns answering the question – “Where/when do you feel most connected?” ; ask them to return to the group once they are done and if they don’t I can do it automatically.
The Facilitator goes to https://answergarden.ch/create/ and shares their screen. Create a new Answer Garden with “Where/when do you feel most connected?” and post the resulting url in the chat. Ask them to enter their responses – what they shared or something new – and then return to process them together.
So I segued right from the previous activity to that one of the things the girls can always do is connect with the people they live with and, through tools like this, their friends and other family. And I raised the question: Where/when do you feel most connected?
I used a tool for the first time – splitting them into small Zoom rooms where they can talk in small groups – at the touch of a button in both directions. It worked great and they said after that they liked it. I liked it a lot as it meant even the girls who are more shy could be with just one or two others girls, on their own, and be less overwhelmed. I used my host tool to jump into each of their small groups, check on them, and return to the main space and waited while they all returned.
Then, rather than have them share through voice, I sent them to Answer Garden. I pasted in the question, created the page, then shared it in the chat for all to visit. Once there, they could respond as many times as they wanted, their responses being added to the shared screen. Next time I need to give them more characters to use, but overall it worked nicely. I just had to make sure to re-load the page with their responses.
We then processes the times and places they felt connected. Being with friends. Texting people you knew. Making art. School. Playing online games with friends.
It seemed to provide the right transition to shift them from thinking about themselves to thinking what they could do, as a group, for society, for their Bronze Award.
What? So What? Now What?
Send Girls to the Padlet: What? So What? Now What?”
Teach them how to add to the Padlet.
Guide them through the “What? So What? Now What?” framework by asking: What? (What is happening/changing?), So What? (So, what does that matter?) and Now What? (Now what do we do better/differently in these new circumstances?) It may also be pertinent to add: “Who is this impacting and how?”. Through this framework girls will analyze the situation and harness their leadership to develop new solutions that creatively meet their community’s needs.
I forgot in what Girl Scout material I found this activity, but it seemed perfect. I adapted it to Padlet, which is amazing, and worked great. I created the questions as columns in Padlet in advance; under each question there is a plus sign. All girls simultaneously could click the + and then add their own response, one listed after the other.
I used the first column for the girls to learn how it worked. They started with text, then quickly moved to images, then animated gifs. Once they got the hang of it I explained the four questions and asked them start with one then move across from one to the other.
When they started to verbally respond to each one (“That’s not true”) I asked them to hold their comments until after, so all would have a space to speak their mind freely. And it was amazing to watch them thinking out loud.
You can see it all below. Scroll to the right, and then down in each column, as I did with them.
What? They are missing school, COVID-19, Corona virus.
So What? People are dying. It’s a new disease and people are getting it. Right now we are in an important part of history for future generations. Business are slowing. Kermit the muppet is sad.
Now what? I highlighted that they had entered two types. The first were things people can do personally to do safe: social distance, wash hands, etc. The second were things we could do to help others: We have to change this and work hard to do this. Find a cure or vaccine. We should all social distance. We need to donate materials to doctors.
The last one was “Who is this impacting and how?” – which I quickly reviewed with them – but it wasn’t necessary. They’d gotten it. And as we discussed the things they identified the world needed right now, I introduced the Bronze Award, which they decided last fall they wanted to do, and now we will be focusing on for the next few months.
We left the padlet and I asked the Kaper chart notetaker to write down the main points they all came up with: raise funds to get doctors supplies or find a cure. Raise people’s spirits. And more. And I said next session we’d learn more about how to earn a Bronze Award so together then can figure out, as a Troop, what sustainable action they want to take in the world, to make a difference.
Then I gave a brief background on Girl Scouts taking collective social actions during times of social crisis – like during the World Wars – and how they now get to do the same.
Clean-up/ Closing
Show Girl Scout at Home
Clean-up.
Girls lead closing ceremony.
After showing them the new Girl Scouts at Home page, we joked that we didn’t need a clean-up, then turned to the closing ceremony. We sure haven’t figured this part out yet – the girl from the Kaper didn’t want to do the Friendship song if she was the only one singing. So after a false start I unmuted everyone and, yeah, it sounded awful, and yet beautiful as well, as we all tried to do it together. And someone reminded us to cross our arms, close to the camera, so it looks like we’re actually holding hands. I will ask them next week if they have any creative solutions.
Then I said anyone could go who wanted, but the girl who was a DJ could pick a song and we could all dance. Yes, she picked the Macarana. I have Spotify on my computer, and in my Zoom account I can share audio from my desktop, and with that the music was up and running, and we could still see all of our video screens. And we got up and danced – not all of us, but most I would say- and it felt great.
There ain’t no party like a Zoom dance party (during a Pandemic)…
