To Tell the Truth

Our weekly assembly of cross-age student groups spawns some interesting stories. When playing “To Tell the Truth”, the students standing in front were secretly given a strange-but-true event from the life of a classmate. Each student was to say, “My name is [their own name], and once I [whatever story was being guessed about.]” Then the audience was to ask questions of each child in front to see if they could tell which child the story was really about.

As one group stood in front, the lined-up students began to say, “My name is… and once I…” The Leader for that Family Group noticed that one second-grade boy was looking uncomfortable. As it came closer for him to talk, tears began to slide down his face.

The leader knelt by his side to coach him. She asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I forgot,” he said.

“Forgot what?” she asked, thinking the story had been too complex.

“My name!” he quavered.

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In another round, a crafty student tried to get around one of the rules designed to let all students play. He asked, “At the time this happened, were you a boy or a girl?”

You Smell Like a Hotel Room

After every Family Group activity, the Chieftains discuss on how it went. They identify what worked, what didn’t, and whether the activity should be used again, or if it should be changed.

At the beginning of one debriefing, an eighth-grade girl said, “Mr. Weller, one of my youngest members said I smelled like a hotel room!”

I’ve never heard that before, so I asked, “Well, was that a good thing, or a bad thing?”

The girl thought for a moment and said, “Probably a good thing, because she said, ‘You smell pretty… like a hotel room’.”