Just In Time Advising

In the middle school, advisory is often seen as a key facet of what we do that makes us different. It can assume many roles in many schools and can frequently be the source of much discourse as we try our hardest to define what it can offer our students. Community building, academic advising, socio-emotional development - all of these can be cornerstones in an effective advisory program.

Without any doubts though, the most effective advisory programs are those that allow for what colleagues and I have dubbed "just in time advising." A program that allows flexibility to treat those issues that seem to arise overnight, or in response to what's happening in our world, is the best for middle schoolers.

With that in mind, when the recent Burger King bullying PSA made the rounds of social media, I immediately put it on standby for my students. Inspired by Beth Coyle's ideas of quick and powerful lessons, I showed the video to my students.

They responded well and were moved by the ideas. We've been talking about the difficulty of being a bystander and they made important realizations. First, they were critical about this message coming from Burger King and asked strong questions about why they were sending the message. More importantly, though they were struck by the woman's question at 1:57. "Are you okay?" They were awed by the simplicity, but importance of this question. They were further impressed that she approached the bully, not with condescension or anger, but with another question, "What's your name?"

The students left advisory that day feeling pretty bummed out, but armed with a few ideas of how they might not be a bystander.

A few days later I discovered this video, again due to compassionate colleagues on social media.

This video demonstrates the human tendency to not get involved when there are others around, despite a desire to help. They call it the diffusion of responsibility, or "I'm  sure someone else will help."

This video paired with the other so well, because our students know that they should help. But they don't always. That's why they left the first lesson feeling so deflated. When I showed them the second video, they could at least find some comfort in the fact that it's human nature to not get involved. Building this awareness is critical to help our students become more empathetic. 

As my student N, summed up quite nicely, "Before I saw this video I would have said that I would have helped. But now that I've seen it, I know that I might not have. I don't want to be that kind of person."

Arming our students with the knowledge of the psychology of the human mind and some easy strategies to overcome its limitations a great thing that we can do for them "just in time."