I have a confession to make…
I re-gifted something FROM a student TO my students. Is that bad? ….
Upon further reflection, I don’t think it’s bad. In fact, I think it is AWESOME.
You see, back in December I received a huge box of chocolates. Not one in the form of a tree with 7 candies in it. Nope. This was a 21-piece delight wrapped in faux gold paper and Russell Stover himself prepared these confections.
I left it in my classroom over the holiday break by mistake. I had totally planned on bringing it to one of my eight Christmas gatherings, hoping to essentially “regift” on the desert table.
When I came back to my classroom 3 weeks later the box of chocolates was staring at me. Having January goals (NOT resolutions… more coming on that soon) I knew eating them would be a bad life choice. I actually did the math and considered eating one per day for the month. I would consume 1,540 calories if I made that choice. No thanks…
Then it hit me. How about a game of “Life is Like a Box of Chocolates” with my advisory family.
I made it up on the fly and here were the rules….
- Student names would be pulled randomly
- First name drawn got 1st dibs on the chocolate they wanted
- Pick 1 from the box-No touching, smelling, or smashing the chocolates. Only 1st impressions
- Do not eat the chocolate until every person has picked theirs
I made a reflection sheet on the fly too. Here were the questions…
- Why did you pick the chocolate you selected?
- What do you predict is inside?
- What is actually inside?
- How do you now feel about your choice after tasting?
Students were really into this idea! They eagerly waited for their name to be called, hoping to be 1st so they had more of a selection in the box. Some treats had special chocolate designs, others had sprinkles. Some had bumpy looking textures, some were shiny as if covered in fancy ganache. They answered the first two questions on the reflection sheet prior to actually trying the chocolate. Then 1-by-1 each kid sunk their teeth into the mystery chocolate. The reactions were priceless!
Some kids were pumped. “Yes! I LOVE caramel!”
Some kids were disgusted. “OMG! It’s orange crème. Nasty!”
Some kids were surprised. “WHOA! Not what I expected!”
Fun fact, every single boy tried a bite of their chocolate, was completely satisfied, and then threw the whole chocolate in their mouth and finished it. No questions asked.
Fun fact, nearly half of the girl population tried one bite of their chocolate, was completely dissatisfied and then threw the whole chocolate in the trash. One cried….. She got coconut.
Fun Fact, nearly every kid got their preliminary prediction incorrect. How many times do we mis-predict what is going to happen in life? Like all the stinkin time, right?
This part was amazing and delicious (for some kids) but the overall point of the lesson came when the discussion started rolling…
I asked a very simple question, “how do you feel this connects to life?”
Here are some of the responses:
“I have regret. I picked a chocolate that looked good, but I had a feeling it was going to be fruit filled. I hated it! I should have gone with my gut to make a different choice!”
“Sometimes life isn’t what you planned, but it can still turn out really good!”
“I was disgusted by the chocolate and sometimes I’m disgusted in life. Especially when nice people are mean.”
“I’m sad. I couldn’t even eat a chocolate because I have braces. That’s just not fair. And sometimes life isn’t fair either.”
“I hated my chocolate. Some days in life I hate too. But it doesn’t mean I’ll hate chocolate tomorrow. Tomorrow could be better.”
“No regrets on my chocolate choice. I try to live with no regrets too.”
“I’m open-minded to life and I was open-minded to getting any chocolate.”
“I feel amazing! Why? Because I got free food! Free food makes life awesome!”
Spoken like a true middle school boy…. Love it!
Not only did this activity knock the socks off of some pallets, but it totally knocked the socks off of my heart. It proved that true, meaningful, wise, conversations can happen anywhere, at any time. Sometimes all it takes is a little chocolate…
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