Model UN
I took my kids to San Antonio this week. I was up at 5:00 Monday morning and didn't stop moving until 11:00 that night. I didn't have time to eat a cliff bar for lunch. Somehow 18 kids, 3 parents and me (driving the other co-sponsor) made it to San Antonio. Parents left and we registered, checked-in and let ourselves experience the Model UN simulation.
When we pulled up the kids saw 900 other students dressed in suits, dressed in style, dressed to debate and here are my freshman who have never been to a Model UN simulation, who have never debated, some who have never spent the night out of town without their parents. They began to panic. My advice was simple -
Act like you know what you are doing. You will be surprised how few people will be able to tell you don't.
They went to their first session that night and all agreed it took them about 20 minutes to figure out the parliamentary procedure. Some students took off from there. They started participating in moderated caucuses, sharing position papers, passing notes through runners to other delegates and working their way into the inner circle of resolution writing. Some students stayed low and quiet, observing but gaining so much insight in the process.
They were great. I was afraid some would burn the house down, sneak out or get into some mischief. Instead, out students were respectful, responsible and even complained to me at one point that the other students from school who came down for only a day to observe distracted them from the practice.
I had kids rush up to tell me when they passed their first note, spoke for the first time, met a new friend or talked at the podium.
We, of course, ran into issues. That is unavoidable, but the experience was amazing, was worth it.
When we pulled up the kids saw 900 other students dressed in suits, dressed in style, dressed to debate and here are my freshman who have never been to a Model UN simulation, who have never debated, some who have never spent the night out of town without their parents. They began to panic. My advice was simple -
Act like you know what you are doing. You will be surprised how few people will be able to tell you don't.
They went to their first session that night and all agreed it took them about 20 minutes to figure out the parliamentary procedure. Some students took off from there. They started participating in moderated caucuses, sharing position papers, passing notes through runners to other delegates and working their way into the inner circle of resolution writing. Some students stayed low and quiet, observing but gaining so much insight in the process.
They were great. I was afraid some would burn the house down, sneak out or get into some mischief. Instead, out students were respectful, responsible and even complained to me at one point that the other students from school who came down for only a day to observe distracted them from the practice.
I had kids rush up to tell me when they passed their first note, spoke for the first time, met a new friend or talked at the podium.
We, of course, ran into issues. That is unavoidable, but the experience was amazing, was worth it.
posted by tayjay at 7:29 PM
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