It isn’t just for writing/grammar teachers anymore.
I’ve tried – unsuccessfully – several times in the past few months to suggest to various members of my ward community the sorts of activities I would enjoy being part of, as ward activities or service projects or singles activities or whatever. I’m not sure whether I’m so freaking out of step with everybody else that nobody else would enjoy the things I do, or whether I’m so freaking bad at communicating that my message is lost.
I’m stubborn, though, and will try again, with a little help from you.
In general, I prefer activities that are actually active – ones that require/permit my active participation and not merely my silent presence as I sit there watching somebody else do something. Those sit-down-and-face-forward events are not activities, in my book – they’re passivities.
Help me compile a list of contrasting activities and passivities – preferably ones you would enjoy, but at least ones that illustrate the difference.
Active: Staging a 3-act play/roadshow/talent show
Passive: Watching a video
Active: Playing basketball (or any other sport)
Passive: Going to a professional sports event
Active: Seminar-style religion class, where every class member is responsible for presenting some part of the lesson
Passive: Listening to a lecture, or even contributing to a typical class discussion with response but without responsibility
Active: Hands-on chopping/stirring/measuring/plating a new food item
Passive: Watching a demonstration where the teacher explains what she’s doing
Active: Providing labor or talent to work directly with refugees or to create an item to sell to raise funds to help refugees
Passive: Writing a check for the stake’s refugee commitment, or buying toiletries for humanitarian kits
Active: Community sing, or Relief Society orchestra, or ward recorder consort
Passive: Sitting still, watching someone else perform music
Most of these ideas are neither all passive nor all active – it wouldn’t be rewarding to stage a play if there were nobody watching from the floor, after all – and obviously there is great value in listening or watching skillful people perform that isn’t covered by the delights of amateurish participation. But over all I think our activities have become mere passive amusements, not opportunities to do or create or grow or participate. I want to play, too, not just watch.
What active/passive pairs can you suggest that might help make the point?
Active: Going for a nature hike, in the neighbourhood or out in the countryside.
Passive: Watching a natural history slide show or film.
I agree with you, except on the sporting events. Part of the pleasure of watching sports is the conversation. I like all my activities to have the potential for conversation, and going to the Jazz game enables that.
One of our best ward activities ever was a Planet Hollywood affair. We had 8-10 acts prepared by groups of ward members, and they lip synced to famous songs while dressed in costume. Between acts, other ward members participated in hilarious skits like the celebrity match game, two truths and a lie, the honeymoon game, and the like. All the while, dinner was provided and served.
There was conversation, food, lots of laughter, and anybody who wanted could participate… and those who preferred to just show up could. It was lots of work, but so much fun. People still talk about this one years later!
Do you remember a certain bunch of college girls, many, many moons ago, who lamented that they never had time to sit and talk? So they decided to have a little party (sleep-over at Cheryl’s Grandmother’s place?) right after finals ended. They gathered and then sat and stared at each other. Finally someone (possibly you) said, “Well, if we’re going to be this boring, I’ll start my reading for next semester.” All the textbooks came out, and then the conversation flowed unendingly.
It is so much easier to get to know people when you are working together toward a worthy purpose then when you are gathered strictly for the purpose of getting to know each other. (It’s also easier to find things to talk about when you have a specific chore you’re avoiding, as demonstrated above.)
Excellent! I think your list is fairly comprehensive. Such an important distinction. “Those sit-down-and-face-forward events are not activities, in my book – they’re passivities.” And they’re terrible. We get enough of that on Sundays.
However, I would add that educating those in charge of activities about the benefits of active activities will only get us halfway there. Let’s not forget that pulling off active activities often requires quite a bit more preparation, as well as time, and resources, than the lame passive activities.
I can’t help but think about my own calling. I work in the Scouting program (Scoutmaster over the 11-year old Scouts). I’m in charge of coming up with activities/skills building week-in and week- out. My biggest impediment to doing active activities is not lack of creativity or laziness, it’s simply limited time and resources. Even though the Scouting program has a strong preference toward active activities, and even though I hate to just stand in front of the Scouts and tell them about some subject, active activities take so, so much more preparation, resources, and work to pull off. And when you add the need to cover a certain number of skills, having every Scout actively participate in every lesson becomes even more difficult.
That sounds pathetic, but it’s true: passive activities are simply easier to do. Active activities take preparation, more resources, more time, and often more money. (I think it may be time to take the Bishop up on getting another Assistant.)
So, as we go forward and preach the gospel of active activities, don’t be discouraged by the lack of results. You are right on in your instincts here. Keep preaching, but keep in mind that convincing others to provide more active activities involves more that just asking planners to be more creative in the brainstorming stage. We are also asking them to come up with more manpower, more preparation hours, and often a bigger budget. But, if the activity is worth doing, like my grandma liked to repeat, it’s worth doing well!
There you go, David, not letting us forget the other side of the question. I’m sure you’re right, that it takes much more planning and preparation and investment in active activities — if the program can be arranged with a phone call to someone who is tasked with speaking to/putting on a demonstration for a group, then, or even planning your own speech/demonstration, that’s much easier than a rehearsal schedule, or even convincing other people to take part. And that’s part of the problem, too, I suspect — it’s easier for an audience to be an audience than to be active performers.
Nevertheless …
I’ve done so much planning (daydreaming) for what I’d like to do for a seminar-style Bible class, or daydreaming about what it would be like to recreate the three-act play of my Beehive Girl experience, that I think planning is as much a pleasure as the bringing-about.
Maybe allowing more people to participate in the planning — calling your Assistant for example — rather than leaving it to the same handful of people who always get to do everything is part of the answer. (“The few who always get to do it all” is my perception of my own circumstances; I realize other people’s circumstances are going to be different.)
Great post! I remember that in my childhood, the periodic RS activity was called a Work Day. I loved learning how to quilt, mostly because of all the stories and conversations from the older women.
There is so little personal investment required from us currently that we’ve become habituated to not being personally prepared or involved. Most things are designed to entertain us. Everyone had an investment in the Work Day because those items were fundraisers for the RS.
I have 3 suggestions:
1) rearrange seating whenever possible to avoid the ‘sit down and face forward’ option.
2) a readers’ theater type activity where the readers rotate among the group; i.e. different performers vs. watching the experts or same people always in front
3) bring crayons and butcher paper to have groups of classmembers illustrate portions of a lesson then share their work with the others.
Good discussion, and I agree with you on a desire for more active involvement.
Here’s one from actual experience in my ward in Washington:
Passive: Listening to a lesson or lecture on emergency preparation.
Active: Everyone takes one aspect of emergency prep (car kits, water filtration, emergency generators, etc.), and sets up a display or short presentation on the subject, even if you are new to the idea.
We did this in our ward last year, and it worked well. The consensus in our earthquake-in-waiting area is that if the power goes out, and we can’t get to Amazon to buy our stuff, we are all toast.
Here is one that my wife has been working on:
Active: getting kids on Family Search looking for their own ancestors
Passive: watching on a projector as a family history consultant shows you Family Search
She has opted to attempt the active. Several people have told her it won’t work. We will find out tomorrow.