Friday. It was an eighth grade English class, but most of the class was missing as they were on an end of the year field trip. (They went to a local movie theater to see The Little Mermaid.)
Not every student gets to go on these excursions, so I had a few students in every class. Their teacher left a video for them to watch. (Surprisingly, it did not go badly. I had one minor glitch. Maybe my luck has turned.)
I turned off the video before the end of the period. The kiddos had enough time to engage in the newest fad.
The first time I saw this was maybe two weeks ago. (Not longer than a month ago.) And within days, it became a thing I saw daily.
Two boys (it's always boys, at least so far) stand three-ish feet apart. One moves his hand. The other moves his head. It's rather innocuous, and it rarely lasts very long, so I'm not concerned. Just curious. But I never got a chance to ask the question.
Until that day.
"What are you doing?"
Apparently, it's called shadow boxing. (Not the shadow boxing I knew of.) Or the finger pointing game.
Now that I had a name, I could do a search online. And yep, it's a thing. I found a site with the rules. And there are videos.
I guess it's probably huge on TikTok right now. If you're into that sort of thing.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know about the newest fad floating around the middle and high schools. (I would not be surprised to find it happening at elementary schools as well.) We'll see how long this game lasts.
What would we do without TikTok.
ReplyDeleteI still have not succumbed. Maybe this summer.
DeleteThanks, that's pretty funny. I'll have to ask my granddaughter if she is aware of it (hopefully not... she's not allowed to go on TicTok).
ReplyDeleteCute and harmless.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm so happy they found a harmless game that doesn't make an annoying noise. (See: the bottle tossing game.)
DeleteYou never should have said your luck returned. Now the next time you have to do one of these, it'll turn into a huge mess.
ReplyDeleteI learned something new! Not that I am apt to use the knowledge. The only Tik Tok I see are when they are on Instagram. And I don't wander around Instagram! I have one for garden photos, one for thifting finds, and Mickey has one.
ReplyDeleteI remember once when my oldest didn't want to go on a field trip in 6th grade. Turns out the teacher took him anyway, with no permission slip, since there was no other place for him to go! Well, call me then and I'd come get him! Of course, my son was glad he went, but still... no parent signature, the student isn't allowed to go!
Very true. At our schools, if the student doesn't have permission from parent and all teachers, student doesn't go. There's always a sub for the chaperones, even if their classes contain one or two. There's always someone who can't go.
Deletethecontemplativecat Here. TikTok is so important in some teen lives. Crazy important.
ReplyDeleteOh my, yes. They get so sucked in.
DeleteFads? Do these young ones think that they are the first fad setters! lol.....
ReplyDeleteThey didn't call it a fad. I did. I think they'd be offended if I called it a fad in front of them.
DeleteHaha. Yeah, they probably would be!
DeleteI have played this in my Theatre classes for years (High School in Australia is Years 7-12), It is great for eye contact, spatial awareness, and group/team building.
ReplyDeleteI did not know this was a thing until about three weeks ago. I'm not surprised I'm behind the curve.
DeleteIt's nice to see youngsters play a game that doesn't involve computers. I looked at that video and thought "If I wasn't prone to vertigo, I'd enjoy playing this game!"
ReplyDeleteA match doesn't seem to last very long. I don't think I've seen one go over two minutes.
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