Step Into My Sessions: Maca & Roni: the duo that keeps giving (and a few other things...)

The Face Every Group Recognizes Instantly
Maca & Roni by Kyungmin Woo

If you are like me, you may have some very dedicated Maca & Roni fans in your caseload!

Groups that clamor for videos, relishing what mischief those lab workers will get into next, and happy to break down the feelings and relationships just to get some "viewing time." 📺✨

Also like me, you may have students in your caseload who are just putting their toes in the waters of self-reflection. 🪞 Students who are experimenting with talking about their own feelings and relationship experiences.

Talking about your own feelings is hard.

Talking about Maca and Roni's feelings is still work — but it's work that my groups are willing to do, because they're invested in these two characters. 👉 And the leap from "what did Maca feel" to "what did I feel" is a smaller one than it would be starting cold. 🥶

💡 So, I started building a short activity series around that: using the characters as a low-stakes way into naming feelings, and noticing them in your own relationships.
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The activity itself is simple.

I use PowerPoint slides — one prompt per slide — inserted right into SocialScales, so my group notes all live in one place. I do about 3-5 slides at a sitting, and I only bring this out with students who've already got 5-6 Maca & Roni episodes under their belt. ⭐ They need a real relationship with these characters before the comparisons means anything.

👀 (And if a group wants to rewatch a favorite animation mid-activity to go sleuthing for more evidence — always yes. That rewatching is half the fun.) 👀

I deliberately bounce between character and self, rather than working through one before the other:

• What do Maca & Roni LOVE?​
  ​Two things I love.

• What do Maca & Roni FEAR?​
  ​Two things I really don't like.​

• Two times Maca and Roni did not get along.​
  ​Two times Maca and Roni felt angry.​
  ​One time I felt angry. (Can't think of one? Make one up!)

• Two times Maca and Roni felt sad.​
  ​One time I felt sad.

• Two times Maca, Roni & Dr. Albert felt happy.​
  ​One time I felt happy.

• Two times Maca, Roni & Dr. Albert felt annoyed.​
  ​One time I felt annoyed.

• Two times Maca & Roni felt excited.​
  ​One time I felt excited.

• That "make one up if you can't think of one" line does more work than it looks like it does. It tells a student that not having an easy answer isn't a failure — it's just a starting point. Some of my most guarded students have used the "make one up" option as a kind of trial balloon, testing out a feeling in the third person before they're ready to claim it as their own.

🎈 Feel free to add or edit prompts to make it work for you!

Don’t know who Maca and Roni are?!?!

Check them out on YT, and consider ad😱ding my Maca and Roni Super Social Learning Spreadsheet to your stack of materials.

Speaking of materials...

With the school year just around the corner, it's a good time to take stock of what's already working and what needs a refresh.

I built a Start Here guide on my website for exactly that — not a product list, but a way to find what you need based on what you're actually trying to work on, whether that's social-emotional learning, using animation, exploring games, or conversation.

👉 Answer a couple of quick questions and it'll point you toward the right product.

If, in addition to tools, you want a place to think through the why behind your work — all year long — that's what the Studio is for. Sign up to be notified when enrollment opens.

Hope you are staying cool and collected in these weeks of Summer warmth!