Reflections from August 14 & 15
This year I decided to dig a bit deeper into forming a solid classroom community, so set out with some of the best activities I could find to help the connections. On Day One we considered some of the community values (respect, belonging, truth, teamwork, boldness, responsibility, substance, discipline, excellence and joy) and discussed why they are important, and how they show up in the classroom. The kids focused a lot on respect, but some were delighted to see joy as one of the values!
My reflection -- where I ask specific questions related to this blog -- came with the activities on Day Two. This is when I pulled out the Personal Identity Wheel exercise we had done once at a Scholars Club sponsors workshop. Here is the reflection I wrote regarding this assignment:
My classes this year all contain three overarching principles: mastery, identity, and creativity. Today was about personal identity. Learners used a personal identity wheel to connect where they had similar interests with others. They were asked to find at least five people they didn't already know, and aim for a mix of boys and girls. The wheel contains a variety of interests -- hobbies, skills, favorites, number of siblings -- and provided a way to find something in common. I felt this is especially important since nearly all of my classes are mixed levels. It is good for an 8th grader to see they may have something in common with that sixth grader across the room.
This was a clear sky activity, the mood in the room being uplifting and fun. Two things stood out: a couple of sixth grader girls discovered they had the exact same birthday, and they just happened to be sitting next to each other. And I did have a few learners who felt they were outliers, and couldn't possibly have anything in common with anyone because they themselves were just "too weird." Each time this came up, I proved them wrong by finding something on their wheel I could connect with. Then I sent them off to find others!
We also did a social identity wheel, but in a different way. They just quietly reflected on their ethnicity, national origin, religion, and race. They agreed or disagreed with statements on how much these social identities meant to them. Many had no religious affiliation, and very few said they felt strongly about their race being important to their identity. One girl didn't even know what her race was, and a number of them had no idea what their country of origin is. By the second day, I dropped this part of the activity, as I realized either they just didn't care about these things, or they weren't going to be honest if they did. And frankly, in practice I didn't feel the results were worth the time.
The river that flowed through the classes was the understanding that we are more alike than we are different. Our next step is to dissect the meaning of community, and write a contract to sign and display.
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