For many years, "This We Believe" was a running segment on NPR in which people shared their beliefs about what is essential. We've borrowed the idea to help define our classroom "rules." I've put "rules" in quotation marks because we don't have formal rules in the Herons -- instead we have a clear class culture that, once defined, requires thought before action. Our "This We Believe" statements help to articulate that culture to our new members.
More accurately, though, it is the discussion of the statements as we hone them together that establishes the norms. As we discuss whether "we take responsibility for ourselves" covers "we do what is right, even when no one is looking," (the class decided it did) both ideas become part of the fabric of who we are. No longer am I standing in front of the class dictating dos and don'ts, instead the expectation of being able to work independently becomes a given. It's what we do.
Does "If we don't know, we ask" fit under "We take responsible risks" or "We are active learners?" As we tried to decide, class members explained how they defined risk taking and active learning. "You can't just be a rock, you have to soak up the learning that's around you," said one. "It doesn't mean risk taking like a skateboard trick, it's like trying things that are hard for you." In the end, several students felt that "If we don't know, we ask" might technically fit under other ideas but was so important they wanted it to be its own statement. Since we decide on these by consensus, their desire was honored in the final draft.
Should we believe "We are kind" or "We are kind to others"? "What else would it mean except 'we are kind to others?'" one child asked. "Sometimes we're mean to ourselves, like if you call yourself 'stupid' when you don't get something." The class erupted in recognition of this negative "self-talk" and we had a great opportunity to naturally discuss something that can really get in the way of learning. "Yeah, it's like when you think you're the only one who makes mistakes..." Others nodded. We talked some more and agreed that "we are kind" was the wording we wanted.
Here is the final draft. Originally, there were over 35 statements so we've come a long way and while there might still be some that can be combined, the real work of establishing who we are as a class has already occurred.
This We Believe
Herons 2011
- We respect other people's needs
- We take resonsible risks
- We take resonsibility for ourselves
- We are active learners
- We reach out to others
- We work, learn and have fun
- We are good role models
- We take care of the little ones
- We have fun and laugh together
- If we don't know, we ask
- We are kind
- We share our ideas and listen when others share
While I was reflecting on writing this, I remembered a rule from the Commonwealth School in Massachusetts. I couldn't remember the entire story so I searched on line and found this excerpt from Theodore and Nancy Sizer's The Students are Watching. It's an interesting idea about community expectations:
"Charles Merrill, in designing his independent Commonwealth School in Boston some decades ago, posited one rule: Don't Rollerskate in the Hallways. Pondered carefully, stretched this way and that, such a dictum served the school as a metaphor for how people should behave. The first expectation in an intentional community is consideration for one's fellow beings. All other mores and rules must follow from that. An incivility was not merely plucked from a list of school "don'ts," It had to find its own place against what appeared to be a whimsical requirement but in fact provided a framework for all kinds of issues. People of all ages had to think about their actions, personal and collective."
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