Entry # 39:
The Last Days of
Our Learning Community
We are in the final countdown. Four more days until the last paper is completed,
the last memory book signed, and the last student has exited the classroom.
The last day of school.
I am particularly torn this year. On the one hand, I am tired but pleased
with many of our accomplishments this year. On the other hand, I want to
hold my students a little longer, keep them from moving away from the safeness
of my classroom. I think, "But we didn't cover everything you need
to know yet! There is still a lot to do!" However, I have no control,
no power to hold onto them beyond June 7. I can already feel them separating
from me in subtle ways, preparing to be seventh graders and make their relationships
with new teachers. I am jealous.
At this point last year I was extremely happy to be sending my advisory
on to the next grade. They were an enormously challenging, high-maintenance
bunch, and although I cared about them a great deal, we did not create a
bond or a community as strong as the one we created this year. This year,
we became a family.
A community of learners
Like all families, we had trials and tribulations, celebrations and successes,
but our experiences drew us together into a unit. I frequently told them,
"We sink, we swim, together," and though there were times some
of them wanted to avoid the responsibility of family members, the rest of
the family held them accountable.
I began thinking about the community we built this year when one of my students
inquired, "Can't we just stay together as a class next year?"
and several of my other students chimed in with, "Yeah, we're the best
class," or, "We know how to act with each other." Most of
them have friends in other classes, and they have feuded with their own
classmates numerous times over the school year, so I was a little surprised
that they would prefer to stick together. It was not until then that I realized
I had been successful -- that we had been successful-in one of my goals
at the beginning of the school year: building community.
The important question now is how did that happen? How did we create a positive
classroom environment? Was it just the particular kids involved, or is it
possible to deliberately build this type of community again?
I think the students involved did make it easier to create a supportive
community, but amiable children do not automatically create the type of
environment I observed this school year. I wish I could claim credit for
ongoing deliberate interventions designed to birth our classroom family,
but I really cannot. I credit teaching experience, some conscious activities
and expectations, and incidental instinct. However, I am determined to figure
out just what went right so that next year I can be more deliberate in my
efforts to recreate the environment of this past school year.
What went right?
I will not claim to have figured it all out yet. Time and space and careful
reflection this summer will do more to debrief me than the short reflections
I have been able to do in the past week. I do, however, have a few initial
hunches and lessons on this matter.
First, I treated my homeroom as a unit. We created an identity that was
uniquely 238, Mrs. Berg's homeroom. We walked to class in a certain way,
lined up at the end of lunch in a particular manner, and we solved class
members' problems as a whole group. An example of how we solved individual
problems: One of my student's weekly lunch tickets was stolen one time,
and the group contributed money and their own lunch tickets to ensure she
would eat. I was touched by the generosity of my students, albeit I had
told them to think about how they would feel in her situation.
Second, academic excellence and mastery were expectations for all of my
students, not just the obvious success stories. When grades on report cards
or progress reports were poor for the entire class or when students were
having a difficult time mastering a concept, we spent time discussing and
addressing the problems. When half of my students were struggling with fractions,
we spent advisory time working problems on the board. The students who "got
it" were charged with the task of buddying up with someone who was
lost to help them. I watched the pride of those who were helping grow while
the students who received the help developed a new respect for the talents
and abilities of their peers. Together, they all succeeded.
Finally, we took the time to be real together. We laughed, told funny stories,
shared life experiences, and were just human. When Tyrone fell in the street
because he was running on the ice, hands reached to pick him up and see
that he was all right. Once they saw he was okay, they laughed and said,
"That's why Mrs. Berg always tells you not to run across the street."
He laughed along with them, and the advisory period was spent telling stories
of times we had fallen or embarrassed ourselves. I shared a story of the
time I fell down a full set of stairs during passing time at a high school
I was subbing at in front of a student body who knew me and my strict reputation
well. They laughed, but I think it made them feel a little more okay about
themselves because they learned embarrassing things happen to all of us,
and we manage to survive.
I have moments like snapshots in my mind to hold on to about this year.
I know it is nearly time to let them go, but before I do I think I will
thank them for teaching me about community.
Read next week's entry >>>
<<< Read last week's entry
Read some background about Ellen and
her school
Comment on this week's entry
Back to Ellen's 2000-2001
Diary Index