I teach Grade 7. I teach it because I want to. I teach it even though it can be frustrating, daunting and draining. Yesterday I was reminded of the rewards that come from this choice.
My school is experimenting with Flex Time this year. What this looks like on paper is every Wednesday afternoon is blocked off for this opportunity for the students to pursue Learning that inspires them. What it looks like in reality is my colleagues and I working frantically after school Monday and Tuesday trying to plan out and prepare for this time.
One of the struggles we have being a brand new school is that so many of our spaces are still not ready to invite learning. What makes teaching grade 7 so amazing is that our students allowed us to turn this struggle into something awesome.
By using Google Forms and quickly cramming some intense online collaboration into the lunch hour, my colleagues and I were able to organize close to 100 grade 7's into groups that made our school a better place for everyone. We had teams of students:
- cleaning the field that has yet to receive any garbage cans
- collecting & organizing recycling from around the school (a huge job when you consider how many boxes and other packing materials a new school can produce)
- rearranging furniture and reorganizing recess balls
- compiling data on our unique spaces (generated by every class in the first few weeks, but still awaiting retrieval)
- unpacking and organizing the Science Prep Room
- unpacking and organizing the Foods Lab
- researching basic pantry necessities and pricing out a shopping list
- assembling Ikea tables and storage units
I'm not going to sugar-coat it. It was an exhausting day for me. We had only 5 adults (4 teachers plus an EA) to supervise all of these groups.* We gave every student who filled out the Google Form (88 out of 93), an activity of their own choosing. We had to direct, assist and then move on to the next group quickly. Some teams needed a permanent supervisor, while others were spread across the school and could only be supervised in intervals.
At the end of the day all of the teams had achieved something. They had tangible results to prove it. Truth be told, there is still recycling to be done, only 1 piece of furniture make it all the way to completion and we still don't know where all the balls for recess are, but this is easily outweighed by the feelings of success, the spirit of community and the understanding of how small actions can have a large impact.
So, why did it work? TRUST. We trusted the students to choose wisely; they trusted us to honour their choice. They trusted us give them tasks that they could handle to assist when they were stuck; we trusted them to work hard, to struggle when they encountered challenge and to be on task. The school trusted our students had a purpose and were out in the hallways to make the building better.
So, why did it work? TRUST. We trusted the students to choose wisely; they trusted us to honour their choice. They trusted us give them tasks that they could handle to assist when they were stuck; we trusted them to work hard, to struggle when they encountered challenge and to be on task. The school trusted our students had a purpose and were out in the hallways to make the building better.
* In actuality this turned into a few more. Our day-custodian dropped his regular duties to help the recycling team create a better system. Both our Principal and Vice-Principal were very visible in the school and interacted with the teams and supervisors regularly. Our amazing secretaries answered questions and helped direct everyone to supplies and organisation systems. A huge thanks to all of these people who increased our success tremendously.
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