MONDAY

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Life in the Classroom

It was a rainy Monday morning, not too unlike other mornings in the northwest, as I took my sons to school. Today was Monday and so with it came the "All School Gathering". My sons attend Metropolitan Learning Center. This is a K-12 school with about 425 students. MLC is unique and has shown that it can be successful by being unique and placing first what matters most–students. For this week, I will briefly describe one salient point from the day. Hopefully we can take some of these successes and use them in our own schools.

Monday brings with it the "All School Gathering". This gathering does not happen every week and is often decided upon by the staff for when the school needs it. The gathering happens about twice a month. At gathering, each class sits as a group, but sits among all of the class, thereby making one, large group. During this time, each class has a moment to share what they are learning or an important idea or thought with the whole school. The staff will also discuss things that are important to the school. 

As a parent and teacher, MLC is a model school for showing that one size does not have to fit all; that schools can be unique and run the way that they know is best and still show great success. In this test driven form of education we seem to be unwillingly put, that all aspects of schools are suffering, and, as a result, are becoming more and more similar as they move toward the teach-to-the-test side of the spectrum.


As a parent, what I appreciate about MLC is the community of parents, staff, and students that exists within the school. The "All School Gathering" is just one aspect of how the students are integrated into the operations of the school. The same goes for families. It has that family feel and you can see the difference that it creates with the students. As a teacher, (This is me taking off my parent hat and putting my teacher one one) the students are independent and self-assured. The students ask questions and dialogue comfortably with adults. They use higher-order thinking–going beyond what something is into what it could be. The students have confidence in their ability to learn.

This Monday, I stood with a few parents talking about the Halloween events that occurred this last Friday. Each classroom had an activity for the school to share. Each classroom had a get-together for the classroom to enjoy. Everything was created and managed by staff, parents, and students all working together for the good of the school. 

What I saw Monday was community. Community is important to any school. What can we do as parents and teachers to put community back into our schools? What do you do to build community in your classroom?

Community creates students who care, students who belong to something. And when you belong, you participate. It always surprises my friends when I take them to MLC and we get close to the doors, each of us usually carrying a young kid or two, and some teenage kid with purple hair opens the door for us. Being helpful, confident citizens is just what MLC is about. I believe I read that in a district office somewhere. Maybe your district? 

How can we get community in our schools?