Who do we want to be?

At the start of each year, one of the most important things we do in a classroom is to work out who we want to be as a community, and how we will work towards that each day. This is the conversation that results in our classroom agreement.

This year to start our conversation, Unit DR investigated a document that was created for schools in 1898 and formed the rules for classrooms until the 1960’s. The investigation included discussion around how some of the ‘rules’ don’t fit who we wanted to be as a classroom community, however some of the statements did fit. 

We weren’t sure we needed to “salute your ministers, teachers and acquaintances”, nor did we think some of the language aligned with who we are as a school, or who we want to be. Some of the statements did hold up though. We thought “Do not cheat in games” was still relevant, however we thought it should just be “Do not Cheat”.

We then had a flat chat (this is a silent task in which ideas are shared, debated and built upon in writing only) on our whiteboard tables in which we could explore what groups thought were the most important points. This allowed for some important discussions around what each statement might look like in our everyday lives in DR.

This conversation ended in a whole group refinement in which we were able to decide on four statements to guide our days together.

In Unit DR we aim to be kind, be respectful, be honest and be tidy. These ideas are easily revisited multiple times a day, and are a simple reminder to help us build our community together.

I suggest you ask your child about their classroom agreement and what actions they take to live it each day!

Deb Robins