Shout-outs

Yesterday something happened during group work in my class.  I had asked a more advanced student to work with beginners on identifying note names in a piece of music while I worked with another student.  When we all came together after the 10 minutes, the students with whom he was working accused him of disrupting their focus so that they would get in trouble.  Others seemed to agree.  I remained neutral and didn't punish him in anyway since I had no grounds, but nevertheless he began to cry.

Sometimes this happens in classes.  In observing other classes I've seen it happen more than once which is a fairly high percentage.  The atmosphere can be quite intense in such a pressurized educational environment.  But still, I didn't want this to be the norm.  I took him aside to try to calm him down, but he was so upset I could only have him sit alone and catch his breath.

School is hard.  Kids don't seem to realize that their words and actions can be as hurtful as they are.  That probably goes for adults, too.  But it is clearer to see in the interaction with children.  As an adult, we have learned some basic rules–whether or not we understand them–of how we should behave with one another to roughly get along.  But it can be hard, really hard, to be a kid.

So today we did "Shout-outs," five minutes of opportunity to say what someone did well, or in what way they were supportive.  It was such a change of voice in the room, to decompress and appreciate one another, to be grateful.

We so rarely do this as adults.  There isn't an adult to tell us to do so.  There are so many things that can be perturbing about others' behaviors.  They may say things that are offensive or hurtful, but what if, under guiding eyes and ears, we were asked to say something good, something that we appreciated about their presence?  Or maybe about any particular situation that can be challenging?

Teaching is a very interesting endeavor.  It is a like a little microcosm of the world.  What is important for students to learn?  How are we going to cultivate that?  And perhaps most tellingly, are we living that way ourselves?