3’s Bulletin Board

I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to write about with this post, but I knew that I wanted to incorporate community into the topic some way. Part of my inspiration just came recently when talking to a colleague. We realized that we spend more time with our Trinity family than we do with our own families. One might be saddened by this at first glance, but really, I just like to consider it a greater pool of wonderful people and children that I have a chance to get to know and build relationships with. Having such a strong community here at my place of work definitely provides security and comfort for me personally. It’s the little things how people show each other that they care like Wellness Week and free hugs, random acts of kindness from our sixth graders, hot chocolate or cider on a cold day, other teachers stepping up to fill in for duties or classes, friendship, etc. The list goes on and on. Anyway, I just wanted to give a shout out to how Trinity does a wonderful job supporting one another as well as modeling community for our students. Not to forget, one of our social studies through lines is, in fact, community.

I went to visit our 3’s today because I noticed that they had a bulletin board about community. I was able to pull a couple of students to ask them about what they were learning. If you haven’t checked out their bulletin board, it’s great. They built buildings that are important for a community like a bank and a hospital. They told me about how everyone has a certain job and that it was important that everyone worked together. They then broke into a “teamwork” song which was adorable. Also, I learned from the bulletin board that it actually took a community to keep the structures standing! (the clean up crew willingly worked around these students’ construction sites to honor what they were doing)

Though I know what community is and have a sense of it here, I wanted to research how others view it. I found the following sentences to align with my thinking:  “The idea of community may simply come down to supporting and interacting positively with other individuals who share a vested interest. Whether your vested interest is in the well-being of your neighborhood or extends to the well-being of your global community. A strong community benefits the individual, the community as well as the greater society. People of all ages who feel a sense of belonging tend to lead happier and healthier lives, and strong communities create a more stable and supportive society.” (www.apshelplink.com)

Finally, I would like to quote Nel Noddings to remind myself that’s it’s OK and good to take time to teach not only content but character, values, and community. “We sometimes forget just how powerful incidental learning can be. No responsible educator would claim that all significant learning can be achieved incidentally, but much that we acquire this way becomes more nearly permanent than the material deliberately transmitted and tested in the planned work of classrooms. The great privilege enjoyed by some children is that they have become participants in an on-going conversation with caring, knowledgeable adults. They pick up all sorts of wonderful things in these conversations.” (http://www.infed.org/biblio/noddings_caring_in_education.htm)

Learner, Thinker, Writer: Janet Parks serves the Trinity School community as a World Languages Teacher.