For the past week I had the good fortune to attend graduations across our district. From the small ceremony in a garage at Razdolna, to Soldotna High School’s large affair at the Soldotna Sports Center, it was a good week for the district; some 600 students now have a diploma. While much of what took place during the ceremonies was somewhat predictable with carpe diem type encouragement, I was surprised by the students’ enthusiasm for one another. At each event they cheered wildly for their peers. It is clear that our small schools offer the students a sense of community.
One of our challenges with improving our schools is figuring out how to undo the system’s structural constraints without compromising the positive social impact of school. For example, how do you take advantage of online learning by loosening attendance requirements and still have students maintain a school identity? While some would argue that this aspect of school is not that important, I am not so sure that this is the case. I feel that the social side of school, when done well, will help students attain a higher level of learning. It was good to recognize that for most of our graduating seniors the sense of belonging to their peer group was strong and hence, the school environment was positive. Let’s continue to build school climates that make each student feel welcome and an important part of the whole.
2 Comments
I appreciate your comments here and have felt the same sense of community in many of our schools. Isn’t it great!! We can never underestimate the power of connecting with others. Brain research has shown that building connections on the outside with family, peers & teachers, actually builds neural connectons for learning in our brains. So indeed, social/emotiional and academic growth do and should go hand in hand and one should not be compromised for the other. As you stated, it is no easy task when so much is done online now but as the district moves forward and this goal to continue to integreate the two is kept in the forefront, then there can and will be many ways to achieve it. -Suzanne Martin, M.ED (newly retired teacher and KPBSD parent)
Wonderful post, Steve. And I think you’re right about the social side of the school being critical. Research has shown that keeping students engaged plays a key role in both the students’ emotional development and academic success. And a “sense of belonging” which is granted by a positive and inclusive school environment would play an important part in that. A school district in British Columbia recently did a Thoughtstream student engagement and the results were very insightful – students wanted to play a bigger role in both choosing what they learn and in helping each other learn. Additionally, there was a lot of voiced concern about making sure teachers themselves were engaged, “human”, passionate and maintained a “safe” environment where students could feel free to ask the questions they needed to ask. In a lot of ways, I think maintaining that human element, a sense of belonging and a feeling of an empowered role in a community has never been more important.