Class Environment

I want to thank everyone who shared their "I am from..." poem in class the other day. It is an honor to hear your stories and gain better insight into who you are as a person, and I am excited to see how that will affect who you will be as an educator. The experience made me think about the overall classroom environment we talk so much about. Obviously, the idea of creating a "safe" space for kids holds many definitions, and emotional safety is just one. To be put in the position of vulnerability, both as a reader and also as a listener evoked many feelings within us...adults. I can only imagine what that feels like to a child. In my own education, I did more listening to my teacher than anything, and was never asked to share anything personal, so my only experience with this concept is as an adult. I know I felt "exposed" in a sense, when sharing my poem, for many reasons. I was questioning my poem as an acceptable piece of art. I was questioning my comfort level in sharing such personal moments of myself with a group of people I didn't know just a few short weeks ago. If we feel this as adults, imagine how this feels to a child who cares deeply about what their peers think of them. In some ways, I liked the fact that we couldn't respond following a reading; it meant that you would not hear any criticism, but at the same time I felt the urge to run over and hug the person after hearing their story! I think it is important for us to remember, just as each of our students have a story, we each have a story within ourselves as well. I love that we honor and respect each others unique qualities. Thank you for being brave enough to share who you are with me and the rest of our fabulous Cohort 1.