All-School Gathering

[Kara Sun]

The image that will remain with me from my tutoring experience is that of all-school gatherings. These always happen after lunch on Wednesdays, which is right when I arrive at Prairie Creek. Classes get to the field at various times and sit in their “bird bands.” Bird bands are groups of three classes, one of each age group. The bands form a semi-circle around whoever is presenting or leading the gathering that day. Often when the egrets arrive, there is already a song going, and they join the singing as they find their spots. I have realized that the opening songs work really beautifully as a way to help students settle down after recess, focus into the space, and come together as a community.

The all-school gathering is usually done outside in one of the back fields. There is a view of cornfields on one side, and forest on another, with the school buildings showing between the trees and the dirt parking lot in the distance. It is often sunny out, with blue skies and a few drifting clouds, and you can listen to the birds as you sit in the gathering. Students arrive and are excited to participate in the community culture of singing, dancing, and respecting each other by listening well.

I often sit in the back of the gathering to observe. I see kids from different classes and of different ages waving at each other across the gathering. I watch teachers sit among students. I see older students being models for younger students with their silent applause. At the end of the gathering, there is also a closing song they sing as each class is dismissed one by one to follow their teacher back to their own class space.

This image represents the community that Prairie Creek works so hard to build. It represents the school as one interconnected body that allows grades and classes to overlap. It also represents the bird bands and class names. Molly once explained that part of the reason to give classes names is to give ownership to the students: my class is called the “Egrets” not “Molly’s class,” the ownership of the class does not belong to the teacher. This again speaks to the values that Prairie Creek is teaching their students and the responsibility that they give students to create and maintain a space and culture that they all feel a part of.

At this week’s all-school gathering, the student council made up of fourth and fifth graders had a couple announcements. Their main announcement was that they were going to put an idea box out for students to submit ideas for what they want to see the council do or work on within the school. I thought it was awesome that the students were wanting ideas from the rest of the school, even the younger kids, for what they could work on as a group. Prairie Creek seems to do a good job of encouraging many voices to be heard, and the all-school gathering is a representation of that as well. I have rarely seen the same person leading the all-school gathering.

This image of the all-school gathering has made me thing about how important community can be within a school, which also relates to themes I’ve been noticing at Carleton this term. A sense of community in one’s education I think really impacts a student’s sense of connection to the place and their drive to participate in class. If students feel respected and valued as individuals, but also understand their responsibility to others as part of a whole, they will be more likely to contribute positively to a learning community and also more likely to enjoy their own learning experience. This image has helped lead me to a final conclusion that spending time on community-building and having MKO’s in the classroom are both essential elements to positive classroom environments where students are excited to contribute and learn from each other.

I’ll leave you with a final image attached below: a song that Prairie Creek students wrote a couple years ago and that we sang as a full group at this week’s all-school gathering.

 

[Arlo Hettle]

I’ve always wondered about the bird names, so I really appreciate your explanation here. I love how it wasn’t just a fun idea, but a purposeful decision to give students ownership and build community. I think it really speaks to what I’ve gathered from your and the other Prarie Creek tutor blog posts this term about how so many aspects of the schooling experience there are intentional. The fact that the school song was written by students is another example and I am really glad you shared the lyrics. It is so full of lovely imagery!

[Author]

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