Thinning the Walls
My classroom has four solid, concrete blue walls. When it is - 30 degrees celcius outside like it is here today, I am thankful for those walls. They give us a space to develop as a community and a safe space where we can laugh, cry a little, and talk about our concerns and our learnings. I am thankful for this space and insist that it continues.
But the solid walls can be thinned out.
Using the tools we have, we have learned a few things about venturing outside of those walls ourselves and bringing the world in. We have learned to make connections on demand, on schedule, and as needed. We connect with others and forge stronger connections between ourselves. In a small school such as ours where some of the students were grouped together by age in kindergarten, they will stay together, with this same group of kids, until graduation. They need to learn how to form relationships and get along with each other. But to prevent them from becoming isolationist and insular, they also need to have thin walls in their learning environments.
It is complicated sometimes. We are a group. A classroom is a closed environment where students are placed and must be a member. While there certainly are kids who are outsiders and on the margins of the group as a whole, we are a single entity. But we are also individuals each functioning within flexible and open networks of international collaborators and learners. These networks are fluid. We use our individual networks to inform and empower our group. We have individual goals and group goals. We walk a fine line between what outside stakeholders require of us, and what we push ourselves towards. We balance, we compromise, we trade - off.
Spaces with thin walls allow for safety and for strength to grow. Confidence rarely blooms under unceasing, intense outside pressure. Students learn to push out and work with others while still retaining the safety of a local group.
Balance.
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