My 1st grader's hand flew over the paper as she added helmet to the "space guy" that was taking shape on the outside of the thank-you envelope. As it turns out, "space guys" are a favorite of one of the boys in her class and she was sure to draw one for him next to his pencil scrawled name. I picked up the pile of thank you notes and saw that each name had a different picture beside it. My daughter commented, "I'm drawing what everyone likes best."
A class of 12. A community of 12. There is something special going on in that 1st grade class room and it's more than a educational philosophy. I've heard Waldorf teaches talk about the community of their classrooms and how at the start of the 1st grade year, so much time is devoted to "developing" the class and the rhythm and the personality. Yes, I say, that sounds nice, I like that idea. But just now, I'm really beginning to see what that means. And I've yet to experience anywhere else the kind of community that is emerging in my daughter class. Not in theory, or in an abstract way but in a palpable way. In way that you can see and feel and almost touch when you see the group functioning as a whole. It feels like understanding, like acceptance, like an anticipated journey to an exciting destination. They all learn to work with each other and know what each's strength is. Also, what each's weakness is, knowing that everyone has things about themselves they are in the process of developing.
Often it may be said that a classroom has developed good working relationships. I've worked in school settings for many years and heard the same thing. And sometimes I would witness it, I would see kids working together and often there would be a student with a strong personality that was helpful in nature, or kind and that lovely student would help set the tone for the class. And this did work well for the class as a whole. This class would often feel like a positive place to be. But there were always several students on the fringe, going along with the flow, but not adding to the flow. Not making any waves of their own, but rather, being content to have the tide wash over them. As a whole, this class might seem to function well, but when looking at some of these individual students, I could see they were left to watch others carve out the direction in which the class would flow.
In my daughter's class, I see each individual personalities urged forward. I see an individual making a stride, and then pulling others along with them, and then another will turn the course a bit, and everyone will go with that flow for a moment, and then another will emerge in the forefront and then interested, open ears and eyes will turn that way, and consider this new direction for a moment. The open interested eyes and ears, did not happen by accident or by luck. It was cultivated and honored and expected and I see 7 year old children who have an emerging understanding of what it means to be human with an idea and how it feels to act on the idea and to move forward, and to have others support you. And then how it feels to be happy for another, when they have an "ah-ha" moment and to help them or move out of the way, all the while understanding that all ideas have merit and when viewed with an open heart, all is inherently good.
