Are you officially "back to school" with students yet? We are! My brain is whirling after the first three days of school. My students this year are sweet, adorable, eager to learn and eager to please. The excitement for the upcoming year on their part (and mine) is so evident already. Like y'all, we spend tons of time during the first days, especially, in community building to set the tone for the year. Last year I was inspired to introduce and create mission and vision statements with my class to add additional "connective tissue" between our classroom rules / expectations and our learning. WOW! So powerful!!!
I began our Morning Meeting by introducing the concept of "mission" to my fourth graders. "Do you know a mission is?" (blank stares...) "Have you ever heard the phrase, I'm on a mission?"
[Faces instantly light up..."Oh yeah! Like we want to do something!"]
"Yes! Well, we are on a mission this year. To do what?"
[Super excited students..."To learn!"]
"You got it! So how should we put that into a statement that we can use all year?"
[Serious thinking faces on...one peanut raises her hand and tentatively yet eagerly says, "Everyone learns?"]
"Absolutely! Now...how often?"
[Another kiddo..."Every month?"]
LOL! "You mean you only want to learn every month?"
[Giggles...a third student..."Every week?"]
LOL again! "You mean you only want to learn every week?"
[Almost everyone..."Every day!!!"]
"NOW you're talking! How about...Everyone learns everyday?"
["Yeah!!!!!]
"Great! Now our vision statement. A vision is something that inspires us to achieve our goal. So I want you to close your eyes and picture how you see everyone working together this year to make everyone learn. What do you see? What kind of qualities do we have that allow us to learn and work together so that everyone is comfortable?"
And I'll end our dialogue there. I'm sure you can already hear them suggesting different traits and qualities, and of course a picture of their completed statements was at the top of the post. The only contribution I made to that list was the word "critical." I was careful to explain that I didn't mean we would focus on the negative connotation of that word, or look for faults in one another. I explained that critical thinkers are students who think through their answers, opinions, or comments carefully, and who can state their opinion and back it up with evidence. I explained that this might mean that we need to learn to disagree respectfully during class discussions. You all know that Common Core is rich in evidence-based learning, critical thinking, and supporting students to explain their thinking both orally and through writing. Introducing this mission and vision last year and including that word CRITICAL allowed me to begin the year with the immediate expectation that my students needed to always know the "why" behind their thinking.
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