Click here to listen to this week’s JAM – The Value of Community.
Last Wednesday the entire Lower School quietly entered Founder’s Hall for the new Lower School Assembly led by Head of Lower School Heather Stinnett. It was impressive to see groups of children as they reached the door – animated and bubbly – quickly and quietly transition into the new space, as they recognized the difference in energy and expectations in that moment.
Every other Wednesday, the entire Lower School meets as a community to have a Lower School-only assembly. Meetings have a predictable routine, one that children have learned over the course of the past few months. After entering quietly, they typically engage in some type of large group breathing exercise. It is quite a sight to see more than 150 children from 5 – 10 years old – and their teachers – breathing in and out in unison, a sense of collective focus and calm settling over the group. One of the main goals of this time together is to teach children how to be good audience members, reminding them about “whole body listening” and building routines and structures that model for them how to be together in community.
Each meeting has a message, often delivered by Heather. One week she talked about having a growth mindset, sharing photos and stories about her puppy – Judy – to help children understand that all of us can make mistakes and learn from them. Does Judy making a mistake make her a bad puppy? Of course not! It was clear that children, like puppies, all need high expectations for their behavior and the space to learn and grow.
This past week, Heather talked to the children about being upstanders, and shared a story about an experience she had when she was 10 years old and had moved to a new school. She talked about being excluded and mistreated until another girl finally stood up to the group and told them to stop. Heather beautifully narrated the story and then finished by sharing that she had called this friend just a few days before the assembly to see if she remembered this event. She did, and Heather marveled in appreciation at the powerful impact this woman had on her life many years earlier. Children were then encouraged to share with Heather and their teachers their own stories about people who have been upstanders in their lives.
Each meeting finishes with a child invited up to do the Lower School cheer. A call and response of our core values – Be Kind, the child says, and the audience cheers back, “Be Kind,” and on through the values. Last week’s leader was a young boy from China who arrived with limited English this past Fall. Seeing him up there – being encouraged and supported by teachers and classmates – was yet another beautiful example of how we strive to live out our core values each and every day on campus.
The entire assembly typically takes 10-15 minutes. In this short amount of time, it creates a space for explicit lessons about core values and a powerful model of what it looks like to live in community.