Building a Comunity of Learners? First, Welcome Everyone

For a school to be truly successful it must be made up of a community of learners, or an environment where students support each other and their teachers. This is particularly true in an urban environment, where students often have issues outside the school that can greatly impact their school experience. Creating a community of learners, however, remains for most an unfulfilled and often overlooked ideal. We feel very lucky, because the boys' new school seems to have done just that. To begin with, Stokes has realized that in order to have a community of learners, you must first have a community and communities are built by shared experiences for teachers/staff, students and their parents.

Parent outreach is particularly challenging in this day and age. Easy things first, I have never walked into that building without someone greeting me with a smile. It is a small thing, but you'd be amazed at how important it can be. If the people who work there don't seem like they want to be there, then why would I? Also, Stokes had new parent orientation the week before school started and I was surprised at the turn-out. Then again, they have a parent outreach coordinator on staff and I received a phone call the night before reminding me about the meeting and encouraging me to attend (the phone calls were in Spanish where appropriate). At the orientation, parents requiring translation were given headsets and a teacher provided a simultaneous translation of everything that was said so no one felt out of place. Ninety percent of faculty and staff were also present, modeling the engagement they wanted to see from others.

This same philosophy held true on the first day of school. Presented with the natural chaos of the first day, Stokes made the decision to embrace it. Not only did they welcome the students and their parents to the celebration, however, they reached out to the Brookland community and invited them to join us. After a short morning meeting, the entire school gathered in the courtyard and began a parade up 12th street, walking a 6 block square complete with fire engine, music and balloons. It was great to see. On the way home from school that afternoon, a man stopped my boys and asked if they were in the parade that morning (they were wearing Stokes t-shirts). When they said yes, he told them he'd been watching and he hoped that they had a great first day and a wonderful year.

They follow up the first day with continual opportunities for those experiences. All students 1st grade and up start every day with a school-wide morning meeting, where they repeat the school's three rules (I will take care of myself, of others and of my community) and sing. It only lasts 10 minutes, but it brings everyone together and helps them recognize they are part of something larger than just their classroom. (One of the saddest days I had at our old school was when they stopped holding the Monday morning meeting since it meant that there was never a time when the school gathered as a whole.) Today they all participated in Chalk for Peace, gathering outside the school for 20 minutes to draw pictures representing their vision of peace. Even the placement of their playground plays a role. Right outside the front of the school, it draws students and their parents at dismissal and gives us the opportunity to cement relationships with each other.

In the first two weeks of school, they have already provided more opportunities for community building than many schools do in a year and my boys and I feel like a part of Stokes and enjoy our time there. I'm looking forward to seeing how they turn this sense of belonging into an impetus for learning. Right now, however, it's just nice to know we've found a school that feels as strongly about community as I do.