Communities Big and Small
Community is so foundational to society that adults often forget they had to learn about the concept. This year, the first-grade class is discovering, through experiential education, what it means to be part of a community.
Before creating their own communities, represented by 3D maps, the students did some field research, taking trips to six local community hubs: the fire station, the police station, the Town & Country Government Center, Straub’s grocery store, the Christian Science Reading Room, and Starbucks. At each of the locations (all within walking distance of the School campus), representatives spoke about the function of their site within the larger community.
After each visit, the students, working in teams of five or six, reflected on what they’d learned, discussing what they’d noticed and what they felt was important about each place. Once all of the visits were complete, they had to decide what buildings to include in their 3D paper communities.
Along with studying the concept of community off campus, the students were also learning about it closer to home. Their teams were mini-communities. First-grade teacher, Rissa Arens (US’91, C’95), mentions how the students struggled to communicate at first. “Almost all of the groups were arguing,” she notes. “They were getting their feelings hurt, and it was just a really inharmonious situation.” However, each student had signed an agreement explaining what it meant to be a good team member and how to exemplify that—by listening to each other, for example. With regular reminders about the agreement, the students’ attitudes and work methods began to shift, with “obvious differences in the way they were working with each other,” Arens comments, adding that their ability to understand and practice being a good teammate is “not only impressive, but, in today’s world, is critical.”
Now, the students are making connections between what they’ve learned about community and their study of other topics. For example, one student, recalling what the class had learned about citizen rights, chose a hotel as her community building, explaining, “If people are traveling through your community, they need a place to stay. And at the hotel they’ll have a bed to sleep in with sheets and covers to keep them warm, and there will be breakfast for them in the morning.” Arens says the students also share often that they have seen community buildings in other places. “Now they have this concept of community that they’re noticing everywhere,” she comments.
The students will continue to learn and refine their definition of community throughout the year, and just as we all do, they will keep learning throughout their lives how to be a good community member.