Taking the Journey of Learning Together
One of the first assignments I received from my ninth grade History teacher, Sister Mary Galvin, was to analyze Coretta Scott King’s quote, "The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” On the day the assignment was due, the class was encouraged to share some ideas that we had written down. Once the conversation died down, Sister Galvin shared that we would lean on that quote during the school year. She said that it was our responsibility to work together and listen to each other as we engaged with the content. She reminded us that we may have varying opinions, but that we were to always respect each other’s ideas—regardless of whether we agreed or not—because that was the intention of Coretta Scott King’s message. Simply stated, a community works best when members are working and learning in community.
Sister Galvin’s message is at the heart of my passion for being an educator. I love witnessing students sharing ideas and learning from one another, and so I am grateful to be at The Ellis School where learning in community can be seen in and out of the classroom everyday. When walking the halls of our Upper School, one will see students collaboratively studying or sharing ideas about a new concept that was presented in a class. My office is adjacent to the ninth grade lounge, and I often overhear students discussing concepts to prepare for an assessment. I’m always impressed by such conversations because they not only want to ensure their understanding, but also push each other to think critically and to find efficient strategies.
We hold community homeroom in the Upper School four times each week, with grade-level homerooms occurring on Wednesdays. This intentional, community-driven approach is new to the Upper School this year. In my many years of working with high school students, I feel it is important for students and faculty to start the day together as a community. This intentional approach to the start of the day allows us to learn from each other and experience the diverse interests inherent in our Upper School population at Ellis. We begin our week with Mindful Mondays, which ask us to focus our attention on the present moment without judgement (as opposed to worrying/thinking about the past or the future). One of the biggest challenges of mindfulness is figuring out what works for each individual. My goal for Mindful Mondays is for various members of our community to share strategies that they find useful and allow us to try different things, to explore, and to identify our individual preferred mindfulness approaches and activities.
As a part of Mindful Mondays, students and faculty members volunteer to lead our community in these mindfulness activities. We have learned several breathing activities and even took the time to write kind notes to ourselves. There’s a beauty in being in a community that is willing to not only share their strategies, but also to learn from one another. We are on this journey together. During a recent Mindful Monday, senior Anna Balich led us in a breathing exercise that she found useful in theater class. Anna said, “We can all benefit from breath.” She was more than accurate with this statement because each of us sat up a little straighter to begin our week together in community.
While Mindful Mondays are powerful, the other community homerooms are just as important. Students and faculty have the opportunity to share about athletics, clubs, and affinity groups, as well as teach the community about other topics and interests. Witnessing the pride of students who not only take the time to sign up to make an announcement, but flex their public speaking skills with a thoughtfully prepared statement, gives us space to learn in community and grow as students and faculty.
Community homeroom upholds our pillars, especially by fostering positive community members to be empathetic individuals with real integrity, cultural competency, and an ability to make authentic, meaningful connections in a diverse world. During the end of a recent community homeroom, Dr. LaRosa, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, shared a Brendon Burchard quote, “Let us not forget that our simple efforts and daily triumphs can gather weight and motion to become an unstoppable force toward focused and free life.” Dr. LaRosa reminded us that we are all on the learning journey together, and while we are afforded various rich opportunities, it is our responsibility to share the learning with one another.
