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Simply Speaking

Walking into my eleventh year as a teacher; looking once again into the faces and eyes of young people; taking time with them to establish the relationship they will have with me, each other, and with learning.  The beginning of a new school year always provides new insights to life.

Our conversations over the past two days revolved around setting the stage for a successful school year for everyone.  The atmosphere was calm, genuine, and intelligent.

The one aspect that rose from our conversation is that simplicity is going to be the name of the game.  When we spoke of rules and expectations we spoke of them in simple terms.  These terms were understood by all, agreed upon by the collective voices, and accepted as our path chosen.  From our simple rules we gathered ourselves into conversations about how specific events would fit into the simple rules.  Each time we generated an example of a behavior my students were able to grasp the idea that it fell under one of the simple rules established earlier.

Simplicity has it merits.

When we keep things simple we allow for exploration under an umbrella of safety and assurance.  Simplicity provides space to move, grow, and learn.  It gives us just enough direction to make choices that will benefit ourselves as well as others, all the while keeping the goal of learning in mind.

When we keep things simple we foster independence, self-esteem, and responsibility.  My students understood these ideas and seem to take to them readily.  We engaged in profitable conversations about how the many behaviors and actions one chooses to engage in can be summed up in 5 basic rules. 

We took time to discuss what we know about how to be and what to do as we learn, play, and explore while at school.  From this conversation we were able to define our classroom expectations in the following 5 basic rules:
  • We respect all people, their feelings and equipment
  • We walk in the building and as group on trips
  • We keep our hands and feet to ourselves
  • Cooperation is our key for us to learn.
  • We must know where you are at all times.
If you take the underlined words (in order) you have a way to remember each rule:

We, we, we learn at all times!

Being a teacher affords me an outstanding opportunity to keep myself grounded in the joys of simplicity.  Spending time with kids carries with it the daily reminder that life is most enjoyed when the simple things are appreciated and come to the forefront...

Mr. Casten
August 19, 2011  

Copyrighted material of Michael C. Casten 

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