Establishing Classroom Norms

This morning the E2 class began I-RISE by establishing a set of classroom roles and responsibilities.  Because the teachers had participated in the Energy Project in years prior, they already had a great sense for what works in the classes as well as a general comfort with each other.  The discussion lasted for maybe an hour and a half and we unpacked a lot of really great stuff.  Here are some shots of the whiteboard where we collected all the ideas.

I love these cogenerative discussions because they create really meaningful spaces for learning.  The discussion felt good in a way that I can't really articulate so i'll talk about a few of the discussion segments that stood out to me.

One of the first things that came up was that the classroom should be a safe space.  I noticed that Stamatis probed the teachers for what actions are characteristic of safe spaces, which I felt was particularly important.  They came up with all sorts of safe things to do such as asking questions and revoicing.  Often, moves that can be interpreted as unsafe were not intended to be that way, so it was great that we explicitly fleshed this out.  Now that we have a better sense for what makes others feel safe, we can better work toward that ourselves.

I also enjoyed being a part of the joint negotiation of the use of electronic devices in class.  Originally there had been a proposal to not use electronic devices.  After we got into the issue though, and talked about specific situations in which we may want to use devices, the language evolved into "being professional and responsible regarding devices."  I found this productive, because it really felt like we agreed upon a responsibility together and what we agreed upon encompasses a lot of the nuances we got at in the discussion.

I thought that the most interesting part of the discussion was when we discussed what happens when our classroom rules are broken.  The board reads "Unfortunately we will fail each other.  We need to ask for forgiveness and to forgive."  I love that.  Not just because it is important to be prepared for when this happens, but because it comes from a place of respect and understanding from one another.  It's an issue I've never come across in an "establishing norms" discussion, but I'm going to borrow it from here on out.

Overall this discussion helped us build up a trust that everyone has each other's best interests in mind.  And this trust will be particularly important because being probed, recorded, and analyzed is uncomfortable and vulnerable.  I am interested to see if/when the class revisits these norms and how teachers hold each other accountable to them.