Celebration is perhaps our finest way of caring for others.
Ralph Peterson, Life in a Crowded Place: Making A Learning Community
“When we celebrate in the learning community, we recognize that people have the power to incorporate the joys and achievements of other people into their lives. Celebration not only dignifies the lives of the individuals and the group, it contributes to a sense of belonging.” Ralph Peterson wrote these important words many years ago in Life in a Crowded Place: Making A Learning Community (1992). And while there have been many books written about classroom community since, Peterson’s ideas about why community matters and the classroom examples he includes of how teachers bring a community to life in a holistic environment still set this book apart.
Peterson writes about four types of celebrations in a learning community: special day, spur-of-the-moment, getting older, and achievement. Special day celebrations are festive events that spotlight a holiday and require planning in advance, whether the special day is found on everyone’s calendar (e.g., Halloween) or is one we celebrate just because (e.g., One Hundred Days of School).
Spur-of-the-moment celebrations observe both the event and the spontaneity. One day, many years ago when I was teaching in Memphis, TN, snow began to fall midday and the kids and I knew it was only a matter of minutes before school was dismissed (they take snow very seriously in the South!). So we quickly left our classroom to spend a few precious minutes playing together in the snow. After we returned to school—and the photos I took were developed!—the students and I wrote captions for the images that captured our spur-of-the-moment celebration of nature. Unlike most snow in the South, these kinds of celebrations really stick with us!
Getting older celebrations are about acknowledging growth, whether it’s a lost tooth, getting a driver’s license, or becoming an older brother or sister. As Peterson says, a getting older celebration “acknowledges and says yes to the wonders of life.”
And, finally, there are achievement celebrations. Central to a learning community, these experiences acknowledge that a member or members of the group have accomplished something significant. These celebrations “cannot be truly appreciated by outsiders. Only members of a community who live closely together can weigh the significance of such an event.”
Into the Classroom
Yesterday my third graders experienced an achievement celebration, our first as a writing community. After weeks of drafting and revising, then another week of rereading our typed writing to make sure it said what we wanted it to say, inserting last-minute illustrations, and crafting “About the Author” pages, our nonfiction books were assembled and ready for sharing with others. Our first books were published!
Our first public share of our books was in a kindergarten classroom (a request from David, one of our 3rd grade students whose “little sister” was in this particular class). As the third graders shared their writing with the kindergartners, I overheard questions that echo those heard from teachers who want to know what readers are thinking: What did you think about my panda illustration? What did you learn about what whales eat? What was your favorite part of my book?
As I walked by Jesslynn, who had written about sharks, she whispered a reflection about her graphic cover illustration, one complete with blood dripping from the shark’s teeth. Ms. Debra, if I’d known we were going to be reading our books to little kids, I wouldn’t have made my book cover so scary. What a brilliant reflection on considering your audience! (This will definitely find its way into a future writing lesson.)
As we walked back to the classroom, Alberto said, “Ms. Debra, it was good and bad reading to the kids. I was so nervous but they were so polite and so interested in our books!” The joy, happiness, and, yes, awe Alberto felt about how others had responded to his writing is what makes writers keep writing.
The last hour of our day held a more “formal” author celebration, like those that happen in many classrooms. It was literally standing-room only in our classroom as so many parents came to hear their child, and their child’s classmates, share their writing (What if we don’t have enough chairs for everyone? came up in our morning meeting. I don’t think anyone minded standing around the perimeter of the room or sharing their child’s chair, given the expressions on parents’ faces.)
Students had also shared in the same morning meeting how nervous they were to be sharing in front of everyone. I acknowledged their nervousness is completely normal and that everyone, even adults, gets nervous speaking in front of groups. We brainstormed ways to prepare mentally to present in front of a group. Aniyah suggested we take deep breaths because this helps people relax. As the students have practiced deep breathing before, the other students immediately agreed this could help “calm us down.” I took a moment to explain the science behind what happens to your breathing when you get nervous: Being nervous makes your breathing become shallow. That’s when you breathe in short, little breaths. Shallow breathing, in turn, makes you feel even more nervous so intentionally taking some deep breaths helps you relax, as Aniyah said. We practiced a few deep breaths and the students agreed they felt less nervous. I could see tense shoulders begin to relax a bit.
I offered another idea for dealing with presentation anxiety: Do you think having our writing partners beside us when we share could help us feel less nervous? The children readily agreed that being with partners while they shared could make them feel “not alone.” So we decided that during the celebration with parents I would ask each writer before they shared, “Do you want your partners with you as you share or would you prefer to be on your own?” Each writer would choose for themselves in the moment.
During the celebration, we had a small stool we christened “the author’s seat” placed in the middle of our whole-class gathering space. As each child was named and the student made their way to the author’s seat, I could see them taking a deep breath as they responded to my query—with partners or on your own? While most students chose to forgo partners and sit alone, several students welcomed the support of partners. Watching partners nestle together to support a fellow writer was one of several times I teared up as every single one of these young writers took the author’s seat to be publicly celebrated.
Teacher decisions that affect the Conditions of Learning
Peterson refers to achievement celebrations as an “I Am Learning” moment. Isn’t that just the perfect name for celebrations to commemorate a child’s brilliance? In our book, Made for Learning, Brian Cambourne and I wrote, “Effective learning spaces are built on an appreciation of how deeply mutual affection and respect influences our learners.” The decisions teachers make to celebrate student learning matter.
· A public celebration of learning “acknowledges both the person or group as well as the ability of all human beings to create and make meaning” (Peterson, 1992). The expectation that all students are writers who can and should be celebrated as meaning makers is critical for students to see themselves as learners, a principle of engagement.
· Partnerships are critical to become a stronger writer. The students in this class have talked and shared regularly with the same writing partners throughout the unit*. Having designated writing partners and interacting with them in intentional and consistent ways builds trust and responsibility. Considering whether to have their partners by their sides in a stressful moment (even if they declined the offer) reflects the strength of the social and intellectual relationships they’ve developed, a principle of engagement.
· “What we celebrate in others we can find in ourselves” (Peterson, 1992). Offering students ways to overcome the normal anxiety that comes with taking our writing public helps them learn to trust the community in which they live and learn, which also increases engagement. As they cheered their fellow writers, student confidence deepened as they believed the same positive response would happen for them. This could be one reason why every writer in the class pushed through their own fears to share and be celebrated as the writers they have become.
*Future posts will share more on how our partnerships strengthened our writing community and supported the writers individually.
Debra,
Exciting to read about your first published books with your 3rd graders and all the exciting places that led to, including sharing with kindergartners and families and other public celebrations. I love the idea of a writing partner as a choice for a student when they are sharing their writing. Looking forward to hearing more about your writing community of third graders. Cheering you on! Regie