“Students learn best when they feel known, valued, and respected by both the adults in the school and their peers.” – Cultures of Thinking by Ron Ritchhart
At the Village School, we often say “who you are is more important than what you know”. What we mean by that is that who you are as a person – your thoughts, beliefs, passions, and values- are important, if not more important, than who you are academically. We value that each learner brings their own unique perspectives and beliefs to our discussions. As Ron Richhart states “when teachers don’t value what students bring with them into the classroom, we diminish students as individuals and dismiss their already substantive accomplishments as learners and thinkers”. Our learning environment centers around our learners’ voices and who they are as people, creating a sense of belonging for each of us.
A sense of belonging in a school community has been shown to have life-long impacts. When a child feels respected, valued, and a part of their school community, the science shows that this can have positive impacts on their wellbeing and identity development. Who you are in our community matters. We care about the things that make you an individual. We value each learner’s uniqueness, and we work together to create an environment where each of us values our differences, seeing them as a strength.
Is this easy? Definitely not! What happens when your values do not align with another person in our community? What happens when the differences in those values cause us to act in contradiction to those values? During Health and Wellness, our Adventure and Discovery learners explored this concept. We read a story together about a girl named Anna. Anna’s core value was open-mindedness. When Anna was having a discussion with a friend and they disagreed, she told them that they were “flat out wrong” and then walked away from the conversation, shutting that person down. Anna admitted that in the moment, this felt good, but later she realized that she had violated one of her core values. It didn’t feel good. Across studios we explored these moments together, the moments when we act in contradiction to our values, how that feels, and what do we do about it? The learners all came to a similar conclusion, it’s hard when another person does not agree with us. It’s hard when we have to engage in conversations where our values do not align. Acknowledging that another person sees things differently and respecting them at the same time, is difficult, and it is also essential in order to create a culture of belonging.
Engaging in civil discourse about our values doesn’t just happen during Health and Wellness. For example, our middle school Civilizations curriculum invites learners to take on many different perspectives, especially those that might challenge their personal core values. Through this experience, learners explore the events of history and also their own belief systems.
Throughout our day, we cultivate moments for our learners to share who they are as individuals, expressing their core values and beliefs. We strive to create a culture where it is possible to be valued for who you are as an individual and live together in a community with others who have different values and beliefs. Each person matters, each voice matters, and each person belongs in our community.
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