What’s the Buzz?

Written by

The buzzing sound is always present. Sometimes it swells up, loudly cloaking us all in an almost tangible roar. Sometimes it softens to background murmur. But always it changes, moment to moment, day by day, a living force, an electromagnetic surge of power and energy.

It can be disorienting to hit it cold – particularly when you enter later in the morning when the force is “up and running” for the day. I imagine it can seem overwhelming, chaotic, to a visitor or a parent stopping by briefly. I know sometimes it feels overpowering to me and I have to create a space around me or inside myself to “catch up.”

It has certain fairly predictable peaks – mass arrivals, mass departures, the time right before a big event or trip, and the times when everyone is gathered in the same room by serendipity or design. And not so predictable, but also happening frequently every day, there are these little magical moments when the volume drops off suddenly and if you’re listening with a bigger ear you can hear growing, exploring, becoming – real education – going on all around you.

It’s people. It’s people talking, talking, talking… in groups, in pairs, in threes, in informal sessions, in meetings, in side by side play activities, in games, in the office, on the stage, over lunch, during football, during cooking, hamming it up, or arguing an idea… talking. It’s people finding their way, learning about choices, making new beginnings, trying new things, building and existing in community.

Over the short haul, this is definitely not the most efficient looking way to get things done. The community or one of its members defines a need. People talk about it. Perhaps a committee forms or a motion is made to the School Meeting. We try an idea out or vote a policy into being. We talk about it some more. People spread the word through signs, conversation, question/answer, complaint forms, or by accident. We modify the idea, and the process starts all over again and so it goes.

For example, the community is completing its third week of working out just how the chore system will operate this year. We started with the modified summer style with people choosing a chore each day, discussed it at School Meeting, asked the School Aesthetics Committee to deal with learning how to computerize the schedule, hand wrote it, struggled with the problems of individuals’ abilities matching with the chores demands and all throughout have been daily, as a community, getting the work done. It is definitely more “short term” efficient to have a teacher assign a chore to each person and that’s that; you do your chore all year, period. One person decides, 42 people are impacted. In the TCS way, for this particular issue, by my personal knowledge alone, at least 18 people have been involved in discussing and creating the process. And I’m sure I don’t know about everyone, so it’s easily 50% of the community involved in some way in this one issue. There’s been a lot of talking.>

Which way creates ownership, community, and creative independent thinking? Which way, in the long run, more efficiently allows individuals to become adults who can make choices, handle decisions, make judgments, take responsibility, and have initiative?

And why am I paying so much attention to chores and what is going on with them this year? I really just drew the chore issue out of my mystical hat. The same process goes on in the creation and operation of the corporations. An idea or an interest surfaces and the talking begins. The meetings, the sharing of visions, the hammering out of purposes, bylaws, certifications, the plans and activities, the talking goes on and on. It is the same sort of process for committees, for School Meeting business, for Judicial Committee operations and actions and for all of the other structures which cradle the school.

This process of the school finding its way, of the collection of individuals that make up the school community forging social and educational structures by which we will be guided, is mirrored in each individual’s finding his or her way also. The new year has begun with a much larger community, a much older community and many new members making up the community. The talking is ceaseless, like the ocean’s waves.

Individuals slowly expand, trying on new roles, relaxing into activities they’ve never tried before, or which had become labeled as inefficient or unworthy or they were “just not talented enough for” in earlier school situations. The talking goes on… “Did you read this book?” “What if we take this apart?” “I can do that all day???” “I feel…” “I need a nap.” ‘What do you like to……… I don’t want to…”, “Anyone want to?”, “I’m going to…

This school is not a quiet place. This school is not a place for facile expediency. It vibrates, it hums, it buzzes and lurches along. It takes getting used to and growing into. It takes time to figure out how to create one’s place and space within it.

Let’s celebrate the sound- all over the world adults and nations are trying to learn to talk to each other. TCS is a graduate course in communication.

But loud voices are still for outside – Laws #11.2, 12.2, and 13.5 are still in effect!

What Are They Learning?

Written by

What do kids learn at The Circle School? More than I can know or name, I’m sure. But what do we see them learning? Here’s what some of the staff have seen in recent months …

I have seen kids learn to value reading as a functional tool. They read the agenda for the School Meeting to determine whether or not to attend this week. They read about upcoming field trips and other events on the front door. When they serve on the JC they must read the complaints they are investigating. They read the muffin recipe, to divvy up the ingredients for various people to bring in. They read the school law book to determine what law was broken, so they can fill out a JC complaint.

I have seen kids learning to value writing as a functional tool. They discover that in order to be certified to use the telephone, they have to be able to write well enough to write down a message and have the certifier read it. They write letters to their favorite TV and movie stars. They must write down the bylaws of their corporations for approval by the School Meeting. They must compose clear and concise motions to be presented to either the School Meeting or the Assembly.

I have seen kids learn perseverance as they work on projects dear to their hearts, for hours at a time.

I have seen six-, seven-, and eight-year-olds learning basic math skills as they “play” a computer game, working together to solve 100 multiplication and division equations.

I have seen kids learn how to remind themselves that they must be someplace at a certain time. They independently and with no prompting by adults, gather their things at 3:15pm and sit on the front couches waiting for the bus.

I have seen kids learn how to devise systems to remind themselves to do their daily chores, and to check off their completed chore on the chore checklist. Their various systems have included signs at their cubbies reminding them or asking an adult to let them know when it is a certain time.

I have seen kids learn how to keep a clean and neat cubby, after being written up and having to appear before the JC one too many times for having a cubby that continually spilled its guts onto the floor.

I have seen kids learn problem solving skills, working with each other and adults to hammer out certification procedures for safe, proper use of the computers, the sewing equipment, the piano, and the upstairs.

I have seen kids learn how to enjoy being with an adult (formerly viewed as someone to avoid if possible). They discuss what they did on the weekend, the latest Star Trek show, last night’s political debate, a book they were currently reading, or how to compose a rule that would address all the issues involved in messes made at school by groups of kids working together around a table.

I have seen kids learn to transfer skills from one area to another. They write signs for the front door using printing skills they had been practicing from a calligraphy book. They use paper folding tricks, also learned from a book, to create their handmade Valentines or to design an individualized birthday page.

I have seen kids learn how to deal with difficult interpersonal situations, by refining problem solving skills and becoming more flexible. For example, what rules are necessary for this game to be pleasant enough for all who want to to play? Should there be different rules for different ages? For different skill levels? What is fair? What is not fair? What is safe? What is not safe and might invite intervention by an adult?

I have seen kids learn how to monitor their environment and say to each other, “It’s too noisy down here for us. Let’s go upstairs where it is quiet. ”

I have seen children learn to draw on community resources. A five-year old went with an adult to the library to find a recipe for pancakes and then to the grocery store to purchase ingredients to make them.

I have seen kids learn to control their natural inclination to move constantly, watching them attend a meeting of a corporation or a committee that really interests them -such as the ad hoc committee appointed by the School Meeting to recommend what to do about the television set at The Circle School.

I have seen kids learn to make mistakes, admit them, and make amends.

I have seen kids learn the value of advertising. They planned to make and sell food one day, but due to a lack of notification, very few customers had cash on hand and the food items didn’t sell as briskly as they had hoped.

I have seen kids learn how to do things they don’t want to do. They sit and wait and wait and wait through a boring School Meeting for the motion they want to vote on. They bite the bullet and clean up someone else’s mess because they want to use an area that has been closed because it was too messy.

I have seen kids learn how to write IOU’s so they can purchase a food item. I have also seen kids learn to remember to pay off their IOU’S, after being refused a subsequent loan.

I have seen kids learn that there are ways to learn, other than being taught by an adult. I watch them teach each other to throw a football, to multiply and divide, to knit, to write.

I have seen kids learn how to effectively run meetings. I watch them chair the School Meeting, attending to old business, new business, motions, discussions, points of order, votes, reports, and announcements. I watch them chair committee meetings, less formal perhaps, but still requiring orderly proceedings guided by an effective chairperson.

I have seen kids learn how to express themselves through painting, music, sewing, knitting, quilting, and dramatic play.

I have seen kids learn how to tune out distractions, intently reading a book on the couch while all around them others are talking.

I have seen kids learn to value themselves, as they see the adults around them honoring to the greatest extent possible their choices about how they spend their time and how, when, where, and what they choose to learn.

I have seen kids learn how to listen to themselves to discover what turns them on, what they are particularly drawn to and not drawn to, what they want to do next.

I have seen boys learning to knit -casting on, knitting, purling. And I have seen girls learning football -passing, catching, making downs.

I have seen kids of all ages learn to play physical games together -finding ways to avoid hurting younger kids while still challenging the older ones.

I have seen kids learn design skills. They create a design, then make a pattern from it, and then sew it into reality.