#TheNewHomeroom - Continued Even More!

This is the latest in a series of blogs by partners of the Fluency work.
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Over the last few weeks, even more educators have grown #TheNewHomeroom project even bigger by adding their beliefs and dreams to this conversation (you can see previous additions to this work here and here). Teachers at a school district in Ohio and another in Pennsylvania joined this work during their first days back for the 2020-2021 school year, intentionally making time to breath, reflect, and vision together. Another group of educators collaborated across districts in August to build their version of #TheNewHomeroom. 

This group was unique in bringing together teachers across grade levels an across generations. One participant, now retired but still just as invested in education, joined alongside his former student who is an elementary teacher herself. It was a strong reminder of the legacy that we can build through education, and the collegiality that's critical to the health of educators. 

Below are the values and actions generated by this cross-district group in August for #TheNewHomeroom. Thank you to T~L Rogers, Laurie Ruberg, Eric Trio, Riley Carpenter, Lori Dougherty, Jordan Robinson, Isabella Droginske, Jonna Kuskey, Lou Volpe, Quenton North, Natalie Bigelow, and Rachel Miller for sharing your dreams for teaching and learning!  

WE BELIEVE ​	TURNING BELIEFS INTO ACTIONS IN #TheNewHomeroom
Establish trust	Through conversations and interactions; give students opportunities to engage outside the structure of school
We have an opportunity to do things differently and build trust	We set up things at our school to have students starting out with huge gaps between students--those who’ve participated in Zoom activities and those who have really done nearly nothing since schools shut down. The school is becoming a trauma-sensitive school, which will have an impact on how things are done. One of our teachers will be talking with students about values such as authenticity and hear what their thoughts are. Student participation in academic activities since March 13 has been inconsistent with some students not knowing how to engage in the remote activities. The first two weeks will be focused on culture-building to see what students are ready for and when .
Giving students (and parents) access to build a culture of trust	Can help make everyone more prepared and organized to prevent extensive overtime work for teachers. Using expanded use of technology to address this challenge using a new app to support this process. While there will always be people who don’t show up, they’ll continue to find the gaps and complete those connections.
Relationships develop from our shared trust as we communicate more genuinely.	Teacher has to demonstrate an appropriate level of vulnerability. ​Vulnerability is an acknowledged factor in all of our conversations. Examine and support how families work with young children and believe in us as caring.educatorsEncourage families to reach out with genuine questions. Helping families ask better questions of their children, esp regarding the school experience.
Student diversity matters.	Everyone should feel included and represented.
Students should be part of the process and the deployment of the learning process.	Learning is a path beyond grades
All are welcome here.​	We value each individual’s emotions, thoughts, ideas, and opinions.  ​We are all equal in this space. Body percussion opens us to learning with and from our students. Use specific pre-planned strategies to reduce anxiety.  Diversity Education with Mentor Texts.
Students and teachers should have fun learning together.	Learning is fun, and if it isn’t fun in the classroom, we need to change how the learning takes place.
Everyone is an expert on something	Give students the floor to share their knowledge/experience, collaborate with other teachers to enhance opportunities and encourage cross-curricular learning
Students should have choices	Students should have a say in what, when, where, and how they learn.
Embracing authenticity	Provide authentic education experiences for students that is meaningful for them. Even during remote learning delivery focusing on project-based learning that allows student choice and voice
Believe in the value of experiential learning--learning by doing.	Students need to have opportunities to test their ideas, try projects where they risk failure, but where learning is meaningful to each student.
Students and teachers should have fun learning together.	Learning is fun, and if it isn’t fun in the classroom, we need to change how the learning takes place.
Student voice and choice matter and emerge when we prioritize student expression.	Orff classroom, movement as expression, create music  Collaborate while creating music Use morning circle and end of day circle to build class culture as a Caring Communities Classroom Play games to get to know one another  Socratic conversations, listen and respond to establish community “If one doesn’t talk, that is on everybody”- we must draw every person into the conversation. Lit circles encourage visible learning and interpersonal interaction. Constructing narrative is a crucial strategy in the 21st century.
We are preparing students for the real world, life outside of school.	Hands-on, real life applications, social skills, problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, and leadership.
Value the humanity of being an educator, embrace the human side of our work.	Get to know one another. ​Spend concerted time and effort in pulling out the inner thoughts of a child.  A child’s creativity is one of our primary sources of “knowing” our students. Tell our students what to expect from us.  Tell our students specifically how to succeed (the actual expectations) in each stage of his/her learning.
Let’s focus on teaching the child, not just teaching the content because student voice and choice matter. ​	Students have very important roles in decision making, especially  when it comes to the classroom culture. ​Each child should be given the opportunity to decide how he/she learns best. Ask those who care for our children outside of school to describe each child in a “Million Words or Less” as a home connection activity.
Getting to know our students comes before anything	Knowing our students helps drive and inform our classrooms and curriculum, not the other way around. ​
Telling our stories can enable us to help each other understand diverse perspectives. ​	Teachers share their stories as a way of modeling their perspective so that students can see how their stories shape their perspectives. (Their experiences have an effect in their life outlook and their beliefs.)
Teachers, administrators, support staff	Need to have boundaries so that they are not bombarded with emails, calls, and online demands for their attention. Having consistency across grade-level and subject-area teams helps with this. Also using the “flip classroom” technique helps prepare students be more engaged.
Be together as a practice, be fully present.	Yoga Pretzels, Mindful Kids (tools) In focus, everything comes back to the breath *Establish body awareness as a teaching practice Creative dramatics Individual -> partner -> group work to establish safety in the classroom and teach students how to participate fully in each of these formats. “Take a deep breath to reset the room”