Byrd Baylor's 1986 classic I'm in Charge of Celebrations is a beautiful account of life in the desert. Celebrations are such an important part of life in a workshop classroom. Most of our schools are closing their doors for the year this week. We'll see lots of pizza parties and end-of-the-year gatherings, but we know that celebrations are so much more than that. This last week of school is the perfect time to think about how we use celebrations as a part of the learning process!
At their very least (or even their very worst...) celebrations are the positive version of assessment. They're an opportunity for the teacher, the student, or classmates to give positive feedback. We do this at the end of writing units when kids read each other's published pieces. We do this when we pay compliments in conferences. Some of these become ritualistic if we do them often enough and stop thinking about why we do them. So why do we do them?
Brian Cambourne lists response as a critical part of the learning process in his Conditions of Learning theory (1988), meaning that in order to learn anything truly, one needs to have a response to performance. Sometimes it's a grade (we see this in school.) Sometimes it's specific advice on how we did (we see this when we are coached in a sport, when we cook something for the first time, or when we drive too fast on the highway.) Sometimes the response comes from within (we see this in the sense of personal satisfaction or dissatisfaction after we do something important.)
But does this response last? How does it add to our learning?
Brian Cambourne lists response as a critical part of the learning process in his Conditions of Learning theory (1988), meaning that in order to learn anything truly, one needs to have a response to performance. Sometimes it's a grade (we see this in school.) Sometimes it's specific advice on how we did (we see this when we are coached in a sport, when we cook something for the first time, or when we drive too fast on the highway.) Sometimes the response comes from within (we see this in the sense of personal satisfaction or dissatisfaction after we do something important.)
But does this response last? How does it add to our learning?
At it's very best, celebrations are response that lasts for a long time. It's not what's done after the learning process, but is actually a part of the learning process. It gives kids the message that what they've done is worth repeating or developing, but how often have we gotten a test back in our own lives with a good grade on it, and then decided that was over, and we'd never have to deal with that topic again?
The best celebrations are not the ones with the special snacks or the pinatas, but the celebrations that keep on teaching. If you have celebration bulletin boards where kids' work remains on display for weeks after a unit is over, the audience never goes away. It's funny how sometimes kids leave to go to the bathroom, and don't come back for a very long time, because they're reading each other's writing, or looking at each other's social studies projects! In an environment like that, celebrations are so much more real!
The best celebrations are not the ones with the special snacks or the pinatas, but the celebrations that keep on teaching. If you have celebration bulletin boards where kids' work remains on display for weeks after a unit is over, the audience never goes away. It's funny how sometimes kids leave to go to the bathroom, and don't come back for a very long time, because they're reading each other's writing, or looking at each other's social studies projects! In an environment like that, celebrations are so much more real!
John Hattie tells us in his 2007 work on feedback that response only turns into learning if it's set in an ongoing and authentic context. Celebrations don't matter if they're not embedded in a community or in some sort of learning that's continuous and meaningful. Why should a student care what her peers say if she's never going to hear from them again? Why should she care if the skills that she's hearing about will never come up again? It's for this reason that we need to create strong communities of learning in our classrooms and schools right away. This will lead to kids wanting to grow for the positive feedback they receive from one another and from adults. We also need to have the sort of spiraling curriculum that builds upon itself...where things that have been taught and learned come back with greater depth in subsequent units and subsequent years! This sort of celebration adds some acceleration to learning, because kids know there is value to what they've learned. It makes them really listen closely to the response we give them, and they take their learning much more seriously.
So now it's June. We're all a little tired. We look back on our year and think about the feedback we've received in our practice...from our supervisors, from our colleagues, from our students, from ourselves. Does it matter? Is this year just over to the point we think we just want to start over 90 days from now? Or is it something more? Is next year just another year, or is it the next step in a longer journey in our lives as learners and teachers? Are we celebrating that this year is over, or are we celebrating how we've grown as educators? Are we thinking about what a great year we've had, or are we considering how the year that just ended has added to the years that are coming?
If we decide to put our feet up and relax after working really hard these last ten months, that is because we are enjoying a well-deserved rest. If we decide to do that, thinking about all we've accomplished, how we, along with our students, have grown and changed in our daily lives as teachers and learners, that's is truly a cause to celebrate!
If we decide to put our feet up and relax after working really hard these last ten months, that is because we are enjoying a well-deserved rest. If we decide to do that, thinking about all we've accomplished, how we, along with our students, have grown and changed in our daily lives as teachers and learners, that's is truly a cause to celebrate!
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