We create classroom rituals that provide a sense of consistency, human connections, and clarity around expectations.

All classrooms, like all human communities, have rituals, even if they are unspoken or unintended. At JJSE, teachers use explicit classroom rituals to provide a sense of consistency, human connections, and clarity around expectations.

Many JJSE teachers start class with some type of check-in where students can quickly express how they are feeling. This allows the teacher and other students to know if someone is having a bad day and adjust how they treat that person accordingly. It also allows the class to share in students’ moments of joy and sorrow, creating human connections which make the classroom a safer place for learning.

Talking Circle, Giulio Sorro
Humanities teacher Giulio Sorro establishes community in his classroom in part through regular use of a talking circle. Students move their chairs into a circle, and one person speaks at a time, holding a feather which symbolizes that they have the right to talk. In this piece, we see two uses of the circle– first, a quick check-in where students are asked to say one word describing how they are feeling, and second, a longer conversation where students are asked to share one thing they learned from the unit they just completed.