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Shared Stories - 9.22.05 |
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ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠAt faculty meetings prior to the start of the year, we discussed ways we could increase our focus on our Country School values of honesty, respect, responsibility, compassion, generosity, commitment, cooperation, fairness, and moral courage. Lots of ideas were raised and ultimately I have formed a faculty committee to further the discussion. However, there was one idea that we decided to implement beginning this week.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠEach month, each homeroom in the school will read and discuss a common picture book whose theme is our focus word for that month. By developing a shared set of stories, we hope to foster broader, deeper, more focused, and more frequent conversations about each of our Country School values. Since everyone in the school will be familiar with each story, we expect that the characters and situations will become touchstones and will help us develop a common language to better discuss each value. We also think that the cross-grade level nature of this project will promote greater school unity around each value and is likely to lead us in some interesting and positive directions we can only begin to anticipate.
ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠFor September, all classes are going to read The Honest-to-Goodness Truth, written by Patricia McKissack and illustrated by Giselle Potter. It is the story of Libby who, after being punished for lying to her mother about whether or not she fed and watered the family horse, decides she better tell the absolute truth no matter what. Her “truth-telling” leads to hurt feelings, embarrassment, tattling, and confusion. Ultimately she learns that “Sometimes the truth is told at the wrong time or in the wrong way, or for the wrong reasons” and that “The truth is often hard to chew. But if it is sweetened with love, then it is a little easier to swallow.”
ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠFamilies may also want to read and talk about each of the books. Simple stories can indeed be powerful vehicles for furthering our discussions about our shared values.
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