At Indi-ED, we start each day with a morning meeting. We have a quote of the day and a question of the day. The kids are expected to write these down and think about them. They share their thoughts on what the quote means and their answers to the question. Then we share accolades and questions. One student leads this meeting each week. We then recite our Indi-ED pledge.
Until recently, I did not attend the morning meeting because the littles were not ready for it yet. Now they are and they are really taking it in.
The morning meeting was impressive. I was blown away with how seriously the kids think about the quote and questions. They answer with thought and respect. They raise their hands and wait to be called on. No one is calling out, no one is talking over each other, no one is being uncivil. They are listening to each other with their eyes, ears and hearts.
Without going into the topic of conversation, this morning’s meeting was especially impressive. We were maybe 40 people, mostly kids, and were able to have a conversation about a controversial subject.
I have sat through many meetings in my life. These meetings held the same amount of people as this one, except they were all adults. During the meetings, the adults spoke over one another, they disagreed, but not as respectfully as these kids. They whispered to each other. Sometimes, not even a whisper, but blatant, normal voice level conversation while others were speaking.
Indi-ED is teaching kids to be better human beings. We teach respect, honesty, collaboration, communication and much more. The evidence is in these meetings. The kids have more profound conversations with each other than most adults I know. They are taught to think more thoughtfully about their words and how they may affect others, taught to be deep thinkers. To respectfully disagree.
In today’s world, especially lately, we need more of these lessons. Many adults do not know how to communicate well. They don’t think about how their words affect others. We are living in a very strange time and if everyone had been taught these incredibly important skills, I think we might not be so combative and we might listen to the other side a bit more. We would not fight with each other over opinions, but rather take others into consideration and respectfully disagree.
While our whole Indi-ED pledge is very important, these lines stood out to me at this meeting:
I pledge to respect differences in school and in life.
I pledge to remember that everyone and everything is special and important.
I pledge to be open, honest, and authentic.