"We Need To Get These Boxes Opened."

Last week we received 7 large boxes. We brought them into the classroom and I said, "We need to get these boxes opened."

"What's in them, Teacher Tom?"

I regret that I answered, "Presents." 

I should have just said, "Stuff," although I don't think it matters too much in the big picture.

They realized soon enough that they were opening boxes of school supplies.

And that was every bit as motivating as an idiotic promise of presents. (I must constantly concentrate on waiting, at least for a second or two, before speaking. Verbally leaping in before I've taken a moment to properly phrase my comments is one of my greatest weaknesses as a teacher.)

I am, however, proud of having said, "We need to get these boxes opened." I didn't urge or ask or cajole. I merely made a statement of fact about our community.

I didn't give them any tools, despite the layers of packing tape, some of it even reinforced with string.

I did not help, except to say, "We aren't playing with these things today," and "They go on that bench over there."

The picture above is the beginnings of the kids' own organization. I did not instruct them on how to do it. They worked it out among themselves, just as they did with opening the boxes. "We need to turn it over." "Help me pull this part." "If we open it a little more we can get the paint out."

It's really rather remarkable that they were able to get through all that tape with just their fingernails and fingertips. I would have used a box cutter. It's amazing how powerful we are when we work together.

Some of the kids worked far more persistently than others, of course, but most of them pitched in at least a little over the course of the full hour we worked on the project. The ones who worked hardest did not resent the ones who worked least.

The most important word in my original statement, "We need to get these boxes open," was the word "we." 

This school, this community, this democracy belongs to all of us. When there is something that needs to be done, it is not his job or her job, but our job.

This is one of the most important habits of self-governance, of citizenship: pitching in.

When you are in a group in which the majority sits back and lets others do the work, you are probably dealing with people who feel disenfranchised. When people feel real ownership in their society, this is simply what they do. 

And in the end, the children got those boxes unpacked.

It was something we needed to do, so we did it.

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