Maybe it was because I was grading so much this weekend but I wanted to come in and talk about structure in circle this week.

I wanted to talk about a number of areas. One, and Riggan says this better than I do: part of our work is figuring out the least amount of structure students need in order to succeed. Like finding a perfect text, you’re trying to figure out the perfect “stretch” for a reader. There’s also the question of creativity — if I give too much of a template I get the same damn paper from everyone — and the question of how much engagement students are bringing to the process,i.e., are they working to try and figure out what the work demands? Or are they relying on me to provide it for them?

Structure is also about safety: when you don’t know what to do, you start to feel like not doing it, or berating the whole process. How do I give enough structure so that kids can move forward safely and take some risks?

Lots to this. I tried to begin safely by asking how structure helps in the following areas:

sports
music
social settings
school

TC, because she’s awesome, went right to school as she facilitated.

SH: School gives us an “order of operations because it keeps us consistent and what we’re supposed to do and what we need to do.”

(Insert some photos tomorrow)

I added social settings because we went to Manchester by the Sea this weekend and I was reminded how New Englanders manage emotion through ritual. Everyone hugs, everyone shakes hands afterwards, everyone goes to the thing afterwards and everyone is equally awkward.

Tomorrow: What would happen without structure? How does structure keep you safe as a student? Why do some people hate, hate, hate structure? How do you learn to think about structures you dislike but need?