by Amy McConnell, Open Classroom parent
I haven’t visited in a while, but the Open Classroom is not just a figment of my imagination. It really was and always will be the coziest, most inviting home for learners, for everybody. There is a connection among families that feels like kismet and the people who don’t get it at first soon fall under its spell. You hear whispers of doubt from the skeptics, about the quality of the academics, the time spent on the yard, until they realize every child including their own loves coming to school. Learning is fun and it happens because of and in spite of the adults. It happens when you’re raking chicken poop and it happens when you’re on a belly board listening to whale sounds. It happens when you’re making ice cream in a Ziploc bag or daring to taste salad greens with dressing you concocted yourself. It happens when you’re meeting your friends on a chilly night long after regular teachers have gone to bed, but your teacher is wide awake and she has a telescope set up and hot chocolate out on the same yard where you played your best kickball game when the sun was right above you. It happens when someone is reminding you to listen to your friend as he shares his Lego creation and it dawns on you that you might have something to share one day. It happens when the apple tree blooms and the Amaryllis opens and someone hollers out that you’re about to go on a spontaneous hike to a far off tire swing. It happens when you’re mixing paint and you discover a new color and that color makes you turn and smile at your friend who has just built a robot from trash because at the Open Classroom impossible doesn’t exist. It happens when you’re sitting at a little square table writing your first squiggly letters and your teacher doesn’t mention the squiggly parts, just that she sees you are having a nice time with your friends. The real Open is as pure as the blue skies above it, as colorful as the wildflowers on the hillside and as bold and raucous as the mightiest elephant seal and it’s as solid as the people who believe in it. If you try to put an end to something like the Open, you are in for a surprise because the Open Classroom is all about possibility and solutions and cooperation and community and love and freedom and square dancing. It’s about saying yes more often than no to the good stuff – the stuff that makes life beautiful.