Taking Risks

The first few weeks of school are filled with risks.  All of us, from the K-1 student to the most experienced teacher, feel this. Our children have to navigate a new set of routines, manage new personality dynamics, make friends, keep friends, decipher the emotional tone of their new class, and figure out where they fit within this new community. Taking acceptable risks when steering through all of this can be daunting. Grown-ups can put it into words, “What if I fail?” Children usually aren’t able to put it so succinctly.

In the classroom and beyond, a child chooses whether or not these risks are worth it:

• Waiting for a teacher to call on them 
• Calling out the answers 
• Speaking up for their own rights (i.e. I don’t like this game. I want to play something different.) 
• Asking to go to the bathroom 
• Saying goodbye to a parent 
• Raising a hand during meetings 
• Attempting to write their name or other words 
• Drawing a picture 
• Joining a group or single friend in play 
• Reading aloud to a classmate 
• Crossing the monkey bars or rings on the playground

We want our children to be comfortable taking the risks that promote growth. It is for this reason that we create an environment that welcomes mistakes, experiments, discussion, and observation. All of the children in our room are capable of great things. We want to make sure they are willing to build the attempts to get them there.