Classroom
Photo Credit: Megan Henry
“Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.”
The classroom is a sacred place. More than just a place where students learn, it is where children form core memories that will remain with them throughout their lives. It is where teens wrestle with the values that will shape their character. It is where students struggle, overcome, and succeed. The classroom is place of encouragement and challenge, both a cradle and crucible for the important, weighty work of “growing up.”
Classrooms are grounding. They provide a foundation on which to build. After mastering the basics, the building blocks become tools for logical and creative discourse: Socratic circles, team debates, advanced algebra, and lab experiments. Buoyed by schedules and rhythms, classrooms establish order for the learning process and the days of the week. There is time for reading aloud, for pondering in silence, for discussing in groups, and for the serious work of play. Bells announce recess, lunch, or change of subject. They announce the end of the day until — Ding! — the next school day begins.
The classroom is a place of becoming. Walking down the hallways of a school, there are doorways into unique classrooms, each one an incubator of formation. Some are for half-day kindergarten. Others are for middle schoolers navigating mountains of awkwardness, drama, and change. Still others are for high school seniors before sending them out into the world. Classrooms are where students spend most of their waking hours. They are places of profound development over the course of days, weeks, months, and years.
Classrooms spark curiosity and inspire bravery. Ever entering new subjects of study, the classroom is the laboratory for trying new things. Introverts find their voices. Chatterboxes express themselves. Shy wallflowers begin to bloom. Hands are raised and questions are asked. In classrooms, students find the courage to say, “I don’t know.” They embark on journeys of discovery, knowing not to what heights or depths they may lead.
Classrooms are where friendships are formed. With fellow students and teachers alike, they are places ripe for relationship. Little girls with matching jackets become fast friends. Middle school boys bond over favorite video games. High school students explore romantic interests. For some, classrooms are where relationships are broken. Cliques form. Frustrations boil over and fights break out. But there is good amidst the hard. Loyalty despite betrayal. Some friends remain, others move on. Teachers become guides and mentors—inspiring what is possible.
Classrooms foster resilience. Some classroom challenges, like teasing and bullying, are uninvited and unwelcomed. But, the oppressed are not alone. Among the insensitive and insecure bullies, classrooms are home to courageous advocates and unsung heroes. As often as unfair hurts are felt, there are moments of restoration and redemption. Just as students learn how to read and write, it is in classrooms they learn to listen, apologize, and forgive.
The classroom is a place of wonderful mystery. It is a place of beauty and inspiration, a place of inevitable and imminent change. The classroom is a sacred place.
Jessica J. Schroeder (PhD, theology) is a writer, entrepreneur, and “practical theologian.” She lives in Littleton and publishes the podcast Eating for Eden and food blog Eden + Me.
