How to close the year with intention
This post originally appeared in Dr. Rachel A. Larimore’s weekly Samara newsletter on May 17, 2022. If you’re interested in receiving these emails, scroll to the bottom of this page to subscribe.
I’ve recently learned of Priya Parker, author of The Great Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters. She has so many great insights into gatherings of all kinds—birthday parties, family reunions, work team meetings, etc. I’ve been thinking of her work in relation to our classrooms—which are also gathering spaces!
We can think about classroom gatherings on the scale of daily routines, as well as the scale of the entire school year. We are quickly nearing the end of the school year (some have ended already). Even those in family or center-based childcare transition to a new way of being together—children going to another classroom, school-age children joining the group for the summer, etc.
As the year wraps up, I’ve been thinking about Parker’s advice....
“Ending your time together well is a crucial way to shape the feelings, ideas, and memories you want your guests to take with them. Endings are a reminder of why you gathered in the first place, and give guests a chance to make sense of the time they spent together.” ~Priya Parker
The end of the school year is an important time to celebrate the year of learning and adventures the group has had together. How are you marking the end of your time with children? Are you helping to create meaning and memories of the year?
Parker also says, “Just as you don’t start your invitations or gatherings with logistics, you don’t want to end on them either. Closings are a moment of power.” She suggests a strong closing has two components: 1) looking inward and 2) turning outward.
In your closing events, leading up to and including the very last day, are you ending on logistics or on moments of group connection and connection with the natural world?
Maybe the final activity is a group sing-along of your favorite nature songs that you’ve been enjoying all year. I know many programs that greet each child every morning of the school year during group meeting. One possibility is to build on this ritual by acknowledging each child in the class on the final day together and wishing them well on their next adventure.
Whatever your closing rituals, I hope they celebrate the connections you’ve made and the experiences you’ve shared while acknowledging that everyone is moving on to something new.
Keep changing lives,
Rachel
Rachel A. Larimore, Ph.D., Chief Visionary of Samara Learning
About Rachel
Dr. Rachel A. Larimore is an educator, speaker, consultant, author, and former nature-based preschool director. As the founder and Chief Visionary of Samara Early Learning her work focuses on helping early childhood educators start nature-based schools or add nature-based approaches into their existing program. Learn more about Rachel here.
