When Third Place is Just Fine.

As a sustainability teacher, everything I do is geared toward building student understanding and capacity in one or more of the three pillars of sustainability.

And, yeah, I know these aren't pillars. It's a Venn Diagram, known by some as the "overlapping circle thing." We use it because the pillars really do overlap and interact, so most educators set aside the semantics. I finally just told the kids that we're looking at the columns from a birdseye view.

This fills my classroom wall,

by the way.

When I teach these concepts, I work hard to avoid deficit thinking. I ask questions like, "Where do you see these at work in your life?" One of my favorite ways to introduce each pillar is to give kids sticky notes so they can name and claim an asset outloud and share it with the group. As they listen to their peers, they are reminded of other areas of support they may not have appreciated before. We all learn better when we are invited to begin from a place of strength.

At the start of each term, a new group of kids adds to our growing list of collective assets. We have hundreds of Post-Its to remind us of what we have and to jog our brains when we feel that we lack.

Each pillar is represented:

ECONOMICS--Which of your resources help you get what you want or need?

ENVIRONMENT--Where do you feel safe and supported?

EMPOWERMENT--Who has your back? Who lets you make your own (age appropriate) decisions?

I was completely delighted when this was announced

and posted in our empowerment section.

Don't you love the honesty of middle schoolers?

(If you are judging anything other than the

content of this stickie, know that I welcome a full

range of learners in my classroom.)

True Confession:

When I was a young elementary teacher, I wanted to be every student's favorite. Wouldn't that communicate my worth? Wasn't that the best measure for my effectiveness? If I could be favored over teachers I admired, didn't it mean I was (possibly) as good as they were and worthy of my place in the classroom?

I wanted to reach every kid. No Child Left Behind, right? I had a lot of growing to do to get past the "I'm the best!"/"I'm not worthy." dance.

Over time, I learned that I'm actually not the center of the educational universe. And THAT was a relief.

My Grandma Margie famously said, "It's a good thing we don't all like the same thing or there wouldn't be enough to go around." Human beings are complex and working in a school with high instances of trauma, it's impossible for one teacher--or an entire staff--to fill every emotional need and heal every wound. Some days, it's a challenge to deliver a coherent lesson. To create a more sustainable life for myself, I needed to transform my thinking about what education, and I, as one of its cogs, could reasonably provide.

Knowing that there are many favorite teachers in my building is a great comfort.

But back to the Post-It...

I am thrilled to know this child has favorites to spare. I want this for every human being: to know that support is a constant. The blessing of not just surviving but actually thriving. I had the happy zing of relief, knowing that we've done our job and woven a safety net around him. And that I am only one strand.