🧭 Revisiting our Essential Agreements
As we move into the final stretch of the school year and approach the last trimester, something becomes very clear:
Our students are not the same children we met in September.
They have grown.
They have matured.
They understand the classroom in a different way now.
Because of that, the Essential Agreements they created at the beginning of the year needed to be revisited.
🌱 As students grow, they also need more independence. But that independence must come together with new responsibilities.
So, we updated our classroom agreements:
Some expectations were relaxed.
Others were strengthened.
And some new responsibilities appeared as students showed they were ready for them.
🎯 I have always thought of classroom management like a leash.
If you pull too hard, you suffocate them. If you let go too quickly, they run away. Somewhere in the middle is the real work of teaching.
It’s actually a fascinating dynamic between teacher and students. Over time, we slowly loosen the leash. Not to lose control, but to allow students to grow into it.
Without squeezing them, without letting go completely.
👩🏫 For me, this is part of developing agency and responsibility in the classroom.
Rules are not fixed forever, they evolve as the learners do.
💬 How often do you revisit your Essential Agreements during the school year?