Using Conventions
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Conventions are repeated customs common only to a particular class. Taking part in a convention creates a common experience for group members. These common experiences bond individual students together, enhance connections, and build a sense of community. Conventions can turn common classroom experiences into special events. These events establish a classroom history within the group and an ongoing team spirit. Motivation is created and maintained through the conventions that leaders orchestrate with the class. |
Conventions can be either curriculum-related or social in nature. No matter what form they take, they can result in a school year of tradition for the entire class.
According to Terrence Deal and Kent Peterson, “In the past few decades, in the name of educational reform, we have managed to sterilize schools of the symbolic acts that help culture survive and thrive . . . convention and ceremony have fallen victim to political correctness. Some has been dismissed as fluff in favor of structure and rationality. A lot has just been overlooked and ignored, allowed to wither away. More than ever, we need to revive convention and ceremony as the spiritual fuel we need to energize and put more life back into our schools. . . . Rituals bond people to each other—and connect them with deeper values that are otherwise difficult to express.” (Shaping School Culture, p. 32)
Conventions create an classroom environment where teachers can facilitate a safe, comfortable atmosphere where students work together.