I’m thinking a lot about community these days and what I’ve learned about it. And so as I get ready to head back to school, I am thinking less about the back to school ACTIVITIES that will build community and more about the CONDITIONS I want to create to build community.

Here’s what I believe creates community:

Children feeling seen, honored and valued for exactly who they are.

Children feeling heard and seeing evidence that their ideas are valued and used to create new things within the community and beyond.

Children seeing their full and authentic selves honored and reflected within the community.

Children seeing evidence that no one person holds all the power and that it is okay to question the things that feel unjust to any members of the community or beyond the community.

Children feeling safe and seeing evidence that the person “in charge” wants to know when they feel unsafe so they can work together to better create a feeling of safety.

Children experiencing joy and laughter and all the good things that hold us together.

Children deeply feeling things together that stretch across all the emotions they are bringing into our collective space.

Children solving problems together, seeing that their ideas put together are stronger than their single ideas alone.

Only once I know that these are the conditions I want to create, can I then start to choose activities that I believe will create and support these conditions. That is how we will build community this year.