As a school counselor I host Friendship Groups in classrooms. In the past I was responsible for 15 classes (preschool through 3rd grade). This year my main focus is with 9 classes (1st-3rd) which is providing me an exciting opportunity to be more explicit in the curriculum that I use and develop. I imagine there will be more to share about that as the year proceeds.
At the moment I’m focusing on our starting rituals. An important element at the beginning of a group is some sort of shared ritual, shared experience. When I was a teacher with my own classroom, I used a song for this. When I entered this job with 15 classes that I move between I started my groups with a bell and moment of silence. Unfortunately, however, coming and going busily from one class to the next, I was inconsistent and eventually stopped using the bell regularly. This year I want the opening ritual to be sacred. To always start each group.
I would like to create a song that shapes the space and invites us to be connected to ourselves and connected to one another.
Qualities of the song that I am interested in:
- I’d like the song to be punchy – to invite body movements and voice inflection, to invite us to wake up and be engaged! A celebration.
- I’d like for the song to provide an opportunity to experience harmony with each other, a vocal sense of togetherness.
- I would like the song to invite us to be in our bodies, connected to our hearts with open minds, ready to learn, and connected to each other.
- I imagine that at the end of the song there is a brief moment of silence.
Below are some words I’ve been playing with… they’re not ‘right’ yet, but it will give you a sense of the direction I’ve been exploring.
And then comes the request (you knew this was coming, right!): Do you have ideas to add to the creation of this song? I’m not very developed in my musical sensibility. Are you? Do you have a tune to offer that this song could go to? Would you like to help me create this song? If you’re technologically inclined and want to share an audio idea with me, I believe you can sing into this site, odeo.com… or if you want to schedule a phone call, send me an email and we’ll set a date to talk (opening space (oneword) @gmail.com).
Thank you so much for any help you have to offer.
The latest version I’ve been playing with:
You and me are here right now
Alive in our bodies
I’ve got an open mind
Ready for new ideas
I’m going to listen from my heart
I’m going to speak from my heart
You and me are here right now
Let’s feel us here together
….bell….