Lower School Classroom Chronicle

Our second grade Community Engaged Learning practice expands through the process of interviewing some beloved members of our St. Paul’s school community. Second graders have had the opportunity to learn more about the people they’ve interviewed, as well as about our school and its 50-year history.  

When students practice asking thoughtful questions, they learn that other people’s experiences matter. An interview is, at its heart, an act of curiosity directed outward. It says: I want to understand you. Our students practice listening as an act of love, in a world that often rewards speaking louder rather than listening carefully. 

After the interviews, students write about the connections they made while listening to the interviewees. This helps them build their skills of sentence writing and paragraph structure, as well as strengthen their ability to recall and organize information. The interviews will tie in to our upcoming neighborhood walks and community mapping projects, which will enable students to continue building familiarity with their surroundings in a hands-on way.