The Big Fresh May 5, 2018 The Space Between

A boundary is not that at which something stops, but that from which something begins.        

                                                                      Martin Heidegger

In the early 1980s, many years before there were hundreds of Starbucks, my favorite literature professor used to host her weekly office hours in a tea shop just a block from the university. Any student who wanted to confer could stop in, and she would treat you to a cup of tea. I went only once, but it was a reminder to me that the best teachers find ways to meet comfortably with students in spaces that aren’t quite classrooms, and aren’t quite homes either.

I thought of conferring with my professor in a teahouse when Mary Howard posted this photo in a tweet of a meeting with kindergarten teacher Amanda Gruenberg:

I often have COFFICE CONVERSATIONS. Ts just schedule a time & choose a topic to discuss at Panera’s (babies welcome) #HackingLeadership

“Coffice” is a portmanteau combining “coffee” and “office.” It’s used by folks who work at home or young professionals who want a break from the office for any local shop where people work as well as have treats. What I love in Mary’s photo is that toddler. When we take our work outside school, we’re reminded of the larger world and what matters most to others. When we make space for those concerns and people to be a part of the scene, we know them better. And when we know them better, we can do better in serving them, understanding their needs, and fueling their creative passions.

Liminal spaces are in-between zones, and they are essential to life. In the natural world, it’s the marsh that is the transition between large bodies of water and land. It’s the hub airport you travel through on your way from home to a vacation beach. The need for liminal space in relationships is why couples go on honeymoons, to ease the transition from single to married life.

I worry about the gradual loss of these in-between spaces in our teaching lives. One of the most insidious effects of random acts of violence is that schools have “hardened,” with almost no boundary space for teachers and families to interact naturally in the transitional moments between the start and end of the school day. We’ve added all kinds of barriers, rituals, and rigid expectations about everything from “dropping in” to a classroom to recognizing birthdays that discourage any in-between spaces for home and school.  In the natural world, there are organisms that can’t exist without liminal space. And in the world of schools, there are important conversations lost forever if there is no in-between space outside of classrooms for talk.

This week we celebrate the spaces between home and school, looking at how teachers can play with the boundaries to better understand students and the families who love them. Plus more as always — enjoy!

Brenda Power
Founder, Choice Literacy

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