Key Findings

The key findings suggest that in order to increase young learners capacity to trust those whose
views differ, it is important to:
1.
2.
3.
4.

teach language protocols to help students navigate difference.

use concrete objects to illustrate complex social skills.
support students when they face differences.
allow for more guided collaborative play so students discover and maintain a
sense of commonality while they make sense of their differences.

Finding 1: Teach language protocols to help students navigate difference.

Protocols provide a common language for navigating differences. The Perspectives Wall change
effort combines open-ended questioning and curating student work to give young learners
experience noticing, articulating and celebrating when their peers answers were different from
their own.

The Perspectives Wall changes depending upon the class-generated questions. In these two examples students were
collectively asking, How many different leaves can we make? and How many color combinations can we make in our
concentric circles?

On a classroom wall, we posted our answers to open-ended questions. Displaying our work
allowed us to connect each others ideas to achieve deeper learning. Students posted answers to,
How can we make 10? finding continued inspiration to add more strategies. One student
commented joyfully that Wow, I didnt know there are like a zillion ways to get 10! Later, they
formed their own questions. Continually, I modeled how to express appreciation for the variety
of perspectives, saying, I appreciate how Olivias answer helps us think about another way to
make 10 because she takes something away to make something. By modeling the word

appreciate and then supporting it with detail after the word because, students learned how to
articulate that differing perspectives prove beneficial when working towards a common goal.
Finding 2: Use concrete objects to illustrate complex social skills.
Including concrete objects to represent abstract concepts helped my young learners better
understand complex social skills such as practicing respect when noticing differences. The
Respect Circle change effort used concrete symbols as part of an interactive story designed to
give learners the opportunity to respectfully articulate their peers differing beliefs. The story
illustrated we dont have to alter our core values to belong to a group.

In the Respect Circle, children practice key language protocols using concrete objects to symbolize
complex social concepts.

In the story, the candle represented the student and the flame what makes each person special.
The cloth in the center of the circle symbolized our classroom. I spotlighted these main ideas:

Our differences make each of us sparkle.

When we put our sparkle together we don't have to change the way we each shine.
Our combined light brightens the room with joyful learning.

I invited students to echo certain phrases in the story. Students perceived their echo responses as
contributions to the simple story plot I improvised, but the statements really served to introduce
specific language protocols. One story was about a group of shining stars who learned to sparkle
together in outer space. Children eagerly added details about which constellation their character
was a part of, or if their light came from a comets tail! The details didnt matter as much as the
respect phrase we practiced when boarding the spaceship, a statement I explained would add fuel
to our rocket. As we went around the circle, we collectively repeated [insert belief here] is an
important belief in [insert name here]s family and we respect that. As each person heard his

name, he placed his candle in the center, a symbol he had boarded the spaceship. These concrete
objects served to help learners gain a deeper understanding of complex social challenges. Later,
students used the language protocol and props from the story when we talked about feelings
regarding their differing beliefs.
Table 1 shows trends in students reported sense of belonging, including a decrease from
Baseline to December 3 (addressed later under finding 3) and an upward trend from December
17 to January 28, representing a 62% increase after introducing the Perspectives Wall and
facilitating the Respect Circle in early January. My qualitative analysis corroborates this upward
trend. For example in January, I observed more instances when students were able to use the
skills they developed through the change efforts in less formal interactions. One student told
another, "We can play with people who believe something different than we do. It's ok, we
respect that."

Table 1: Students scores represent a weekly average of student reported

sense of belonging on both written and verbal surveys.

Finding 3: Support students when they face differences.

As students reported sense of belonging increased, I observed my students more readily
incorporated other viewpoints into their work, though I believe the process was more reciprocal
than just a straight cause and effect. The following exchange illustrates how students moved
from avoiding conflict to working together when I provided support during their collaborative
play. This example also highlights the importance of the teachers role in helping children learn
they can deal with conflict constructively (Cohen, 2008).

Lea: I trusted you people! [in response to group knocking over a block structure]
Chewbacca and Hans: quiet/eyes down-one continued building while the other tried to leave the scene
Teacher to group: (calling everyone back) Let's notice that one of our friends is upset.
Teacher to Lea: How can we help you trust again?
Lea: Listen when I talk. Just don't knock it down, ok?
Chewbacca and Hans: Ok, sorry.
Chewbacca: I liked your house, but can we make a bigger one this time?
Hans: Can we add booby traps?
Lea: But if we do that we need to keep the living room and the front door. Ok?
Note: I use stage names they chose for themselves during a student-created theatrical production described later.

Rather than avoiding the situation, Lea was able to articulate disappointment that Chewbacca and
Hans broke her trust. My guiding question explicitly about trust encouraged Lea to continue and
provided the others with the framework to remedy their poor choice. After rebuilding trust, they
were able to add on to each others ideas to create a new structure, demonstrating an increased
capacity to accept other perspectives while maintaining their own ideas. However, sometimes the
differences they face run much deeper than just building block choices.
As happens each year with young children, the group discovered they didnt all believe the same.
In this case, the group realized not everyone believed in God. At the center of the resulting
debate were two boys: Finn and Luke. However, to some degree this impacted the entire class. I
chose to refer the topic to parents out of respect for differing family beliefs. Unfortunately, not
acknowledging the topic of God in class failed to treat my students challenge with the dignity it
deserved. My students needed help reconnecting with their commonalities as they navigated their
differences. Without adult guidance, their ability to construct meaning in the face of diversity and
make sense of their world suffered. Seeking resolution, students began conducting surveys at
recess to find out who believed in God and began forming alliances accordingly. In particular,
Luke formed a group of like-minded peers deliberately excluding Finn. This meant Finn felt the
painful alienation that comes with group stratification, and Luke learned to use intimidation to
manage his own anxiety about differences. The conflict escalated to the point where Finn refused
to come to school and overall group morale suffered (See December, Table 1). I was devastated
my students suffered because I didnt provide guidance. But I learned the valuable lesson that its
important to acknowledge their questions about diversity, no matter the topic. This doesn't mean
I turned a public classroom into a religious study. Rather it means to rebuild community, my
students first needed to trust I wouldnt abandon them when they disagreed. Instead of telling

Luke it's not nice to say, Finn has to believe in God to play with us, or saying to Finn, I dont
want to discuss the difference at school, I needed to help both boys appropriately articulate
feelings, supporting them as they faced disunity. Though the class respect circle was a positive
beginning in this regard; I found that facilitating an additional respect circle for both boys and
their families provided them the space to articulate these feelings, and me the opportunity to give
the support I wish I would have when the conflict first surfaced.
Finding 4: Allow more time for guided collaborative play so students discover and
maintain a sense of commonality while they make sense of their differences.
Guided collaborative play afforded students an opportunity to learn they can rely on each other
even if they dont always agree. When I noticed the class, including Finn and Luke, coming
together around a common desire to make a Star Wars play, I set aside regular classwork to allow
more time to explore their interest together. I realized they werent really making a play by adult
standards. They were finding common ground after having struggled with their differing
religious beliefs. So, I resisted the urge to use this as a teachable moment to guide students in
creating a theatrical production worthy of exhibition and instead joined them in their imaginative
world to help them explore how to include everyone. As they played, I voiced appreciation for
specific instances when their diverse skills were coming together for a common goal and helped
to ensure equity of access by continually asking, How can we include everyone and still
maintain the aspects that matter most to us?

As students engaged in guided collaborated play, I realized they were really finding common ground.

The social networking graphs in Table 2 illustrate the alliances that began forming after the
student-initiated God surveys (December 4) and later, the marked increase in collaboration as
children reached out to someone new during the student-directed theatrical production of Star
Wars (January 28). Luke admitted Finn had an amazing costume design and asked for help

making one. Finn eagerly sought Luke to rehearse lightsaber scenes, because he explained,
Luke has cool moves and he helps me! Even Student 5 on the graph was able to access the
play by saying Action before each scene. The diversity of effort required to create a play
provided the common framework for collaboration.
Beginning of the Year

December 4

January 28

Table 2: Social Networking Maps (Green=girls, Orange=boys, numbers around the outside indicate students
coded for privacy, circled letters/numbers indicate grade level, stars=students with IEP's) Lines connecting
the students represent the social networking patterns I observed during collaborative play.

My willingness to let them play with their theatrical production, with only themselves as the
audience, provided a low-stakes opportunity to practice skills for collaborating across difference
and allowed them to find their own common ground (Slade, 1994). At the beginning of the year,
young learners sense of belonging in the classroom reflects directly how accepted they feel by
me. Do they trust that I am someone they can rely upon when they have challenges? If they feel
safe with me, then they believe me when I tell them we are all friends. Later, they define
friendship and a sense of connection to the group by the experiences they have with each other.
The graph on December 4, represents a teacher-initiated project where students chose their own
groups. When I noticed clear avoidance patterns, I initiated conversations with students to learn
more. As a result, I gained a deeper understanding of the drop in overall reported sense of
belonging (Table 1). Since several change efforts overlapped leading up to the January 28 graph,
I cant know for sure what impact more time for guided collaborative play might have had earlier
in December. But either way, I have gained a deeper appreciation for play-based learning and
have rethought the structure of my classroom as a result.