One of the most experienced storyline teachers in our building, JJ Howard, sent an email home to parents this spring to prepare them for the culmination for "Knights of the Round Table." He told me about it and we started reflecting on different types of culminations. I asked him if it would be okay if I shared the email and our reflection with all of you...
Hi Families,
Some culminations are a look back at all we've learned. Other culminations are part of the story we are experiencing and are done as our characters. This dubbing celebration is part of the story of Knights of the Round Table. I will send home our work before school is out so you can see all our learning. However, our culmination will be about celebrating our squires and knights and we will be in character. Your role will be proud parents of a squire or knight from the Middle Ages. I just don't want you to be disappointed if you don't see lots of work across different subject areas on culmination night.
Thank You,
JJ Howard
Many, perhaps most, of our storylines include a culmination that provides students with an opportunity to share or educate others about what they've learned throughout the storyline. And it is at these types of culminations that parents are generally hit with the power of storyline and the integration of curriculum from a variety of areas. I know at many of my classroom's culminations, parents tend to utter phrases such as, "there's just so much" and "how do you pack it all in?" and "this is such a cool storyline, with so much learning!" It made sense to me that Mr. Howard wanted to prepare his families for a different type of culmination.
At culmination for Knights of The Round Table the squires have succeeded in earning their knighthood. They gather in front of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere and are knighted ceremoniously. It would not make sense for the knights, at this time, to step out of character in order to share "what they've learned" with their parents.
Other examples of storylines that have a similar type of culmination...
Shakespeare storylines - These storylines generally end with a performance. Though topic books or portfolios may be assembled afterwards, and as part of the "reflection" post culmination. There may not be a designated time to "share" with parents while at school.
The Children's Hospital - Different teachers have handled this culmination in different ways. The culmination, as most do it, is a celebration of the sick children returning to health and their discharge from the hospital. Sometimes, this culmination doesn't include parents of students at all. Instead it might include the "parents" of the patients.
The Bike Tour of Oregon - In this storyline, the characters tour the state of Oregon by bike and spreading the word about healthy living. The culmination is a simple bike ride involving ALL students. The parents help to create a "finish line" in a local park with BBQ that celebrated the finish of the tour.
The People of The Longhouse (Iroquois) Storyline - The culminating event is a peace ceremony that unites the five original nations. The first time the 2/3 team at our school completed this storyline, we invited parents to attend the ceremony. The following times we decided to keep it just to the 5 classrooms (nations). It didn't make sense to involve parents who were not a part of our story. Because it felt strange at the time to dis-involve parents, we decided to have a Part II that gave students and parents a chance to tour their own classroom and share some of the learning from that storyline.
How to end storylines is a constant discussion at our school. At a school that completes 3-4 storylines a year at every grade level, so many parents have come to expect a certain amount of involvement, fanfare and "show." The question we continue to ask ourselves when going back and forth on how each storyline should culminate is, "What's the ending of the story?" If we are staying true to the story in the planning of the culmination, then we know we're on the right track.
