One of my favorite parts about working at The Circle School is the variety of activity during the days. Each day is something new, each day something different. For me, the experience is largely exciting and surprising — I always go into each day with a general plan of things that need doing, and sometimes I won’t even be able to achieve them all because of the opportunities that spring up while being in the environment. There is no “ordinary” day at The Circle School, which is another way of saying that every day is extraordinary! I’m sure many are curious as to what a single day may look like as a staff member here, so I thought I’d describe a specific one of mine for you:

First, the beginning of my day looks like hanging around the entrance when the school opens to have the opportunity to welcome the students in with a smile and good word. This is also a way for me to get a gauge on where the student is emotionally at today (or at the very least, for the start of the day — the school day, as it unfolds, allows for the whole range of emotions to manifest themselves, after all).

For this particular day, once the flow slowed to a trickle, a few students came to me for help coming up with new DnD (Dungeons and Dragons) characters for a campaign they wanted to create for themselves. The first DnD session of the year began recently, involving participants both young and old (including myself), and it’s already inspired some of the newer players to make splinter groups and have fun imagining their own scenarios, while still being involved in the big, weekly session. I had a blast helping these students dream up possible character ideas, complete with backstories and visual representations.

After momentum was gained and the students could continue brainstorming on their own, I left the Art Room and saw a game of ping pong was going on. Of course, I had to ask who was up next (“no one”), and whether I could join (“of course!”). I proceeded to play a couple of games against the teens and lost consecutively… Needless to say, sharpening my table tennis skills made its way onto my monthly agenda.

I refueled with a morning snack and joined some younger ones doing the same. It’s always nice having people to sit with while you eat, and even if all the chairs of a given table are taken, the students will likely still invite you and pull up another one to fit you in, however crowded it is.

Then I assisted with building new soccer goals that arrived the previous day. A corporation here [like a club] that is responsible for maintaining and updating outdoor amenities (aptly named the Cool Things Outside Corporation) has been raising money this year to purchase new soccer goals. Every Thursday they’ve been preparing and selling waffles to students and staff, and recently their hard work paid off! After constructing them and testing them out a bit, I ventured back inside for lunch. (And how nice it is to be able to eat lunch whenever you want!)

After that I spent some time with a student working on a comic book I’ve been helping her develop after she was inspired by a comic she reads at home. I also had some time to work on lesson planning for my weekly Creative Writing Workshop class I teach in the library on Wednesdays. I like to pull writing from a myriad of sources to share with that class so we can expand what our understanding of writing is and can be, as well as exercises and prompts to help them develop their own work, stories, and worlds.

By then, daily Chore Time had come around — which is when all students and staff pause what they’re doing to go perform their assigned chore with the rest of the school. It’s really cool to see all the students working together in their chore zones to clean up the space as a community. And oftentimes after Chore Time is when “Field Games” will happen, which recently has been soccer but could be any number of sports or outdoor games, and this time slot is perfect for it because everyone has stopped what they were doing and are more or less all together, making it easy to gather players.

Soccer ended when dismissal began, so we all trudged in after an intense, exciting match. I always need to stretch before and after the games, and have a hard time keeping up with the students, but they will just bounce into the next activity, no problem. During dismissal I like to hang around the front for similar reasons as the beginning of the day: seeing the students off with a smile. Most days I end the school day exhausted, and this one was no exception, but although my body will be a bit weary, my spirit has never been more renewed by a job than this one.

Kiernan Green

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