My mind is untangling

I’m very fortunate to have a lot of freedom for my own ideas at my school.

Last school year, I used this freedom to start a small experiment with my fourth-grade class.

Every Friday during the last lesson, we focused on a special module — a project hour that we developed together.

Something the kids were really interested in.

In the first half of the year, I still set the direction: we worked on a student newspaper. Some were enthusiastic, others quickly lost motivation.

I realized: If it’s really going to be their project, then the children need to take responsibility.

So, in the second half of the year, I changed the rules: for four weeks, we worked on a topic of their choice. At the end, there had to be a visible result. What that would be, we decided together.

And suddenly something special happened: the kids took responsibility.They discussed, argued, voted, and developed ideas I could never have come up with on my own.

Our first project was about democracy.Because there were elections happening in Germany at the time, the kids founded their own parties, wrote election programs, gave speeches, and designed campaign posters.

At the end, they even voted using ballots and a ballot box to elect a “chancellor” who was allowed to make decisions for a day — for example, whether an English weekly assignment could be canceled.It was wonderful to see how engaged they were and especially how seriously they took it. During every speech, it was completely silent.

Next came a theater project.Written, directed, and performed by the children themselves.Which was pretty chaotic and nerve-wracking for me!

Finally, we created a book café: with tea, soft music, and self-picked herbs, we turned the classroom into a cozy little oasis.

Everyone brought a book, read in it, designed a poster about it, and presented it at the end.

One moment in the book café was especially moving: a student who usually was full of energy and constantly on the go leaned back and said:

“Oh, it feels so good to sit here and have this calm. I can really feel my head getting quiet.”

That sentence was a little wake-up call for me.School doesn’t just need achievement, speed, and activity — it also needs spaces for calm.

Just like Pippi Longstocking said:

"(…) And then you also have to have time to just sit around and look at nothing in particular."

For me, this project was one of the most beautiful experiences of the school year.And I learned this: When we trust children with responsibility, we all win — they gain self-efficacy and joy, and we gain ease and genuine collaboration.