Story #5

Prairie View Elementary hosts World Cafe

Originally, I intended to attend as a mere observer, a gatherer of information, an outsider, at Prairie View Elementary’s World Cafe event, which was held last Thursday evening. Arriving first, it was assumed I was a student parent, and I was quickly drawn in to the evening’s discussion. Our attention was called to the first speaker, Cafe Committee member, Julie Weeden, who explained that the inspiration for the evening was the book The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter. Prairie View decided to attempt this community-building activity after visiting other area schools, such as Forest Lake Elementary, who first attempted this discussion format last school year but with mixed results. The World Cafe is a discussion format where community members, such as school parents, staff, and students are invited to meet together and discuss topics of interest. The intent is simply for community members to get to know each other, and through the fostering of community, it is assumed that the school environment will strengthen and the students’ educational success will thrive. 

This was Prairie View’s first attempt at the World Cafe, and with about 25 various parents, school staff, and outsiders like myself in attendance, the evening was filled with discussion around the evening’s topic: What was a meaningful learning experience in your life? Ishmael Robinson, Eden Prairie School’s Director of Assessment and Testing, kickstarted the evening by sharing his own journey of learning with the story of his high school social studies teacher who “treated [him] and held [him] to the level of an adult.” “I wanted to go back and thank her,” Robinson declares, “unfortunately, she died of cancer before I could, so I tell this story as a thank you to her.”

 Surrounded by hundreds of children’s library books, the primers of student learning, we divided ourselves around five tables, five or six to a table, introduced ourselves, and proceeded to each share a story or event that was critical to our learning, whether it be a school teacher that influenced us for the better, family tragedy or adventure that changed the course of of our learning or life, or a simple lesson learned. After a few minutes discussion, table members rotated in both directions to a new table, to new faces, to new stories. Even though we continued to have the same topic of discussion, the content, variety, and level of personalness that was shared astounded me. In attendance were several mothers of Eden Prairie’s growing Somali population. The life stories of these women, of travel, of familes still left across an ocean, and differences between the American and Somali education systems astounded me. 

Each time I rotated to a new table, I found myself able to share a different experience regarding learning, and as I listened to the stories of others I noticed a singular commonality. No one shared stories of a impactful lesson or subject from school, a favorite book read, speech that eas heard. Each meaningful learning experience had to do with people, places, life. Therein lies the point of the World Cafe: the stories vary but are also extremely similar, and recognizing those commonalities draws humanity together. Prarie View is holding two additional World Cafe sessions throughout the school year.