Drumming up learning

WORLEY, Idaho – Lakeside Elementary is a school without bells.

At precisely 8:15 each morning, Principal Joe St. John begins to slap his hands on the taut goatskin of his African djembe drum. Students jump off swings and stop games of four-square and kickball to form lines at the edge of the playground.

All the while, the steady beat of St. John’s drum, joined by the rhythm of second-grade teacher John Ulrich’s drum, echoes through the cool morning air.

Ba boom-boom. Boom. Ba boom-boom. Boom.

In seconds, the playground goes from chaos to quiet. Students slow from frenzied and frantic to calm and collected. Classes gather in lines and the teachers raise their hands. One at a time, St. John dismisses the classes.

“Fourth-graders, have a good morning,” St. John said Wednesday, still drumming. “Mr. Van der Weide and fifth-graders, have a good morning.”

The lines snake toward the school doors and the sound of the drums begins to fade.

Most schools rely on a bell to call students to class each morning. Lakeside doesn’t have bells to ring.

Teachers tried using whistles to break up morning recess and get kids into the school. The sound was lost in the din of playground excitement.

St. John’s solution, Morning Assembly, was inspired by a principal from Arizona who gathers students each morning to the beating of a drum. Last year, St. John decided to give it a try at Lakeside.

Though students ignored the whistle, St. John said they pay attention once they hear the rhythmic beat of the drum.

“When we do the drum, nobody continues to play, play, play,” St. John said. “There’s no running to the classroom. We can get to a real calm start.”

Originally, St. John welcomed new students and read the day’s announcements at Morning Assembly. The wind blowing off the surrounding farmland carried his words away. Now he makes announcements over the intercom after students arrive in their classrooms.

St. John and Ulrich take classes in traditional African drumming and together attend drum circles at Spokane’s Manito Park. Ulrich made his drum himself.

Third-grader Kayli Matheson said she likes to start the day to the sound of the drums.

“The whistle, it’s loud,” Kayli said. “It hurt my ears.”

Librarian Caralyn Olson said students seem to enjoy the drumming.

“They respond to it so well,” she said. “It’s immediate. As soon as they hear the drums, they know it’s time.”

At first, St. John decided to hold Morning Assembly only when the weather cooperated. But the gathering proved so popular that rain or shine, students and teachers continued to gather on the playground.

“I thought we wouldn’t be able to do it when it began snowing,” St. John said. “It was a routine. The snow didn’t make a difference.”