From the Walk to School to the Classroom: Traces and Impacts

This workshop is based on the idea that education is not limited to the school itself; rather, learning, encountering, and understanding begin much earlier—on the walk to school. Children walking the same path and the adults accompanying them are not merely walking toward a place; they also carry their own stories, emotions, and burdens. Some walk hurriedly, some reluctantly, some joyfully, some with a sense of loss… Every step, every glance, and every gesture leaves a trace; these traces are often carried into the classroom unnoticed and become the unseen determinants of interactions, behaviors, and learning processes within the classroom.

Designed in line with the conference’s theme of “Root–Movement–Trace–Impact,” this creative drama workshop aims to make the traces and effects of students’ and parents’ physical and emotional movements on the way to school visibly tangible through experiential exploration. Participants reconstruct the school commute through walking, posture, forms of accompaniment, and patterns of interaction; in this process, they deepen their pedagogical perspective by noticing the clues that emerge.

The process is structured to support the participant’s positioning not merely as an observer, but as a teacher who interprets what they see, establishes empathy, and takes on the responsibility of transformation. The goal is to reveal that the seemingly ordinary moments encountered on the way to school serve as powerful data points and areas for intervention for the teacher.

This study invites classroom teachers and teacher candidates to reflect on the process of the journey to school. Because sometimes change begins not after class starts, but before the child even steps through the school door.