Building Community in the Classroom

Each semester, I guest lecture to education students at The University of Utah. I speak at them for entirely too long about the importance of building community in their future classrooms. I do my best to show them a few concrete ways to create kind, caring classrooms that are ripe for learning.

Often, I find that people think this is only possible/necessary because I teach kindergarten. They picture a group of little ones holding hands and listening to me read stories in a sing-songy voice. However, building a positive learning environment is crucial in every stage in education. High-school students who are wrought with insecurities will certainly attend class more often and be willing to accept a challenge if the school/classroom is a place that supports critical thinking and has high expectations coupled with adequate support.

There are a few integral pillars of building a classroom community:
1. Get to know your students.  Whether your students spend 8 hours a day in your classroom, or one teaching period each week, this must be your top priority. Students who feel that they have a personal connection to the teacher are more willing to take a risk and work hard when the material becomes difficult. They have someone on their side; they have an instant advocate. Begin this on the first day, or even before school starts by handing out age-appropriate questionnaires or simply spending a part of each day at the beginning of the year telling the class about yourself and learning something about each student. When the going gets tough, retrieve this information and use it to connect to the student to figure out how he/she can get past an obstacle.

In my own teaching experience, I found this to be most profound with a student who kept falling asleep in class and seemed completely uninterested in school. As I sat with him one day, I learned that he wasn't sleeping at night. He was having nightmares about his father. There was lots of work to be done on that front. I would not have been able to help him had I not taking the time to sit with him and ask how he was doing.

My high school history teacher was a master at getting to know his students. We felt comfortable in his classroom, he joked with us, we got to know him a bit, and we learned so much! He was able to motivate high school students and get them to regularly attend class. Now, years later, my former classmates and I still talk about what a great class he had and how much we learned.

Check out these ideas from real teachers on Getting to Know Your Students. 

2. Teach students how to connect with each other.  As I ask each time I lecture, "How many of you work with someone who is incredibly smart, but is a total jerk?" Every hand goes up. Just as our parents taught us how to answer the telephone and shake hands with adults, today's students need a great deal of help learning how to connect with each other. Rarely will our students enter a field in which they work in a solitary fashion. They must learn how to be kind,  well-rounded members of society who can effectively collaborate with others. Teach them how to introduce themselves. More importantly, teach them how to get to know their peers. Offer time, activities, and assignments that require they work with others. 

My absolute favorite way to do this is to Mingle. We use this game throughout the year to learn names, review content, and get moving when we are antsy. Just this week we used it to practice shaking hands and introducing ourselves to each other. They loved it, learned a great deal, and are becoming more thoughtful about using each other's names. 

3. Have students create the environment. As a teacher, I LOVE all of the, "cute" classroom decorations and products I find at teacher stores and on TeachersPayTeachers. I have to be thougthful about not filling my classroom with things because they are, "cute". My classroom has a purpose: to be a place of learning for my students. This does not mean that I don't consider asthetics when setting up my classroom. It simply means, I design my classroom with learning in mind. At the beginning of the year, my boards are empty. As the year progresses and we learn, write, experiment, and create art together, my boards fill up. My students are actively creating their learning environment. Likewise, when a procedure isn't working, I have my class figure out what WILL work, and I use it! Because they "own" it, they respect it more. It's their classroom!

Although I've seen this be an incredible tool many times, my favorite experience was with a student that struggled all year. He had a lot going on and although he made incredible progress throughout the year, he still needed a great deal of support to be successful socially and academically. After forming a solid relationship with him, he became MY biggest advocate. When our class had a particularly difficult day, we met on the rug to discuss what was going on. When another student asked why I wink at them sometimes, my  buddy who struggled yelled (yes, we never quite got past THAT behavior) "It's a wink. She does it to tell us she loves us and she's proud of us." He got it! He then proclaimed, "Make winking choices, not shrinking choices!" He summed up my entire kindergarten mantra in a simple, kid-friendly tagline. HE created our new class saying that we could use to remind each other to check our behavior. Happy teacher heart!

4. Let mistakes happen. Schools should be a place for making mistakes. Yes, just as we are not perfect, our students aren't either. They need to know that making mistakes is okay, and have the confidence/skills necessary to fix those mistakes. Don't rescue them. Ask open-ended questions about what went wrong and how they are going to fix it. I highly recommend every parent and teacher read Love and Logic

5. Reflect and problem-solve together. The other ideas won't work unless you review/reflect. Just as we review academic material, we need to take time to stop and reflect on problems and successes. For me, this is often a whole group discussion. I don't name names, I don't call anyone out. I figure, if one student is struggling, others are as well. We get together as a class, I present the issue, and ask them, "What are we going to do about it?". This might sound like it takes a great deal of time. True, it takes time. However, think about about much time you spend repeatedly reminding your class to stay on task, keep their hands to themselves, etc. When I forget to make the problem their responsibility I spend my days running around my classroom reminding each student what he/she is supposed to be doing. If I stop my class briefly, ask how things are going, and ask them how we are going to get back on track, they own the problem, AND the solution. Later, (usually at the end of the day) I'll reflect with them about what worked, and what didn't. They do the work. They are the thoughtful ones. I simply provide the forum. 

Classrooms with a positive classroom community have more time for learning, and students are more willing to accept a challenge. If you find yourself repeating the same thing over and over, struggling with the same behavior issues on a daily basis, or having trouble motivating your students, take a look at the status of your classroom community. 

How do you build community throughout the year? How has your positive classroom community impacted student learning? Share your thought and share this post with a teacher who needs it.