Classroom community is about creating an environment where students and teachers work and play together to meet a common goal.
Positive Interactions Among Students
You might be thinking of the classroom where you are separating students and pandemonium is ensuing. Imagine instead a space where students work together and support one another.
Community meetings are an excellent way to get your students on the same page. Work as a team to create classroom expectations and rules. Develop goals as a class. Both of these examples give students power and a common direction.
SEL lessons come in handy here when you are teaching students how to work together, have empathy, and communicate. Check out The Mind Trek SEL Program if you are looking for ready-made lessons to use in your classroom.
Improved Academic Engagement
” Research shows that when students feel that they belong to their academic community, that they matter to one another, and that they can find emotional, social, and cognitive support for one another, they can engage in dialogue and reflection more actively and take ownership and responsibility of their own learning Columbia Center of Teaching and Learning.
Students that feel safe take more academic risks than students that are afraid. Felt safety is achieved as you develop your classroom community. Students can feel when their classmates are supportive of them even when they make a mistake. Taking the fear out of making mistakes allows students the freedom to risk being wrong.
3 Keys to Learning
The perfect recipe for learning requires 3 ingredients. First, the teacher’s ability to deliver content. Second, the student’s ability to cognitively understand the content. Third, the student’s social presence in the classroom environment.
Frequently we only think of the first two ingredients. Why would the student’s social presence have an impact on their learning? Take a minute to think about the “class clown.” Most class clowns act out to get attention from their classmates based on their behavior out of fear. Class clowns are typically afraid of other students finding out they don’t understand the work.
Students that are comfortable in their environment engage more in their learning and take risks by answering questions aloud.
Deliberate Community Building
Deliberate classroom community building is key to a peaceful classroom and student success. Check out our Podcast next week on How to Build Classroom Community.
Give students opportunities to develop their social skills. Group work is an excellent opportunity for students to get to know one another and collaborate together. Teach students how to work in groups successfully.
Start your day with an opportunity for students to share. Use a Take 5, have a morning check-in, or ask a question of the day.
SEL Unfiltered
Do you want to hear more? Check out the rest of our series on Career Readiness on our SEL Unfiltered podcast, wherever you stream your podcasts.
Check out other episodes in our Classroom Community series, including What makes good classroom community? – Strategies for Educators, The Benefits of Classroom Community, and How to Create Classroom Community Virtually.
Game of the Week
Every week on SEL Unfiltered, we like to bring you a game or activity. You can use the game with your students, in the classroom, or in a small group. This week Kaitlin and I highlighted thumball activities.
Thumballs are 4-inch soft balls that mimic the look of a soccer ball. The ball is tossed from student to student. Students catch the ball and answer the question their thumb is closest to.
Students have fun being active and discussing important SEL topics simultaneously. Thumballs come in a variety of topics, get to know you, girl drama, kindness, bullying, and so many more.
