Classroom Community

Creating a classroom community is incredibly important in making your students feel safe and ready to learn. When your students trust each other, they can help to build each other up and learn from one another. I am truly passionate about setting up a classroom where the students are all fantastic friends and are never afraid to share what they think and know with each other. I wrote a paper for my differentiation class that I would like to share on here. It expresses how I want my classroom to be and what is important to me about classroom community.

Classroom Community Environment Key Assignment

            I’ve seen classes with amazing community and respect for each other and I’ve seen classes who truly lack the positive environment and community. I prefer my students to trust each other and me. I truly believe that having a healthy classroom community is the only way for students to create meaningful and deep understandings of the lessons taught to them.

            I observed a third grade class who participated in morning meetings. I would regularly hear the teacher tell her students, “I think that’s something the whole class would like to know. How about you bring it up in morning meeting?” I loved seeing the students’ reactions to this because their face lit up at the thought of their question being important enough for morning meeting.

            With my class, I am going to set up daily morning meetings. I want to include sharing from every student, every day. It is incredibly important to me that every student’s voice is heard. In one of the videos the teacher had the students pass around a beanbag and share one thing they did well yesterday. I love the positive message that goes with that and really makes the students think positively of themselves, even if it is just for that moment.

            I will also use my morning meetings to build teamwork among the class. I feel that this is a great time to push for that healthy classroom community. I know that the class will not run smoothly without participation from each student, but I want them to know that as well. I want this time to be fun and engaging, but at the same time educational. Morning meetings are a great time for review or even a hook into a new unit.

            Aside from morning meetings, I will also encourage a lot of group work and leadership opportunities. The desks will be arranged in groups and many of their rewards will rely on how well they can work as a team and encouraging each other to be the best they can.

            Each student needs to know that they are important to their peers and myself, and are needed in the classroom. I also want them to know that I hear their opinions and encourage their ideas to be shared. I will set aside a time during morning meeting for ideas from students or comments about past lessons for what they liked or what they wished was different. I will not tolerate negativity, but I would like to hear suggestions and why things went well or did not.

            My biggest desire for my classroom is that every student feels safe, comfortable, happy, and important. I think this is the first step in learning and gives students the confidence they need to succeed in school and in their social lives. Creating a classroom community takes time and effort, but the benefits that come from it are priceless.